My Mary Laslie - free pattern

My niece wore an Easter dress with a beautiful smocked yoke and I needed to come up with a sweater design that would not cover up all of that wonderful needle work.  This is the result and it worked perfectly.

This is worked from the top down and is a 2T:

Materials: US 7 circulars (at least 32 inches long) and dpns, US 5 circulars and dpns. Two skeins and ½ of I Love This Cotton, or about 450 yards of Worsted weight. You will also need stitch markers and a darning needle.
Terms:
WS - wrong side
RS- right side
pm- place marker
m1r - make one right
m1l- make one left
kfb- knit in front and back
You will be have to "pick up and knit" twice and I find that crochet hook makes this much easier.

CO 44 sts

Row 1: (WS) p3 (front), pm, p6(sleeve) , pm, p26(back), pm, p6(sleeve), pm, p3(front)

Row 2: (RS) K1, m1r,( knit to one stitch before marker, kfb, slip maker, kfb)across to last st, m1l, k1 (increase of 10 sts)

Row 3: purl

Row 4: K1, m1r,( knit to one stitch before marker, kfb, slip maker, kfb)across to last st, m1l, k1 (increase of 10 sts)

Row 5: purl

Row 6: K1 K1, m1r,( knit to one stitch before marker, kfb, slip maker, kfb)across to last st, m1l, k1 (increase of 10 sts)

Row 7: purl

Row 8: K1 K1, m1r,( knit to one stitch before marker, kfb, slip maker, kfb)across to last st, m1l, k1 (increase of 10 sts)

Row 9: purl

Row 10: K1, m1r,( knit to one stitch before marker, kfb, slip maker, kfb)across to last st, m1l, k1 (increase of 10 sts)

Row 11: purl

Row 12: K1, m1r,( knit to one stitch before marker, kfb, slip maker, kfb)across to last st, m1l, k1 (increase of 10 sts)

Row 13: purl

Row 14: K1, m1r,( knit to one stitch before marker, kfb, slip maker, kfb)across to last st, m1l, k1 (increase of 10 sts)

Row 15: purl

Row 16: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 17: purl

Row 18: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 19: purl

Row 20: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 21: purl

Row 22: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 23: purl

Row 24: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 25: purl

Row 26: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 27: purl

Row 28: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 29: purl

Row 30: K to one st before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, knit to end

Row 31: purl

Row 32: knit to marker and remove it, put the next 36 sts (sleeve) on scrap yarn to be worked later, remove marker, CO 8 sts, knit across the back sts to the next marker, remove it and place the next 36 sts on scrap yarn, remove next marker, CO 8 and knit to end.

You will now work the remaining sts (front, underarm, back, underarm, front) until the it measures 5.5 inches when measured on the back from the cast on edge down, end with a wrong side row.

(This is the Band) Using your smaller circular needle knit 5 rows of seed stitch and bind off.

*This is where I like to use a crochet hook to help pick up sts.*

Turn the piece so that it is RS down with the cast off edge closest to you. With your larger needles, you will need to pick up and knit 175 sts across the seed stitch "band" that you just made. Do not pick up stitches in the cast off loops; use the bumps from the 4th and 5th rows of seed stitch. The bottom of this sweater is going to weigh much more than the top, picking up sts from those two rows added some stability to the piece.

Continue in stockinet stitch until the sweater measures 12 inches from the center of the cast on stitches down the back.

Switch to smaller needles and work 5 rows of seed st, BO.

Sleeves:

Using dpns

Move all of your stitches from your waste yarn to a single dpn.

Row 1: starting at the center of the underarm, in the stitches you cast on, pick up and knit 5 sts, then knit 10 sts from your dpn (the stitches you moved from the yarn), on a second needle knit 16 more stitches from the needle, on a 3rd knit the remaining 10 sts and then pick up and knit 5 more from the cast on area under the arm.

*I know that you only cast on 8, but I have found that if I don’t pick up and extra st on each side I end up with a hole…*

Row 2: knit

Row 3: k2tog, knit to last two sts and k2tog.

Continue knitting around until the sleeve measures 9 inches from the neck.

Switch to smaller needles and knit 5 rows of seed stitch and bind off.

Edging:

With smaller needles:

Starting at bottom right side, with right side facing you, pick up and knit evenly up the right front, around the neck, and then down the left side.

Row 1: seed st

Row 2: seed st

Row 3: continue in seed st until you get to the area that intersects with the band, bind off two stitches, knit to other side and repeat at the corresponding area. (making the "holes" to tie the ribbon through)

Row 4: Work in seed stitch, casting on two new stitches on both sides where you cast them off last round.

Row 5: Cast off.

Add As You Go Flowers...

Originally "Add On Flower Border"

Sick of finishing the main project and weaving in ends, then creating each flower and weaving in their ends, then attaching them to your project and then weaving in those ends...me too.
I came up with a way to add the flowers as you go!  They can be placed randomly all over a project or in a row to form a nice border.  The best part is how easy it is to do!

*For this example I am going to assume that the last row and current row are dc  (double crochet)-adjust as necessary for hdc and sc*

When you are ready to place a flower instead of making a dc in the next stitch you will ch 2 and ss to the top of the space.

 Not here:


Here:

Put two sc in this spot and turn your work clockwise so that the dc post (that is directly to the left of the metal pointer in the above photo) becomes the top of your work, put three sc here. 
Turn clockwise again so that the bottom of your work is now the top and work two sc, turn clockwise again and place three sc  (the post of the dc that was to the right of the metal pointer), join with a ss to the first sc.

This gives you a "base" or ring to build your flower.  At this point you can *ch2, 3 dc, ch2 and ss in next sc* around for a basic flower. This base should accommodate most flower designs.

When finished join with a ss. 

At this point you need to work your way behind the flower by ss in the back of the first two sc that formed the base of your flower.  This puts you in a position to continue the pattern before you interrupted it with the flower.  In our dc example you would need to ch 2 and continue your dc into the next stitch.

****NOTE : you started the flower by ch 2 and ss and to rejoin your progress you ch 2- so you will have an extra stitch- on the next row - dc those two chains together.

Really easier than I made it sound ;)