Knitted Undies

Oddly enough winter still hasn't fully arrived here in Lillehammer. I'd expect to be freezing my bum off by now, but currently the temperature seems to fluctuate between -4 to +6 Celsius. With luck I'll be able to knit up the woollen undies below before we hit the below 20's.

A little about vintage knitting patterns and sizing. The needle sizes in the pattern are old UK sizes. I am making my vest in a fine 3 ply alpaca yarn (Drops Alpaca), using 3.5 and 3 mm needles, to fit my current measurements of 43-33-41. The fabric really is very elastic, and I think you could use this yarn and needle sizes to comfortably fit 3 inches smaller or larger than mine. I am hoping to be approved for a breast reduction myself, so I figured if the top gets a little loose afterwards, I'll just undo the lacy bit and reknit it using a smaller needle. I'm knitting the vest in the round so I won't have to contend with seams if this should prove necessary. The original vest is also very long, 22 inches seams. Mine will be around 16 inches from underarm to bottom.

Enjoy :)

Click on the images to enlarge. This is intended for personal use only. Please do not copy and sell.

Knitted Bra Pattern

I have been drooling over this knitted bra I found on Ravelry for the longest time, unfortunately the pattern is in German, and although I did one year of German in school, my German is sadly lacking. But, I decided to give a go at translating the text, and you'll find it below. Please keep in mind that I cannot guarantee that I got it 100% right.

Brassier

The brassier is made with white CMS Perlgarn Nr. 5. on US 0 - 2.0 mm needles. Garter stitch pattern. Bust size 112 cm.

You start at the lower end of the bra casting on 224 stitches. Continue in rib knit of k. 2 p. 2 for 16 rows,  (or as long as you'd like) slipping the first stitch of every row. Cast off 22 stitches at the beginning of the following row, knit 60, place on a string or a stitch holder, knit another 60 and place these too on a stitch holder. This leaves 82 stitches. Knit till the end of the row. The next row: cast off 22 stitches at the beginning of the row and knit the remaining 60. Then knit the last two stitches of each row together until there are no stitches left.

The middle triangle is worked the same way as the first until there are 10 stitches left on the needle. Knit another five rows and then cast off stitches.

The last triangle is made the same way as the first.

The cup part:

cast on 30 stitches, * knit until end of row, knit two stitches together, turn and knit next row*. Repeat these two rows until there are 5 stitches left on the needle. Pick up 25 stitches along the cast off edge and repeat the above instructions. Repeat until you have 7 triangles, cast off the last 5 stitches and stitch the cup closed.

Repeat for the second cup.

Stitch the cups onto the lower edge by fitting four triangles into the v opening of the lower edge of the bra. Crochet a picot edge over the upper edge.

Straps: Cast on 110 stitches, knit garter stitch for 10 rows, cast off.

Row 5: Cast off stitches 5-7 and 11-13 for buttonholes.

Row 6: Knit until buttonhole, make 3 stitches, continue, repeat.

Stitch the straps towards the back of the side triangle with the buttonholes facing the front. Stitch a button to the top of the breast cup.

Stitch press stud buttons to the back of the bra to fasten it.

Update:

I had a German friend look over the original pattern, and it seems I got it right :)