The happy camper glamping dress

Ah, camping!  Who doesn't love camping?*  The fresh air, beds beneath canvas, barbecues every night... mmmm I'm drifting off into sweet holiday daydreams just thinking about it.

However.

I do have to admit, yes, that it's not exactly glamorous. Glamorous camping is a thing, of course. But our tent does not have solid floors made of reclaimed railway sleepers. There's no wood-fired stove, ethnic bunting or fridge stocked with champagne (because camping is for beer duh!)  What there is, in my world, is fabric. And that, I can work with...

Enter the Lillestoff.

No, we are not glampers. But we can have fabulous, tent-celebrating skater dresses to tart things up. Oh yes indeed.

What, you thought I might have been talking about my daughter?  Where's the fun in that? She doesn't even like the green! No, the cleavage leaves no room for doubt - that there is clearly a LADY skater! And the six-year-old, usually the centre of Lillestoff skater dress attention, got relegated to the job of photographer - a job to which she enthusiastically, if erratically, took. From now on her dad's "I took one picture why isn't that enough" approach certainly doesn't earn him any ice creams. (Though if I want results, perhaps maybe it should? Hmm).

There were many of this quality.

So yes, a Lady Skater, size 4 at the bust and 6 at the waist (I'm a rectangle!)  The waistband is a strip I topstitched on at the end, to break up the ever-so-slightly overwhelming print and delude people into thinking I actually have a waist. Serendipitously, and completely unforeseen, it also creates the illusion of print matching all the way down the dress. While this wasn't planned, I had actually thought about print placement for once - mainly to avoid positioning any bright red tents right on my bust apex. Once that was behind me, this was a very quick and easy make.

See that guy behind me in that pic, doing bike stuff? That's the husband, preparing for his first ever half-triathlon. This was the reason for the weekend's camping trip. An entirely unexciting but perfectly satisfactory campsite on the bank of the Moselle river in Luxembourg, which just happened to be located 3km down a cycle path from the start & finish of the Iron Man 70.3.

My Iron Man at the finish line!

He did it in 6 hours and 4 minutes, including the time it took to stop and change a punctured back tyre. I'm of course extremely proud - and boasting as if I'd done it myself. 

Also, wondering just how long it'll take him to decide that the next step is the full length version.

In the meantime, I'll be wearing this dress and daydreaming of kicking back in my folding armchair-with-cupholder. This girl's got the right idea...

Like so:

Hmm, I should do a knitting update. I have a finished thing and some gorgeous Malabrigo cables going on...

Are you a camper, dear reader? Do you not agree that it's the most superior form of holiday? (If you have children under 5 you are excused - in that case it is a horrendous nightmare and you should go somewhere luxurious with complimentary babysitting).

Would you attempt a triathlon? Or dress head-to-toe in Lillestoff for daywear (PJs don't count!)?

And are you knitting? If so, what?


* I am aware that a small number of people do not love camping. I have no idea why though.