My granddaughter showed me a YouTube “tutorial” for designing a Barbie dress. Actually it was a disguised ad of a toy. It was a dress form with a slit in the back so the child could drape fabric and jam it in the slit. She’s a rising first grader but managed to figure out her Barbie would never be able to wear the dress if she used it as it was designed.
I remembered the cuff of a child’s sock often fits Barbie as a strapless dress and it hit me that I could easily knit a tube. Then it hit me that I have a new use for leftover sock yarn.
If that wasn’t enough, I realized I could send her letters after I leave with little bits and bobbles she can use to decorate her “sock” Barbie dresses (buttons, sequins, ribbon, etc.) It will be a fun way for us to connected when we aren’t visiting.
If anyone is interested and still reading, 20 stitches around on size 1 1/2 needles seems to fit Barbie pretty well (she has a modern one that has smaller boobs (thank God) than the one I grew up with. Her proportions seem more realistic.
I recently got hold of Rowan Truesilk in black. As I love to wear black silk turtleneck most of the time, apart from hot summer days, I am looking forward to making it.
So much yarn… so many pattern ideas! Yesterday I got my Golden Autumn off the needles and I hope I can convince myself to block it before next year :eek: This week I will be starting a fairisle tam to prepare for the class I will be taking this Sunday at Stitches Midwest. As for what is next, that is an uncertainty since I will be yarn crawling for the next 3 days followed by Stitches starting on Thursday. Who knows what I shall find.
I was recently excited about making a shawl, something I had never made before. Found a pattern I liked and had yarn in my stash. Plowed through two weeks of working on it and in the end I hated it. Once I feel “over it” I will frog and wait until the yarn tells me what it really wants to be. In the meantime, back to old reliable socks.
@runner5 What a great idea! My 2 oldest gd don’t play with barbies anymore, but I have one that’s 5. I might be stealing your idea. I especially love the idea about her decorating the dress. I can see her (and her Momma) loving this!
Today I’m excited about several things - my no brainer project is going well, and I found a cute Barbie dress pattern on line. http://barbiebasics.tripod.com/barbi…sfreeknits.pdf
You’ll have to scroll down to see them. I started one but haven’t gotten very far. Just saying I haven’t tested these patterns but I have high hopes.
How are y’all handling your knitting ques? I think I have one in Evernote but I need to check. Pinterest may actually work better. My ADD is firing off pretty badly. One way I control it is to have a sweater project going, a mindless project and a small project (usually socks) all going at once. It’s varied enough to keep me interested.
(But I want a que that I can throw every idea in and rearrange every time I feel like it.)
@runner5 I use a Trello board for my queue and WIPs. I have columns for my backlog/queue, in progress, needs blocking, needs photography, needs frogging (because who doesn’t have a few of those around), and complete (because it isn’t really fun to just archive the card when you’re done). I also have my projects tagged by item type and whether I have the yarn/pattern for it already or not.
I’m not entirely sure how I got there, but I’m excited about socks done with fingering sock yarn! The least unique thing to be excited about, I know It’s new to me, though, because up until now I’ve only made socks in thicker yarns and I thought that fingering weight on tiny 0 needles would drive me insane. I tried it a year or two ago and hated it. Now, I’ve got six inches into a sock and am still loving it – perhaps I’ve just gone the right amount of insane.
With the help of the Chicago Yarn Crawl, I have added too many projects to my knitting list and the crawl isn’t over yet! While pining on the work yesterday, I was thinking what I was going to do to keep track and this morning decided I am going to do the low-tech method of writing it down in my bullet journal. With this method I will get myself away from the computer trap and spend more time knitting.
My knitting mojo is back. I’ve really wanted to knit a sweater. Raglan sleeves don’t flatter me very well and sewing in set-in sleeves scared me. I decided to knit a simple pullover sweater from Ann Budd’s basic book out of inexpensive yarn and just see what happens. IT WORKED! Sewing in the sleeves went well and I wear the sweater a lot. The yarn is pilling horribly so now I want to make myself a sweater I could wear in public.
I have a ton of Jo Sharp DK wool in my stash and I pulled out a simple pullover sweater from Amy Herzog’s book “Knit to Flatter”. It’s the cowl sweater and I hope it turns out well. If nothing else (not sure if I can rock a cowl but we’ll see) someone will get a new sweater.
After hitting a couple of bumps in the road lately, I’ve been a bit slow on the knitting. My Coal Trail Creek sweater is in a holding pattern until I secure one more skein of yarn… can you tell I don’t feel confident in winning yarn chicken. I’ve also recently frogged and restarted a Moonraker shawl. Let’s just say that it isn’t making me as excited as when I found the book and yarn last October. Surprisingly, I’ve been more jazzed about my new bullet journal and how I can track everything within.
Sometimes things need to go into a “time out” bin and you pick up something new and fresh. Yarn chicken isn’t fun, that is for sure. Make sure you show us pictures! We’re here to cheer you on.
@Char, Not much to tell about the bullet journal other than I would place mine in the minimalist category. Started with a future log/monthly overview and then tracking the weeks with a running to-do list. I’ve also chosen to color code using highlighters to signify work items, family fun, etc. Now I can see how often I procrastinate and an entire list of accomplishments, including the small things which have been amazingly difficult for me lately.
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It’s new to me, though, because up until now I’ve only made socks in thicker yarns and I thought that fingering weight on tiny 0 needles would drive me insane. I tried it a year or two ago and hated it. Now, I’ve got six inches into a sock and am still loving it – perhaps I’ve just gone the right amount of insane.