I was well on my way to finishing the Snowflake jacket this week. I 've been forcing myself to knit on it and had finally found a rhythm. I was down to the last sleeve. The only knitting left would be the collar. I plan to knit it directly on the sweater instead of knitting it separately and sewing it on. That's when I ran out of red. I called Mary Maxim and they sent me off a ball of red - no questions. I had bought a kit and I was not leaving long ends or messing up the pattern. The red was for the stranded bands of red and white and I was getting gauge. The pattern said this section was stranded. I had the new ball by Friday (two days later) and away I knit on the sleeve again. Before I could get to the last band of red and cream, I ran out of cream. [insert curse words of your choice here] I think the cream shortage was my fault. By the time I was working on the last sleeve I had finally got the hang of the intarsia section of the big snowflake. I also chose to do the smaller snowflakes using stranded knitting instead of intarsia like the pattern said to. I got onto their mail order site and ordered another ball of cream and a ball of medium grey for good measure. I have lots of the dark grey left. The wait has given me a chance to work the ends in and start the seaming.
I started the dressed doll on a stand. I chose the Mum's outfit from the booklet from Jacquay Yaxley's Knitting Emporium, Rose Cottage Part 2 The Wedding. Booklet is out of print. Over the years I have knit a lot of the outfits from this booklet and Part 1. I have both. I have had them for many years. I bought them at Lewiscraft and that retailer has been out of business since 2006. I love these books because everything in them is knitted - clothes, furniture, the dog and even the wedding cake.
The outfit is almost completely knitted and blocked. Only the collar on the jacket is left to knit. I have a bit of finishing yet to do but here is a sneak peek.
The pattern calls for a flower for the hat. I attempted it three times and gave up in frustration. I dug through my button box and came up with a red star button and added some yellow accents. The yellow is necessary for the flower to tie in the purse - also yellow. I am trying to find a fine enough sewing needle to go through the holes in the snap fasteners. I spent Friday afternoon hunting all over Windsor and Essex for a doll stand. This was the smallest I could find and located it at Crafty Business on the border of Windsor and Tecumseh. It holds her up and will do for the fair.
You would think that doll clothes would be a quick knit. After all they are small. The problem is that they have as many ends to secure as a full sized outfit but no space for putting them. I had to do the back seam three times to get it right. I can't see the tiny stitches and finally sewed the whole back seam from top to bottom then unpicked the sections that needed to be left open. I am dreading sewing up the jacket sleeve seams and sewing in the set in sleeves.
Hubby and I had tickets for Saturday for the Kingsville Folk Festival so we could see Buffy Saint Marie. Hubby has been a big fan since 1967. I liked her music and knew who she was. Hubby was convinced she came on at 8pm. So after it stopped raining we headed to Kingsville.* Turns out she was not scheduled to appear until 10:20pm. We had three hours to wait. I knitted on the doll outfit to be mounted on a card. I chose this pattern. I even had some of this yarn in my stash. However, I am making this dress shorter and in blue. I found some buttons I think will work in place of the sequins and beads used in the original. I found them while hunting for the doll stand.
I had to stop knitting when it got dark out about 9pm. I had reached a point where it was time to start decreasing and I would have to count. I could not check my work in the dark. I did not think that the other audience members in the park would appreciate me turning on the flashlight to count my stitches. The flashlight was for use in the portapotties. I hate using those after dark. Never know what you might accidentally touch or step in.
If you are wondering what has happened to the stuffed toy it is still in pieces waiting for assembly.
Two weeks and three days left. Three projects not started and four still in progress.
* I have no complaints about the rain. We are having such a dry spell and badly need the rain. Besides watering my flowers takes time away from knitting. Hubby and I packed up rain gear in case it continued to rain for the concert. Luckily for us it did not rain again but I would be happy if it poured rain again today. I have huge cracks in the back yard that may soon swallow up Reba.
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