Thursday, August 14, 2008

Seeing Stars

I really enjoyed knitting the Bell Curve skirt. The design has interesting columns of star stitches. This adds interest, but it's also the how some subtle shaping is incorporated. It's genius! But making those stars? Yowsers! It involves knitting up to 5 stitches together, which is hard enough, but then you have to go back into them twice. Ouch! So I ended up using a crochet hook to help make the stars, and that made it much easier. In fact, it became enjoyable! I got into such a good rhythm that I became careless. I don't know if you can see it here, but I only knit 3 stitches together to make the star (near the top in this pic, on the left hand side), when I should have knit 5 together. This threw the stitch count off and just looked wonky to me.


So, I dropped down 20 rows to fix it.



Sigh. I am getting far too much experience with this drop-a-gazillion-stitches-and-hope-for-the-best technique. I'm glad I did it though. Anyway, here's the final result. The skirt is holding up well. I'm modeling it here after having worn it for real all day and sitting down a lot. Any sagginess is mine and not the skirt's :-) Details are in the gallery.

12 comments:

  1. It's gorgeous! The length hits at just the right place. I used to think knitted skirts would never work, and now I am seeing several patterns that work as skirts with minimal sag factor.

    Good save on the stitch pattern!

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  2. oh wow, it turned out So beautifully! Awesome skirt. I know what you mean about dropping down a gazillion stitches and crochet hooking your way back up....although I don't think I've gone as far down as you did for the skirt!

    - Julie

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  3. It's so flattering on you! I will definatley add it to my queue. Your hard work is all worth it....it's a beautiful skirt!

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  4. That photo of your dropped stitches gave me instant heartburn. It came together beautifully!

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  5. It looks beautiful--I love the way it flares at the bottom, and it seems to hold up well with a day of wearing--no saggy baggies. Gorgeous!

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  6. That looks so lovely! You're very brave indeed (and talented!) for dropping so many stitches for a fix.
    I love the stars, too. Crochet hook = genius :)

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  7. It looks really cute! Good for you dropping back so far. I love knitted skirts!

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  8. Fabulous :) I too did the drop stitch technique to fix mistakes on a cable - it was in the middle of a poncho I was knitting, and I just didn't want to rip out the rest. It was definitely fiddly... but worth the effort (I think - perhaps more time, but less reknitting?) I am soooo tempted to make my own!!

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  9. Wow- the skirt is gorgeous! And the no-sag factor is pretty impressive, especially after a day of wear. Very fun stars, too.

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  10. How beautiful! It's great to be able to fix errors like that (though I know it'd be more fun not to make them in the first place) :)

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  11. I love the skirt, its sexy and sweet!

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