Brenna's New Dress (Test Knit)

 I finished a new dress for Brenna. This was a test knit of a new pattern. The designer wanted the dress completed by the end of July. We had a whole month to finish the dress, so I figured I could do the test with out running out of time. Then, I had some problems with the first draft of the pattern and one week into my time limit I pulled the whole thing apart and started over. I thought (for some incomprehensible reason) that I could get a lot of knitting done during Owen's hospital stay, but I was wrong. I finally finished the dress on July 31st. I got Devon to do a photo shoot with Brenna and was only one day late posting photos on my Ravelry page.

 I love this little dress! It uses a great technique for knitting set in sleeves top down and seamless. I quickly learned that I hate seaming my handknits, so I usually knit top down seamless designs. I really like the look of set in sleeves sometimes though. This handy little technique lets me have the best of both worlds.

 My kids are skinny for their ages, so I should have made the 12 month size to have the amount of grow room I like for Brenna. The designer already had enough testers for that size though, so I did the 18 month size. It had enough grow room that I got curious about how long it might fit and decided to try it on Owen. It actually fit perfectly as a top!

  At first Owen was hiding his face about being pictured in a dress, but then he decided he was man enough to embrace it. Then I decided to try it on Morgan.

 It just barely fit. You can't see in the pictures, but it is pretty tight through the chest. I think Brenna should be able to wear it until she is about five. I love making dresses that "grow" with the child into tunics and eventually tops. It makes the month it took me to knit this little dress seem not so long at all.