A Sweet Skater Dress to Knit

I know knitting a dress sounds like a major time commitment. And that’s before I even tell you that this particular dress, the Sixth Ave Skater Dress by Briana Luppino, is worked in light fingering weight yarn.

But would you just take a moment to look at it and tell me if it doesn’t look like it would be worth all the time you would spend knitting it? And it’s miles of stockinette stitch so it’s actually beginner friendly and a great semi-mindless knit you can take with you on your travels this summer and wear when it is done.

The dress is worked from the top down with tank straps, a scoop neck, waist shaping and a flowy skirt for a fun and comfortable fit.

The pattern has 10 sizes, with finished bust measurements ranging from 28 to 64 inches, or 71.5 to 163 cm. The sample shown was worked with 4 inches/10 cm of negative ease at the bust, and the designer says most people like between 2 and 6 inches/5 to 15 cm of negative ease in the bust and around 10 inches/25.4 cm positive ease in the hips.

(To refresh your memory, negative ease means the measurement of the garment is smaller than your actual body measurement, while positive ease is bigger than your body.)

To pick a size you’d work from the bust measurement because you can always add more or fewer decreases as you need to get your desired fit at the waist and hips. And because it’s worked from the top down you can try it on as often as you like to make sure it’s the perfect fit.

The I-cord edgings give the dress a super casual feel, and I think this would be a great one to add to your summer rotation. (Yes, even with a wool blend yarn.)

You can see lots of cute finished versions and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself on Ravelry.

[Photo: Briana Luppino]

Book Review – Knitted Tanks and Tunics

How to Knit a Simple Sweater Dress

Read These Next

It’s pretty generally true that kids love animals, and learning about different kinds of animals is a fun way to learn about the natural world.

I recently came across this set of printable wild animal flash cards from 123 Homeschool 4 Me, which includes pictures of 32 different animals that are labeled with their names. I like these because they are actual photographs, not drawings, which makes them great for kids learning the names of animals.

But there are lots of other options out there for printable animal flash cards. These from Super Simple have cartoony drawings but are really cute for little kids to use. This set includes 38 cards.

Flashcards for Kindergarten has a set of 100 animal flash cards with the animal names on them, perfect for kindergarten, grade school or ESL learners.

And MES Learning has printable and online flashcards, as well as worksheets, bingo cards and other printables to supplement learning.

Of course you can just use the pictures to learn the names of different animals, but animal flash cards are also great to use to expand learning. Here are a few ideas.

Choose an animal and share/learn facts about that animal.
Match the cards to animal toys
Print a set of animal pictures that aren’t labeled and match the labeled animal to the unlabeled one
Make a scavenger hunt by hiding animals around the room
Sort animals by habitat or different features such as feathers vs. fur, lives in water or on land, where it is cold, where it is hot, etc.
Use as a writing or storytelling prompt
Set up a pretend play or sensory box with an animal theme and use the flash cards to identify animals that might live there (or hide cards in the sensory box for kids to find)
add a spelling element with alphabet magnets or write the words for kids to trace to practice writing

I’m sure there are lots of other ways you can use animal flash cards; I’d love to hear your ideas!

Beach Addition Flash Cards [Lesson Plans]

Fun Activities to Learn about Butterflies

Candy Corn Math Activities

Read These Next

Have you read?