This weekend was time for putting away the to-do list and finding our center again as a family. I decided to put the Man Sweater away (again) and dig into something tiny and satisfying. (I've had Pete's sweater on the needles since November. 2010. I should have probably been casting that one off, but somehow this tiny sweater seemed to take precedence.)

I'm slowly working my way through my yarn stash and this was the third quick stash-buster of the week. (The others, two very different cowls for the kids, I'll be sure to show you some day soon.)

As for this little sweater for Lupine's friend Mimi-Mama, I had help picking out the yarn. And wow. Who knew I had such punchy colors in my stash? Lupine did, evidently. In hindsight I'd have chosen something a bit more mellow, but who cares. It's a doll sweater. (Incidentally the pants Mimi Mama is sporting are made out of some sort of stretchy polyester circa 1977. They must have been for one of my dolls. Amazingly, they match the sweater perfectly. Whoa.)

I think the usual button stand-off has ended, and Mimi and Lupine have picked some bright pink buttons to sew on in the morning. And then Lupine says in a very squeaky voice (that of Mimi Mama), "I love my new sweater so much!" And the doll proceeds to kiss me like two million times.

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Some Notes~

The sweater pattern: I used the Poppy Cardigan, a free pattern on Ravelry. My notes are here, the pattern is here.

The doll pattern: Mimi Mama is my own design. Her nose is made using the technique I mentioned here. (Yes, the nose makes her technically not a Waldorf Doll but I'm all about the noses.) I blogged about making here here.

Doll hair technique: Her hair is a mix of thrifted and hand-spun wool yarn, attached by a brilliant/simple method explained in this book. (And oh, my. Why that book is listed at $280 on Amazon I can not say. I paid $2 at a rummage sale for it two years ago. So sorry. If you need me to paraphrase the technique let me know. I'll save you the hundreds.)

Happy crafting, friends!

 

I saw Lupine coming through the living room with tea cups for a celebration she was organizing in the other room. She was wearing a party dress and the sweater I made her this fall. The sweater!

And I realized that I haven't shared any recent knitting projects with you for ages. There has been a lot of casting off happening around here, including Lupine's birthday sweater. (Yes, from November.) I cast it off the evening before her birthday but never photographed it. Something about that hotel lighting… 

And as with all the other finished-but-not-yet-shared projects, finding time to photograph them when both the clothing and the wearer are clean has been, um, challenging. Ahem.

The sweater pattern is Kina, and my project details are here. I knit the size 6-7 (she's a solid 5) because I couldn't make myself knit a size 4-5 (fear of smallness) so it's a bit big still, but I think she'll get at least a year or two out of it. The yarn was silky cotton, something I never knit with. So dreamy. (I normally knit with wool.)

I plan to share more of the completed projects in the coming weeks. There are many. (Oh, and if someone would call Pete and ask him to photograph my hat, cowl, and sweater that would be awesome. This bathroom mirror camera trick just ain't cutting it.)

And thank you to my mom who is responsible for Lupine's unusually clean hair. Hooray for Nanny. She insists of baths and improves my photographs.