I finally finished knitting the jumper dress I’ve been working on for ages. I started it round the same time as I started this blog, so I’m sure you can understand why it has taken me so long!

It has also taken forever because it was initially just a top, which was then turned into a dress. I don’t really know how to make my own patterns so it took several tries before I got it right.

Here is the full view of the dress:

I got this pattern for free from the knitting social network site Ravelry from Soulful Hues Knits. I previously mentioned the site in my post Knitting on a Budget.

Here it is if you’d like to try:

Girls’ cap-sleeved spring top

Size is roughly 3-5 years

tools:
size 6, 8 and 10 circs
250ish yards of recycled light worsted or dk weight cotton yarn

gauge on 6′s in st stitch 5.5 st/in
gauge on 8′s in st stitch 4.5 st/in

approximate finished measurements:
chest: 19 in
underarm to waist: 9in

We’ll be working top down, never breaking the yarn, when you bind off, this item will be ready to wear!

neck/yoke:

CO 80 st on size 6 circs using the long tail co method
place marker, join and work 1×1 rib for 18 rounds
k one round
k1 yo, repeat til end of round (160 sts)
k stockinette st for 15 rounds

arm holes:
starting at your marker, bind off 4o sts (loosely on size 8 circs), k 40, bo 40 (again on size 8′s), k to end

joining under arms:
co 3 sts (using backward loop co method), join, knit to next join, co 3 sts, k to end

body:
k stockinette for 6ish rounds, switch to size 8 circs, knit to length, remember you can try the garment on the kid to make sure it’s long enough.

Bind off very loosely on size 10 circs, weave in co and bo tails.

**If you’d like to try turning it into a dress, the method I used was when it gets to just about under the ribcage start slowly adding directly down the sides using the Make 1 (M1) technique.

I first added one stitch and then every five rows after that I added two–M1 K1 M1. Any proper knitters that disagree with this method or my description, I apologise!

The dress looks like this on the sides, which I think looks nice and neat.