Tag Archives: sweater

My Work the Past Week

Hello, my friends! I hope you’ve had a cozy week. We’ve had some snow this week and temperatures that allow for wintery walks. All good! For me the week flew by as it usually does. I started two new projects, so I have two things in progress in my studio: a new ensemble for my Boneka 10″ Rose and a cardigan for Linda Macario’s new doll, Didi.

Thanks to all of you for voting for your favorite fabric either here, on my Facebook page, or on YouTube. Number one, a fabric by Brenda Riddle Designs got the most votes, so that is the one I used for Rose’s new dress. You can see all of the fabric contenders here. I actually like them all and really couldn’t decide!

I picked out a dainty white lace to peek out from the skirt’s hemline.

I still have the hand stitching of the bodice lining to do and the snaps to add, but all of the machine stitching is complete.

Next I started on Didi’s cardigan. Linda wanted a dark red or brown in a fingering weight and I didn’t have that color in my stash, so the first step was dyeing yarn. She sent me fabric swatches so that I could get a color that highlighted both fabrics. I mixed brown, warm red, and yellow to achieve this beautiful shade of warm brown. I think it works beautifully with these two fabrics.

I chose a single ply merino yarn for Didi’s sweater. I love the way this yarn feels. It’s so soft! It shouldn’t be long before I can start on the embroidery.

I also have a few new videos on YouTube in case you’d like to watch my week in progress. I separated in studio work from other life stuff, so two videos. You can pick one or both to watch. I also redid a little stop motion video I made years ago of the Little Darlings. I originally had it on Facebook without music. Now it has music added to it. Here is my YouTube channel page. I hope you enjoy.

Wishing you a great week ahead! I hope the new week is good to you. Sending hugs! 🤗❤️

Something New for Penny

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Hello and Happy Weekend to you! I hope you are doing well and enjoying this time of year when the holidays are over.

I’ve put together a short vlog depicting my makes and other life stuff that happened this past week. Not included in the video is how we spent almost an entire day taking all the ornaments off the tree and carefully wrapping them up–tubs and tubs of ornaments. The tree was as crispy as a cracker, and the branches were sagging to the ground–such a sad state for a once beautiful tree. 😦 I am not sure why it dried out so quickly this year; perhaps the heating vent in that room is a powerhouse vent. We also put away almost all the other decorations; I still have my Snow Village up.

Penny’s new ensemble is complete and she is happily modeling it for you. Yes, it is done and I didn’t have to reknit the cardigan. Thank you for your support and suggestions for it.

Last time I talked about how the uneven striping due to the tonal yarn looked strange, but once the embroidery was complete it looked fine. And I think even without embroidery it would have been okay; it kind of matches Penny’s personality–all quirky and cute.

I also made another mistake with this cardigan which I didn’t discover until I put my needles away from this project. I knew something was amiss when I first tried the cardigan on Penny; it was so roomy, but I never (until now) get my number one and number zero needles mixed up. I was actually quite happy to discover this because it is better than my gauge changing and having to rework my patterns. So Penny has growing room with this cardigan. 😉

I wish you all a peaceful weekend and coming week. Enjoy each and every day! Hugs to you, my friends. 🤗

Let the Holiday Magic Begin

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This year I am SO ready to begin decorating for Christmas. On one hand I absolutely cannot believe it is that time of year, but on the other hand I am ready and excited for it. Are you feeling festive earlier this year? We already have quite a few houses in our neighborhood with their Christmas lights turned on. I think others may be feeling the same as me…???

Way back in August I purchased tickets for the Chicago Botanic Gardens Lightscape event. This event sold out so quickly last year, so I purchased the tickets on the day they went on sale. We picked a random date which happened to be this past Saturday. It was a beautiful evening–just cool enough and dry (rain had been predicted for Saturday earlier in the week). We got lucky because you just never know what the weather will be like on November 21st when it is still mid August. It was a festive start to the season… and so good to be out in society. This event is totally outdoors and everyone stayed far enough apart and wore masks. I felt very safe.

My favorite exhibit was the waterfall made with lights. It originally is the waterfall garden, but they dry it out for the winter. It’s hard to capture the essence on video, but trust me it was amazing!

Other news! I finished a holiday ensemble for Gina. Here are a few pictures.

Gina’s cardigan was knit with my Light Cardigan Little Darling pattern. I used the instructions for the long sleeved version and the longest body length. I added an eyelet lace design on the neckline and hemline. I think it worked better on the hemline; it kind of gets lost on the neckline. It’s probably because I had to add all of the missed increases right after the lace pattern. I also added a lace motif on each sleeve which I like.

Gina’s ear flap hat was the sample I made for my newest pattern. I ended up changing the pom pom from pink to red because it needed a little red to coordinate with the rest of the ensemble.

The Christmas stocking was knit with a free pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits. I made the leg 4 stitches narrower, but otherwise followed the pattern as written. It was quick but fiddly. I am not keen on executing a p2tog tbl. I think it only needed to be made a few times, but I found it very difficult and put me off of the whole pattern. I wonder if a regular p2tog would work…

I published a YouTube video from my past week’s work or so. While I worked on this ensemble I took video here and there. It’s not a tutorial–just a virtual visit with me while I create it. Please join me.