Continued Cuteness

Honest and truly, I am still working on adult, non-cute things... but they take so much longer. I still have Willem's neverending fisherman's sweater on the needles, and I've recently cast on these socks in a bright yellow Regia Silk 6-ply for myself (Monday night), and this sweater in Angora Soft, also for me (yesterday). I normally try to limit the active projects, or at least I don't cast on two new projects on consecutive nights, but I needed a break from the Aran sweater and wanted to start a small, non-threatening project to do on the plane to Paris next week (!!), and wanted another one, heavy on plain stockinette stitch, to work on in the car this weekend when we go to New York.

What? Me, addicted? You think picking out my knitting projects long before I start packing my clothes is a sign of addiction?

Yeah, me too.

So, that's what's happening. In the meantime, I have finished off a few things, with a week's hiatus to be deathly ill - strep throat and a GI virus at the same time, how lucky am I? I was literally too sick to knit. But I've recovered, and there was much rejoicing.

Let's see... I finished a walrus for Miss Emma...


Then a moose for my sister Mary, who, if she reads this blog, will see her birthday present a day before she gets it. I can cope with that.



And then my first-ever foray into both making something up and writing down the pattern... a little tube dress with i-cord straps, for Lexi, who spends Monday evenings with us and is as cute as a button but much rounder. I did endless searching for "free knitting pattern toddler sundress" and couldn't find quite what I wanted, but Kerrie's Exotic Tank pattern gave me the basic proportions and then I just converted it to circular needles and changed the edges a bit. Only took about 6 hours, start to finish... not too shabby!

Lexi's Sundress (size 2T):

Materials:
2 skeins Caron Simply Soft, MC=heather, CC=lavender
4.5mm / US 7 circular needle, 24”
Darning needle
Size E/4 crochet hook

Gauge:
5 sts x 4 rows = 1 square inch

Body:
MC co 213, pm and join
k 2 rnds
k2tog, k1 1 rnd ----- 142 sts
CC k 3 rnds
MC k2 tog 1 rnd
MC k 5 rnds
CC k 3 rnds
[MC k 6 rnds; CC k 3 rnds] – repeat until piece measures 17” from first CC rnd

Neck shaping:
Staying in stripe pattern:
Next rnd k 51 sts, BO 20
Next “rnd”: BO 20 – now with 31 sts remaining, working back and forth for remainder of project.
All purl rows, p across.
Next k row: k1, k2tog, k25, ssk, k1
Next k row: k1, k2 tog, k23, ssk, k1
Next k row: k1, k2tog, k7, ssk, k1, BO 1, k1, k2tog, k7, ssk, k1 (22 sts remain, 2 straps of 11 sts each)

Left strap shaping:
[p across
k1, k2tog, k to end.]
Repeat until 4 sts remain in this strap.
Switch to i-cord, CC for length of cord – make strap 12” long, thread darning needle and pull end of yarn through live sts, pull tight and weave in end.

Right strap shaping:
[p across
k to 3 sts from end, ssk, k1]
Repeat until 4 sts remain, then complete as right strap.

Using CC and crochet hook, single-crochet edging along neckline. Weave in ends, and apply to nearest size-2T child.