Remember that nightgown I was making for Daphne's new doll, Elizabeth? Well, it's finished.
Here's how it looks in back, with two dainty off-white buttons and a ribbon to tighten up the neckline.
Don't remember the eyelets in the beginning of the project I shared last week? Well, there's a story behind that.
I was having a hard time with the project. I was using a 2.25mm needle size and lace weight yarn, to try to make the dress/nightgown smaller to fit this doll. After about 1/2", I discovered I had 36 sts on the needle instead of the called-for 46. I ripped out and CO again. Then, as I got a way down the yoke, I wasn't happy with the size, which looked too big. Not wanting to start over again, I was contemplating putting ribbon around the neck to make it smaller, which would have required picking up the neck stitches to make eyelets for a ribbon to go through. I wanted to knit it in the round after joining the underarms to avoid having a seam in the back. I got the stitches on two circular needles and joined my work, but it was leaving big gaps in the lace at the underarms. I thought I might be able to fix that afterwards, too, so I soldiered on.
Then I was busy Tuesday morning and not paying attention to Sandy when I happened to glance out the window. He had my knitting out in the backyard! It was my fault for leaving it unattended, but he hasn't stolen anything more than a tissue for some time, so I had started to trust him. Big mistake! The yarn I finally retrieved looked like this. It took another couple of hours before I found my knitting on the needles.
Fortunately, I had two center-pull balls of the lace-weight yarn I was using, so I started over. This time I used smaller (2.0mm) needles, counted my stitches after the CO to make sure I had the right number, worked an eyelet row as Row 2 as K1, (K2tog, YO) across and ending with K1. When I joined the underarms, I put the two circular needles together and switched the last stitch on the first needle with the first stitch on the second needle, repeating that at the other underarm. That made the connection tight. The rest went very fast this time.
I finished it Thursday evening. I blocked it long, so it would look more like a nightgown. It's easy to do that with lace. I'm very happy with the result. Now if I want, I can untangle that mess of yarn and wash it. Maybe it will be useable for something. The pattern is the Eugenie Dress. My Ravelry project page for the nightie is here. I made notes there of everything I did to get the dress to fit this smaller doll and work in the round instead of flat.
Then I was busy Tuesday morning and not paying attention to Sandy when I happened to glance out the window. He had my knitting out in the backyard! It was my fault for leaving it unattended, but he hasn't stolen anything more than a tissue for some time, so I had started to trust him. Big mistake! The yarn I finally retrieved looked like this. It took another couple of hours before I found my knitting on the needles.
Fortunately, I had two center-pull balls of the lace-weight yarn I was using, so I started over. This time I used smaller (2.0mm) needles, counted my stitches after the CO to make sure I had the right number, worked an eyelet row as Row 2 as K1, (K2tog, YO) across and ending with K1. When I joined the underarms, I put the two circular needles together and switched the last stitch on the first needle with the first stitch on the second needle, repeating that at the other underarm. That made the connection tight. The rest went very fast this time.
I finished it Thursday evening. I blocked it long, so it would look more like a nightgown. It's easy to do that with lace. I'm very happy with the result. Now if I want, I can untangle that mess of yarn and wash it. Maybe it will be useable for something. The pattern is the Eugenie Dress. My Ravelry project page for the nightie is here. I made notes there of everything I did to get the dress to fit this smaller doll and work in the round instead of flat.
On Friday, I got Elizabeth dressed for her trip across the country. I'll send her off this week. Here she is in the little tea dress she came with.
She will stay warm with her little princess coat with its dainty covered buttons and her hat with its little broach. She also has a little embroidered pocketbook, but I left that in the bag with the corgis.
You can imagine her on the train with her two corgis in their crates as she orders tea and biscuits from the porter. I was very impressed with the workmanship on the clothes and shoes, and so very happy she had panties! The doll is Ruby Red Siblies Limited Edition Elizabeth. She is supposed to be Elizabeth II as a child.
Here's the route from the hike using the Walk for a Dog app from WoofTrax.
It rained on Wednesday and started snowing that night as I was coming home from choir practice. It snowed off and on all day on Thursday. Fortunately the roads were clear when I drove to the quilter's home in the afternoon. The snow had melted by Sunday.
Here's the recipe.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: This is another reedited rerun, this time from August 2019. The dolls use the ice cream machine to make ice cream and notice that it expands while freezing. Why is that? Find out in Ice Cream Social.
She will stay warm with her little princess coat with its dainty covered buttons and her hat with its little broach. She also has a little embroidered pocketbook, but I left that in the bag with the corgis.
You can imagine her on the train with her two corgis in their crates as she orders tea and biscuits from the porter. I was very impressed with the workmanship on the clothes and shoes, and so very happy she had panties! The doll is Ruby Red Siblies Limited Edition Elizabeth. She is supposed to be Elizabeth II as a child.
After the nightie was done, I got back to working on my Oregon Autumn Cardigan. It's coming along and is fun to work on. I'm almost done working the second chart. There are two more rows, then I'll check measurements. For the smallest size, I'm supposed to work through Row 12 on the chart a second time.
I dropped off Daphne's quilt at the quilter on Thursday. She may have it done in time for me to sew on the binding and send it off for Daphne's birthday, but if not, at least the doll will be there in time, and I can send a photo of the quilt. In the meantime, I have the binding ready to sew together and should have it ready to go when I get the quilt back.
We had a lovely day on Tuesday, and cold, rainy/snowy weather was predicted for later in the week, so we went to Good Dog Trail for a hike. It's an off-leash area, so the pups really enjoy running back and forth along the trail.
They never go too far from us, and they tend to stay together.
There are always other dogs to greet, mostly bigger ones. Occasionally we pause to catch our breath. It was pretty warm for this time of year, especially in the sun, so I'm sure the running made them feel hot.
Here's the route from the hike using the Walk for a Dog app from WoofTrax.
It's mostly still cold, though. We've had a fire in the fireplace every night.
It rained on Wednesday and started snowing that night as I was coming home from choir practice. It snowed off and on all day on Thursday. Fortunately the roads were clear when I drove to the quilter's home in the afternoon. The snow had melted by Sunday.
We had some tangerines that had dried so much they were hard to get out of their peels. I hate to waste food, so I cut them open and scraped out the flesh with my fingers. They were a squishy mess when I got through, but I ran them in the blender with egg, honey and oil and mixed the liquid with flour and baking powder. The result was this yummy Tangerine Coffee Cake, just in time for National Coffee Cake Day on Sunday.
Here's the recipe.
A very happy birthday today to Zachary! (We're having an eclipse in your honor.)
I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.
If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah or Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.
Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.
What's on my needles: Finished the Eugenie Nightie for Elizabeth, and now back to the Oregon Cardigan.
What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows, but not warped, but dusted.
What's on my sewing machine: Binding for Daphne's quilt.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: This is another reedited rerun, this time from August 2019. The dolls use the ice cream machine to make ice cream and notice that it expands while freezing. Why is that? Find out in Ice Cream Social.
What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to Jan Karon's At Home in Mitford. I plan to listen to more from this series. Just finished listening to Andy Wier's Artemis last night. I'm still trying to decide which book in my queue to listen to next. For my physical-book reading, I'm still reading Elfen Königin by Holly Black, translated from English.
What's in my wine glass: Usuku Chenin Blanc 2019 from the Western Cape, South Africa. I still don't have much sense of smell, but the mouth feel is what I would call "buttery."
What's my tip of the week: If you enjoy knitting but feel frustrated because you have to start a project over again or even just rip out several rows, try to think of it as having that fun all over again, but this time you know to avoid that mistake.
Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.
Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook is available from the BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.
The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.
Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.
The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.
If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
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