Knitted Cable Dress
There's something undeniably chic about a simple cabled dress. You can dress it up with heels, or dress it down with a flannel and combat boots. I finally found the perfect design -- about thigh length with cables. The only problem? It wasn't a knitting pattern, but a dress to buy.
No problem. I saved a picture of the dress and made a pattern to go with it. Mine came out a little tighter than it is here. I figure it'll stretch a little bit, and I have a tendency to make things too big, so I erred on the side of caution.
I used the crochet method to cast on because it leaves a nice edge and is much easier than the long tail method. I wear a 6 to 8 dress size and casting on 255, I made a dress fits like a glove. If you're a little smaller, you can use this pattern for a looser dress (more like the one in the model photo) and if you're a little larger, just cast on more stitches, as long as it's an increment of five.
*Note* To determine your size, measure the widest point on your body (for me it's the hips), and make a gauge. Figure out how many stitches there are to the inch (or 4 inches if you prefer that).
Here's the formula to determine how many stitches to cast on:
(number of stitches per inch) x (how many inches around your midsection) = (number of stitches you should cast on).
Here we go. Once you've cast on the desired number of stitches continue in the pattern as follows:
Knitted Cable Dress Pattern
CO 255 sts, or any multiple of 5. Join without twisting
K5, P5, for 23 rows, or about three inches.
On the last row, decrease three stitches and place marker.
Pattern continues as follows:
Row 1 and 5: p3, k9, p3
Rows 2, 4, 6, and 8: p3, sl next 3 sts to cn and hold in front. K3, K3 from cn, K3, P3. Continue to marker.
Row 3: p3, sl next 3 stitchs to cn and hold in front, k3, k stitches on cable, k3, p3. Continue to marker.
Measure from your armpit down as long as you want the dress. Mine is XX inches. I measured another dress of mine to determine this measurement. Again, I worried the dress would stretch an inch or so with continued use, so I made mine about a half inch shorter than my ultimate desired length.
Once you've knit your desired length, continue Row 1 X times. This will be the front of your dress. Then put X sections on a stitch holder. This will be your right arm and the left side of the dress when looking at it. Continue Row 1 X more times. Put X sections on another stitch holder. This will be your left armhole, and the right side of the dress.
Continue in pattern on the front of the dress for desired length. You can put the stitches for the back on another stitch holder, but I just left mine on the needle. The front of my dress from this point up was XX inches, or XX iterations of the pattern.
Cast off all stitches.
*Note: By casting off all stitches at once, my dress has a boat neck finish. You will sew the shoulders together and leave the neck open.
Do the same thing for the back.
My dress now measures XXX.
Join the shoulders. I flipped my dress inside out so the sewed crease is on the inside of the garment.
Sleeves:
Pick up and knit XX stitches along the arm hole.
Continue knit first row of pattern (p3, k9, p3)
Continue row 2 from pattern and beyond.
I get hot in garments this heavy, so I ended the sleeves at the elbow. I also have a terrible habit of making my sleeves different lengths or I'll knit too tightly on one sleeve and they come out lopsided so this also solved some of my biggest sweater issues. If you want to knit them all the way down to your wrist, I wish you well, but those instructions are not part of this pattern.
Once the sleeves measure XX inches (or Xx iterations of the pattern), start the rib.
K5, p5 until ribbed section measures XX inches.
Cast off.
You're almost done!
Repeat on second sleeve.
Once finished, fold ribbed section of the sleeve up and sew to make a nice cuff.
Sew ends.
Enjoy your new sweater!!
