Monday, October 19, 2009

New mittens for my kittens.



















These are new pink mittens I just knit for Deborah. I washed her old ones and they shrunk.
For my birthday, my family gave me Ann Budd's book Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns . (Actually, I bought it and told them to hide it till my birthday.) This was the first project I made from the book and it turned out great. I found the book VERY easy to follow. The mitten on her right hand looks bigger because it is. I didn't follow the directions. It is actually the second one I knit and was out and about, waiting for the kids and going by my memory.... which I should know by now NOT to do!
It's only slightly longer and her hands will only grow.


Thursday, October 15, 2009

Computer frustrations

I just spent and incredible amount of time trying to figure out Twitter. I have a FB page with my Etsy name which is linked to both my blog and my personal page/wall. I think what else I need is a Etsy Mini on both facebook and my blog. I'm wondering if having a separate 'page' on FB just for my Etsy stuff is too confusing. Is it confusing? Maybe it should just all go to my Etsy shop?

How to find out?

Is this why no one has been visiting my shop?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

KinderRose: Toilet paper to the rescue!

KinderRose: Toilet paper to the rescue!

Toilet paper to the rescue!

Yikes! this dress was hard to photograph. All my pictures were flat and blurry. Daylight or artifical light didn't make a difference. I finally settled for laying the dress on the floor. It still looked flat. So I stuffed the sleeves and yoke with toilet paper!

I especially like this picture with the flannel pants. Looks so warm and cozy!




















This close-up of the yoke turned out pretty well too.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Tea and the green dress


Today Deborah and I had tea at the library. We heard Laura Schaefer read and talk about her new book The Teashop Girls. It was so great for Deborah to meet a real published author. And she is a local Madisonian. Both Deborah and I read the book beforehand. I think it was fun for her to read about girls in our own town with references to places we know about. She was such a friendly lady, I hope her books do well and she writes many more.


The green dress is almost done! Just buttons and buttonholes left to do, hopefully tonight won't be too crazy and I can get them done.

I added a lace ruffle around the circular flat lace.

The sleeves are smocked with the same colors as the neckline.  I added 1 1/2 inches to the sleeve length, folded that extra up and ran the bottem edge of the sleeve through the pleater. That way the edge of the sleeve looks finished. Then when I closed up the underarm seam with french seams I made sure the end of the first seam was securly tucked inside the second seam.


I hand stitched the four-inch deap hem. This way it can easily be let down as the child grows. Corduroy tends to leave a mark when you let out the hem. Sometimes I would tack on a matching ribbon or lace around the hem line on Deborah's dresses. I thought it looked more finished and less noticable that the hem had been let out.