Big news!

Ava's dolly is expecting a baby!

Don't ask me how it happened....

It has all happened so fast but she is already in her third trimester and is due to give birth any day!

Ava is very very excited about this...

Dollies are Done!!!

These dollies have been done for a few days now, and I just couldn't wait until next week to post pictures!

I am apologizing now for the ridiculous amount of pictures in this post. All the pictures were just too cute and it was hard to pick just a few.

Yea.... this is pretty much the longest post ever, so I hope you have a snack or something.

As you can see, Ava is so happy about them! I know that she is a bit young to fully appreciate her doll, but I cant wait until she and her cousin are a bit older and can pretend, and dress them up by themselves.

I will most likely be supervising Ava when she is playing with her dolly for now, because Im afraid that if I didn't her poor dolly could get very very dirty, seriously injured or have its face smooshed beyond recognition.

Ouch!!!

Ava had a tea party for the dolls today

Blonde Dolly: "My cup is empty! Why does this little girl keep saying that there is tea in here?"

Brunette Dolly: "Shhh... She's crazy! Just go along with it, or she'll pinch our faces together again!"

I made the blonde doll in Ava's likeness with the blonde hair and blue eyes. The brunette doll is for her one year old cousin Audrey who has dark eyes and brown hair.

I embroidered the girl's names on each of the dollies backsides.

(The dolls are so mortified that I am showing you this...)

The pattern for the dolls can be found in the book "Knitted Babes" by Claire Garland. I really love these dolls because you can be creative and give them any look that you would like. I think that their cute little felt faces and long spindly arms and legs give them alot of character.

The only modification that I made to the pattern is that I made their arms and legs I-cords instead of just a stockinette strip. I just think it looks more appropriate. As for the dresses, lace undies, sandals, those patterns are all found in the book.

I used RYC cashsoft for the dolly bodies, and a mix of Rowan Cotton 4-ply and Katia Mississippi for the dresses and shoes.

Audrey's Doll has hair made out of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere.

Ava's doll has hair made from Crystal Palace Merino Frappe yarn.

It was so awesome to be able to use up yarn scraps for this project. These dolls are so neat because you feel as though you are making something adorable out of nothing.... Out of scraps and odd balls of yarn that you would never use anyways. This makes me think of all mountains of yarn scraps that I have. I would love to make future outfits for Ava's doll and put those scraps to good use.

I am hereby setting a new knitting goal for myself. Dolly already has a summer outfit, but every season from now on... or until I dont feel like doing it anymore...I will knit her a new outfit. That way I can slowly build up her wardrobe. By the time Ava is 4 or 5, her doll will have many many outfits to dress up in, for any type of weather.

I hope the Ava will appreciate all the work I put into this, and that her special dolly will be a treasured plaything for years to come.

The Never Not Knitting Theme Song

I am so excited to share with you the Never Not Knitting song!

This has been a fun project over the last couple of months and it's finally done!

Performed by the very talented Hunter

Lyrics by Alana Dakos

Thankyou also to my brother, Morgan, for his creative input!

Enjoy!!!

Tiny Little Dolly Undies

The dolls are almost finished!

Here are some little lacy dolly underwear that I just finished knitting. They were knit with Katia Mississippi 4-ply yarn. They went super fast. Knitting doll clothing is such instant gratification.

The waist bands of the underwear have elastic so that they will stay on the dolls. These dolls have such puny little bodies, so it was necessary.

I am almost done with everything doll related. I will be posting pictures of their dresses within the next few days and pictures of the finished dolls themselves early next week. I am waiting for my sister-in-law and niece to come back into town to photograph the girls playing with their new dollies together.

That will be so cute...

Kid's Knitting Club

For the months of July and August, I am introducing a fun knitting class for kids ages 7-13.

We will meet every Wednesday from 10:30-12:00 and knit bright colorful squares that can be sewn together in different configurations to make pouches, pillows, hats, purses or potholders. It's a great way for kids to get together and learn the basics of knitting and sewing.

Kids do not need any knitting experience to join "the club" and can sign up at any time over the next 2 months.

Cost: $10 per session or $60 for all of July and August

Please email me or call me down at the shop if you have any questions or would like to sign up your child.

805-466-YARN

Tiny Little Dolly Shoes

So... the dolls are taking a bit longer than expected. Especially because I am knitting them outfits and accessories.

Instead of making everyone wait a week or more to see the completed project, I thought Id post the cute little items as I finish them.

Here are their tiny sandals.

My daughter is so excited about these dolls.

It has been a really fun project.

Right now I am working on knitting them little undies.

Because they are modest little dollies.

Dolls for Ava

Lately I've been feelin like a "neglectful knitting mommy", so I felt that it was high time that I knit something for my daughter.

I am working on some Dolls from the book "Knitted Babes" by Claire Garland. I have been wanting to make these for over a year now and am just now getting around to it. These little dolls are just so cute, I cant wait until I can show Ava.

I am making 2 dolls so that Ava and her cousin Audrey can play dollies together.

As you can see the bodies, arms and legs are finished. They just need to be seamed up, embroidered, and of course they need a few accessories.

Rainbow Socks

Because... everyone needs a crazy pair of socks....

How could I ever feel upset or sad wearing these?

Yes, my rainbow socks make me so happy!

Im glad that I finally finished them. I knit these using magic loop on size 1 needles, and worked a short row heel. I must say I am quite pleased with how closely the stripes match up.

It is insanely hot outside right now, so sadly, my happy rainbow socks will have to wait until fall.

The Large Lone Sock

This is my "on-the-go" sock that I have been faithfully knitting on every time I have been in the car as a passenger, and during every movie I've gone to in the past 3 months or so.

I was finding great satisfaction knitting this sock, knowing that I was using this

"stolen knitting time."

Creating something during times when my hands were usually idle.

Yea, well......that ended.... This sock is now making me so mad... I...I... I dont know if I even feel like grafting its stupid toe together!

Ok, you see when I first put it on, it looks ok right???

Well check it out after 2 seconds of walking around in it....

Yea, I got this much extra room, goin on here.

How did this happen?? Well, believe it or not, I did swatch. I measured my stitches per inch, measured my foot circumference and used this little chart that someone from work gave me that told me how many stitches to cast on. Well this chart said 84. 84? Now I know that sounds like alot, and I thought so too. But, I am using this teeny tiny delicate merino wool sock yarn and size 0 needles, so I thought, "I'm sure this chart knows what it's talkin about."

Well, as you can see my sock is excessively large. It falls down my leg and I dont think it would stay on if I tried to actually use it.

I, of course, feel a little depressed that I spent all of that "stolen time" knitting a sock that is too big. It looked a tiny bit big on the needles, but you know how it goes with dpn's, Its hard to know its true size.

Im just not feeling motivated to knit the second sock, or rip it out.

So, I think I'm going to take a little time to cool off, and then I will start looking for a large calved somebody with the same foot size that likes bright colors.

Pomatomus Problems

I fell in love with the Pomatomus sock pattern a long time ago so I was super excited when I found out that The Scarlet Skein would be doing the Pomatomus Sock for the next Knit-A-Long! We are meeting either Tuesdays or Wednesdays through the months of June and July to work on this sock together.

Now this would be all fine and good if only I could get this stupid sock started!

This is the first time I cast on. I loved the look and feel of this Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock yarn but this colorway that I chose, although lovely, was just not right for this pattern.

Too busy.

Second attempt. Same yarn, different colorway.

I think that it was better than the first. The colors are more tonal, but not tonal enough. I was afraid that you would only be able to see the color striping and not the pattern stitch itself.

Arrgghhhh......

So I dug through the stash, and look at what I found! Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn from a purchase last summer!

I've decided that I like this the best out of the the three. I'm usually not a royal blue/purple type of gal, but I think that the color variations do not overwhelm the pattern and also the color keeps to the aquatic theme.

Don't you think it looks like fish scales?

Finally I'm happy and I can get knitting on this thing.

Lesson Learned: Look in your stash first!!!