magifrachi

I don't have a lot of toys from my childhood with me here in Finland, just a few stuffed toys that were made by my mom. This doll is the first thing my mom made for me: a Cabbage Patch replacement. (I wanted a Cabbage Patch as a toddler, but my mom made me this doll instead, which was even better - she was so beautiful to me, and my mom hand painted her eyes!) This doll has been lying flopped over in a basket on top of a bookshelf for a few years, and she caught my eye as I was going to bed one day a few weeks ago and I started thinking that it's a pity that a work of art that my mom worked so hard to make isn't being played with.

It's possible there will be a toddler in the family I could give her to in the next few years. But in the meantime I felt sad about her, dusty and poorly dressed, so I examined her and knitted her a little outfit.



The doll needs washed as well, but I want to wait for summer. Her body is light pink cotton that has gotten rather grimy, but her face isn't machine washable. My mom says I can take off her head and wash the body in the washing machine; and I wouldn't want to do that until it's warm outside, and sunny, so it would dry as quickly as possible. The face definitely needs washed too, so I'm going to have to try to spot wash it.

All three of these wee garments took me only about 6 days to make, and they're made of leftover scraps (the striped shirt and the yellow cardigan) and a bit of cheap sock yarn (the jungle green pants). But I got that feeling of excited accomplishment with a finished project three times! They have the details of bigger garments, and they're so cute and tiny, even more so than making sweaters for small children.

The state of triplet sweaters when last checked on was that I finished #1 (a traditional Guernsey using PetiteKnit's Storm pattern in navy blue dk-weight Norwegian wool Sandnes Peer Gynt). Then I took over #2 (a mariniere using PetiteKnit's Marseille pattern in yellow stripes on black in dk Drops Merino Extra Fine) from waxjism, who had already knitted the body, and knitted the hem ribbing and sleeves and the neck ribbing while Wax started #3 (a traditional cabled Aran in forest green heather Peer Gynt). Wax got halfway up the body of #3 before stalling out in the cold snap while I knitted a little bit on a pair wool shorts for myself before giving up knitting in the cold as well.

Nobody knitted for a month or so. But all that time I knew I was going to have to unravel the neck ribbing on #2 and redo it, because it came out too tight/small.

After I ran out of wool for the shorts the other day, I unwillingly went back to the sweater. Knitting in black wool is very annoying because it's difficult to see the individual stitches. Yesterday I unraveled the collar and started over, getting through 17 rounds out of a planned 21, before I realized it was still too small and started over again. The third try is now at 18/21.

I need to order more wool for the shorts and some more needles and sock yarn and sock blockers.

We still haven't replaced the kitchen faucet, either. I asked Wax what she thought about ordering it a week and a half ago, and she said she could pick it up on her way home from work, but this hasn't happened yet.

Our beloved floofy bun, Rowan, passed away a week ago. He was ten years and four months old (the average lifespan of pet bunnies I saw quoted some places is 2-4 years, and 10 years is the expected upper limit for his type of bun) and was healthy, cheerful, friendly, and sweet his whole life; he died very suddenly at home, apparently of old age. I miss him - he was always more friendly and cuddly than Japp - but I'm glad he had a long, happy life.



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