Mods to A Good Stripe Dress

The pattern for this dress is in the Interweave Knits
Spring 2008

http://www.interweaveknits.com/backissues/spring-2008.asp

And if you are a member, you can also view projects on Ravelry

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-good-stripe-dress

Unfortunately, the pattern was not written for a 2 year old. I fell in love with the pattern, and decided to knit it anyhow making adjustments as i go.

Here it goes:

I used Lana Gatto Wool Gatto yarn. It is listed as a dk yarn, however it feels and knits as a sport weight.
I used 3 mm needles and i got the gauge of 26 sts and 33 rows to 4". The pattern gauge is 26 sts and 37 rows. And seeing how the pattern is written row by row i had to take into the account the difference in gauge as well as the fact that a 2 year old body is not shaped the same way as a 4 year old one.

The bodice was knitted following the pattern for the smallest size. I started shaping armholes on the back part on the 3rd color change (ie color a, color b, color a - start shaping).

I started shaping on 4th row instead of 10th.
Also i did 1 increase less ( so i had 61 sts instead of 63)

For the front pieces, i did the front bodice shaping as in the pattern, and armhole shaping as for the back.
After that i joined back and front pieces in a round, and at this point i also introduced the placket opening. I also only cast on 5 sts for the underarms instead of 11.
On the 4th color change (ie color b), i did not do waste shaping but just knitted it straight,
On the 5th color change (color a), i did the first set of increases (ie from waist shaping)
On the 6th color change (color b), i started the skirt increases.
7th color change is color a, and on 8th it is color c.
9th color change is color b and i finished the dress by doing 12 rounds of garter stitch instead of 6 as in the pattern.

All in all my dress is shorter by 4 color changes or 88 rows in other words.

For the armhole finishing i knitted 10 rnds instead of 8 in garter and did 2 more decreases than in the pattern.
For the placket i picked up 14 sts instead of 20.
And i believe the collar was like in the pattern.