Ok, I’m STILL looking at ModCloth for sweater dress ideas. I really like to use my own ideas when knitting things by hand. I usually follow a pattern, or at least use one as a starting point, but I’ve been trying to knit things on my own more & I see so many things I love! Then when I go to start knitting, I can never remember what it is I wanted to knit! I spend 99% of my time online drooling over yarn porn at Ravlery but they don’t really have a good place to put things like this so all the pretty pictures of beautiful expensive knit things are going to start getting posted here on my blog!
I found this so called “Afternoon Reading Dress” but I’m sure I won’t be reading anything in the afternoon while wearing it. It comes in a couple different colors but I like the blue the best. The other colors seem to have some weird pooling of the black flecks.
I think the darker base color of the yarn looks a lot better. When you have something knitted over a large area, like this dress, or even a sweater, the contrasting darker color can start to do weird things. When you keep the finished item small it doesn’t have the opportunity to create pools or lines. That’s one of the reasons I have problems with most variegated yarns. I love the colors & the combinations when it in the skein, it just looks weird once it gets knitted up certain ways. So by keeping the base color dark, the contrast isn’t as apparent so it doesn’t matter if it stripes or pools. Just to keep on babbling, one of the ways to get around that is to NOT knit in the round. By going back & forth across the rows, which is what you do when you make a seamed sweater, it breaks up the issues you get when knitting round & round. Sometimes that doesn’t work either & it really depends on the yarn, the pattern, the gauge & even when you start within the color cycles in any given skein. I knit up some BEAUTIFUL Dove Roving yarn that had some issues with the color variegation I added a second yarn, held double, of a lace weight black & that kind of masked the color variations a little to give some color consistency throughout the stitches. It turned out beautifully & I’m planning on making a pullover with it soon. I learned that trick this summer with a cardigan I made with the yarn held double with two different colors. You can see an example of what it looks like here (this is different than the variegated yarn I was just talking about).
My Summer Sweater
Anyways, back to the dress. Here’s a few pictures of it.
ModCloth: Afternoon Reading Dress (front)
ModCloth: Afternoon Reading Dress (back)
Some of the reviews complained of it being a little too see through. You can see the weight of the fabric in this photo here so maybe they just didn’t realize it (or something, I don’t get people sometimes)?
ModCloth: Afternoon Reading Dress
I really like the featherweight type knits. I’ve made quite a few over the summer & am completely in love with them. Yes, I do wear a tank top or t-shirt underneath. But they are so comfortable & you can get really incredible drape with thin knits like this. You can also create shapes & form that you can’t get with thicker weight knits. Plus they don’t add bulk & are REALLY comfortable to wear while still keeping you warm. Alpaca is a great fiber to use when knitting with a light weight because even as a thin yarn, it still keeps you surprisingly warm. I used an alpaca silk blend yarn in that cardigan pictured above. I can not describe the feeling of that cardigan! You just have to feel it to experience how unique & soft it is.
Anyhow, back to the dress, AGAIN, I really dig the collar & how the buttons go around & over the shoulder. I also really dig the cute little pockets. I love pockets. I also love hoods, but this one doesn’t have a hood. That’s ok though, because at least it has pockets.
ModCloth: Afternoon Reading Dress (pockets)
I’m still looking around for a great sweater dress pattern & am making observations like these, saving pictures of dresses I like, so hopefully I can come up with something soon so I can make it while the weather is still cold!
Purplethermia 