Dolls and Weeds

I've managed to lose track of time again.

Is anyone else having this problem? Is it age? Am I really so over-the-hill that I'm rolling fast enough to make six weeks feel like one?

Apparently, yes.

Things do, however, get done. I finished off the Blackbird Shawl



It's really very pretty, and black as can be. I'm glad to be finished knitting with black, at least for now. I still have plans to work my way through all my black yarn, but have changed my mind about spending an entire year knitting with nothing but black. I've come up with a new series of projects that is sure to test my attention span.

I've decided that various dolls in the house require new togs. Thankfully, I don't have all that many dolls (at least, I don't think I do).

First up, and most naked of the bunch, was my Armand Marseille Dream Baby, a bisque head doll with blue glass sleep eyes made around the 1920's. This doll has a cloth body and composition hands. Elly finds him "creepy". I think he's very sweet, in fact, I think he looks quite a lot like Elly did as a baby.



I'd decided as soon as I saw him that he was a boy, and so (finally) made him a bonnet and gown from an old blue linen tablecloth that I'd thrifted a few years ago. I was careful to utilise the hardanger edges for the hem of bonnet, gown and sleeves. The bonnet is a shade on the small side, but he hasn't complained yet.

Isn't he sweet?

I also made linens for the old wicker pram I bought a while back, seen in this blog post.



I made a pillow, mattress and mattress cover from new materials, and made a blanket and pillowslip from two vintage heavy, beige linen hand towels, also thrifted a while back. I added a smattering of embellishment with brown and white polka dot ribbon and two cream coloured satin motifs.

Lucky doll!

That sweet face is still lacking a name though. I'd thought of calling him Armand, but that may be a tad unimaginative. Any suggestions? Perhaps an older name that isn't gender specific; Marion, Beverly,... maybe not... hmmm...Georgie?

I have plans to clothe other dolls through the summer, perhaps I'll show and tell them as I work my way through the naked/shabbily-dressed ones.

In other events, the deck is finally underway. This was suppose to be done last summer, but the good weather ran out before our contractor could squeeze us in, so it had to wait until now.



This year's weather hasn't been as co-operative as we would have liked, so it's not finished yet. All we really need now are two days with no rain.

Soon...

And what else is coming along fast and furious?

Well, it's all those dandelions on the front lawn.



I'm having a terrible time deciding what to do with them. I keep going to the shops and picking up the big bottle of weed killer , debating, deciding against chemicals, putting it down, coming home, and then regretting not buying the stuff as soon as I pull into the front drive. We even had one of those big lawn chemical companies come out and give us an estimate ($389, thank you very much). I find it easy to love dandelions when they're in their "golden flower head" stage (as in the photo), as opposed to the "straggly puff-ball" stage, which is how they're looking today.

Perhaps this fabric will change my mind...



It is pretty, yes?

Last Year's Knits

Has everyone packed away the Holidays? I did - I also packed away a few extra pounds, but I've decided not to focus on that...

After Christmas last year, by that I mean 2009, I thought it would be good fun to make a little something knitted for Christmas 2010 for a select few people on my Christmas list. There was a fair bit of knitting that went on all through last year that I never blogged about, but finally, all can be revealed.

There was only one item that seemed to be a bit of a dud, so we'll just casually get this out of the way first...



I made my boy Ian a hat. My mistake may have been the pattern, which I've made unsuccessfully for him previously, or it may have been the yarn, which appears "rainbow-y" in the original photo, but I think the red may have run during it's Eucalan bath, making the yellow into orange, and the blues a tad muddy. Suffice to say, no comment was made when opening the gift, and it sat unworn until I shoved it in a drawer the other day. I'm not taking it personally though, he did love the fish hat I made for him two years ago.

For my Mum, I made the Gretel Tam by Ysolda Teague.



This pattern is yet another keeper from Ysolda - I haven't tried one of hers yet that I haven't loved. This pattern has instructions for three sizes - slouchy, traditional and fitted - I made the fitted version. Mum loved her tam, definitely a success!

Way back in March was when I started the first gift, a Citron Shawlette, I wasn't sure who this was going to be for, but it ended up being perfect for my closest friend, Betsy. I love this shawl pattern (I've made it twice before, both times for myself. See here and here). This one was worked in Fiddlesticks Zephyr Wool-Silk (now discontinued) in colourway Marine blue. Betsy loved this shawlette - another success!

a note: it's only the Zephyr Merino/Silk by Fiddlesticks that's been discontinued, it's still being made by JaggerSpun and Fantastic Knitting.



For Elly, I made the Felicity Cowl (the pale blue in the following photo). This pattern is lovely, knit from edge to edge instead of bottom to top, the final challenge of this pattern is grafting in garter stitch, which I accomplished with a few moments of pausing to think about what I was doing. I knit this up in Sublime Yarns cashmere Merino Silk DK. Very nice, if I do say so. Swish!

Next to Elly's cowl is one for her boyfriend, Steve. This pattern is the Caera Cowl, a pattern I used liberally leading up to Christmas. Steve's was made in a deep indigo, almost purple-blue - very lovely.



Most of the other men on the list received a Caera Cowl too. Nigel got charcoal, my brother Ian got truffle brown, Dad's was classic cream and Betsy's son Cailin got a heathered blue. Apart from Nigel those other three fellows live out on the west coast where one rarely needs a neckwarmer, but this year they've actually had snow, and some very chilly temperatures, so I've heard the gifts are getting a bit of use. Hooray!



And for Jane and her family, I made Galileo Mittens by cosmicpluto knits. This project was, by far, the most labour intensive of all the knitting. According to my ravelry records, I started this project April 7th and didn't finish until September 19th. To be fair, I worked on other projects in between, but....whooosh... I think I can knit that pattern without looking now.



They were worked up in Knitpicks Gloss Merino/Silk, in the following colours: for Jane: Winter Night (a dark navy), for Jane's hubby, Hart: Jade (a heathered teal), for Jane's eldest, Thea: Kenai (a vivid teal), and for Jane's youngest, Aaron: Dusk (a heathered navy - a colour which has since been discontinued, but was very nice none-the-less). Most importantly, they all fit. Huzzah!

And that, as they say, is all she knit.

I'm back to knitting something for myself in this new year.



New on the needles is Blackbird by Kieran Foley. This is another one of his start-from-the-bottom-up shawls where you cast on some ridiculous number of stitches (527) and then add beads on that first row...

Wheeeee.....