Intentional Stripes

I seriously have way too much yarn in my stash!

Few years of stashing yarn is turning me into this crazy hoarder. Our spare room is full of bins of yarns.  So I hoped to get it a bit under control. This skirt was the first attempt.

When I looked at the number of stashes listed on my Ravelry file, I decided using up odd balls and single balls was the quickest way to reduce the number listed (a little cheating way to play with numbers.) I had these Elann Camilla left from knitting sweaters, and I didn't know what to do with them. They were cotton/linen blend in DK weight, so not exactly good choice for accessories like mittens, hats, etc. The thought of making towels or placemats crossed my mind. But when was the last time I used placemats at my house? I didn't remember even owning one.

For summer, I wanted tank tops, dresses, and skirts!  So I went for skirts.  Not keen on the idea of horizontal stripes as they gave a widening effect that looked good only on someone 8 sizes smaller than myself, hence chevrons. After the unintended stripes of last dress, this time, the striping was completely intentional. I pulled out the 3 colors of Camila I had and the odd balls of Elann Luna, and made my decision on the color sequence by laying them out on the floor, and proceeded with knitting.

I realized I didn't want to make it pointy at the lower edge as in Likin' It, I mulled over it a bit as I knitted.

The skirt was knitted from waist down in round with elastic band added at the finishing stage.
The construction was knitting straight  for 2.5."  To prepare for bias chevrons so the waist band is straight across at top rather than v shape, I knitted 2 sets of short rows to create upside down triangles with center at the center front and the other set at the center back

At the end of color bands in bias chevrons, I used 2 sets of short rows to create right side up triangles  centered on the side seams for straight across bottom edge.

Camila was nice yarn to work with, but quite a few knots, at least one for each ball.  For the similar blend I much prefer Elann Callista, another discontinued  yarn from Elann. Luna, on the other hand, was so unpleasant to knit with due to its incredible splittiness. It produced nice, drapey, fabric with some shine, but I would not want to make a garment entirely with it again.

Knitting this skirt and using up 4 stashes inspired me to do a tiny bit of destashing on Ravelry.  Not only because I needed to be more sensible about my yarn collection, also I opted not to teach this summer to preserve my sanity.

I decided to do some quick calculations for few sizes other than what I knitted. But I didn't feel like dealing with test knit when I already have one going on for the Thinking of Waves shawl, nor did I want to put it in complete pattern format with schematic and all that work. Still I wanted to share it because it's an easy knit. So, here are my notes. Just keep in mind it's not yet tested!


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Intentional Stripey Skirt 

Elann Camila (DK)

Color A:  2 balls in Light Pink (246 yards)

Color B: 1.8 balls in Medium Pink (220 yards)

Color C: 1.8 balls in Green (220 yards)

Elann Luna (DK)  

Color D: 3 balls in Brown (318 yards)

Needles: US #4

Gauge: 5.5 sts = 4”

Notion:  ¾” wide elastic, long enough to wrap around your waist. 

Construction: Knitting from waist down in round. 

Sizes : 27”, 30”, 33”, 36”, 39” of waist band.  Note that there will be elastic added at the end.  Zero ease is recommended.  Length given is 22” but that can be modified easily.  Bold number is the size I knitted. 

Abbreviations:

pm – place marker.  sm – slip marker. 

k2tog –knit 2 sts together.   p2togtbl – purl 2 sts together through back loops.

RS – right side.   WS – wrong side.

m1L –make one st right (an increase st.)    m1R – make one st left (an increase st.)

yo – yarn over.

Instruction

Waist Band

With Color A, CO 148 (164, 180, 196, 212.)  place marker after 74 (82, 90, 98, 106) sts for side seam.

Begin with WS row, p 1 row.

Next row (RS):  k 1 row.

Continue in St st by p on all WS rows and k on all RS rows ‘till 2.5” from CO edge.

Next row(RS): k to side seam marker, sm, k 37 (41, 45, 49, 53) turn.

Next row (WS): yo, p1, turn.

Next row (RS): yo, k to yo, k2tog the yo with next st, k3, turn.

Next row (WS): yo, pto yo, p2togtbl the yo with next st, p3, turn.

Rep last 2 rows 9 (10, 11, 12, 13) more times.  Don’t turn at the end of last WS row.

Next row (WS): ....continue.. sm, p 38 (42, 46, 50, 54) turn.

Next row (RS): yo, k1, turn.

Next row (WS): yo, p to yo, p2togtbl the yo with next st, p3, turn.

Next row (RS): yo k to yo, k2tog the yo with next st, k3, turn.

Rep last 2 rows 9 (10, 11, 12, 13) more times, end with a WS row

Next row (RS): k to yo, k2tog the yo with next st, k4 to marker.

Join In Round and Increase Stitches

Size 27 – Next row(RS): This is new beginning of round, sm, k8, m1L, (k7, m1L)3x, k7, pm, k1, pm, k7, m1R, (k7, m1R)3x, k8, k2tog the yo with next st, pm, join in round by continue to knit and careful not to twist, k8, m1L, (k7, m1L)3x, k7, pm, k1, pm, k7, m1R, (k7, m1R)3x, k9. Total 164 sts

Size 30 - Next row (RS): This is new beginning of round, sm, (k8, m1L)4x, k8, pm, k1, pm, (k8, m1R)4x, k8, k2tog the yo with next st, pm, join in round by continue to knit and careful not to twist, (k8, m1L)4x, k8, pm, k1, pm, (k8, m1R) 4x, k9. Total 180 sts.

Size 33 - Next row (RS): This is new beginning of round, sm, k4, m1L, (k9, m1L)4x, k4, pm, k1, pm, k4, m1R, (k9, m1R)4x, k4, k2tog the yo with next st, pm, join in round by continue to knit and careful not to twist, k4, m1L, (k9, m1L)4x, k4, pm, k1, pm, k4, m1R, (k9, m1R)4x, k5. Total 200 sts.

Size 36 - Next row (RS): This is new beginning of round, sm, k6, m1L, (k9, m1L)4x, k6, pm, k1, pm, k6, m1R, (k9, m1R)4x, k6, k2tog the yo with next st, pm, join in round by continue to knit and careful not to twist, k6, m1L, (k9, m1L)4x, k6, pm, k1, pm, k6, m1R, (k9, m1R)4x, k7. Total 216 sts.

Size 39 - Next row (RS): This is new beginning of round, sm, k8, m1L, (k7, m1L)5x, k9, pm, k1, pm, k9, m1R, (k7, m1R)5x, k8, k2tog the yo with next st, pm, join in round by continue to knit and careful not to twist, k8, m1L, (k7, m1L)5x, k9, pm, k1, pm, k9, m1R, (k7, m1R)5x, k9. Total 236 sts. 

Bias Construction

Round 1: *sm, k to next marker, m1L, sm, k1, sm, m1R, k to next marker, rep from * once more.

Round 2, 4:  *sm, k to next marker, sm, sl1, sm, k to next marker, rep from * once more.

Round 3: k all sts.

Rep last 4 rounds 6 times more.

Change  to Color B  

Round 1: *sm, k to next marker, m1L, sm, k1, sm, m1R, k to next marker, rep from * once more.

Round 2, 4, 6, 8:  *sm, k to next marker, sm, sl1, sm, k to next marker, rep from * once more.

Round 3, 7: k all sts.

Round 5: *sm, k2tog, k to next marker, m1L, sm, k1, sm, m1R, k to 3 sts before next marker, ssk, k1, rep from * once more.

Rep last 8 rounds 3 times more, change to Color C, rep last 8 rounds 4 times more, change to Color D, repeat last 8 rounds 4 times more. 

(As long as you keep entire total repeats of the 8 rounds in multiples of 4 -it’s 12 in the above instruction - it doesn’t matter how many repeats or rows you work with each color.)

Shortrows For Fill in the Sides

Continue with Color D.
sm, turn.

Next row (WS): yo, sm, p1, turn.

Next row (RS): yo, k to marker, sm, k2tog the yo with next st, k3, turn.

Next row (WS): yo, p to marker, sm, pt to yo, p2togtbl yo with next st, p3, turn.

Next row (RS): yo, k to marker, sm, k to yo, k2tog yo with next st, k3, turn.

Rep last 2 rows until 4 sts left unworked between the last st worked and next marker on a WS row.

Next row (RS) yo, k to marker, sm, k to yo, k2tog the yo with next st. k4 to next marker, sm, k1, sm, k to next marker, sm, turn.

Next row (WS): yo, sm, p1, turn.

Next row (RS): yo, k to marker, sm, k2tog the yo with next st, k3, turn.

Next row (WS): yo, p to marker, sm, pt to yo, p2togtbl yo with next st, p3, turn.

Next row (RS): yo, k to marker, sm, k to yo, k2tog yo with next st, k3, turn.

Rep last 2 rows until 4 sts left unworked between the last st worked and next marker on a WS row.

Next row (RS): yo, k to next marker, sm, k to yo, k2tog the yo with next st, k to next marker, sm, k1, sm, k to 1 st before next yo, k next with with the yo, k to end.

Next round (work in round with RS facing): sm, p to next marker, remove marker, p1, remove marker, p to 1 st before yo, p2tog next st with the yo, p to next marker, sm, p to next marker, remove marker, p1, remove marker, p to end.

k 1 round.

p 1 round.

k 1 round.

(repeat last 2 rounds once if you wish, I didn’t because I was running out of yarn.)

BO all sts purl-wise.

Finishing

Fold the top edge over 1”,  lay elastic along the edge, sew the edge to the back to encase the elastic.  Sew the sides together.

Weave in Ends

Block.