I have really been wanting to challenge my knitting skills more ever since I hit my tenth year of knitting in 2010. While at times, I feel I am not accomplishing that goal by not taking on more fair isle, entrelac, intarsia, and other "advanced" knitting techniques, the completion of my latest project is a reminder that I am continually challenging myself, just not in the ways I intend.
After a year of knitting, I finally finished the Still Light Tunic, a great pattern by Veera Valimaki. The pattern was not complicated – knit in one piece and almost entirely in stockinette – but just the sheer magnitude of completing a stockinette dress with a fingering weight yarn was fairly daunting to take on, and in fact, took a year to complete (though, of course, there have been several other lovely projects that have kept me occupied this past year). I am really happy with the result, though it might be a little bigger than I would like (both width and lengthwise). I have only worn it once though because of course I finished the alpaca dress when spring was in full swing, so I am looking forward to seeing more how it wears over time. Project details follow the picture below.
Madhu's Still Light Tunic/Dress
Pattern: Still Light by Veera Valimaki. I made the smallest size of the tunic, and because I expected the dress to grow, I knit only 8 3/4 inches straight at the bottom of the tunic (instead of 10 inches) and knit the sleeves 9 inches from the underarm.
Yarn: DROPS Alpaca, 7 skeins in color 0501m eco.
Needles: US1 for neck border, and US2 for body of the dress.
Measurements: Pre-blocking measurements of 25 1/2 inches long, 7 1/2 inch wide neck opening, 32 inches around at bust, 36 1/2 inches around at bottom of the dress. Post-blocking measurements of 30 inches long, 7 1/2 inch wide neck opening, 30 inches around at bust, 35 inches around at bottom of the dress, and 10 inch long sleeves.
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