finished knit dress

It's long enough, after all! She should be able to wear it all winter :-) She looks a bit grumpy, but that's because I put the dress on her right after her nap, and took her soother away to get a picture! Bad mama... 

And I already started the next project, http://www.purlbee.com/crocheted-linen-grocery-tote/ a groceries bag. I'm doing it in ancora cotton, it's really thin, it's meant for lacey crochet projects, i think. I bought it in Portugal. I'm using a 2.5mm hook and am already changing the pattern a little, as I go on, so no idea how this will turn out! But the bag is meant to be very stretchy, so it shouldn't matter too much! 

The second rag doll

I've made a second doll! She's as of yet unnamed, she goes by 'Dollie' or 'Puppe' so far. I really like her, she's so much better than the last. Here she is:

I meant to post as I go on making it, but my sister being over to visit meant that I didn't spend much time on the computer! I did however get time to do some stitching as we were sitting and chatting. I don't have photos of all the steps but I have some:

 This is my amended pattern (I used the one from before as a base): I added a neck and a dart to the head, rounded the shoulders and made the bottom narrower for the body. I made a different back body pattern by adding darts and increasing the width and length so that it would still match up. I added a foot shape to the leg and made it much wider,and  I added a hand shape (mitten style) to the arm and made it much wider, too. I got the idea for the hands and feet and the head dart. from the hop skip jump dolls, I just love her dolls! I know I could have bought the pattern, and be done with it, but I like the challenge of making my own, and changing it a little which each doll (I already have lots of amendments for the next doll planned!).

I cut all my body pieces from pale pink baby cord, and sewed the darts, neck and limbs with the machine. After turning and stuffing the limbs I basted them to the body pieces and handsewed them on. At this point I realised that I wouldn't just be able to tuck the limbs into the body while sewing all around it! Instead I turned the body, I thought I'd never manage it!

oh dear...very hard work!

Phew!

I hand sewed the body and what was left of the head, and stuffed with some more pillow fiber. This sounds like I was nearly done at this point... But then I attached a lot of wool hair, strand by strand, decided I hated it, removed it, tried to fix the angle of the arms (which looked nothing like the above once the body was stuffed), gave up on that and ripped the seams and handsewed the arms back on. All this over the course of a week or so! 

After the woolly hair disaster I decided to go for felt hair instead, and found a great instructions in this purl bee felt doll tutorial :

 as i wasn't happy with the head shape

 i stuffed the 'felt wig' with some more of the polyester filling

 and then tried it on and whip stitched it in place.

I embroidered the face and M played with the naked doll for the afternoon. 

Here the two dollies are having a rest on the window sill. 

Emm's main demand was a nappy for the doll, and 'anziehen' (getting dressed), so in the evening I made some quick white knickers, and in the morning a simple sleeveless dress, held together with elastic at the neckline. Which brings us back to the first photo of this post!

Once I'd decided to make another doll I did lots of image googling, scanning through the pictures and checking any websites with those that I liked, this especially worked when I was looking for hair inspiration and tutorials! There are lots of great doll making resources out there, and photos for inspiration! 

my knitting needle broke!

i was using these knitpro interchangeable circular needles and i was just trying to fasten one of them again as it kept coming loose (i mustn't have used the cable key properly) and it just snapped! and they are my only 3.25mm needles, so the 'little sister's dress' is on ice for the moment, and it's the weekend, i was really looking forward to making some progress...

well, i'm going to bed.

Update 06-Feb-2010: I was lying! I did have more 3.25mm needles, I found 2 sets of 4 double pointed ones, so now I'm knitting with 7 dpns!! Bit of a pain, but better than nothing!


Update 10-Mar-2010: After a visit to This is Knit, to buy new circular needles, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I hadn't been doing anything wrong (always good to know) and also, that I won't have to pay for a replacement! Should get a phone call to say the replacement arrived, any day now! This is great, Thanks girls! 

nearly forgot!

the mittens!!

and the wool i used was manos del uruguay silk blend. so nice to work with!

christmas ornaments

little santa hat, pattern on ravelry
tiny sock (cast on 8 stitches!) the original pattern is also from ravelry, but i changed it quite a bit.

these are going into an advent calendar that us stitch and bitch girls are making for one of us, who's moving abroad. i'd say the tiny sock would be great on a card, too!

Plans for the bedroom

After buying something purple for the first time in years I've chickened out of the plan for a soft purple feature wall, I am too scared of purple!! Instead I will go for a (maybe even scarier) purple and green combination! The cushions might lighten up a little if i wash them a few times and should nearly match the curtains then. The material for the throw has flecks for purple in it, and I love the fact that it will be handwoven in Ireland. It's a bit of an investment piece but I think it's timeless, and such good quality, for the same price as most synthetic bedspreads! Unfortunately the weaver can only do 140cm width on his loom, but he will make it 220cm long, so it'll cover the width of our king size (153cm) bed nicely. It'll be a few weeks before it's going to be finished, so I have time to look for a nice watercolour or painting of lupins or other purple flowers, which should pull the colours together nicely.

I don't know what it is with me and purple but there are VERY FEW shades of purple that I like in the first place, (it has to be warm and muted, not too pale, not too pink, not too blue...) and I got quite excited when i got the curtains. But I've had the tester tin of paint for the feature wall sitting on my chest of drawers for ages and I just couldn't bring myself to paint the test patch! i think any more than one shade of purple wuld be too much for me!

i finished my scarf yesterday!

remember last winter i started this scarf? well, after some 'summer' hibernation and a final giving in to the bad weather and knitting woolly things again, it's finally finished! i was worried it wouldn't be long enough, but everybody kept telling me it's fine, just start on the decrease rows... i reluctantly gave in, this scarf is near impossible to unravel and restart, because of the dropped stitches (i find), but i needn't have worried! i washed it yesterday, in the machine's 'wool and delicates' cycle, together with a cream jumper (that said dry clean only, but i don't approve of dry cleaning...) using wool detergent.



perfect results! both jumper and scarf came out unharmed, and the scarf grew from a just about OK 180cm to a brilliant 250cm! i dried it flat on the guest bed and am delighted to find the wool turned softer and drapier and the scarf is just what i wanted! and just in time for the miserable september weather that's hit us this week.



i'm not a hundred percent sure if i used the wool cycle properly, there was quite a strong detergent smell off the wool, i wonder are you supposed to run a rinse and drain cycle afterwards? or is that just the way wool detergent smells? if the smell doesn't go i'll have to do a rinse&drain and lay it out flat on the bed again... will the drapiness stay if i wash it again?

rhubarb crumble

mmh... i just put the 1st rhubarb crumble of the year into the oven! we had to cut back our rhubarb plant allready, it started growing over the path (our garden is small so everything is small and narrow and close together). my mother in law's in longford has only just started sprouting, i didn't realise there was such a difference in climate! we're lucky though, our garden is south facing and quite sheltered.

we also did a little trip to woodies yesterday and bought a patio set: two chairs and a table. the table was put together quick enough despite the usual useless drawings and instructions, i mean, why do they have to label the pieces a1 and b2 and so on, why not just say outer left leg, inner right leg etc. it would save all the guessing and turning each piece every way to figure out whether it's a1 or b2! anyhow, for the 2 chairs we got 3 left arm rests and one right... so today i had to go back and swap one of them, it took the customer service girl, a boy, a manager and another boy, and some animated discussions amongst them, to get me the right piece, good job i brought the drawing with me, only after i showed that to one of them did they understand what i meant by 'i would like to exchange this left armrest for a right armrest'.


not many crafty news here, i have been extremely tired lately, i still haven't finished the cream wool clapotis scarf, or the mirasol sulka hat, but i've started a flannel blanket (just 2 pieces of flannel and a blanket stitch edging) and a granny square blanket, from a mixture of rialto, sublime cashmere merino and some other similar leftover yarn. i started 25 squares during our little easter getaway, i've used some pale grey and sage green so far, and a dark fuchsia. i will see how far i get. with what i have and then maybe buy some more in a matching colour to make borders for them all. i had initially thought i might make my usual 'giant granny square' but with every round in a different colour, but i thought if the different types of wool shrink differently in the wash it'll be nicer if each square has slight bumps than if the whole blanket's structure is uneven.



oh, and i cut up an unshapely cardigan in a lovely dusky pink soft loose knit, and made a thin scarf and a head band from the sleeves. i still have the body part, a strange round shape, to make something with! must take some pics. every time i dug this out of the wardrobe i though ' why am i not wearing this lovely soft cardi in that beautiful colour more often, only to realise after i've left the house in it, that it makes my arse look huge (it is quite big but not THAT BIG).


i would also like to make this blanket and this scarf, but with my current energy levels they will be projects for next winter.

a few photographs

the dunes, eaten away by the water, roots exposed.



the last minute 'purled' beret, now with 'beanie topper'



new shoes - green



new shoes - red!

p's granny (2)

hi, thanks for your comments! p's granny is stable, still holding up, she's very weak though. himself and his brother went down to visit her yesterday, the hospital is very busy and she's on a big ward, there's lots of children and grandchildren wanting to see her and they take terms sitting by her side. p's glad he went to see her again, i'm not going to go down to the hospital myself as it's so busy and i don't want to take time away from her grandchildren, granny herself is sleeping through most of it.

p's granny

p's granny is very sick, she had a slow heart attack and there's nothing more the doctors can do at her age, she's getting pain killers and had her family around, taking turns staying with her. she's quite calm and recognising everybody but she can't really talk as she's getting oxygen. p's going down this afternoon, i might follow this evening or tomorrow...

aprons

Isn't this the loveliest apron ever!?
It's so flattering and the colours are brilliant and it's reversible, too! I don't usually buy many patterns, especially not for practical things like aprons, but I am very very tempted! It's by Meg from Montessori By Hand, a very talented lady!

These are some photos of aprons i made over the last few years...

this one's made from habitat teatowels, for my friend





the first ovenglove was a bit too snug for its own good, it got donated to my other friend's kids' toybox... the second ovenglove was a little better and is actually still in use in hel's house!

this one is my own, again, habitat tea towels... i am planning to make matching oven gloves with the left over tea towel, using the pattern from lotta jansdotter's simple sewing book.



i made this little one for p's niece, she loves it!


and these two for p's granny. she's not been feeling well for the last two weeks and hasn't been baking. today she was brought into hospital! i hope she'll get her spirits up again, she's been a bit down about being weak and old and everybody around her is very worried.

This hat actually suits my friend Catherine really well, making me realise how it doesn't really suit me, after all, I think it may be the colour more than the shape though... Anyhow, C will be wearing this hat from now on, she prefers the knit side, so I'll redo the weaving in to look better on that side, also she requested a beanie topper which I will attach... I think I'll also add a bit of elastic in the brim...

That sorted, and after some green tea with ginger honey had been drunk, we then went for a quick walk on the beach, just in time before the sun set.





Other news, I got myself a ravelry account! Like I don't have enough time-eating internet hobbies already... Must take photos of my 'stash' soon and put them up... I love that site, it's great to see what other people made from the same pattern...

P's brother is coming to stay with us for 3 months! That's a long time for a small house like ours... And we only just 'got rid' of the last 'tenant', a friend of P's who was waiting for his house purchase to go through and didn't want to take out a lease on an apartment in between... Ant, as I like to call my brother in law, will be doing work experience for his college course in Dublin. I just hope he'll behave himself and clean up after himself... he's the baby of the family, 19, and very much used to mammy looking after him...

cream wool scarf

this is the cream wool scarf i'm working on at the moment, it's 100% merino (Schachenmayr 'extra merino big' , €3.50 per 50g). I got the wool in Germany before christmas. It's the 'clapotis' pattern from knitty but i'm not making it as wide. I'm hoping it'll keep me warm when i walk home from the train, if it's very cold i like to wrap my scarf around my head and neck so it needs to be wide enough and long enough , not the most stylish but by far the warmest solution. I like the way it curls when not stretched.

I learned the hard way that it's near impossible to go back past a dropped stitch row! i forgot a y.o. and didn't realise until after i had dropped... in the end i had to fudge it to make an extra stitch where i needed it. not great but hopefully the edge will curl and it won't be too visible. Has anybody else had that problem? Has anybody managed to fix a mistake further back?

I also made this hat from the last minute 'purled' beret pattern, using rialto aran, and 5.5mm needles. I had to photoshop my face as i'm a little camera shy, also my husband says the hat 'dwarfs' my head (I do realise it's hard to tell with my thorough photoshopping job! I still like it, kind of. If I was to make it again I'd use a fluffyer yarn and knit it with thicker wool or thinner needles to make it less floppy. It was really quick and easy to make!
Has anyone got suggestions for hat patterns or styles that don't 'dwarf' a long narrow face?


I knit on the train the other day, I felt a bit self conscious, but I just kept my head down. I haven't seen anybody knit on the train, in the two and a half years that i've been taking it, or on the bus for that matter, and i've been taking buses here for the last 6 years. Is it different in the US, or UK? I find in Ireland there isn't as much of a culture of younger people (i.e. below pension age) making things. At home it was part of the secondary school curriculum so by the time you left school you had a lot of basic skills. And most of the girls I knew were doing something with their hands after school/uni/work, home decorations, fixing up furniture, knitting or sewing, gardening... here it seems to be highly unusual in my age group! Even the older generation, like my husband's mum, don't do much knitting or sewing! What's it like where you're living?

moss stitch scarf

just came across this photo of a moss stitch scarf i made for my sister in law, it's the only one i have, at just a few rows, the finished scarf was over 2m long! top of the door frame is two meters, right?
the photo quality is bad, i took this with my not very advanced camera phone...

more knitting....

I started on the leaf ties for the blue cropped leaf tie cardigan, i finally did the leaf on 3.5mm needles it was just too large and floppy on the 5.5mm! now it's neat and keeps it's shape...

In the meantime i did a scarf with 2 skeins of this wool, moss stitch, (with fringes over 2m long!) for my sister in law, just in time for the cold weather at the beginning of the week.

And another one with Rowan Biggy Print in lovely honey shades, I used 3 balls, I only finished it last night, hopefully i'll get to take pictures tonight. I didn't have the 20mm needles, so i used 15mm. because a plain garter stitch pattern resulted in a dense and 'carpety' fabric, i came up with this 'pattern': cast on 11 stitches: *knit the 1st row, knit the 2nd with 2 y.o. for each stitch, knit the 3rd row, unravelling the y.o.s and thereby creating triple height rows. after this row i always stopped to 'comb' down the 2nd row to even out the triple height stitches* it looks quite cool, and is soooo cosy! it's a bit like a lot of the scarves you see in the shops, bulky and very loosely knit. This one will be for my red haired friend H, I think the colours will look really good on her!

the half finished cardigan

i paused the body for the moment to see how far one ball of wool will get me for the sleeves, then i can work out after how long i can make the cardigan, i'm not sure yet will i go for half length sleeves or full length

this is the quite tricky under arm. i picked up a few stitches as suggested here by knitting betty, i decreased to my initial amount of stitches though. not the neatest thing in the world but i'm happy enough!


this is a great project to get back into knitting, it moves so fast!

knitting... nearly started!

I got my Rialto Aran and made tension squares, one on 5mm one on 5.5mm, do your squares turn out square? Mine is more of a rectangle! Unless i counted half purls as knit stitches? I made a garter stitch border, i.e. a few garter stitch rows to begin and end, and 3 stitches either side, leaving a 4inch stockinette stitch square in the centre, in theory, only mine is more like 4 inches wide and 3.5 inches high... any tips?

I'm going to knit something!

After buying the 'last minute knitted gifts' book in spring and still not having started anything (I was so going to make the hourglass sweater as seen on moonstitches' blog!)

After debating for ages over whether i'd order online I finally went to a wool shop after work yesterday (it's 20 minutes on the dart, in the wrong direction, so i wasn't home till half 8! Why are there no woolshops in the city centre??) with the hourglass pattern and the leaf cardi pattern (off the knitty website). Seeing as it's the first project in ages, the shop assistant and I decided I'll go for the cardi, a little less daunting. I am going to use debbie bliss rialto aran yarn in a lovely warm blue, so seeing as it's not going to be green i might not actually do the leaves!

I was browsing some books, too, and got the Erica Knight Classic Knits book, I like the title jumper, and several of the other designs, plus it has a pattern for gloves that i want to try.

I also really like the brown ribbed V neck jumper from this book but maybe I am getting ahead of myself there, I stopped myself before buying that book as well, some designs are nice but many are a bit off my radar.

Still haven't finished the chair covers... Must do that before my sis arrives next week!
Then i have to finish making another piece for this wavey scarve , i finally decided that it really definitely is too short, and i am going to try and make a separate piece, in the opposite colours, i.e. fuchsia with grey edges, to attach to it. I was so close to unraveling when a fellow stitch and bitcher on tuesday pointed out that i could attach another piece. At first i poo-pooed that, saying that you'll always see where they are attached and it wouldn't do, but now with the attached piece being different colours that won't be so much of a problem any more (i hope).
Then finally I will be allowed to start on the knitting adventure and try and make an actual piece of clothing for myself.