Slippers

These are the easiest baby boots in the entire world, and you find the pattern at http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/abctree.html#boot1 ... it's so short you'll probably miss it. Here are the instructions:

3mm needles and baby yarn.

Cast on 34 stitches and knit 14 rows

k2tog twice at start of next two rows

Cast off 3 at start of next two rows

Do K2P2 ribbing for 14 rows

Cast off, fold in half, sew up seam.

There are a few errors in mine, but it's hard to tell with this fluffy wool. In fact, I couldn't even count the rows. But it hardly matters. They will look good on the new baby's little feet!

Next project is undecided. I've bought some colorful fat wool, and I'm trying to decide what to make with it...

Toy sheep

er... modeled by my little gorgeable adorous boy, Byron, who drags it happily around the house. I made it from a pattern in "Treasury of dolls and cuddly toys" which looks like a book from the 60's, but is in fact from 1990. What it should ideally look like is on the front cover.

I used two strands of 8ply for the wool, as I have no idea what Boucle is. The legs are extremely dodgy, and I couldn't work out the ears, nor tail, so I made something up. It looks a bit wolvish, to be honest. But Byron likes it.

Slipper number two is cast on. I haven't sewn up the first one yet, but the white "fairy floss" is sooo soft. I wonder if the legs should be narrower, but I can't be bothered frogging all that rib when the first pair of slippers were the same... and ended up looking perfectly cute.

Rainbow dress

.

Here's my rainbow dress, modelled by Gillian, the pattern of which can be found at http://tiajudy.com/rainbow.htm
.
I used 4ply merino bambino and 3.25mm double point needles. I'm not good at the joins between dpn's yet, so I swapped stitches between needles to break up the ladder! Don't think my niece will notice, though Ü
.
The headband was made with the last strand of the 25g ball, and I finger-knitted it, then finger-knitted it again. It doesn't reach all the way around her head... that's how little was left of the ball. The bows were not as tricky as they looked, except I couldn't figure out Judy's instructions for gathering them up, so I just took the middle purl stitch off the left needle, down behind the 5 strands and up the front, back onto the left needle, and purled it. In the skinniest part of the pleat I dropped the stupid stitch and had lots of trouble fixing it. Don't think I fixed it properly, but you can't even see the bow there, let alone the mess I made. hehe.
.
I think the pattern said to use smaller needles, but I almost couldn't get it up past Gillian's hips. Perhaps it goes on better over her head... It was also quite a wrinkled mess by the time I finished, so I blocked it by sticky taping a "cone" of hard plastic around her waist (which held the skirt out nicely), soaking her in the kitchen sink for 15 minutes, and then letting her dry for about 24 hours. Worked nicely. Had to be careful not to felt it, though, as it's 100% wool. Perhaps 4ply cotton would look better... I think that's what Judy used. Plus her wool has lots of pink and purple, which suits her model, Jasmine. I reckon Gillian looks better in reds. lol!
.
My next project is to finish my little lamb. All the bits are done but the ears, so it shouldn't be long. Then I'll finish up my new baby moccasins in white Fairy Floss. One slipper is half done. Then I'm hoping to make a stretchy baby hat like I made for a friend's baby recently. I also want to try and make tiny circulars. You can get them overseas, but not here. Then I can make some no-ladder barbie clothes. Ü