In an attempt to ignore the view out the window....

[tephra]

The aspens/poplars have leaves the size of quarters, the delphiniums are about eight inches tall, the grass is green, and it is snowing.

So, as I sit facing a window that shows me this all too clearly, I will do a knitting update and silently think a stream of profanity to make a sailor blush.

I have been really bad about documentation for the last year at least but here's some attempt at catching up with photographic evidence.

I know I mentioned that I have a new doll as of Christmas. She's a Featherfall Iruhi head on a Resinsoul Rong body in light tan/coffee resin. She's blank, which means when the weather aligns *glares out the window* with my possession of the proper supplies I need to paint a face on her.

The first things my dolls get are a pair of slippers and a sweater, a bottom up raglan because those are simple. So here's the slippers:



And the sweater, which I can't believe I had not posted before now:



And another angle so you can see the asymmetric neckline. I knitted her wig as well.



Yes, she has both elf ears and big fennec ears. Originally I wasn't going to keep the fennec ears but they grew on me.

As is traditional, once the slippers and sweater are knit the rest of the ball of sock yarn goes to making socks for me. So if you saw me around Further Confusion in January you probably also saw these:



And they still look like that because I pretty much haven't touched them since January. I'm slightly further along, I've started the increases for the gusset that leads to the heel, but I still have a lot of knitting to do on them. Turning the heel is my favorite part of knitting socks so once I get to that they'll be worked on pretty steady... until the heels are done and I'm back to plain knitting until I run out of yarn.

I finally got a modeling shot on the doll sized calorimetry head band.



I like this style on Namid, it shows off her cute little elf ears. :)

That shot came from a little modeling shoot for a couple things I made for Kris' dolls:



For her Resinsoul Mei, Emily. Since Namid is also a Mei it made it really simple to knit for her. There's no direct pattern for this sweater, it's the same construction as Norah Gaughan's "Taku" and "Kaver" patterns but uses the snowflake cable from Berroco's website (also designed by Norah) for the hexagons. It was surprisingly easy to convert the hexagon into a flat pentagon to make the sleeves too.

The other top was a bit more difficult to fit. I started out knitting it using Rico (Dollzone Feilan) for a model because an 18cm bust is closer to a 20cm bust than a 16.5cm one, but Rico has slim hips, just 17cm like Namid's, so all the measurements are guesswork. Especially since with this lace pattern you want things to fit closely.



So Talar got stuffed into someone else's sweater almost before she got one of her own. Talar also has an 18cm bust, but her hips are 19cm, much closer to Kris' girl Shriara's measurements. This is my own design and someone asks about a pattern whenever I post a new photo. I'm still tweaking the pattern, and I cringe when I start thinking of trying to multi-size it, but eventually I hope to get it worked out and clear enough to feel okay with selling it. I'm not entirely happy with the waist decreases on this one, it works, but it doesn't make the line I would prefer (I'd like them to match the angle of the spiral). So there will be another one at least, probably for Talar to keep.

And just because I liked the shot:



Namid is wearing platform heels that add about 2cm to her height and she's still shorter than her sister. :D Originally I thought Talar was the older sibling but now I wonder.

Some not-doll things, which apparently means hats.



Another stab at that hat pattern from a photo thing I tried before. This is closer to the right number of repeats. I think I'd have to use chunky yarn to get it down to the same number as the original.



And this was my airplane project for Further Confusion. It's something I made up as I went and is basically a short strip of Tunisian crochet worked in a continuous spiral from the center of the crown out and down. It ended up a bit long, especially after I washed it, but it's wearable. And it was very, very welcome when we got back to Michigan and it was sooo cold. (As it turns out, both Hafoc and I were probably running fevers by that point, but at least we made it home before the crud knocked us off our asses.)

 

I knit a fish hat for Kris. :D She requested a dead fish.

I changed the tail fin, the original pattern had something more like a whale fluke, including it being positioned perpendicular to the dorsal fin, and that bugged me. I like my solution much better and I know at least one knitter has already used my notes on Ravelry to knit one like it so I'm not the only one.

A crocheted hat for myself, since I've been interested in this pattern for ages. I frogged (that would be "freed the end and unraveled" for the non-knitters/crocheters) a cable knit hat I never wore because it was actually too warm and crocheted this instead. I had to fiddle with the pattern some, crochet hooks vary in size depending on brand, so while the pattern designer's size P was 11.5mm mine was only 10mm and my Q was 15mm. I also have a larger than average skull so I added six stitches and tossed an extra row in every section to make the hat larger. I think I could have actually added twelve stitches and added another couple rows to the front loop only stitch sections but it fits well enough that I'm not going to frog it and try again. Maybe if I see a yarn that appeals to me I will make another.



Back to dolls, but still crochet!

 

I sent this stole to Kris for her girls. Which is proof I think my fix for the oops I made turned out awesome. It's five repeats of a crochet lace edging that I'm thinking of using on a project that I might get around to finishing one day when I have the nerve to cut the fabric.

Returning to knitting, this dress pattern fits Fairyland MiniFee girls very well, which are similar in size to the Resinsoul Rong body (and it's written for Tonner Elowyn Wild/Tyler Wentworth dolls) so I figured, what the hell, why not?
 
 

I knit the pattern pretty much as written (I might have done less hip increases). I'm not usually one for the large back openings, but I didn't feel like trying to alter the pattern until I knew what the designer was thinking. I wasn't about to put so many snaps in to close that long gap (this suckers are pricey when you break it down) so I used velcro I had on hand. Sticky backed velcro. No one will see how I secured that with sewing. It's a bit delicate, but this doll and dress aren't for kids so it is fine.

I like the fit, though I will decrease a bit more after the bust if I knit her another, it's loose around her tiny waist (which you can see in her first sweater shot) and I like showing off her figure more than this. Surprisingly it's not a bad fit on Namid either, so I could knit her one just leaving out one set of shoulder increases and decreasing  more for the waist and not increasing so much for the hips.

I modified my shorts pattern to make capris for Talar.

 

See the grass turning green on Tuesday and getting snowed on today. :P

 The close up is all wrinkled because she's been sitting in them for a couple weeks and it's cotton, so they are like non-stretch jeans. I should have smoothed them more but it was breezy and she already pitched forward and needed catching a couple times. Those ears really catch the wind. XD

Lastly, another work in progress, except it's not. I finished it yesterday but it's snowing and dark and not the best set up for a photo shoot so I'll save that for next time, hopefully not six months from now.



And that's a new wig on her too. I used the same yarn as her massively poofy one as well as the yarn from Talar's wig and knit the two colors in a spiral. It ended up surprisingly redheaded. :)

For those that remember my ranting about my craft blog, Omnifariously Knotty, well it's still lacking OpenID... but there are posts! Not many, but there's actual content. To be specific I put up a post on what I did to make Namid's white top (seen in the lace stole photos) from a baby top/dress pattern as well as a post on how to modify my shorts pattern into capris.