I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it in the Holiday 2009 issue of Vogue Knitting. I wanted to knit this adorable dress for my niece, but the sizes available go from 6 months to 24 months. She just turned two, so I wanted to make it just a little bigger. Rather than use the DK/sz 6 needles the pattern called for, I decided to upsize the yarn to aran, and used size 8 needles. I used the 6 month size numbers as a guide and eyeballed the rest so it’d look proportional. I love the Madiera lace pattern! I also really like the yarn I’m using, Valley Yarns Valley Superwash in Misty Lilac. Personally, I like using “non-baby” colors to knit baby garments. I’m not a big fan of baby blue, pink, mint green, etc.

After blocking the pieces (thank goodness for KnitPicks’ great blocking mats), the lace pattern opened up and looked so pretty. I usually dislike seaming A LOT, but I figured this is a toddler-size dress so it shouldn’t be too much of a headache. Thankfully, it turned out okay. I still dislike seaming though. 😛

Here is the finished product. I happen to have some 1/2″ wide velvet ribbon in dark burgundy that goes with it perfectly. I hope it’ll fit my niece!