It's been a beautiful sunny week in Sydney, certainly a nice change from the oddly cold summer we've had so far. I spent a few days at Bondi Beach, and various other beaches, and suddenly had the strange urge to knit myself a bikini. I didn't want it so much for wearing purposes as i did for the challenge of making the actual thing. It only took me a couple of days, and one failed bikini bottom to finish this lovely (if a bit imperfect) bikini. What do you think?
The pattern is very simple, and all have to do is decide how revealing you want it to be. I made the bottoms slightly too scanty for my own liking, but a few extra stitches to begin with would solve that problem.
There are 3 main parts to this bikini.
The top (repeat these steps twice for each triangle):
Cast on 33 stitches, and for 18 rows work in a stockinette stitch (1 knit row, 1 purl row).
Then for the next 16 rows knit 2 stitches as normal, then knit 2 stitches together, and another 2 together. Knit the rest of the row as normal until you reach the last stitches, where you will knit 2 together, knit 2 together and then knit the last 2 as normal. This will result in a more even and neat outer edge, and will slowly reduce the bikini to a point, making a triangle. Only do this on knit rows, not purl rows. Cast off.
The front bottom:
Cast on 52 stitches and knit in stockinette stitch for 4-8 rows depending on how much coverage you want, but 4 works nicely. After this you can begin to decrease stitches as you did with the bikini top. So knit 2 normal stitches, then 2 together and another 2 together on each side. Do this until you have only 18 stitches left on the needle, and which point continue in stockinette with no more stitch reductions, for about 10 rows. Cast off.
The back bottom:
Cast on 72 stitches for a fairly scanty bikini bottom, or 82-92 for more coverage. Knit 4-8 rows in stockinette (make sure you knit the same amount of rows as you did for front bottoms). Then begin to reduce stitches as you did with the front bottom until you have only 18 stitches left on the needle. Then continue in stockinette until you think you have enough length to form the underneath of the bikini. Cast off.
Now take the two parts of the bikini bottoms and pin them together with your chosen sides facing inwards. Then use a large needle, threaded with matching wool, to sew the 18 stitch parts together. Knit 4 ropes to tie the side of the bikini bottoms together. You do this by casting on 1-2 stitches and knitting until you are happy with the length of the rope. Then threat this through the side of the bikini, or sew into place so that you can tie the sides together.
The prevent the upper edges from sagging you should fold them over a piece of elastic, and sew until the elastic is in place. This gives it a real bikini feel, and will prevent it from slipping down or bunching strangely.
The bikini top will also need ties, so create a rope that is long enough to go around your ribcage, with some extra length to tie into a bow. This will be the main tie. Then make 2 smaller ties that will attach to the tips of the triangles, and tie as a halter around you neck. Like the bikini bottoms, line the long strange along the bottoms of the triangles and fold the bottoms over and sew, so that the rope in able to slide back and forth. Then attach the smaller ropes to the tips of the triangles, and voila, a bikini.
Play around with the pattern a little until you're happy. Maybe add some other things in, fun patterns, stripes maybe. Use wool that is water resistant if you intend on wearing this bikini in the water, and otherwise choose any type of wool you like the look of.
Good luck!
Petunia x
