Growing lace

Here's a picture of the white lace, yesterday afternoon. I've done another repeat and a half since I took the picture. This is just one end of the stole, but you can get the general idea. It'll look pretty much the same when it's done, except that the flowers will be tiny in comparison with the size of the stole. I'm still trying to decide whether I want to wear burgundy or teal with it. I like how it looks against this burgundy blanket...Next time I take a picture I'll put a teal towel in the background. ☺
And, because I haven't got enough projects on my needles at the moment... I started this shawl for Angel.

Actually, I started it because she wouldn't quit asking when I was going to. Now that I've done a little work on it, I set it aside, telling her that when she makes progress cleaning her pit of a bedroom, I'll make progress on her shawl. Haha...I'm such a mean mommy sometimes.

♥

I considered working on the washcloths for the girls, but haven't done it yet today. I have four cloths done with the knit/purl butterfly design, and two done with the tiny butterfly lace, so I need to make two more lacy ones, and then use up the yarns in stripey ones. This afternoon I put the grommets on the top edge of the shower curtain I made, and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. It looks like a shower curtain that you'd buy in a store, only much cuter than any we found in stores.

♥

My oven died. It's a gas oven with electric ignition, so I think it's just the ignitor. I hope it's just the ignitor. I'm having a guy come to fix it on Wednesday. Why is it, when my oven doesn't work, that I want to do a bunch of baking? I haven't done much baking lately, other than our Friday night pizza. Now, suddenly, I want to make bread, and cake, and pie, and cookies....

Busy, busy, busy

Well, here it is Friday again, and I haven't written since Sunday. Oops. Again. Well, I've been busy this week. I started on the blue "Posy Patch" to go with the pink one, and am about 1/3 done with it. It's such a quick knit. And easy enough that I was able to work on it while watching the series finale of the best show in the world: 24. I'm so sad 24 is over, but I think they ended it pretty well. I would have preferred (spoiler alert!) for Jack and Renee to live happily ever after, and for him to spend lots of time with Kim and her husband and daughter. But that sort of everything-will-be-great-from-now-on ending just wouldn't have worked for 24. I think that Jack-on-the-run-with-everybody-and-their-brother-after-him works much better. I can't wait for the movie. :)

I also worked on "Posy Patch" at the dentist's office; I had two appointments there this week, to get fillings. Ow. My last dentist was a quack; he always raved about how I had great teeth, and no cavities. So why did I suddenly have seven??? Anyway, they're filled now, and I'm so glad that's over for this year. The dentist's assistant seemed to think I was a little strange, because I was holding a skein of yarn in my hands and squeezing and petting it while the dentist was drilling in my teeth. But it helped keep me relaxed, so I don't care if she did think I was weird.

♥

I did a little brush-clearing and stump-sawing and raking each day, and now the fenceline at the back of our yard looks terrific. All ready for a fence. Kerry should be here tomorrow morning to help us build it...which reminds me I need to call him to make sure of that. I got tired of chasing cows out of the yard; I actually chased out five one afternoon....so I dug out some bright orange Caron Simply Soft, and strung it across the posts. And it worked! Apparently the cows aren't smart enough to tell the difference between yarn and barbed wire. And I'm glad I finally found a use for that ugly acrylic yarn! I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it.

♥

And today I decided to tackle my mending basket. I hemmed two pairs of shorts, repaired four rips, and sewed on one button. I still have a silk shirt that needs the sleeves hemmed, but I don't feel like doing that one today. I still have a bunch of cleaning up to do today. I don't want Kerry to think we're a bunch of slobs when he comes tomorrow...

First of three dresses done!

I started on Friday, at exactly 6:30 pm, when the coverage of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies began. I decided to start with Kitty's dress, since she's the smallest of my girls, and I knew hers would get done most quickly.
I knitted just the top half of the dress. It's essentially a top-down seamless raglan cardigan, with short sleeves. I did garter stitch borders at the neckline, sleeve edges, waistline and button band(which is in the back). The rest is stockinette, with the "USA" stranded on the front. I used a dk-weight recycled cotton, and a size 4 circular needle. When it came time to separate the sleeves from the body, I simply bound them off and continued on the body.

I sewed the skirt on the machine, and attached it to the bodice by hand. The knit fabric of the bodice wasn't cooperating with the machine; it was stretching and distorting, so after stitching about two inches, I knew I was going to start over and do it by hand. Doing it that way gave me a lot more control, over both the knit fabric, and the skirt. The stitching line went in the "valley" between two purl ridges, and is invisible.

And here's what the back looks like. The buttons aren't anything special, just some plain white ones I had in my button stash. But they work.

♥

Kitty loves her dress, and Princess and Angel can't wait for me to get theirs done. But it's chilly here this week, so Kitty has to wait to wear hers anyway. I started on Princess's dress the same day I finished the knitting on Kitty's, and last night I finished the stranded "USA" part. I'm getting close to being able to bind off the sleeves. ☺

Took a little break from knitting...

...to do some sewing... Here's Princess in her halloween costume(sans petticoat, because I've misplaced the fabric I intended to use to make it). She's going as "Felicity" from the American Girl Series. She looks a lot older than almost-five, don't you think?

...in motion...

...curtseying...

This pattern was really a lot simpler than it looked. And I love the Colonial style; very pretty and feminine. I did most of the sewing with my machine, but did the blue trim on the front, and the hem, by hand. That was a lot of hand-sewing, though; the circumference of the skirt at the bottom edge is somewhere around 10 feet. It's a very full skirt, which makes Princess very happy. ☺

Done!

Last night I finished "number 4". Hooray! I'm so happy, I decided to take a day off from knitting. My hands are tired. So this afternoon, I'm planning to work on Angel's second green nightgown. I cut it out several days ago, so now I just need to put it together.

♥

I intend to have Angel write in her blog this afternoon as well. It's part of her schoolwork for this year. Instead of keeping a paper journal, she's keeping a blog. It's helping her learn to use a computer, and she types more quickly (and legibly, of course) than she writes. If you're interested in reading her blog, the address is http://thirdgradeangel.blogspot.com

Who says Christmas only comes once a year?

Look at this happy face. I think she likes it. ☺

Princess and Dolly told me that they wanted purple curtains, instead of the green drapes I had so lovingly sewn two years ago. So I got them some new curtains, but then I had four panels of this nice green fabric, and it was hardly faded at all...hmmm...what to do, what to do? Well, Angel has recently grown several inches, and her nightgowns were getting waaaay too short. But she said that she didn't want a green nightgown, unless it was Christmassy. Fortunately, I had some red ribbon and lace laying around, so all I had to buy was the pattern and some thread. She wanted it to come all the way to the floor, so I added a very ruffley ruffle to the bottom edge.
I still have two uncut curtain panels, so I have enough to make one more nightgown for her, but not enough red lace...I hope she'll settle for white lace...
I'm saving the white muslin I had used for the linings of the drapes, to make petticoats to go with the girls' halloween costumes. Angel is going to be Betsy Ross, and Princess is going to be Felicity, from the American Girl series. So they both need very puffy petticoats. Dolly hasn't yet let us know who she wants to be.
♥
Now back to knitting...

I do mean to write more than once a week...honestly...

Oops. I made my daughter write in her blog last week, but forgot to do mine! We've been busy. We've been swimming almost every day; the girls are getting really good at it. Angel even took off her floaties and dramatically declared she'd never put them on again! Princess tried to follow her sister's example, but quickly realized she wasn't quite ready for that. She could swim about five feet before going under, so the floaties went back on her arms.
I finished one of the ammo belts and mailed it to my father-in-law for his birthday. I still need to finish Hubby's. The first one turned out pretty well, though not as fancy as the one in the catalog picture Hubby showed me.
I'm making progress on my knitting projects. Number 4(size 8) is further along than number 5(size 10), but both are coming along nicely. I'm hoping to get them done before I go visit my family in Kansas next month, so that my little sister can take some pictures for me; she's a very good photographer, and will likely get better shots than I will. And another reason for getting them done this month; I want to leave plenty of time for test-knitters! The official deadline is September 2, so that would leave all of August for my friends to check my calculations by knitting their own. ☺
And now I'm off to the bookstore, to find some new books for Angel! That girl reads so quickly, it's hard to keep up the supply (of quality books) with the demand.

"Summerlin" dresses

Here are my girls in some sundresses I made for them. The top of each is recycled cotton, and the skirts of the younger two are from fabric I had in my stash. I had to buy some to go with the fuschia yarn for my oldest.

"Angel" - age 7 1/2

"Princess" - Age 4

"Dolly" - age almost 2

These dresses were so easy to make, and my girls love them. I'm sure they'll wear them many times this summer; I should probably make a few more. I actually knitted the top parts upside down from how the pattern was written. But that's because it made more sense to me that way. In the pattern, you are supposed to start at the ends of the straps and knit to where the v-neck comes together, then join the two pieces and continue. Instead, I started with the waistband, and knit both sides of the front and both straps concurrently, with two balls of yarn. I like how they turned out. Cool enough for summer, without looking tarty. But don't get me started on current fashions for little girls...