I needed to whip up a little something for my niece that turned 1 last week. Waiting until nearly the last minute is something I often end up doing when it comes to hand knit gifts. This simple and lovely Spring Garden Tee seemed like a great choice due to using a heavier gauge yarn and lots and lots of stockinette.
My gauge was a big looser than required by the pattern, so I ended up following the numbers for the 9 month size. Then I got into the lace for the sleeves and ended up liking it so much I was revising the pattern in my mind. I decided that the top would become a dress.
To turn this into a dress I was first thinking I would add some extra increases and just make a more exaggerated A-line shape. Then I decided I had plenty of yarn (Rowan Creative Linen in Teal) and I should do a more dramatic increase. When I was a bit past the armhole separation I did a purl row to divide the top section from the skirt section. Then I increased to create a slight ruffle by knitting every other stitch as a k1f&b (knit through the front and the back). Then I knit knit knit until it was a length I thought could work for a dress that eventually transitions to a top (as I plan for with most baby girl dress knits). When I was about 2 inches from the length I wanted, I increased slightly to make sure I had a number of stitches that would work for the lace pattern repeat, then I added lace at the bottom.
I love this version. I think the original is beautiful too, but I wanted a little extra touch of decoration on this one. I will likely make one of these in red for Zooey, because my LYS had Creative Linen deeply on sale and I stocked up slightly…
