This will hopefully be an amazing thing when it is done.
10/14/13: pictures are on the way, but I think my mega epic challenge was a success! There are some parts I’m considering going back to eventually, but I’m ready for a break right now. Thank you to everyone who cheered me on through the crazy times. Your support made it all worthwhile! And, now I’m MARRIED!

10/11/13: the skirt is as long as it’s going to get. I’ve put the live stitches onto a length of yarn and secured it very well. Ends are woven in, and it’s had a good steam block. Now to wait and see how the whole thing looks tomorrow!

10/10/13: for those of you following along at home… Wedding is in 2 days, dress not done. After tonight, I’m cutting myself off and there is nothing more that will be done. Finally fixed the skirt issue, but it is too late to add any lace to the bottom, so oh well. Simple skirt. It’s ridiculously early in the morning, after not much sleep, so I can’t be more articulate. Pics forthcoming.

10/1/13: my wedding is in 11 days. This means lots of crazy work for the next 9 days. Last night I managed to think back the bind off, and I redid it with a much larger needle. I also got about 1/3 of the seam done before I fell asleep. Tonight it will be done. It has to be.

9/30/13: I managed to knit the folded picot border around the neckline, sleeve tops, and all down the back. I figured I would pick up along the starting edge while binding off to avoid having to seam it. Turns out this was a bad idea (of course) and it is too tight to even fit over my shoulders. That was last night. Now I;m sitting down to undo the entire bind off, and probably do a sewn bind off, then sew that edge down over the cotton cord I’m using as a stabilizer. I was able to get some great advice on adding a fabric border to the bottom of the skirt to lengthen it. Also, I got some satin fabric that is an almost perfect match color-wise for the yarn.

Onward!!! Off I go to fix this thing.

9/28/13: TWO SLEEVES!!! I have 2 finished sleeves. Woohoo!!! Now for the rest of the adventure…

9/24/13: starting the lace chart for my second sleeve tonight. I’m also contemplating whether or not to go up a few needle sizes for the skirt lace edging.

9/22/13: Sleeves!!! Why oh why did I decide I needed sleeves? Crazy me! sigh 19 days until I’m supposed to be walking down the aisle wearing this giant slice of crazy pie. I have back up plans b-f ready and waiting should the need arise, because I will be wearing this on my wedding day! And nothing is going to stop me! Not even a linear time stream… Where’s the doctor when you need him?

8/23/13: I’ve started fixing the skirt. I am almost at a point to start the lace section again. It’s very tedious but I’m plodding along. Fingers crossed that it works this time.

8/22/13: I finished the sleeve! Everyone join me in the celebratory happy dance!!!!!!! Woohoo!!! I’ve yet to start the second sleeve, finish the skirt, or add the edging to the whole thing, but the sleeve is done! Yeah!

8/21/13: I’m now about halfway through my beaded bind off on the first sleeve! Finally! It’ll be finished tonight, then on to the next one. Time is short for this.

8/5/13: I GIVE UP!!! Well, ok… Not really. But I really wish I could. And I know that technically, there is no one forcing me to finish this thing (myself excepted) but seriously! I feel like I need a few days off work to get my groove back. Or a secret lover boy project. Like socks! Yeah! I should make myself a pair of socks! Shhh, please don’t remind me that every time I make a pair of socks, I swear I won’t do it again! Just like this dress. Never again! But that’s the point, isn’t it? I really want to get it finished. I’m sure no one will see the mistakes (and if you do, please… For the love of all that is good, DON’T TELL ME!!!). I wish the mistakes weren’t there. I know that I could go back and fix them to make it perfect, but then I’d have to quit my job and knit full time for the next 2 months to redo all the parts I’m not 100% satisfied with. And I can’t afford to do that. I need to be able to contribute to this household financially right now. And I like my job. I don’t want to have to quit just to finish this dress. Because that would be stupid. At the same time, I need this dress to be done so I don’t end up only wearing a bright orange dress on my wedding day. Then I might as well put on a pumpkin suit and call it a day. I have plans people! Grand, wonderful, fantastical (and mildly delusional) plans!

Oh, and the sleeve still isn’t done.

7/23/13: next few days… Yeah right! What reality am I living in?! Sleeve is still not finished. I have a day off work that I plan to spend just knitting. I need to finish some part of this before I lose my patience and give up. I want so desperately to be done. To the point where it is painful in a way. Please send knitting fairies to help. I’ll leave the chart on the coffee table for them!

6/14/13: I’m half way through the chart for the lace edging on the first sleeve. It will be done in the next few days. After that, I will go back to the skirt and try start the lace again. I’m seeing progress though, and feeling good about the whole thing.

6/4/13: I still haven’t fixed the issue with the skirt and the mess I made when frogging back, so I moved on to a sleeve to feel like I’m making progress. I’m about 1/3 of the way done with the 13” or so long elbow length flutter sleeve. It will have the same small diamond lace pattern as the skirt, with beads on the bottom points. I found some fabulous czech glass faceted round AB beads online, but they are a bit more than I wanted to spend. So I’m going with the round glass AB bead from Joanns instead. No one but me will know the difference. There just won’t be as much sparkle, which is probably a good thing… Once this sleeve is done, I need to attempt to fix the skirt again and finish it, then the second sleeve, then the lacing band along the back, and then the beaded picot edging along the top of the front, sleeves, and back. Then it’ll be DONE! Must. Knit. Faster.

5/23/13: having to frog 10+ rows of knitting is heartbreaking and soul sucking at this point. Lifelines are a must (I said that last time though) but this time before I start the lace edging, I really mean it!

5/15/13: finally arrived at the starting point for the lace border. I know I need a life line, but I haven’t put one in yet. I will though! Eventually. The sewn dress to go underneath is done (thanks mom!) and I have a very definite plan for the rest of the knitting. After the skirt is done, I will pick up along the back for the lacing bands. That way, should everything else go wrong, I can just add ribbon straps and wear it. I hope it won’t come down to that though. Once the lacing bands are done, I will knit the sleeves (to elbow length I think) and then pick up a border along the whole top. I’m imagining a beaded picot, maybe with tiny crystals. But that’s a way off yet. I’d better get going! I hope to be done within a month. But if I’m going to make that goal, I need to stop working on other wedding projects.

4/5/13: I’m still plugging away on this. There is a bit of progress, but it’s very slow going. I’m over 1000 stitches per round at this point, and have finally started the second skein of yarn. I’m wondering about the possibility of going up a needle size once I’m further down the skirt, but it might look really weird. I’ll have to test it and see how I feel. I think I may need to slow down on the increases now, or I’m going to end up with too much fabric and it’ll bunch up. A petticoat needs to be a priority so I can try it on and see where I am. I still haven’t got a longer needle though…

2/24/13: each round is now up to almost 800 stitches. I need to get a longer circ for the rest of the skirt.

1/13/13: We are getting married in 9 months. I’ve developed a more refined idea of what this dress will be. I had to rip back a huge chunk because I messed up the big diamond motif badly. Silk is not forgiving when you try fix a section. The lace design will come from the Anna shawl by Birgit Freyer and will frame the bottom of the skirt. Pattern can be found here.

10/11/12: I have finished the upper bodice portion, and have joined in the round for the skirt. I do worry that I may run out of yarn, so I’ve started the contingency planning. I still need to decide on a color as I’m not sure what direction to go in. It will either be burnt orange or dark red… Let’s see where this goes.