Elenka - Knitty, Summer 2009

model: Elena

photos: Jennifer Corban, Inna Aleksandrova

by Inna Aleksandrova

What can be more beautiful and innocent than a little girl in a pretty summer dress? My little angels love dresses, all kinds of them. So when we stopped by the local yarn shop on a gloomy winter evening they were immediately attracted to the bright colored yarn and had their ideas about what and why I should make for them for the upcoming tropical vacations.

For this design I combined a traditional baby blanket Ripple pattern with a sophisticated but amazingly easy-to-make Daisy pattern separated by an eyelet band. This band adds visual effects and can be decorated in many ways, with a ribbon, crocheted chain, beads, flowers, beautiful buttons...

This dress is worked on circular needles and it has no seams except for the shoulder straps, and can be easily customized. You can make it longer or shorter by working more or less rows in Ripple pattern. And since kids significantly vary in size you might want to choose what size to make accordingly to the measurements of your girl’s chest, not by age. Also if you wish to have a waistline on its natural place, just make the skirt shorter and add more rounds of the Daisy pattern before shaping underarms.

SIZE

2T[3T, 4T, 5T] (shown in size 3T)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Chest: 21[22, 23, 24] inches
Length: 19.5[21, 22.5, 24] inches

MATERIALS

[MC] Lion Brand Cotton Ease [50% Cotton – 50% Acrylic; 207yd/188m per 100g skein]; color: #194 Lime; 2[2, 3, 3] skeins

[CC] Elann Sonata [100% Mercerized Cotton; 115yd/105m per 50g skein]; color: #8001 Bright White; 1 skein

Recommended needle size:

1 24-inch US #7/4.5mm circular needle
Smaller sizes will require

1 16-inch US #7/4.5mm circular needle for upper body.
Larger sizes may wish to have a

32-inch US #7/4.5mm circular needle for lower skirt.

1 US #C/2 / 2.75mm crochet hook
Stitch marker
Stitch holders or waste yarn
Row counter (optional)
Tapestry needle
1.5 yd ribbon, 0.75 inch wide (optional)

GAUGE

19sts/20rows = 4 inches in Ripple Pattern (for skirt)
17sts/20rows = 4 inches in Daisy Pattern

17sts/24rows = 4 inches in stockinette st [for substitution purposes]

PATTERN NOTES
[Knitty's list of standard abbreviations and techniques can be found here.]

Instructions for basic crochet stitches can be found here and here.

Work daisy: K3tog without dropping sts from left needle; yo, k same 3 sts together again and drop from left needle. Number of sts has not changed.

Ripple Pattern (Worked in the round over a mulitple of 17 sts):
Round 1: [K1, yo, k6, ssk, k2tog, k6, yo] to end.
Round 2: K all sts.
Repeat these 2 rounds for Ripple Pattern.

Daisy Pattern (Worked in the round over a multiple of 4 sts):
Round 1: [P1, work daisy] to end.
Even-numbered Rounds 2-6: K all sts.
Round 3: Remove marker, slip last st worked from right needle to left needle, replace marker; [work daisy, p1] to end.
Round 5: Remove marker, k1, replace marker; [p1, work daisy] to end.
Repeat Rounds 3-6 for Daisy Pattern.

Daisy Pattern (Worked back and forth in rows over a multiple of 4 sts + 1):
Row 1 [RS]: [P1, work daisy] to last st, p1.
Even-numbered Rows 2-4 [WS]: P all sts.
Row 3 [RS]: K2, [p1, work daisy] to last 3 sts, p1, k2.
Repeat Rows 1-4 for Daisy Pattern.

DIRECTIONS

SKIRT
Using longer circular needle and MC, CO 153[170, 187, 204] sts. Place marker and join to begin working in the round, being careful not to twist.

Round 1: [K1, yo, k6, ssk, k2tog, k6, yo] to end.
Round 2: K all sts.
Repeat these 2 rounds 6[6, 7, 8] times more.

First Decrease Round: [K1, yo, k4, ssk, ssk, k2tog, k2tog, k4, yo] to end. 135[150, 165, 180] sts.
K 1 round.

Next Round: [K1, yo, k5, ssk, k2tog, k5, yo] to end.
K 1 round.
Repeat these 2 rounds 6[6, 7, 7] times more.

Second Decrease Round: [K1, yo, k3, ssk, ssk, k2tog, k2tog, k3, yo] to end. 117[130, 143, 156] sts.
K 1 round.

Next Round: [K1, yo, k4, ssk, k2tog, k4, yo] to end.
K 1 round.
Repeat these 2 rounds 5[6, 7, 7] times more.

Third Decrease Round: [K1, yo, k2, ssk, ssk, k2tog, k2tog, k2, yo] to end. 99[110, 121, 132] sts.
K 1 round.

Next Round: [K1, yo, k3, ssk, k2tog, k3, yo] to end.
K 1 round.
Repeat these 2 rounds 4[5, 5, 6] times more.

Fourth Decrease Round: [K1, yo, k1, ssk, ssk, k2tog, k2tog, k1, yo] to end. 81[90, 99, 108] sts.

BODICE

Waistband:
Round 1: P all sts.
Rounds 2-3: K all sts.
Round 4: [K2tog, yo] to end.
Rounds 5-6: K all sts.
Round 7: P all sts.

Round 8 is worked differently for each size:
Size 2T Only: K2tog, k to end. 80 sts.

Size 3T Only: [K2tog, k43] twice. 88 sts.

Size 4T Only: M1, k to end. 100 sts.

Size 5T Only: K all sts. 108 sts.

Establish Daisy Pattern:
Size 2T Only: Work Rounds 1-6 of Daisy Pattern.

Size 3T Only: Work Rounds 1-6 of Daisy Pattern, then work Rounds 3-4 once more.

Size 4T Only: Work Rounds 1-6 of Daisy Pattern, then work Rounds 3-6 once more.

Size 5T Only: Work Rounds 1-6 of Daisy Pattern, repeat Rounds 3-6 once, then work Rounds 3-4 once more.

Divide for Armholes:
Next Round: BO 6[7, 8, 9] sts knitwise, work 33[36, 41, 44] sts in pattern (34[37, 42, 45] sts on right needle after bound-off sts), place all sts just worked onto st holder for back; BO 6[7, 8, 9] sts, continue in pattern to end.

Upper front will be worked back and forth over remaining 34[37, 42, 45] sts. When working in Daisy Pattern as established, you may have sts at the edge of the piece that do not fit evenly into the st pattern. Work these sts in stockinette st.

UPPER FRONT
Work 9 rows in pattern, ending with a WS row.

Shape Neckline:
Row 1 [RS]: Work 12[13, 14, 15] sts in pattern and place them on st holder; BO 10[11, 14, 15] sts, work in pattern to end. 12[13, 14, 15] sts.

Rows 2, 4 [WS]: P all sts.

Row 3 [RS]: BO 2 sts, work in pattern to end. 10[11, 12, 13] sts.

Row 5 [RS]: Work as for Row 3. 8[9, 10, 11] sts.

Work 7[9, 11, 13] rows in pattern, ending with a WS row.

BO all sts.

Place 12[13, 14, 15] held sts of front on needle and rejoin yarn with WS facing.

Row 1 [WS]: BO 2 sts, p to end. 10[11, 12, 13] sts.

Row 2 [RS]: Work all sts in pattern.

Row 3 [WS]: Work as for Row 1. 8[9, 10, 11] sts.

Work 8[10, 12, 14] rows in pattern, ending with a WS row. BO all sts.

UPPER BACK
Place held sts of back on needle and join yarn with WS facing.
Work 17 rows in pattern, ending with a WS row.

Shape Neckline:
Row 1 [RS]: Work 10[11, 12, 13] sts in pattern and place them on st holder; BO 14[15, 18, 19] sts, work in pattern to end. 10[11, 12, 13] sts.
Row 2 [WS]: P all sts.
Row 3 [RS]: BO 2 sts, work in pattern to end. 8[9, 10, 11] sts.
Work 1[3, 5, 7] rows in pattern, ending with a WS row. BO all sts.

Place 10[11, 12, 13] held sts of front on needle and rejoin yarn with WS facing.
Next Row [WS]: BO 2 sts, p to end. 8[9, 10, 11] sts.
Work 2[4, 6, 8] rows in pattern, ending with a WS row. BO all sts.

FINISHING

Sew shoulder seams. Weave in ends.

Using CC, work 1 round double crochet around lower edge of skirt, and around neckline and armhole edges. Weave in remaining ends and block as desired.

Thread ribbon through eyelets of waistband as shown in photographs. If preferred, instead of ribbon, a drawstring may be made by working a crochet chain of the desired length. Tie drawstring into a bow when worn.

schematic

ABOUT THE DESIGNER

Inna Aleksandrova lives and raises her family in Northern New Jersey.
Born in Latvia, the little Baltic country rich with knitting tradition, she was taught to knit at very tender age but never looked at it as an art but rather the pastime, favorite one but nothing special. Only recently she rediscovered the pleasure and value of hand knitting and is very thankful to all her teachers back there.

Whenever possible she knits on circular needles with no seams and loves to design garments for her family and friends.