Michael’s sister, Jennifer, has been visiting us this week. She decided that a Fun Thing to Do would be making a sweater. This just warms my heart. The trick is, she only knows how to knit (we worked on a scarf which was magicaly transformed into coasters the last time she came to visit) and I was worried that the combination of a big project and learning to purl (tension problems) might be too much at one time. Luckily, in the bookstore I discovered Vogue Knitting on the Go: Beginner Basics. There’s a garter stitch pullover in there that is actually pretty cute. There isn’t even any shaping! Which is makes it unintimidating. Jennifer picked out a varigated yarn and we borrowed a solid blue from Great Gran’s Leftover Yarn Collection for the cast on edges.

The blue stripe on the bottom adds a little style.

I’ve been impressed with how much she’s remembered fromt he last attempt. She’s even talking about knitting at school. I’m so proud.

Jennifer also thought that a scarf for a friend’s birthday might be fun. She picked out this eye-popping, lime green, fuzzy stuff saying: “My friend likes bright colors.” She made it to about 5 inches before realizing that things weren’t moving fast enough (she needed it Thursday).

It’s finished now. Novelty yarn is fun, on occasion.

In personal knitting, the brown sweater is at 14 inches – onle three to go before exciting things start to happen. I finished the last of the Davis Girls sweaters.

A white one for Elizabeth and a striped one for me are all that remain. And then what will I make with all the leftovers? That Red Heart comes in Simply Enormous Amounts.

PS Dinah is visiting for a few days. She is on top of the refrigerator and won’t let anyone get anything out of it. I guess we’ll be eating fast food today. Gotta love those Egg McMuffins.

Little sweater number two!

Don’t get upset about the green towel. It’s so old, I’m impressed it’s still green.

So there’s just one more to go…no wait – THREE more. The green one for the other Davis, a leftover-stripes one for Josephina, (I can’t not make one for me!) and then a white one (prehaps with purple daisies) for Elizabeth.* I’ve typed up the Emily Ivey Envelope Special for public consumption. You can find it here. I did it as an html page instead of a pdf like my other free patterns, so it isn’t nearly as professional-looking. I emailed the creator of the original, but the address attached to the pattern no longer works. If anybody knows her and she is unhappy that I posted changes, tell me so I can take them down.

Now that I’ve made a couple of successful doll sweater patterns, I think I might be ready to try a sweater for a person. Might is only maybe, so don’t hold your breath.

I also knit up some little American Girl socks one evening this week.

They don’t take any time at all to do and just a smidge of yarn. The pattern is by Judy Gibson. She’s also got a wonderful variation for a lacy knee sock.

I swear to you that I’ve been working on that brown sweater. Just not very hard.

*Elizabeth has both Samantha and Felicity. She spent/spends a lot of her time being ill in various ways, so while she was little, Great Gran would send her something from Samantha’s or Felicity’s collections every now and then. They always came UPS, so when we’d be out driving around and she would see a UPS truck, she would get excited and say: “They found me!” There is a bunch of new stuff for Samantha these days (since Elizabeth got older and stopped getting doll treats in the mail), I sent her over to the website for a look. She says she wants it ALL.

The brown sweater looks pretty much the same as it did last week so I won’t bore you with another picture. Instead, I will entertain you with the Doll Sweater Saga. I’ve finished the blue one.

Remember how I started with the green? Well, I made that one like the pattern and didn’t like how it came out. The back was perfect, the sleeves were too narrow (she couldn’t wear long sleeved shirts with it) and the fronts were too small to close over her chest. It fits Betty great.

Why he didn’t get his eyes clawed out, I couldn’t tell you.

The pattern was designed for a Magic Attic Doll – they must be skinnier. So I did some math and some reworking. The fronts now close with room to inhale, the sleeves are more full and picked up from the shoulders which are finished with a three-needle bind off (anything to avoid bulky shoulder seams). The only thing that stayed the same is the number of stitches cast on for the back.

So Elizabeth called and said, “How long does it take you to whip up some of those Baby Shoes?” She needs them this weekend. To be fair, she did ask me on Sunday. The fact that is is now Wednesday is my own fault. I gotta go get started. Right after I eat some popcorn. Maybe with some M&Ms in it. Why is that so good?

The 1st was Great Gran’s birthday! We got her some Cary Grant DVDs and are having a film festival. Great Gran’s birthday also marks my 4th Knitaversary. To celebrate, I worked on the brown sweater during His Girl Friday.

I am now on the fifth ball of yarn. But don’t worry: I’ve got plenty.

To break up the pervasive Brown Sweater Monotony, I’ve started on some gift knitting. My Davis friends each have that One Special Doll. So I’m working on a cardigan surprise. Three of them. In three different colors.

I’m using a free pattern that somebody’s sweet mom made up*. The only thing I’ve changed so far is to make the ribbing 2×2. I’ll make one up and try it on Josephina (my mom is bringing her down this weekend for fitting purposes) to see if any “structural changes” need to be made. I think that for all of her hard work, Josephina may need a striped cardigan out of the leftovers. It depends on how sick of tiny sweaters I am.

Speaking of tiny sweaters, and purely for my Mom’s and Elizabeth’s amusement, I present a sample of dollhouse pictures! We have:

• The Studio – I made most of the stuff in there.
• The Pink Chair – my first try at upholstered furniture.
• The Den – I made the afghan.
• The Master Bedroom – like the bedspread and pillow shams?
• I tried very hard to take a picture of everyone in their sweaters, but I couldn’t get one that wasn’t blurry. You’ll just have to see them in person.

*She doesn’t give her gauge, but I am going with 6sts=1″. I should get a sweater roughly 13″ around.