Project #38 Sarah

 


Sarah is a simple customizable high- waisted skirt knitted top-down & in-the-round.  The fold-over waist band starts from ~2” above navel & is secured by elastic.  Then the skirt is knitted to the fullest part of the hips with ~2” negative ease, & knitted to the desired length straight down.  It is finished with 1x1 ribbing for a bit of tapering. 

Helpful tutorials:

Knitting Help - Provisional Cast-On Using a Crochet Hook

How to Remove Provisional Cast On in One Piece

Elastic Waistband on Knit Pants

Three-Needle Join for Knitting

Please check end of pattern for errata updates if any.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Sizes: Small (26” or 66 cm W), Medium (28” or 71.1 cm W), Large (30” or 76.2 cm W), X Large (32” or 81.3 cm W), 2X Large (34” or 86.4 cm W). 

Sample garment is in size Small.

This project is customizable to your own gauge, measurements, & your desired garment ease. You do not have to try to meet sample gauge. 

The suggested skeins of yarn for the whole project are 3 (4, 4, 5, 5) of the yarn listed below.  When in doubt, always get an extra skein.

Materials, Tools, & Notions:

-Yarns: Lion Brand Yarns 24/7 Cotton in Amber #186G 100% Mercerized Cotton Medium Weight #4– 3.5oz/100g & 186 yd/170 m

-Needles: 1) 24”/ 73.7 cm & 32”/ 81.3 cm circular needle (CircN) in US 6 or 4.00 mm.  Use lengths of needles close to, but lesser than your waist & hip measurements.

2) Crochet hook in US 6 or 4.00 mm (for provisional CO).

 -All else: 1.5” waistband elastic, stitch markers, waste yarn or stitch holders, tape measure, yarn needle, scissor, hand-sewing needle & thread.

Gauge:

-Blocked gauge in St st (knit in-the-round): 11 sts x 15.5 rounds = (2 x 2)” or (5.1 x 5.1) cm.

 INSTRUCTIONS

Waistband:

To calculate how many stitches to cast on for the waistband, first measure the circumference of your waist ~2” or 5.1 cm above the navel.

For my example that number is 26” or 66 cm.  Subtract the desired negative ease from this number, which is 2” or 5.1 cm (I like a very snug waistband), & convert to the number of stitches using your gauge:

26” – 2” (negative ease) = 24” * (11sts/2”) (gauge) = 132 sts.

Provisionally CO 132 sts using crochet hook & a contrasting waste yarn onto the 24” CircN.   

Knit one row using your project yarn.

Place BOR marker, join in the round, & being careful not to twist, work in St st for ~2” or 5.1 cm, which is about 17 rounds for me because of my round gauge of 15.5 rounds/2”.  If you have a different round gauge, the number of rounds worked to achieve ~2” will be different.

Note the number of rounds worked.  You will work the same number of rounds after folding over to create the waistband.

Purl one round to create the fold over. 

Work another ~2” (or 17 rounds for sample garment) in St st.

Next, cut the waistband elastic the length of your waist measurement & join the elastic with 2” or 5.1 cm overlap in the suggested fashion shown in Figure 1 on page 5. 

Carefully unravel the waste yarn of your provisionally CO sts & transfer the live sts to the other CircN. 

With the joined elastic tucked in between the inwardly folded waistband, line up the CO sts with the waist sts in parallel of each other, & three-needle join them into one round as instructed below. 

Three-needle join instructions: Using the waist CircN, insert right needle into the first st on left needle for the waist as if to knit, then into the first st on the CO needle as if to knit.  Wrap & draw yarn through both knit sts & slide both sts off left needle onto the right.  Repeat until end of round.

Skirt Body:

For garments made with cotton yarns, I tend to make them with 2” of negative ease because they are likely to stretch over time.  Also, if you think the fit looks a bit tight for you, you can choose to make the skirt with 1” negative ease or no ease.

If you are making this out of wool for colder weather, I recommend making it with no ease to get a similar fit.  Wool garments retain their shape well & are not likely to stretch over time.

Increasing for Hips

Measure waist circumference at the level of your navel & convert this measurement to number of stitches.  For my example:

27.5” – 2” (negative ease) = 25.5” * (11sts/2”) = 140.25 or 140 sts.

140 sts – 132 sts (my current number of sts) = 8 sts to be increased in the next round (NR).

NR: Knit one round while increasing 8 sts at near even intervals, about every 16th / 17th st (because 132/8 = 16.5).

Put in a side marker at the midpoint of next round.

NR: K70, pm, k70.  (140 sts total)

To plan out how to increase for the hips, measure the circumference of the fullest part of your hips, & the length to the fullest part of your hips measured from about ~2” above navel.  For me those measurements are 38” & 11”.

Converting the hip circumference to number of sts while accounting for desired ease gives me 198 sts:

38’ – 2” (ease) = 36” * (11 sts/2”) = 198 sts.

Therefore, the estimated number of sts to increase is 198 – 140 = 58 sts.  These sts will be increased by working the following increase round (Inc R) at regular length intervals to be determined with the example below:

Inc R: Starting from 1 st before BOR marker, m1R, k1, sm, k1, m1L, knit to 1 st before side marker, m1R, k1, sm, k1, m1L, knit to end. (4 sts increased per round)

Because 58/4 = 14.5, the number of times I chose to work the Inc R is 15 times.  Therefore, in actuality the number of sts I will increase is 15 * 4 = 60 sts, & the final st count should be 140 + 60 = 200 sts.

The current length of garment is ~2” & I will have to work the Inc R for a total of 15 times in between this length to ~11” length (to the fullest part of hip). 

I decided to work the Inc R when garment measures ~2.5”, 3.5”, 4”, 4.5”, 5”, 5.5”, 6”, 6.5”, 7”, 7.5”, 8”, 8.5”, 9”, 9.5”, & 10” for a total of 15 times.  Note all measurements were taken from about the midpoint between the two markers. 

Switch to the longer length CircN when that makes working the garment easier.

After all increasing is done, continue working in St st until desired length or when skirt measures ~16” or 40.6 cm in my example.

Hem Options

For the sample garment, the hem was worked in 1x1 ribbing for ~2” or 5.1 cm and then was bound off loosely in pattern.  It fits close to my body and falls to low-thigh.  This is meant for shorter skirts & for hotter weather.

You may wish to work a more structured hem if you are working a longer length for skirt body, maybe a fold over knitted hem with the same length as waistband.  End the hem with a loose three-needle BO instead of a join.

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This section is reserved for Errata:

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Thank you for the interest in my designs!  

If you tried this pattern & like the finished product, please tag me on IG @wendylinkdesigns for a chance to be featured.

I also publish sneak previews of future designs at IG @wendylinkdesigns

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Abbreviations:

BO: Bind off.

BOR: Beginning of round.

CircN: Circular needle.

CO: Cast on.

Kfb: Knit both front & back loops to increase one.

M1L: Make one left (left-leaning increase).

M1R: Make one right (right-leaning increase). 

NR: Next row or round.

Pm: Place marker.

Sm: Slip marker.

St st: Stockinette stitch


Figure 1








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