Thrifty Wedding Features Gorgeous Knit Dress

I don’t know if you’ve gotten married recently (it’s been 10 years for me!) or if you’ve taken part in any sort of wedding planning recently, but weddings are expensive. Couples and their parents are going all out for that first party they will throw as man an wife, making the average wedding in Britain cost £20,248, according to the bridal industry there.

Knitter and yarn shop owner Linda Tayler wanted none of that when she married video director Ash Pears. They decided they’d rather spend their cash on an awesome honeymoon to Bali and a down payment for a house than on a lavish party. So they did it DIY, complete with homemade decor and fabric flowers, handmade party favors, a dinner on dishes picked up at thrift shops and, of course, a handknit wedding dress.

Lydia only paid about $200 for the fine wool used to knit the lacy sheath dress (lined in fabric, of course) and said it took about 4 months and more than 100,000 stitches to complete. She said some guests didn’t believe she made the dress herself, and in all the couple only spent £5,000 on their wedding.

[Photo by Johnathan Pow/Daily Mail.]

Check out this free knitted coat hanger cover pattern on our sister site here.

Knitted coat hangers are a lovely handmade gift for a bridal party, as it allows the bride to be to hang her delicate dress on a soft hanger to prevent her dress for having fold lines. Knitted coat hangers are perfect for cashmere sweaters and delicate fabrics too. You can even add some dried lavender for knitted fragrant clothes hangers.

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I know plaid or tartan patterns are really Scottish, not Irish, but there’s something about this time of year (almost St. Patrick’s Day as I write this) that gets me thinking about plaid knitting patterns.

Plaid is fun to knit any time of year, of course, and can be a fun way to combine colors you wouldn’t normally use, or wouldn’t normally put together. Let’s check out some fun plaid knitting patterns!

This plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore on Etsy is a great one for dipping your toes into plaid as a technique or a design feature in your home. It makes plaid as easy as it can get but having you knit stripes horizontally but the vertical stripes are added with duplicate stitch.

I still miss a plaid sweater I had when I was in high school, but the Lumber Sweater pattern from The Knit is On // Mette Christensen is probably the closest I’ve seen to being able to re-create it without writing my own pattern. This design uses two strands of lace weight held together to make a sport weight yarn, which makes mixing the colors that much easier. It comes in six sizes and is available on Ravelry.

I love plaid for accessories like scarves and cowls, and I found a couple of great plaid cowl knitting patterns for you. The first is the Handy Ma’am Cowl from Catherine Clark, which is worked flat and seamed. It uses five colors of light fingering weight yarn and is fully lined in a solid color to make it super cozy to wear. Get the pattern on Ravelry.

Then there’s the Thegither Cowl from Amy Palko, which uses stripes and stranded colorwork to make the plaid design in three colors of fingering weight yarn. The pattern is worked in sections; for a longer cowl work three sections instead of two. There’s also a scarf version where the colors stay consistent if you want a mellower project. Check it out on Ravelry.

The Buffalo Plaid Baby Blanket from Little Barn Owl Store is a classic two color plaid that’s easy to knit and looks adorable. This one is worked in classic red and white but you can change it up to suit the baby’s room.

Speaking of blankets, I love this vintage plaid throw pattern from Chickie by the Sea. The original pattern actually called for Red Heart knitting worsted, which looks similar to Super Saver, but you can use any worsted weight yarn you like to complete this retro look.

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