Been Busy.....
...but, of course, have failed to take any pictures, yet. (Hey! It's not my fault! The camera went wonky!) Decided to post anyway, and update with pics when I can.
First off, I have taken a trip into Barbie-land! My daughter Sam, who has been a girly-girl from the day she was born, recently asked me to knit some clothes for her Barbie. I had knit for one of her smaller dolls last fall, and I came up with a few things for her, but Barbie is a whole, 'nuther (44D) thang. So, I ordered a book of Barbie knitting patterns and told Sam that I had to wait until I got the book to get started. She was amazingly patient, and didn't even bug me every day for updates. The book arrived, and we had two lovely times: first, picking out the patterns she wanted, and second, picking out the yarn to make them. Again, she was very patient, not complaining when I kept saying, "No, dear, that yarn is too big."
I must say it is fun to do these, but it isn't as fast as I expected, from the size of the items. Unfortunately, a sweater still has sleeves, a front and a back, sometimes a collar and cuffs. And doing fringe on a teeny-tiny poncho is every bit as tedious as doing it on a full-sized one, with the added complication of the teeny-tinyness of the stitches, making it hard to thread the strands through. But I was able to make a whole sweater (with collar and cuffs) in one evening, and that's saying something. Once I finish the fringe on the poncho (which I can only do while sitting down, not moving, which means working on it in the car or on the treadmill won't work), I just have the second sweater and the sun dress to do. It's wonderful having the patterns all done, so all I have to do it knit them, no alterations needed. I did, however, have to substitute yarns; I priced (online) the recommended yarn for the first sweater, and I'm sorry--if I won't buy a $45 sweater (or the makings thereof) for myself, I'll be switched if I will do so for a doll! But I was able to find some creative solutions, and I think they are coming out really cute. Sam likes them, and that's the main thing.
The other thing I've been working on is also for Sam, out of New Knits On the Block. It's an adorable mermaid costume that I also had to substitute the yarn for, but is almost done. Wonderful stitch that looks like scales; Belle is planning to use it to make herself a scarf. Sam also picked out an Egyptian costume, though I did manage to convince her that she'd get it quicker if I made the dress out of cloth (it's just a shift) and only did the collar and headpiece from the book. I had got the book out of the library, but there are enough cool things in it (including a set of bowling pins, Kate!) that I ordered it when I put in my recent Knit Picks order.
On the Sock Madness front, I finished up the Mad Weaves, and the first Mad Fair Isle Batik sock, and have just started on the second of the pair. Really like the Fair Isle, but it takes a lot of concentration (no TV watching!). Still have yet to start on the Mad Dances, or the Mashup Madness, or the redo of the Mad-tinis.
Oh, and I made some of those fluffy scarves in purple fun fur: one for my mom and one for Sam. Have a lovely pink to do one for me, RSN.
Ran out of the red yarn for the lobster-pretzel scarf, prompting the above-mentioned Knit Picks order. Hope to finish that shortly after the yarn arrives, as I've got less than half of the smocked blocks to do, and should be able to get away with just one more, central block.
Kinda stalled out on the tea cozies; not sure why. Will have to get back to it, pronto.
All the things I haven't worked on, that I also need to jump on: the embroidered tablecloth, the grey lace shawl (for me!), dying and knitting the self-striping socks for Belle, other socks for my mom, Vicky's scarf, either a Jayne hat (from Firefly) or the faux-jeans for Mateo, at least two corsets for sale, probably more like 5 or 6....
You get the idea. And that doesn't even count the on-going dismantling and mothballing of the sewing room. Definitely need a time-turner.....
First off, I have taken a trip into Barbie-land! My daughter Sam, who has been a girly-girl from the day she was born, recently asked me to knit some clothes for her Barbie. I had knit for one of her smaller dolls last fall, and I came up with a few things for her, but Barbie is a whole, 'nuther (44D) thang. So, I ordered a book of Barbie knitting patterns and told Sam that I had to wait until I got the book to get started. She was amazingly patient, and didn't even bug me every day for updates. The book arrived, and we had two lovely times: first, picking out the patterns she wanted, and second, picking out the yarn to make them. Again, she was very patient, not complaining when I kept saying, "No, dear, that yarn is too big."
I must say it is fun to do these, but it isn't as fast as I expected, from the size of the items. Unfortunately, a sweater still has sleeves, a front and a back, sometimes a collar and cuffs. And doing fringe on a teeny-tiny poncho is every bit as tedious as doing it on a full-sized one, with the added complication of the teeny-tinyness of the stitches, making it hard to thread the strands through. But I was able to make a whole sweater (with collar and cuffs) in one evening, and that's saying something. Once I finish the fringe on the poncho (which I can only do while sitting down, not moving, which means working on it in the car or on the treadmill won't work), I just have the second sweater and the sun dress to do. It's wonderful having the patterns all done, so all I have to do it knit them, no alterations needed. I did, however, have to substitute yarns; I priced (online) the recommended yarn for the first sweater, and I'm sorry--if I won't buy a $45 sweater (or the makings thereof) for myself, I'll be switched if I will do so for a doll! But I was able to find some creative solutions, and I think they are coming out really cute. Sam likes them, and that's the main thing.
The other thing I've been working on is also for Sam, out of New Knits On the Block. It's an adorable mermaid costume that I also had to substitute the yarn for, but is almost done. Wonderful stitch that looks like scales; Belle is planning to use it to make herself a scarf. Sam also picked out an Egyptian costume, though I did manage to convince her that she'd get it quicker if I made the dress out of cloth (it's just a shift) and only did the collar and headpiece from the book. I had got the book out of the library, but there are enough cool things in it (including a set of bowling pins, Kate!) that I ordered it when I put in my recent Knit Picks order.
On the Sock Madness front, I finished up the Mad Weaves, and the first Mad Fair Isle Batik sock, and have just started on the second of the pair. Really like the Fair Isle, but it takes a lot of concentration (no TV watching!). Still have yet to start on the Mad Dances, or the Mashup Madness, or the redo of the Mad-tinis.
Oh, and I made some of those fluffy scarves in purple fun fur: one for my mom and one for Sam. Have a lovely pink to do one for me, RSN.
Ran out of the red yarn for the lobster-pretzel scarf, prompting the above-mentioned Knit Picks order. Hope to finish that shortly after the yarn arrives, as I've got less than half of the smocked blocks to do, and should be able to get away with just one more, central block.
Kinda stalled out on the tea cozies; not sure why. Will have to get back to it, pronto.
All the things I haven't worked on, that I also need to jump on: the embroidered tablecloth, the grey lace shawl (for me!), dying and knitting the self-striping socks for Belle, other socks for my mom, Vicky's scarf, either a Jayne hat (from Firefly) or the faux-jeans for Mateo, at least two corsets for sale, probably more like 5 or 6....
You get the idea. And that doesn't even count the on-going dismantling and mothballing of the sewing room. Definitely need a time-turner.....
posted by Bridget @ 11:21 AM
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