Row 35

Knitting on the Roosevelt Cardigan has been interesting.

 

Heads up to those who have it in their queue. Row 35 of the pocket is complicated/challenging. It has a cable right on the sloped pocket edge, where dropped stitches can be a nightmare, and yet where dropping stitches from a cable needle are more likely to happen. That particular row also has a cable that contains a decrease that must be done mid-cable. The whole maneuver looks innocent enough on the chart but actually accomplishing it is rather fiddly.

It truly is a challenging knit at this point, but I find it entertaining. Progress is slow because I'm only working on it for a while each morning while I have my coffee. Which reminds me -- I DID actually finish 2018's daily morning knit, the "My Year in Temperatures Scarf". I just haven't yet taken an adequate photo of it finished.

Blunder Overcome

I've been looking for, a black cardigan for years. It's not that there aren't plenty of black cardigans out there, it's just that not one fitted my criteria. I want a long-ish one that buttons up. Most don't have closures at all and that drives me crazy because the open fronts flap against my arms when I walk. With the year long project of the long, long "My Year In Temperatures Scarf" finally done (more on that in a future blog post), I finally have the time and space to start another large project.

Enter the black Roosevelt Cardigan. Although a plain black cardigan would have been okay, this one, with its intricate cable pattern and shaped pockets, will be so much more challenging and fun to knit.

Of course the potential for mistakes is much higher too! See that wonky bit right there?

That's a mis-crossed cable and I didn't spot it until I had knit at least another 20 rows. I knew the error would drive me crazy so I resolved to carefully drop just those 4 stitches down until I could correct the mistake and ladder them back up again.

It's actually a 6 stitch cable but I only had to drop down 4 stitches since there was a decrease right above this particular cable crossing which reduced the stitch count by 2. I'm so glad I remembered that before I dropped all 6 stitches down!

With a white paper towel inserted into the sleeve it was much easier to see what I was doing. I used a double pointed needle and a cable needle to recross the cable in the proper direction.

From there I used a crochet hook to pull the "working yarn" from each row back through each stitch and onto the crochet hook, all 4 dropped stitches in a row, before transferring them back to the double pointed needle and moving up to the next higher unravelled strand of working yarn. 

The transfer back to a double pointed needle each time was necessary so the hook would be facing in a convenient direction (try it, you'll see what I mean) and to take a twist out of the individual stitches. 

It wasn't long at all and I had all of the stitches laddered back up and onto the main needles. The laddered stitch furthest to left was loose, but I then took the time to work the excess yarn back into the 4 or 5 stitches to the right in each round.

Ta Da! Crisis averted and back to the knitting. I must say, I'm very pleased with the project so far. 

Fancy Nancy Gets New Clothes

My youngest granddaughter received a "Fancy Nancy" doll for Christmas. Additional clothing doesn't seem to be available for Fancy Nancy and since dressing and redressing the doll is part of the fun I've accepted the challenge of expanding the doll's wardrobe.

Leaving the doll behind for clothing fittings has been out of the question since "Fancy Kenzie", as she's been renamed, has become my granddaughter's constant companion, so an old Disney Animator doll has been my stand-in fitting model. She's shorter in the legs and without the jointed limbs, but otherwise the same size.

The first outfit is "Candy Girl" with both the knitting and sewing patterns by LelleModa on Etsy.

It's the only outfit so far that I've remembered to get a photograph of before the doll wore it home. The following photos were taken after the fact, by my granddaughter, at my request. Here's that first outfit on "Fancy Kenzie":

Those extra joints really make a difference! So much more fun to pose.

Next I used some fabric scraps I had laying around and sewed up a Christmas skirt and blouse. The skirt is just a single layer from the "Candy Girl" skirt pattern, lengthened. The top is the "PuffySleeve Undershirt" from a pattern by SweetPeaCove on Etsy.

Next I used the last remaining scrap of flannel fabric reclaimed from thrift store pajama bottoms, trimmed it with lace from the same thrift store, and created a pair of baby doll pajamas using the "Bloomer Buddies" sewing pattern by PixieFairePatterns on Etsy. 

And here's an "action shot".