The Somewhat Shore-Set Hoodie Skirt.

I decided to just forge ahead with the skirt. After all, it’s just a swim suit coverup! It’s cotton - maybe it will grow. Maybe I’ll lose that pesky 5 pounds I gained. Maybe Utah will get a State Lottery and I’ll win $83 million. Heh.

The funny thing is - now that it’s done, it doesn’t seem too bad. Yes, it could be a tiny bit looser around the hips, but I think it will be fine. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t frog it and try to make it larger.

Pattern: Shore Set Hoodie by Deborah Newton, from Knitter’s K86 Spring 2007

Size Made: Small

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, Color: Lake; about 2-1/4 skeins.

Needles: US 10

Modifications:

I made a lot of changes - I basically just used the original pattern as a template.

1. Substituted yarn

2. Knitted in stockinette instead of reverse stockinette.

3. Omitted cables.

4. Instead of knitting from the waistband down, then picking up stitches to knit the waistband, I started at the ‘inside’ edge of the hem with a provisional cast-on, and knit the waistband in reverse of the pattern directions. When the waistband was finished, I just folded it and knitted the stitches on the needle along with the cast-on stitches (I had to allow for there being slightly more stitches at the waistband than on the cast-on edge, but that was simple enough). From there, I just knitted downward, using the increases as specified by the pattern.

5. For the length, I just knitted until I figured I had enough yarn left to do the hem, plus a little extra. Then I did a purl row before knitting the hem as indicated in the pattern. It actually ended up being almost exactly the same length as the pattern suggested.

6. I hadn’t planned on doing the I-cord for the waistband - Heather had already pointed out to me that knitting a 54″ I-cord would not be too much fun. I figured I’d just buy a ready-made cord, or rummage through my sewing machine cabinet to see what I had on hand. But after a look at how much yarn I had left after finishing the skirt, I decided to see if there was enough to do a crocheted chain. I used 2 strands together, grabbed a G crochet hook that was handy, and crocheted a chain. It’s not quite 54″, but it’s long enough. Done - and used up every bit of the yarn except for a few long tails I’d left when joining yarn (I made sure to only join yarn at the side “seams”, since otherwise the join would be pretty noticeable).

So there we have it - a matching ensemble.