Iceling Cardigan

Just finished a little sweater set for a friend's new baby boy.



It's the Iceling Cardigan (and hat) from a pattern designed by Carol Feller.



The only change I made to the pattern was to add the applied I-cord to the bottom edge. I only added it to hide a small mistake. I had forgotten to slip the first stitch of one of the rows and it left a bump on the lower edge.



Knit in Patons Decor (75% Acrylic, 25% Wool) so it will be easy care for the new mom.

Evolution of An Idea

Those pants I blogged about a few days ago are now part of a complete uniform. A lot of sewing has happened in between.



I started with the pants, added the basic tunic (which needed refitting!) and made the harness/belt. Once I knew everything worked and what alterations to do, I went back and altered the pattern and resewed the entire tunic.



I'm much happier with this final version. The sleeves are a full inch shorter, the body of the tunic is 1/2" shorter, and the height of the collar is reduced by 1/4". I also added one more detail ---



Zenawii is now a Lieutenant!

Free Make Over

Four year old Kenzie did my hair and makeup, picked my jewellery, told me what expression to make,
and took the picture.

It may not be the most flattering portrait ever, but a lot of love went into it.

He Has Pants

Zenawii is very happy to have his own body now and to send Patrick's home. I think he's rather pleased that his body is more muscular. He's claiming it's all that working out he does in the holodeck gym onboard the starship.

He was a bit perturbed to discover that the clothing he had use of was also Patrick's.



Lest my young granddaughters come over and see him sitting there in all his anatomically correct nakedness, I quickly sewed up a pair of pants for him.



I used the Adams-Harris pattern, "Space Cadet" and they fit like a dream!

Just --- Meh!

Here’s today’s weaving efforts:



The first scarf is off the loom and wet finished. I just realized it’s not completely finished though. I still need to weave in the tails from the hem stitching.

Overall my feeling for the finished scarf is just a non-commital “Meh!”. It doesn’t do much for me. I used a fine grey merino/silk/cashmere laceweight yarn in an effort to tone down the colour of the warp, which I was feeling was a bit too gaudy. It looked okay on the loom but when it was wet finished the cashmere in the weft bloomed rather significantly and kind of took over more than I had wished.

With that in mind I am using a fine mercerized cotton to weave off the remainder of the warp.



It’s allowing more of the original colour to show and also making for a lacier effect. I don’t know if there will be enough length here for a scarf or not. If not it will become --- um --- something else!

Eight Feet

Well I certainly didn't expect to weave as much as I did tonight. I'm finished all 8' of the scarf!



And I've used the clipping tie rod so that I could cut the first scarf off and then quickly retension the remaining warp. Not sure what that will end up being. For now it will just be "yardage".



I love the wonderful Saori innovations!

Plum Project

I signed up for a challenge on a Saori weaving thread. I vowed to weave at least a little bit every day.



As I predicted the commitment to do just a little each day has led me to weaving a LOT each day. The Saori loom makes weaving so much fun that once I get going it's hard to stop!



I really appreciate the back saving tools like the cross-holder (not pictured), the reed/harness stand, and the easily removed harnesses.



The warp for this scarf project is all from freebees I picked up at a guild exchange. The purple is three threads that were wound together into a large ball. Two of the threads are what appears to be a 2/8 cotton, the third thread is a cotton chenille I think. In addition to that ball I added in a novelty ladder yarn also picked up free at the guild exchange..



The warp was "free", but I really paid for that in a terrible mess of tangles that I had to fight with throughout the beaming on. I didn't realize when I was winding the warp, but those three purple threads were wound around each other in the ball.



For weft I am using a very fine merino/cashmere/silk from Colourmart.

Settling In To Family Life

The secondhand Fairyland Minifee Yder has arrived and is settling in nicely. He's a space travelling elf. He says his name is Zenawii but family and close friends often call him "Zen".



His sweater is still a work in progress, at chart row 50 now, but at this scale it's slow going. I'm usually only able to manage a couple of rows a day. Luckily Zenawii seems to be a very patient guy as he's also waiting on a wig and a body of his own. The ones he's currently using are borrowed.



His gradual, piece by piece arrival doesn't seem to have prevented him from settling in with his family but I think next time he'll request that he be beamed planetside all at once rather than a bit at a time!

Progress is Slow

Work on the miniaturized Armas sweater is slow. I can usually only manage 2 rows per sitting.



I'm as far as row 29 on the chart.



The colour of the handspun yarn is most accurately represented in the next picture.



I am beginning to have hope that the cables will actually show once the work is complete and blocked.

Emerging Cables

My model was caught admiring the emerging cables.

Knit for a Bit

I decided I wanted to do some knitting for an incoming character. Only a "character" because it will not be a full doll --- I purchased just a head. LOL

At least for the time being the character will remain just a head, but I'll occasionally borrow a body for photo shoots. The borrowed body will need clothing so I've started knitting a sweater in a style that I hope will be appropriate.



This is being knit from a full sized "human" pattern but miniaturized by using laceweight yarn and 1.25mm needles (US size 0000) for a gauge of 15 stitches to the INCH.

Nearly the Same

I felt like crocheting the other day and went to my supply of size 30 crochet thread and found my .75mm hook to make a new dress for Penny.



Only after getting it nearly completed did I notice that it looked awfully familiar.



Turns out it is very similar to one I made for Jopetto's Nappy Choo, Patti-Cake back in May of 2013.



Similar, but NOT identical. The one for Patti-Cake had an all white yoke while this one has a yoke that is blue with white trim.



I guess I must really like this combination of colours.



Or could it be that my stash of size 30 cotton is really limited?

Dresses for the Ghouls

These little hand knit sheath dresses are kind of fun to knit so I've made a couple more.



One for Cleo de Nile, done in a handspun merino and silk with a softly varying colourway.




The other one is for Lagoona Blue. 

 

This one is knit in an acrylic yarn that has added sparkle.



It's one of those Lion Brand "Bon Bons".

 

 The pattern is a generous freebee by Jane Conway and is available on Ravelry.

Feels SO Good!

It feels great to finally get the Christmas decorations all packed up and put away. I kept them up a little longer than usual this year because the granddaughters loved them so much and didn't want Christmas to end. I love the decorations when they first go up but after Christmas I'm always anxious to get beyond the "clutter" of Christmas and back to normal routines. It was hard to hold off until after New Years!



We purchased a few bulky decorations this year and even with adding the smaller storage box I had to fit things in like a puzzle. I managed to get it all in there though (not including the GIANT box the tree goes in of course).

Well, there is still this! ----



What is it with poinsettias anyway? Some years they barely make it to Christmas, dropping their lower leaves and looking mighty bedraggled by the big day, and then other years the season comes and goes and the plant lives on and on. Now I'm faced with the prospect of throwing out a plant that is still quite healthy and yet looks totally out of place as January marches along.

Built and Smashed

The granddaughters were here today. They built and smashed this gingerbread house all in one day.



They had built one earlier in the Christmas season and I think that one lasted a little longer. This time it was more about the eating than it was about the building.

Handspun MH Dress

When I was a little girl I played with Barbies a LOT. My mother made me a huge box of hand knit doll clothes and they were well loved. Monster High dolls seem to be more popular with my granddaughters.

 

Both girls have several, and really enjoy playing with them. About a year ago I bought one, this Cleo de Nile, as a model so that I could make clothing for the girls to use with their dolls.



I never did get around to making much, but the girls love to play with my Cleo. Trouble is when the youngest is here visiting she also wants ME to play "Monster High" with her. I only had one doll so one of us was "stuck" with the second hand Barbies in the toy box (me of course).



With Grandma's Toy Box in mind I picked up a Lagoona Blue during the post Christmas sales. This dress, hand knit in hand dyed, handspun, merino and silk, is actually for Lagoona, but Cleo was laying there naked while Lagoona is still in her box, fully clothed, so the modelling job went to Cleo.

The pattern is a generous freebee by Jane Conway and is available on Ravelry.

On It's Way to France

I know I said I wouldn't be doing any more commission work



because it usually stresses me out to be working to someone else's specifications and with a deadline,



but I made an exception this time



because I knew it to be a very quick and easy project



requiring an investment of only a few hours of my time



and supplies I already had on hand.



This little Nappy Choo sweater



is now on its way to France!



With the customer speaking only French, and me speaking only English, communication was "interesting" and involved copious use of the Babelfish website.