The Anouk Dress (or, how I've lost 5 lbs)

I have taken up knitting. Yes, knitting, and I bought the crochet hooks to learn that too. I figure that if I'm going to stay at home with O and A, then I may as well learn how to make things for them! After all, with me not working, we can't afford those same beautiful hand knit items :)

I started knitting at the beginning of January, and my very first attempt was dismal - I started with 15 stitches, and somehow ended up with 22, before finally learning how to stitch them back together. My next attempt was slightly better - only a few holes, and it turned out just the right size for O's baby bunny's blanket. Sweet! I figured I needed more practice. So I started working on a pillow, made with 8 squares of differing colours, all done in garter stitch. That should give me practice! Well, 2 months later, I'm finally close to finishing it. I did start in on another project about 3 weeks ago (the garter stitch got boring, plus I found the CUTEST dress pattern for A, with such soft yarn...) but it's still taking forever. The best part? I've lost 5 lbs just from knitting at night, instead of eating! Woohoo! This is a diet I can deal with.


The dress pattern I found on knitty.com - the Anouk pattern (The Anouk pattern by Kate Gilbert). How hard could it be? It's actually not been that hard, but some of the knitting language is a bit overwhelming. Thank goodness for online video tutorials.

Here's a pic of what the final dress will look like (in different colours)- it's got to be the cutest dress I've seen in a long time. I can't wait to get it finished!