Finished!

With two weeks until Christmas, I have finished my niece's Christmas dress. It's already in the mail and on its way to Virginia. I hope she will get to wear it multiple times this holiday season and this winter.

Pattern: Brittany Jumper by Minnowknits
Yarn: 5 skeins of Plymouth Encore D.K. (75% Acrylic/25% Wool/ 50g/ 150 yds)
Color: 9601 (actually a LOT more burgundy than the picture)
Needles: Size 7 (24" and 16" circular)
Size: 4ish (My gauge was off so even though my niece's chest circumference was more the size 3, I knit using the stitch count for size 4.)
Modifications: This dress (although sized up to 4) seams geared more towards a younger child so I added extra length throughout to make it more appropriate for my four year old niece. My finished skirt length was around 14.25 inches and my finished bodice length was around 7 inches. Instead of doing a crocheted picot edge for around the arms and neck, I did a simple slip-stitch crochet border which is almost invisible. I did "bind off one stitch, then kfb in next row" for the buttonholes instead of "yo, k2tog" to make a less stretchy buttonhole.
Thoughts: The first 8 rows of this dress (the picot hem) are a royal pain. I can not tell you how many times I messed up and had to rip out 288 stitches or more. However, the rest of the dress was smooth sailing. This yarn is not ideal as the pattern is written for a worsted weight, but I love the washability of Encore.

Sorry for the cruddy picture. I finished late last night and had to get it in the mail this morning. Hopefully I'll have a cute picture of my niece in it to share at some point.