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The Story:
Not long ago, I fell in love with bulky yarns. But I had the hardest time designing something to make with them. There are still a few unfinished “what was I thinking?” projects hibernating in my stash, waiting for the day they’ll be frogged. While I didn’t finish them, the pieces I did assemble were great learning tools. I learned that I don’t want to wear something worked into a solid, opaque fabric, from a bulky yarn.
I often see knitted sweaters with crochet trim. So, when thinking of what to make with the beautiful Aspen yarn that was recently added to my stash, I decided to do things a little backwards. I wanted to use a simple crochet open-work stitch as the body, and use a knitted 1 x 1 rib around the lower edge and the neck.
Then I remembered back to the time when I was a crocheter who couldn’t knit. I decided I had better make this pattern all in crochet—back then, I would have glazed right past this design, not even considering to pick up knitting needles. Luckily, single crochet stitches worked through the back loop create a ribbing effect similar to what I was imagining with the knitted 1 x 1 rib.
I chose not to line my dress because I lack sewing skills. But if you’re handy with fabric, I think this would look beautiful with a solid colored cloth lining.
Visit Kristen's blog to see what else she's up to.
The Yarns:
Aspen
50% alpaca, 50% wool
Aspen is a single-ply, softly-spun yarn that’s half alpaca and half wool. This super bulky yarn is soft and smooth and warm. Many of the colors in the seventeen-color palette are heathered—like the green used for Kristen’s crocheted dress (1581 Tree Grove). It works up wonderfully fast with plump round, stand out stitches. In this weeks Web-Letter, Kristen shows us that Aspen is not just for knitting, but makes wonderful crocheted garments as well.
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more photos
The Pattern:
Here is the free downloadable Aspen Mesh Dress pattern.
If you have difficulty downloading or printing the PDF pattern above, try these:
page 1, page 2; page 3, page 4
The Stitches:
A few weeks ago we explained a little about single crochet through the back loop. The Aspen Mesh Dress also uses this stitch to create the ribbing around the neck and lower edge. However, it is not worked in the round, but rather, worked in rows horizontally across the lower edge of the body, joining to the body as it’s worked. The ribbing’s density helps balance the open-work of the body and the weight of the ribbing is essential for the drape of the dress.
Learn how to work ribbing horizontally, while joining to the body.
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