Rose's Got Pants

But more importantly, Rose has the cutest little sweater you ever saw ...

Is it not adorable? Does it not make you squee with its adorableness?


I started to knit Rose some pants, I really did. Out of this very yarn, which I must confess, I did end up buying, for $3 (the buttons cost more than the yarn!) in the sale basket at the Village Yarn Shop. (And which I LOVE, 'cause it's 6-ply and it knits up SO much faster than regular sock yarn.)

Anyway, I started the pants, and they were so ugly I could not go on. So ugly I could not even record them for history in a picture. Auden, of course, liked them. And was not interested in a sweater, no matter how adorable, when Rose needed pants. But I found these nice purple pants at an Etsy store and all is well in Auden-land.

Life is too short to knit ugly pants, even for a doll.

Pattern: Miniature Cowichan Cardigan by Veronik Avery. (Is there a non-miniature version? I kind of want one.)
Yarn: Regia 6-ply Crazy Color, 1 skein, plus Cascade 220 Superwash for the collar.
Needles: US3
Modifications: I skipped the colorwork, obviously, and did regular instead of twisted ribbing, mostly because I was too lazy to get up out of my chair and figure out how to do a twisted purl stitch.

How Grownups Waste Time

I had a little bit of yarn left from my mom's socks, and Rose (Auden's American Girl-ish Hannukah present) needed socks ... so I made the world's most boring doll sock. However, since I used smaller needles than the pattern called for (Rose has fine sensibilities) and didn't check gauge, they don't actually fit Rose. They do fit Sasha, my childhood doll that Auden also plays with, but as Auden pointed out to me, "Sasha doesn't really need socks. She doesn't go outside much. And she doesn't have shoes."

Meanwhile, Rose has socks with puppies on them coming from eBay, and what Auden really wants is for me to make Rose some pants. So I'll rip this out ... but I may have to try again one of these days -- look at those tiny gussets! How cute is that!

Apparently knitting doll socks puts me in the ranks of crazy knitter, if I wasn't there already. My husband seems to think so , anyway -- he refused to join in on any discussion re. what kind of sock Rose might prefer. Just gave me a concerned look.

I did persuade myself that no yarn can be purchased for making doll items. No yarn ought to be purchased for any purposes, actually, it is getting hard to fit guests in the guest room.

I'll just keep burning through my stash, one tiny sock at a time ...

Under the Wire

These are for my mother's birthday, which is Friday. I finished them just before noon and mailed them off, with the post office's assurances that they would be in California in two days. Whew! Kind of silly to spend months on a pair of socks and then rush through the finishing. I didn't have time to wash them – although I'm partly glad because I would be so depressed if they pilled too much right away. The cuffs were already looking discouragingly frayed; I had to trim off the fuzz and
escaping antennae. I liked knitting with the Regia Silk, and it looks very nice, but I don't know if I'll get much feedback on how it wears. (Or even *if* it's worn. We shall not think of that!:)

Not being pure silk, these do not drape in the luxurious manner of the book illustration; however they did insist on posing with pearls, just like in the book.



In the end, the fit was OK. If I made another pair, which I probably won't, I would change the shape of the heel flap. And I'm sure there were some minor errors in the pattern that aren't in the errata. But overall, a very nice pattern.

By a stroke of knitter's luck, a piece of our car began dragging on the ground yesterday and I had to spend the morning at the Honda dealership while it was repaired. Only $20.99 (to replace broken clips on the undercarriage) and more than an hour of uninterrupted, guilt-free daytime knitting! I was very happy.



Pattern: Anniversary Socks, from Interweave Knits Favorite Socks
Yarn: Regia Silk, Color 002
Needles: Knitpicks Options DPN, Size 2.5 mm (The size between a U.S. 1 and 2)
Modifications: Only to fix errors. If you make these, CHECK THE CORRECTIONS!!!!