Knitting and Sewing Gallery

Welcome to my newest Gallery. This time I've included items from my newest passion, knitting. As I write this I'm delving into greater challenges, not only that test my skills but my ability to focus and concentrate, and my willingness to rip out mistakes and start over. Right now I'm working on a lace shawl that thus far could have been completed had it not been for the amount of "tinking" (knitting backwards) - kind of like gaining and losing the same 10 pounds. Much of the fun of these projects is in choosing the yarns. I love looking at them and feeling them, and I thank Kaleidoscope Yarns for being less than ten miles away, and willing to let me hang out and absorb their yarns and secrets! Another favorite yarn shop is Cottage Craft fine woollens in St. Andrews by the Sea, New Brunswick, where they sell both incredible beautiful cabled and fair isle handknit sweaters, scarves, hats, mitts, tweed coats and more, and the yarn itself to make your own in luscious "colours" like Fundy Fog, Quoddy Blue, Live Lobster, and Kelp, to name a few.

I begin this gallery tour with a presentation of Francoise and Deedee dolls made for my Dad and Francoise. I machine and handsewed the dolls, and knit and sewed the clothes and accessories. Their bodies are made of cotton, wool batting, and mohair hair, and their clothes and accessories are made of the finest fabrics I could find - wool, linen, vintage japanese silk, silk chiffon, Swarovski crystals, rich lace, and finely woven cotton batiks. Most of my fabrics come locally from my very favorite fabric store, Threadneedle Fabrics in Essex, while other fabrics and goodies are from around the world (Sweden, Japan, Africa). In six months these dolls have travelled to the far East and Australia, but they reside in their Los Angeles namesakes' residence.

Another view as they're being wrapped.

Will the real Dad and Francoise please stand up?

Francoise and Dad accompanied Francoise on a Lake Champlain boat ride, complete with batik sarong and swim trunks.

Another special doll was made for mom's big birthday this year. The doll is appropriately named "Anna Sophia". You may see little Sara Midnight in the back left side.

The two Anna Sophias surprise mom.

I've gotten a bit lazy about making Anna's Christmas dress, but I tried to make up for it this year by making matching dresses for Sally (green), Isobel (blue) and Pearl (gold). Rosie and Pup had Christmas plaid bows. I never did get a good pose that showed the dolls and Anna the way I wanted. (Sally's missing her shoes in this one and Anna's skirt is crumpled.) Too many variables! But the dresses were cute.

Lisa looks good in pastels, and this Great Adirondack variegated and metallic yarn offered the opportunity I'd wanted to try knitting a simple yarn over lace pattern. It didn't seem simple at the time; lots of tinking.

I enjoy felting, and this image shows what a pre-felted bag looks like: loose and floopy, and the tighter, washed felted bags. The color fades a little, the fabric shrinks and stiffens, and the stitches disappear upon felting. (Many of us have regrettably and unwittingly slightly felted a favorite sweater.) Standing by the washing machine waiting is the funnest part of making these.

After making larger bags, I wanted to experiment with smaller bags using more colors and textures. I made the wide width bag first, but haven't added a strap or closure yet. It inspired me to try more. So much so that it was no longer a "scrap" bag, but I added more yarn to my stash just to get nice colors. The purple one on the left is for me; the others were gifts.

Here's a close-up of the unfelted bag. You can still see the stitches. I use circular needles and knit in the round for most of my bags.

For Christmas gifts I made these fun handpainted Collinette and Lambs Pride Bulky hats. Normally I don't wear hats myself but I liked this style, thanks to Kalyn's clever sales ploy when she plopped one on my head. Then I had fun choosing colors for my favorite ladies, including the bright pink one for Anna. These hats knit up so quickly that I could make one between when Anna and I went to bed. I pulled three apart and reknit them to get the size just right, I hoped.

This first wearing proved the hat was too small, so I reknit it with a few more stiches per circle and a few more rows. It fits better now. I like the colors with her Hanna coat and boots.

A sixth one for Marge. I love these colors.

Anna and her friend chose their own fabric, buttons and trim, and I made them matching nightgowns for Christmas and many sleep-overs. That's ball-fringe trim on the hems, and sparkly buttons that excited them so much you'd have thought they just received a pair of ruby red slippers. Anna's is the cat gown, and Audrey's is the poodle one. That's bubble bath confetti to complete the gift.

The best part about this crazy babe was Anna's reaction upon seeing her on Christmas. She laughed uneasily, not knowing what to say to me. Okay, so this one got a thumbs down. But come on, it is so ugly it's cute. She does remind me of a high school friend of mine, but I won't mention any names.

And finally, here's Cottage Crafts Woollens in St. Andrews by the Sea, N.B. The store is adjacent to the Bay of Fundy just to the right of this picture. The tide varies by 19 vertical feet in St. Andrews.

I hope you've enjoyed strolling through my newest Gallery.