The Carnaby Skirt

I knit a skirt!  This is something I was a bit scared to do, as I was always in fear of the BUMP that might occur after sitting down.  Then I found the Carnaby pattern and I had to have it.  It's cute!  It's fashionable!  It is fun to knit!

One of my knitting hurdles is my allergy to wool.  It is an awful allergy to have if you love to knit.  Seriously there are so many beautiful yarns out there containing wool.  Plus most patterns are written for wool yarn, and substituting can be really tricky.  Wool has some great qualities, like a natural stretch and give, that many other fibers do not have.  Why oh why am I sensitive to wool??  It is an unfair knitting affliction.

However, I have learned to adapt.  For the Carnaby skirt, I used Berroco Remix in Clementine.  Berroco Remix is a great yarn for us non-wool types.  It is made of 100% recycled fibers, including nylon, cotton, acrylic, silk, and linen.  It is soft and has a tweedy look that I really like, plus has some elasticity that is KEY for a knitted skirt!

A cool thing about the Carnaby skirt is that it can be made any length and to fit any size.  It is knit sideways, so your cast-on row will go down the length of the skirt.  This is when you have to decide how long you want the skirt to be!  The pattern  is for a 17 inch length, and I added some stitches (8 to be exact) so my skirt is closer to 19 inches.  You then keep knitting the pattern again and again until it reaches around your body and overlaps a bit for the buttons.  The end result is awesome and completely made for your own body!

Here is the one thing I would change about the Carnaby skirt construction.  That is in the buttonhole band.  The way the pattern is written, you knit several stitches down from the waist before creating your first buttonhole.  This means that the button is NOT at the actual TOP of the skirt and thus when you button the top, that fabric above the top button gaps open.  I currently use a safety pin there but need to sew in a hook and eye.  So if I made another, I would not knit as many stitches down from the waist before the first buttonhole.  I would get it as close to the top as I could.  It just makes more sense to me.

I apologize for the angle of this photo.  It looks very odd.  And please do not look at my stomach.  Let's just pretend we can't even see that, ok?  I use this photo only to show the top of the skirt versus where the first button falls.  Ok, scroll down and stop looking at this picture.
 

Here is how the back looks (NO BUMP!) and a closer view of the "pleats".  Yes, the skirt is wrinkled, which has something to do with the fact that I was sitting on it, but it isn't actually stretched out along those lines. 

I think it is a pretty flattering skirt.  And you can wear it either way, so the buttons could be on the right or left side.  In the pattern they show the buttons on the right, but you could wear it either way!

If you are looking for a skirt to knit, give this one a shot.  It's fun!