Monthly Archives: September 2020

News and WIP

Happy New Week to you! Do you remember that song “Rainy Days and Mondays” by the Carpenters? Yep, that’s us today here in northern Illinois. I am not expecting much sun and warmth this week…

Anyway… in progress over here is a second apple themed dress. I made the bodice last week and recorded the process. Does it sound interesting to come along with me as I make a bodice for a Little Darlings dress? If its something you’d like to see I will edit it into a viewable piece.

Below is a little video clip of the bodice all sewn and being pressed. Even though there will be audio in a full movie, it has been removed here. The regular steam on my iron stopped working, so all you’d hear are the burst of steam. I can make that quieter during editing.

Pressing the bodice’s side seams

This morning I wove in all the ends and sewed up the sleeves on the cardigan. I think Alice likes it so far.

I’ve been practicing again using the iMovie application. On the last day of summer I walked the path around the lake at one of our forest preserves. A couple of trees had started changing, the late summer wildflowers were in full bloom, and I even saw a family of swans. Please have a look and ‘like’ the video, if you do like it that is. It is my first public video on You Tube. If you subscribe to my You Tube channel it will be easier for you to see when I have new videos. I have tons to learn, but I am totally loving working with video and turning video into little movies.

Bye for now. ❤ Thanks so much for visiting!

Happy Fall Y’all

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Autumn in the northern hemisphere begins on Tuesday! Are you ready for fall weather? Our nights have been quite cool–no frost yet, so the flowers are still blooming. The days remain warm, but long gone are the 90 degree days that made up much of our summer. The past days have been beautiful! If only every day were like this!

This week I finished “Apple Picking” for the Little Darlings. Gina won the modeling lottery and is happily modeling it for you. Doesn’t she look sweet? She’s even found a few apples already.

*Wool cap embellished with apple pom pom and crocheted leaves*.

Gina surprised me; she likes to climb trees, especially apple trees!

The fabric I used to sew Gina’s dress was from 2015 (I think), or maybe earlier. It is a Japanese lightweight cotton fabric from Lecien; the collection’s name is Floral Collection Flower Sugar.

Back in 2015 I used this fabric for another ensemble modeled by Gina (shown below). “Apple Season” is for warmer weather. Gina will be a lot cozier in her wool knitwear this year.

I hope you enjoy the first week of autumn, or spring (lucky you!) if you are in the southern hemisphere. Thank you so much for stopping by. What are you up to this week? I’d love to hear from you. ❤

What I Do When It’s Too Big and a Video

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Hello. I hope you are doing good. All is fine here in northern Illinois. After a solid week of rain and dreariness we are now into some beautiful weather again, thank goodness.

I wrote last time about how my knitting gauge has gotten looser and now my own knitting patterns are producing items that seem too large, or almost too large for the dolls they were designed for.

My last knitted garment, and the most noticeably too large, was the sweater coat for the Little Darlings. Here it is again in progress–and it wasn’t beyond fixing. It pays to try on the garment before weaving in ends and sewing up seams.

I added a lifeline in the row I wanted to rip back to, and then ripped away. I transferred the stitches from the lifeline on the knitting needle and knit the ribbed edging. For the body this meant right under the second to last buttonhole. The garter band of the sweater was tricky to see where to put the lifeline. If I didn’t get the right spot it was easy to fix while I was ripping out.

The sleeves needed 5 less rows, so the lifeline went in the 6th row beyond the ribbing. In addition, I decided to narrow the sleeves, so I knit backwards and added some decreases at the edges of the sleeves.

I am so happy with the finished result. I think it fits Alice perfectly now. The ensemble is still is progress, but almost completed. I knit her hat yesterday… at the beach–a Lake Michigan beach. It was pretty enjoyable! 😉

I love the sound of water, and if you do too, or if you’d like to see some of the water installations at the Chicago Botanic Gardens please have a look/listen. It’s pretty short (but took a while to make!!!). I am brand spanking new at this, and also at recording video–that’s why some of my footage is vertical. 😮 A warning though–it’s very amateurish, sorry.