Damenkleid in Schachenmayr Silk Wool - 2114

Damenkleid in Schachenmayr Silk Wool – Pattern No. 2114: A Detailed Knitting Summary

This free downloadable PDF pattern from Schachenmayr presents a beautifully crafted women's dress (Damenkleid) designed to be knitted in Schachenmayr Silk Wool, a luxurious chunky-weight yarn that blends the softness of silk with the warmth and elasticity of wool. The pattern is written in German and offers a sophisticated combination of stitch patterns that give the finished dress both visual texture and elegant structure. It is an ideal project for knitters who enjoy working with multiple stitch patterns simultaneously and who want to create a wearable, stylish garment with a premium yarn.

Garment Overview

The pattern produces a women's dress featuring a skirt section (Rockteil) worked in the round, joined at a waist ribbing band (Taillenbündchen). The construction begins with a large cast-on of 216 stitches using a long-tail cast-on method, and the skirt is worked circularly from this point upward to the waist. The design is sized across multiple sizes, with all size-specific stitch counts and measurements listed sequentially from smallest to largest, separated by hyphens throughout the pattern instructions.

Stitch Patterns Used

This dress pattern is notable for incorporating several distinct stitch patterns, each contributing a different texture and visual quality to the finished garment. The key stitch patterns are:

• Lochmuster (Lace Pattern): A charted eyelet or openwork lace pattern worked over a 24-row/round repeat. The chart is read as the fabric appears on the right side of the work. All rounds and right-side rows are read from right to left; wrong-side rows are read from left to right. This pattern creates an airy, decorative texture typical of traditional German lace knitting.
• Zopfmuster (Cable Pattern): A charted cable pattern in which only the right-side rows are shown; wrong-side rows are worked as the stitches appear. After the first two rows, rows 3 through 8 are repeated continuously. The cable panel spans 20 stitches and measures approximately 8 cm in width, forming a defined vertical accent on the garment.
• Kästchenmuster (Box/Check Pattern): A structured grid-like stitch pattern that contributes a geometric texture to sections of the dress.
• Querrippenmuster (Horizontal Rib Pattern): A horizontal ribbing pattern used to add stretch and visual interest in specific sections of the garment.
• Bündchenmuster (Cuff/Ribbing Pattern): A traditional ribbing stitch used for the waist band and cuff areas, measured slightly stretched in width to reflect its natural elasticity.

Techniques Used

• Knitting in the round: The skirt section is worked entirely in rounds (Runden), with the beginning of the round marked with a stitch marker. This creates a seamless tube ideal for a flowing skirt.
• Flat knitting: Certain sections of the pattern are worked back and forth in rows (Hinreihen and Rückreihen), with right-side and wrong-side rows treated differently according to the stitch pattern instructions.
• Chart reading: Both the lace and cable patterns are presented as knitting charts (Strickschriften), requiring the knitter to read and interpret symbol-based row-by-row instructions.
• Long-tail cast-on: Referenced as the method for casting on the initial 216 stitches for the skirt.
• Cable knitting: The Zopfmuster requires working cable crossings at regular intervals to create the twisted rope-like appearance characteristic of traditional Aran and German cable knitting.
• Eyelet and yarn-over techniques: Used within the lace pattern to create the decorative openwork holes that define the Lochmuster sections.
• Gauge swatching: The pattern strongly emphasizes gauge (Maschenprobe) and provides multiple gauge specifications depending on which stitch pattern is being used.

Gauge Information

Because this dress uses several different stitch