Finished: Mary's Handspun Dress

Back when I was a wee inexperienced spinner (like 3 years ago), I bought my first nice fiber, some merino from Woolgatherings. I had no idea what the yarn would turn out like, so I was sucked in by the bright, saturated colors. The yarn turned out nicely, but man was it bright. I had no idea what to do with it, so I decided to have a girl baby so that I could knit something for her. That's why most people have children, right?

I searched and searched to find the perfect pattern, but quite serendipitously I saw that a designer on Ravelry was looking for test knitters for the very pattern I had in my head.

The pattern is called Eleni's Dress, and I made the 12-month size. I didn't include the button since it doesn't really serve a function, and I made the front of the dress the back because the garter stitch jogs a bit when knit in the round.

Overall the pattern was great; it was extremely simple and has a lot of potential for modification if you wanted to add stripes or a fair isle design. It also has a long life in baby wear because it becomes a vest or shirt the following winter.

And no, because it's 100% wool, it's not machine washable. But that's ok because now that I have a child, I have unlimited time for hand washing all of my knit garments.