By Kristi Porter

Off with its head!

To decapitate a turtleneck, you’ll have to do a bit of close examination. 

If you think about how you would knit a turtleneck, the most likely choice is that stitches are picked up at the neckline and then the turtleneck is knit in the round to the top. 

In this case, examine the top edge, look for the tail tucked in, loosen it, begin pulling out the bound off stitches and keep going until you get back down to the neckline.

You don’t have to worry about where to stop, since the neck was knit separately from the body. 

If you don’t have luck with this, it may be that the neck was knit separately from the top down and then sewn into place. If you can spot this seam and pull it out, you’ll be on the road to unraveling. Other necks will have a seam or even two. In this case, you’ll have to open the seams and then unravel the pieces.  See more on decapitating your turtleneck here.

Once you’ve beheaded the turtleneck, you can leave the neck as-is, work a simple crochet border as I did, or pick up and knit a neck that pleases you more. 

Finding your waist
For this dress I chose to keep most of the top intact, cutting it off just above the ribbing which hit at the hips.  Depending on the top you’re working with, your body and taste, you might decide to have the bodice of your dress end at your waist or under the bust for an empire waisted dress.  Try the top on, mark where you’d like to cut, then take it back off and put in on the operating table. 

Since most knits are worked from the bottom up, you’ll be going against the grain and will not be able to unravel from the hem up to where you’d like the waistline.  Instead, you’ll need to place a safety line (if you’re the nervous sort), then get out the scissors and cut at the base of the stitches in the row below your safety line.  You can see pictures and get more how-to on cutting your sweater and picking up stitches in an earlier Frankenknits column and here on the Knitty-Gritty website.

Reclaiming the yarn
After the surgery is complete, chances are you have a couple of decent sized pieces of knitting waiting to be unravelled.  Frog these and make the yarn into skeins, give them a wash and then hang them to dry.  If you hang the skein on a clothes hanger and then hang a couple more hangers at the bottom of the skein, you’ll pull out the kinks as it dries and have some fresh yarn to complete your project.  The yarn I salvaged from the neck and hem of the black top was used to knit the black stripes at the bottom of the dress -- that way, I didn’t have to worry about trying to match the color, and it gives the whole dress a bit of coherence.

Knitting the skirt
After measuring the gauge on the top, I went to the yarn shop with my balls of reclaimed yarn and found a decent match in weight and texture.  If you can’t find a similar yarn, don’t fret -- contrast in color, texture or weight will add interest to your finished dress.  And changing gauge isn’t a big problem.  If your top’s knit at 4.5 stitches per inch and you’d like to knit the skirt in a yarn that knits at 5 stitches per inch, you’ll simply need to do a bit of math: since the existing garment has 18 stitches in four inches and the new yarn knits at 20 stitches per 4 inches, you’ll increase twice in every 18 stitches (that’s *k9, m1* around) in the first row and continue on from there.

A tube-shaped skirt is the easiest design choice.  Simply put your live stitches onto the appropriate sized needle (the appropriate size being the one you need to knit your new yarn at the correct gauge), and start knitting around in circles, changing colors as you please. Remember that you don’t need to stick to stockinette.  Reverse stockinette creates texture, while any ripple or feather-and-fan stitch will add visual interest, particularly when paired with shifts in color.

You might also consider an A-line dress.  To knit one, just place two markers, one at each side seam, and increase on either side of the markers, say every fourth or sixth round, depending on how much flare you want in your skirt. 

Or think of an empire waisted dress: you might begin with a round of eyelets (*yo, k2tog* around) to run a ribbon through later, then continue in a simple lace pattern.  An easy choice: work your increases as yo, k1, yo at four or six points evenly spaced around the skirt, one point at each side seam and the others evenly spaced from those.  How frequently you work the increase row will control how wide the bottom of your dress will be, but somewhere between every 6th row and every 10th row will probably be right for you.  Consider lightweight yarns like mohair if you’d like to make a long or flowy dress. Cotton yarn, for instance, will end up quite heavy if you’re going for a full dress. But you can use these basic techniques to create anything from a babydoll top to a full length gown.

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And speaking of babydolls, here’s a fun little dress to make for the wee girl in your life.

Babydoll Dress

The body of this dress is knit side-to-side using the yarn of your choice.  This will sound familiar to knitters of Haiku, also celebrating its fifth birthday. Since this is for a youngster, take the care needs of your yarn into consideration.  If you mean it as an heirloom, go ahead with the hand-dyed pure silk yarn and taffeta for the skirt.  If you mean it as a playdress, then a cotton-blend yarn and gingham might be a better choice, or superwash wool paired with flannel for cooler months. 

Size
6 mos [12 mos, 2 yrs, 4 yrs]
Chest circumference of finished dress, with back overlapped 1 inch: 17 [18, 20, 22] inches.

Materials
Yarn of your choice.
Your yardage will vary.
The sample shown, knit in 12 month size in Debbie Bliss Stella (60% silk, 20% rayon, 20% cotton) at 16 sts/22 rows per 4 inches used 50 yards of yarn.
The 6 month size, knit at 4.5 sts/inch requires 55 yards. Needles needed to knit a fabric you like with the yarn you’ve chosen.

Calculations
With the yarn and needles you want to use, knit a swatch in stockinette stitch and measure the number of stitches per inch carefully.  Measure in several places to be confident of the number.  Wise knitters will take the time to knit a 4 inch square and then divide the number of stitches by 4 to come up with an accurate number.  Round fractions to the quarter inch. 

Write your gauge per inch here: _______

You will have to make several calculations based on your gauge to customize the pattern to suit your yarn and the size you want to knit. In all cases, round to the nearest whole number and jot down your answers to refer to as you knit.

_______ (A) My gauge per inch times 4[4.5, 5, 5] = cast on number.
_______ (B) My gauge per inch times 1[1,1.5, 2] = back neck depth.
_______ (C) = (A) + (B) = total stitch count, including straps.
_______ (D) My gauge per inch times  2[2.5, 2.5, 3] = stitches below the armhole.
_______ (E) = (C) - (D) = armhole stitches
_______ (F) My gauge per inch times 1.5[1.5, 2, 2.5] = front neck depth.

Directions
The bodice of the dress is knit side-to-side in one piece.  You’ll start at the left back with the eyelets that will later become the buttonholes and work the shoulder straps, armholes and necklines by casting on and binding off as you go, finishing at the right back.  

Left Back
Begin at the back of the dress, creating a row of eyelets that will later be used as buttonholes.
Cast on (A) sts. See worksheet above.
Purl 1 row.
Next row (RS): K1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from *, end k1 if necessary. Next row (WS): Purl.

Next row (RS): K1, yo, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Next row (WS): Purl.
Repeat these 2 rows until the piece measures 2.75[3, 3, 3.5] inches, ending with a WS row.

Left Back Strap
Cast on (B) additonal sts, using the knitted, cable or backward-e cast-on for the back left shoulder strap.
Next row: K1, *yo, k2tog* over (B) sts just cast on, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.

Next row (WS): Purl.
Next row (RS): K to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Repeat the last 2 rows until the shoulder strap measures 1.5[1.5, 2, 2] inches, ending with a RS row.

Left Armhole
Next row (WS): Purl (D) sts, *yo, p2tog, repeat from * to end of row (if necessary, end p1).
Next row (RS): Bind off (E) sts, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, 1.
Next row: Purl. Next row (RS): K1, yo, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Repeat these 2 rows until the piece measures 1 inch (all sizes) from the last bind off, ending with a WS row.

Left Front Strap
Cast on (E) additonal sts.  You will have (C) sts on the needle.
Next row (RS): K1, *yo, k2tog* over the (E) sts just cast on, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.

Next row (WS): Purl. Next row (RS): K to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1
Repeat these 2 rows until this shoulder strap measures 1.5[1.5, 2, 2] inches, ending with a RS row.

Front Neck
Next row (WS): Purl to last (F) sts, *yo, p2tog, repeat from * to end of row (if necessary, end p1).
Next row (RS): Bind off (F) sts, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.

Next row (WS): Purl.
Next row (RS): K1, yo, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Repeat these 2 rows until the front neck measures 4.5[5, 5, 6] inches from the last bind off, ending with a WS row.

Right Front Strap
Cast on (F) sts. 
There are (C) sts on the needle.
Next row (RS): K1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * over (F) sts just cast on, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.

Next row (WS): Purl.
Next row (RS): K to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Repeat these 2 rows until this shoulder strap measures 1.5[1.5, 2, 2] inches ending with a RS row.

Right Armhole
Next row (WS): Purl (D) sts, *yo, p2tog, repeat from * to end of row (if necessary, end p1).
Next row (RS): Bind off (E) sts, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.

Next row (WS):Purl.
Next row (RS): K1, yo, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Repeat the last 2 rows until the piece measures 1 inch from the last bind off, ending with a WS row.

Right Back Strap
Cast on (E) sts.  There are (C) sts on the needle.
Next row (RS): K1, *yo, k2tog* over the (E) sts just cast on, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.

Next row (WS): Purl.
Next row (RS): K to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Repeat these 2 rows until this shoulder strap measures 1.5[1.5, 2, 2] inches, ending with a RS row.

Next row (WS): P to last (B) sts, *yo, p2tog, repeat from * to end of row, ending p1 if necessary. Next row (RS): Bind off (B) sts, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.

Right Back
Next row: Purl.
Next row: K1, yo, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1.
Repeat the last 2 rows until the right back measures almost 2.75[3, 3, 3.5] inches, ending with a WS row.
Next row (RS): P1, *yo, p2tog, repeat from * to end of row, ending p1 if neccesary.
Next row: Bind off.

Finishing
Block pieces to measurements given. 
When dry, sew the shoulder straps together using mattress stitch.
Overlap backs by 1 inch and stitch together along bottom hem if desired -- this will make it easier to attach the skirt. Alternately, if you are using a buttoned shirt for the skirt, leave the back of the dress open and line up the buttonbands of the bodice and skirt when you sew them together.
Using eyelets as guides, sew buttons along opposite side of back.

For skirt:
Cut fabric 10 -24” long by 25 - 45 inches wide, depending on the length and width you desire and the fabric you are using.  Lighter fabrics can be gathered more than heavy fabrics, for instance. An adult T-shirt, cut off below the armholes, will be an appropriate skirt for any size dress. The length of the fabric can be varied to become anything from a top to a full length dress. 
Match the two short ends of the fabric, with right sides together, and sew a seam along the short end, creating a tube.

If necessary, turn under 1/4 inch on one side of the tube and sew a seam, then turn under 1 inch and sew the hem in place, by hand or machine.

On the opposite side of the tube, take long basting stitches by hand or machine, then pull the ends to gather the skirt so that it is 17[18, 20, 22] inches around. Even out the gathers around the circumference of the skirt, then stitch over it again to lock the gathers in place.

Pin the gathered end of the skirt (RS out) to the WS of the bodice, then stitch into place, just above the eyelet row, using needle and thread.

If desired, run ribbons through the eyelets around the neck, armholes and bodice.

Visit frankenknits.com to see Kristi chop things up, share your ideas and projects, and be inspired. And bring your own power tools.