Metamorphosis: Ancestors Skirt

BEFORE

I love winding skeins into balls around my hand. This is Malabrigo Arroyo in Pocion being every shade of beautiful on my Lykke Driftwood needles.

A few years ago a dearheart called Laurie in the US asked via the Inner Wild Etsy shop if I might make her a knitted skirt. Laurie loved Ancestors Bodice and Apron and wanted a skirt in a brown pure wool. If she hadn’t asked I don’t think Ancestors Skirt would ever have happened. And it turned out so lovely.

So I am grateful to Laurie. By divine intervention, intuition or some other non-mathematical method I managed to know exactly how many stitches would make the roots-like cable pattern work. I just plunged right in on a hunch and was rewarded by the pattern flowing perfectly in the round. I had always previously knitted this roots cable pattern on single-pointed needles.

Recently I decided to write up how I made it and publish the knitting pattern. The first and only Ancestors Skirt was knitted in Drops Karisma; a lovely DK pure wool yarn with a nice rustic feel that’s very inexpensive, popular and a real workhorse yarn. To test my knitting pattern before publishing I thought it would be a good idea to try a Sport weight yarn and see how that might work.

So Malabrigo Arroyo was cast on using smaller needles than the original pattern and around and around and around we went.

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Almost ready to decrease for the waistband rib. Knitting exactly to the original DK pattern. Noticing the width is very similar yet it is a good 3″ shorter than in DK on slightly bigger needles. I like this length but it’s easy for you to make it longer by simply adding one, two or more whole pattern repeats. You can also change the look by knitting fewer or more rib rounds, of course.

AFTER

Arroyo is dreamy to knit and this shade is subtle enough not to interfere with the cabling. The muted colours flow so well over and under to create a new INNER WILD Ancestors Skirt.

Thank you to dearheart Laurie for asking for a knitted woollen skirt. Now the world has a simple and very satisfying cable pattern to knit and lovely to wear Ancestors Skirt that works in Sport or DK yarn and fits waist 24″ – 34″ / 60 cm – 84cm thanks to the stretch in the waistband ribbing. Our roots reach deeper. I am next going to try using this pattern to knit a gossamer-like skirt to layer over a tutu – am thinking maybe a fingering weight kid silk mohair on as big as 8 mm US11 at the hem, and going reducing needle size towards the waist. I hope someone makes a maxi, mid calf length version {that might be me}.