Date: Sun, 21 Jul 96 19:46 PDT From: Judy Gibson To: swallace@rain.org Subject: Mini Knitting info... And, since you mentioned some Barbiewear, here are a couple of patterns I developed: KNITTING FOR BARBIE I had my three knitting nieces (8, 10, & 11) for a few days last week, and they all wanted to learn something new. They've been doing garter stitch squares; I don't blame them for being bored. One of them wanted to learn to purl, so I set her up doing a stockinette square. The other two wanted something different, so I thought, "Why not?" and brought out my dp's. They've seen me working on socks and wondered what I do with all those needles. So: what can they do on dp's that will accomplish something fairly fast? Barbie clothes, of course. A simple tube works fine as a Barbie dress; ribbing at the waist improves it a little; and I tried throwing in a little bustline shaping. (The girls didn't get this far.) Here's what I came up with: GENERIC BARBIE DRESS Select a pretty yarn, sparkly is nice. Worsted is okay, but finer yarn would be better. Assuming you have figured out the gauge you'll get, cast on enough stitches to give you five inches in stockinette. Make it an even number. (For sparkly Woolease on 7's at 5 sts/in I cast on 24 stitches.) Skirt: Join and knit in the round for 5 1/2 inches (ankle length) or 3 inches (knee length) or 2 inches (short). Ribbing: this will actually start at the widest part of the hips. Work in k1 p1 rib for one inch. Bodice: if you don't want to do shaping, just work in stockinette for another inch and bind off fairly tightly (there should be some stretch, but no flaring). To give a bit of shape to the bodice, on the first two rounds do p1, k1, p1, k1, p1 at the center front. On the next two rounds, do p1, k1, p1 at the center front. Then do 2 rounds, slipping the center stitch, knit one round, do 2 rounds slipping the center stitch, and bind off. The slipped stitches pull the dress down a bit at the center. VARIATION ON A THEME: BARBIE'S LACY PINK BALL GOWN Using the same waist and bodice shaping, I wanted to make a fuller lacy skirt. I used pink sport weight acrylic left over from a pair of Girly Girl socks. I got 6 sts/in in this yarn. General scheme: choose a lace pattern that will give a scalloped lower edge, cast on a multiple that makes about 10 inches. Knit the skirt up to about mid-thigh (since Barbie apparently doesn't wear underwear) and change to stockinette. Decrease evenly (6 stitches every other round makes a nice taper) to the hip, and ease into the ribbing for the waist. I chose Barbara Walker's Vine Lace, and cast on 54 stitches for 6 repeats. Round 1: knit Round 2: *yo, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, yo, k1* around Round 3: knit Round 4: *k1, yo, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, yo* around Knit in pattern for 4 1/2 inches and change to stockinette. Decrease six stitches every other round five times (24 stitches remain). Center the decreases above the decreases in the six lace panels, and use ssk and k2tog on alternate decrease rounds, avoiding making a vertical line. Do 4 rounds in k3 p1 rib. Arrange this rib so that the first k stitch of one of the ribs falls above the center of a lace panel decrease. This will be the center front of the dress. Change to k1 p1 rib for 3/4 inch, then shape the bodice as described above. And...I think this lacy pink dress needs a lacy stole or mantilla, don't you? Judy - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Judy Gibson jgibson@cts.com Descanso, California Botany Department San Diego Natural History Museum --- This pattern downloaded from Wool Works: the online knitting compendium http://www.woolworks.org/