Patterns and Tutorials

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

My Skirt of Many Colours

Be prepared for many pictures of my glorious skirt! And like Joseph's brothers when he got his coat of many colours, be prepared to be jealous! :) But unlike Joseph's brothers whose dad wouldn't get them a fancy coat too, you can make your very own skirt if you want one...

Once I finished working in all those ends, I got out the advertising board I use for blocking and my blocking wires and stretched it out to size.

I wanted to make sure that it would hang straight from my hips and not pull back in around my knees and cause the mermaid shape. It took a good tugging, but the wool can take it! I also had to pin each of the points on the hem to make sure they were as pointy as possible.
Don't worry--after seeing this picture, I fixed
the right side that is pulling in.
Once it was dry (which didn't take long), I put the skirt over the ironing board and steamed out the creases caused by the wires along both sides. This stuff really does block wonderfully.
Now my biggest problem is what to wear with it. Someone at Red Purl was astounded that I would think I had that problem. She figured with all those colours, "What couldn't I wear with it?!" But I am still having trouble.
Maybe this just means I don't have enough solid coloured shirts. It also has to be something that can be untucked and then hangs at the right height.

What will be an easy decision is what shoes to wear with it. I found these Missoni flats at Goodwill:
They still had the tags on them! I had to debate about the price because it was a little higher than what I like to pay. But I decided to go for it because they would suit the skirt so well. When I got to the register, the worker announced that they were half off! Score!
"What did you do this morning?" they ask me.
"Took pictures of my butt," I answer.
Knitting this project was completely addicting. The pattern was straight forward and with every other row nothing but knit, I always had some "down time" while knitting. I had to force myself to stop when I got to the right length because I would have been happy picking new stripe colours for quite a long time! I am very glad I changed it to a top down in-the-round knit. I see most knitters of the pattern on Ravelry are following suit.

When I reviewed the stats on my Ravelry page, I was very surprised to see that the skirt took two months to finish. I thought it was more like a few weeks! But then I remembered that it sat neglected for some time when I had to sew down the waist band, and then again when I had to work in the ends. (Poor thing!)
Superman pose!
Project Stats
Started
: 4 Jan '12
Finished: 10 Mar '12
Pattern: Zigzag Skirt by Sasha Kagan
Materials: Evilla Longad in A-17a Grey, A-30 Orange/Green Purple, A-80 Purple/Yellow/Green; A-8 Blue/Browns, Green from raveled American Eagle vest, Black from raveled RL Polo sweater ($41.44 for materials not leftover from other projects)

This is me picking the burrs out of my skirt. I noticed them as the shutter snapped. One of the hazards of taking pictures in the wild. Burrs are especially bad, but really everything likes to stick to wool. This is sturdy stuff though; it can take it.
In conclusion, all I can say is love love LOVE it!!!

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