The Shrug's Lesson on Dye Lots

Two skeins of yarn. Same brand, same color name, purchased at the same store from the same bin. Two different colors, because they're two different dye lots. Whoops. I do my knitting at night, so I didn't even notice the color difference until I almost finished. I may try to over-dye it ... I'll have to do some research on that.

Anyway, it looks absolutely adorable on M. It's 3/4 sleeve, which I didn't realize until I put it on her, but it's wool, so 3/4 sleeve is ok.

The pattern was free: Confection Baby Shrug. The yarn is Ella Rae Classic Wool in Navy.

This Week

I was really frustrated last night, feeling like I'd accomplished nothing in the last week. And, of course, my house was a disaster. Well, I guess my house was messy because I was ... sewing. Ha.

New dress for M. This came out so crazy, it is very much not me, and she loves it. My favorite dress that I've made her is from this same pattern, but with a plain green fabric. Needless to say, it's not her favorite. :) It is a fun fabric, though, and it's organic bamboo, which is silky soft and light.

Rather than go through the work of sharing my own pattern, I'll just direct you to: http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-90-minute-shirt.html

To adapt it to a dress: cut off at a high waist (I use a favorite dress as a reference). Either copy the skirt off of a dress you already have, or measure the high waist where you want it to hit your little girl. Multiply this by 2, which will give you the WIDTH of your skirt piece. Then measure how long you want it, which gives you your LENGTH. Cut out two rectangles using your measurements. Sew together the sides (the LENGTH) with right sides together. Gather the top, and attach to your shirt top. Oh, and then hem it (have I mentioned that I hate hemming? or that knit - stretchy - fabric does not need to be hemmed?).

 We have Christopher Robin's biggest fan here. So, I knit a sweater for this bear and, presto! instant Edward Bear and smiles and hugs from my guy here. I'll do a separate post for the sweater pattern.

Finally, some yarn for striped sweaters for the boys. I'm planning to use the Spud & Chloe Lucky Number Pullover pattern.  I did not ask for their input when choosing the colors, and of course A hates what I got. I'm just hoping he'll forget all about it and be excited when it's done. Ha.

My favorite online yarn shop closed last week. Total bummer.