Did I mention that by correcting the issue at the shoulder to follow the pattern exactly, another issue cropped up? That you’re increasing to the same number of stitches on each side, but you’re starting from a different number, so you have to do more rows on one side than another?
This pattern is a giant pain in my tuchus.
Let’s sum up Tracy Chapman’s “Toys To Knit,” shall we?
No gauge given on patterns. Garments can come out badly sized.
Example: these are supposed to be pants, not hip waders.
Poorly phrased instructions lead to confusion on garment construction.
Example: armhole that was apparently supposed to be a neckhole.
No diagrams or detailed pics of finished items to show how to assemble.
Example: elephant man head.
Summary. Pretty pictures do not a good pattern book make. Avoid! Avoid!
Hats up for: New Zealand, New Zealand, and New Zealand.
And today, what my daughter learned were the words “inhabit” from the sentence “the island was inhabited by cannibals” in Pippi Longstocking, and also the word “fart.” From… uh, never mind.
However, she did teach me about matter, mass, properties, and temperature. So I suppose that’s a fair exchange.
Everybody wish my father a happy birthday. This marks the 32nd year in a row of him turning 39!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!
I can’t believe I scheduled a Dragonrealms event during Heroes last night. I just completely forgot it was on. Fortunately, it’s available for download, but I always prefer to watch these things on TV. Well, the DR event was certainly fun, so I’ll say it was worth it.
Emily has been bringing me her doll periodically over the last few days and reminding me that she needs clothes, which I am working on. Last night she revealed that she can neither play with nor name this doll until she has clothes. I guess she needs to know the doll’s fashion sense before she can determine the name.
I’ve made two pieces for the pants. They’ll be seamed up most of the length to make two tubes, then joined near the top to make the seat and waist. The pattern calls for some elastic to be sewn in. The ribbing at the top is working fine for the panties the doll’s got, so we’ll see if the elastic is necessary for the pants. The yarn is the same brand as the doll, Dale Baby Ull, but held doubled. These will be some thick pants.
I started to seam it up last night, but it wasn’t as neat as I would like. I have a larger project coming up that will require seaming, so I decided to use these clothes as practice, and go ahead and block the pieces and do it properly. So now they’re wetted and pinned and waiting to dry.
I’m going to use the time to finish up a project for the grandchild of someone I know. It’s been 80% finished for more than a week, there’s no reason to let it languish.
Besides – I’ve got Heroes to watch!
I tried to get to bed early last night, then at 10pm NBC started showing episodes of the Office that I’d never seen. When I did get to sleep, I tossed and turned and had weird dreams. In the one I was having when I woke up, I was in a comedy review in Scotland with Justin Timberlake and Meryl Streep. We were bombing. Yeah, I don’t know what it means either. Except that I’m definitely getting more coffee later.
I really need to knit another hat tonight, but don’t think I’ll have time, with unforeseen Dragonrealms commitments. Mustn’t… fall… behind!
Not because I’m trying to be grabby, but more to remind myself of things I actually want when I have disposable income, it’s time for another installment of…
Well, Emily’s doll is no longer NSFW. I firmed up the neck some, too. Upon seeing her clothed doll, Emily quickly reminded me that she still needs a red shirt and green pants, so clearly she’s still very interested in it. She loves the hair in particular. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn for the pants and shirt. I’ve only got much thinner yarn, but it looks like it will double up to the correct size. I’ll outfit her as as time allows – I don’t want to fall behind on the Jayne hats. Mid-December orders are in production now.
We had Brownies last night. This was a good meeting for me because I didn’t have to do anything. Well, that’s not really true. The girls were making name tags, and I spent the afternoon cutting large sheets of foam into appropriately sized rectangles. By the way, a cutting mat and rotary blade meant for fabric work GREAT for this. Goes through the foam easier than cutting a pizza.
I also brought the leftover glitter from last meeting’s hand-washing activity. We used most of it up. Well, when I say “we used most of it up” I mean that we used some of it, and an equal amount got spilled on the table and floor. Note the glue sticks. The one at far right of the pic is how they normally look. The ones at left have been to used to make name tags, then they apparently visited Mardi Gras. Girl Scouts always leave a place cleaner than they found it, but it was only through Herculean effort that we got most of the glitter cleaned up. It was like a grisly crime scene where Tinkerbell was the victim. I almost got much neater glitter glue (glue with the glitter already embedded in it that rolls on rather than pouring) at Michael’s, but decided it was too expensive. When you factor in cleanup time, though, it would have worked out about even.
Because I had to stay until we were all cleaned up, we didn’t leave until after 7:30. Emily’s normal bedtime is around 7, and she’s got math testing today. Let’s hope that all works out okay. I also didn’t get to the stitch-in at Books-A-Million until well after 9pm, so I’m running a little low on energy myself today. Fortunately, I saved last night’s coffee. It’s about to go in the microwave, then I’m ready to face the day!
Also, Girl Scout cookie sales are now on. Time to get a little Thin Mint action! Woo!
As backdrop to this post, you must hear the extremely funny exchange which occurred last week between my daughter and husband.
Emily padded into the den from the computer room and asked,”Dad, what’s my e-mail address?” My husband told her and she padded back into the computer room.
A minute later, she came back to the den and asked, “Dad, what’s my address?” He told her (she knows this, I guess she forgot) and she went back to the computer room.
Another minute went by and she came back into the den. “Dad, what’s my credit card number?”
Yikes! Also, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
So he got up to see what she was doing. Then he came and got me. She was trying to order mini Loonette and Molly clown dolls online. I’m guessing she picked the minis because they said “SPECIAL” beside them, and to her, “special” means “cool” and not “on sale.” Loonette and Molly are characters on Big Comfy Couch, a TV show she enjoys. They’re a little clown girl and her clown doll. We’ve already gone over my daughter’s love of clowns, so really, you couldn’t ask for a show more tailored to her.
So we looked at the screen and saw they they were only ten bucks. I knew she’d been wanting dolls of these two for weeks, and I said, “You know what? Sure. Why not. Let’s do it.” She had already been making noises about me knitting them, so we might as well head that off at the pass.
The dolls arrived today, to extreme excitement. Right now she’s on the floor in the den with her dolls, watching the show, which we’ve got some tapes of.
I have a feeling my newly knit doll just lost a LOT of desirability. Maybe she’ll come back to it. If not, well, that’s the fickle nature of youth. At least she’s having a better afternoon than she had a morning!