I do apologize for not having updated in a few days. I just really didn't get anything done on the dresses until today, so there wasn't much of a reason to update. What little bit of crafting was done this weekend wasn't on the dresses, but on a really cute jumper for my neice. Since I am testing the pattern for a fellow designer, I won't post pictures of it until I get the go ahead from the designer. I will, however, show you my gauge swatch, because the color I found for the jumper is just too pretty not to show off.
This first picture is the full gauge swatch, but looking through my pictures, I realized, while pretty, it wasn't really true to the real color of the blue, so the second picture is where I have just started the gauge swatch and was sitting in my truck, so it is sunlighting and is the true to the color of the yarn.
Just a little piece. A little bit more work done on Ariel's tail during the break I had at work on one of my long days.
And now to the piece that I've really worked on today, and that I hope to have fully finished really, really soon, Mulan's matchmaker outfit. This is probably my all time favorite princess dress! I've always loved kimonos. I'd probably get looked at odd if I tried to wear a kimono around in the States. :( I'm going to have to find an excuse to wear one someday (of course, after I get one, lol).
This piece has been traveling with me a lot, hence the many pictures with the shift on stitch holders instead of the needles, but in all honesty, it gets to be annoying to keep switching the piece back and forth from needles to stitch holders back to needles. I think I found a solution! These little coils are actually supposed to be used to hold a set of needles together in storage, in the case of DPNs, a set of five. But, put one coil on one end of the five (four in the shift and the working) needles and one coil on the other end of the needles and voila! Instand traveling needles! At least I hope. I need to try it out, lol.
Well, as has been the story for this piece, I got bored working on the shift again, so I started the last top piece, the wrap (while still not having gotten the sleeves on the blue shirt, lol). Here is just the cast on row. I snapped this picture really quickly Thursday morning before leaving for work so that I could have a reference picture on my green background for the work that I hoped to do on the wrap on my break.
But as you can see, I didn't get much work done on it during my break. It's hard to knit when you don't feel good. :(
Now, the rest of the pictures are from this afternoon and evening. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent working on my neice's jumper and other crafts and projects. I even took time to actually cook dinner on Saturday night! Of course, it's rare that I have a Saturday night off from work to cook dinner, but that's another story.
Here is the wrap after a little more work done on it this afternoon. The wrap is worked from the top down, and it is the one piece which I am making one solid piece instead of the three pieces which it is in the movie. As a doll outfit, it actually would not stay on the doll if I made it the three seperate pieces. So, the navy top fabric, the maron bottom fabric, and the red tie at the waist are actually all going to be one piece.
Here I am measuring the same amount done on the wrap as the above picture on Mulan. I have the pattern written out for the wrap, but as with the shirts, I created the pattern away from the yarn and needles so I might need to tweak it a little as I am making it. Here I am seeing if I have gone far enough to put on the red line for the tie.
Okay, funny picture. What do you do to keep a ball of yarn which you aren't using currently but is still attatched to the project you are working on from rolling all over the bed and in your way? Well, naturally, you have the doll hold the ball of yarn. This probably would only work with the Mulan doll I have because she has all the posable joints.
This picture is just after I have finished the two rows to simulate the red tie which goes around her waist.
Just a couple of rows later. It looks like I'm making a team scarf or something! If you look closely, you can see just how little of wiggle room I have on the circular needle for this piece. I wish I could find a small circular in a length longer than 16". Guess I need to look at ordering one online, because I have more of these wraps to make for Mulan.
Same amount but on Mulan.
A little further. I was looking to see how much longer I needed to go with the navy before needing to change to the maron. There is still no snaps on anything and the only piece that is finished (other than the snaps) is the pink kimono jacket, so that is why everything seems a little bit bulky. I'm really please with how pretty she is turning out to be.
A couple more navy rows and then I switched to maron. This is two rows in on the maron and where I stopped on the wrap for the night.
And then I worked a little bit on the shift. It worked well to work on while dinner was heating up (leftovers from Saturday night), since I really didn't have to carry anything downstairs other than the dress and a working needle. There is very little change in the stitch count from start to finish (not counting the straps), it goes from 36 stitches at the beginning to just 55 stitches at the end. So this piece is mostly just measuring to know where to do the small increases. This is after the work I did while waiting on dinner. It's just almost long enough now. Only about 5 more cm to go.
And a few rows later. It's hard to believe how much difference a few rows makes at this point. The shift will reach her feet in the end and I hope to finish it really soon.
139 DAYS REMAINING!!!!! (and luckily I have most princesses started)
And now some rambling thoughts from me aside from the update of the princess dress project. Really a rant mostly. Pet peeves. Things that I have come to really be annoyed by in the last few days.
- Stupid people - if you don't no what you are talking about or the situtaion or whatever, keep your mouth shut! You only make yourself look more stupid by trying to appear smart.
- Busy stores - why is it every time I need to go to the store, it seems the entire town had the same idea? It doesn't seem to matter what time I go. It's always busy.
- Yarn snobs - okay, if you aren't in the yarn crafting world, you won't understand this. Basically, a yarn snob hates man-made yarns, such as acrylics. Get over yourselves! Not everyone is a yarn snob. Not everyone can afford to be a yarn stob. Not everyone has the immune system to be a yarn snob. For example, the only natural fibers I can use are cotton and bamboo. No wool, angora, alpaca, etc. for me unless you want to see hives. Personally, I like the feel of most acrylics. They are soft, durable, and guess what: no dye lot! I'd like to see you match a 20 year old wool yarn in color to one today. I can still match acrylics from the same company from 30 years ago! The only thing that I have found that is consistantly softer than acrylics is bamboo. And bamboo, while I admit it is nice, is dry clean only. If an item made in acrylics gets dirty, guess what? Throw it in the wash. Throw it in the dryer. It's clean! And normally, you don't have to block it.
No comments:
Post a Comment