Miniature Knitting in the Studio

Over the last few weeks we have been discussing Mini Knitting on a 

Yahoo Group called MSAT Mini Dolls.

Realizing people would like a more doable project 

as well as a fun one to boot,

I thought I would share this project with you all.

This is what we in South Africa call the "Charity Square"

You will find needles and thread in a doctors waiting rooms and all you need to do while waiting for the doctor is knit a few rows.

The completed squares are collected then sewn into blankets

by volunteers and then distributed to various charities.

As the squares are knitted in the diagonal the cast on and cast off rows do not show as sides of the square.

I have had this idea on my mind for ever such a long time ...

On one of my coffee mugs there was a puffy quilted blanket 

used to tuck a baby teddy in his cot....

Always thinking it would make an easy knitting project.

I am going to incorporate knitting, crochet, sewing and quilting.

These skills seem combined some how!

 So far I have managed 18 squares and sewn them together.

PART ONE

Because of the colours I have chosen the quilt has turned into

  Peter Rabbit Quilt 

 

Requirements

1 mm knitting needles

A very fine sewing needles No 12 Sharp
A No 10 straw needle for Bullion embroidery of the carrots

A piece of very fine cotton patterned if you like, I think I am going to use a piece of batiste that I have printed a pattern on myself. 

Venne 70/2 in the following colors, or six colours of your choice

7-2004 Coral   7-6045 Maize  7-5035 Green

    

7-6014 Beige   7-4060 Blue    7-6002  Coffee

As well as a reel of darker green for the crochet edge 7 - 5001 

You will need to make 48 squares in total, eight of each colour.

Please note that I have changed the number of squares to 48

Abbreviations

 

Inc           Knit twice into the same stitch

K2tog       Knit two stitches together

Sl1           Slip one knit wise

psso         Pass slip stitch over

Using Venne 70/2 and 1mm knitting needles in the following colour shades

 

Cast on 3sts

Row 1             Knit 1 row

Row 2             K1, Inc, K1  (4sts)

Row 3             K1, Inc, K2  (5sts)

Row 4             K1, Inc, K3  (6sts)

Row 5 to 13    Continue in this manner till you have (15sts) on your needle.

 Start row count at 1 again

Row 1            K1, K2tog, knit to end of row (14sts)

Row 2 to 12    Repeat row 1 till you have (3sts) on your needle

Row 13           Sl1, K2tog, psso pull thread through the stitch

As you can see I have sewn the pieces together in a special way I did not want their to be a definite diagonal stripe on the blanket.

When I have completed this section I will post Part Two

Enjoy!

Sharon Chrystal

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

Well Camille Allen's Sunshine 

has kicked around with no knickers on for long enough ...

He now has frilly knickers and three new hats....

Frilly Version of a Sailor Hat, not too sure if Dad's would approve.

Sunshine by Camille Allen

Why not have frills for little boys they are tiny babies for such a short while.

Unfortunately I cannot make a top for him , it is the way the arm is positioned and there is a little extra resin just under his arm...

I want to file it away but need to pluck up the courage in case I ruin him!!!

Enjoy

Sharon Chrystal

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

Camille Allen's latest doll SUNSHINE 

dressed by Chrystal's Designs 

  Mom thought I would be a girl!!

Enjoy

Sharon

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

When a design turns out as you wanted it too really gives one a good feeling and all those nice things.

LUCY ROYALE

The outfit is off to live in Australia...

Please do note the frilled booties, those have really pleased my soul!

I made the petticoat in a contrasting colour so one can see the lace design a little better.

The pink petticoat under the dress

No petticoat at this stage.

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

My daughter arrives from London on Saturday....I am so excited I can't settle to anything.

So I decided to go back to my roots and play with fabric needle and thread......

A lot needs to change for these tiny fabric garments.

The skirts a little fuller ....lace gently gathered, bonnets really fussy for these.

Little dresses for Belly Button Baby

I like the garments to be removable...and no glue except "Mod Podge" for sealing the fabric edges.

Need to make coast hangers for them this evening.

One has to start somewhere!

Enjoy

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

Needed to complete bits and pieces then when I saw all the bibs together......

I just had to take a photograph.

Enjoy

Sharon

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

I have completed my order for the USA and am so happy with how it has turned out.

ERIKA  for BBBaby with pink trim

I'll be posting on Monday, then the big wait begins. 

My EBay parcel took 4 weeks very nerve racking indeed.
Looking at the photograph I realize I have not done the bib....
Way too much on the mind

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

SPRING CLEANING

I have been going through boxes and sorting out stuff and came across the only little rubber baby that I find appealing.

I DID NOT REALIZE IT....

but guess what

HE IS THE SAME SIZE AS BELLY BUTTON BABY

So I tried on the Erika dress and low and behold it fits him except for that bent little arm, but that is not too serious.

I just had too share as I know how many of you out there just adore these little babies.

Erika Design being worn by a little rubber baby

ENJOY

Sharon

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

Our Miniature Guild here in South Africa are having their Annual Convention and Auction at the end of March.

This is my contribution to the Auction

I chose the light ecru shade of the Madeira Cotona 80 thread this time round, wanting to achieve a more antique feel to the outfit.
The colour will blend better into an older style room.
One would look at thew whole room not just the outfit.

The JADE design has now been tweaked to my satisfaction 40sts less in the dress, the coat a wee bit longer the petticoat an extra panel.

So in fact I have re knitted the whole outfit ...... 

albeit for a very good reason

I would I could let well alone, my nature simply does not allow this. I wonder where this little outfit will end up.

Jade takes her bunny with her wherever she goes

Enjoy

Don't ask me what happened to January.

At least I am ready for Valentine's Day This fella could be my Valentine any day of the week, I love the way he dresses.

Terri Has done my Bomber Jacket Proud, he could not be more perfect.

AT LAST THIS DESIGN IS COMPLETE

 The pattern for the Bomber Jacket and Beanie costs 

7.50 Euros 

I accept Pay Pal

Terri Davies was kind enough to make a Modern man for wearing my Bomber Jacket Pattern. I am allowed to use the photographs of him for my pattern.

Terri has put him up on Ebay here is the link for the listing

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220945940208   

 

 Enjoy

Sharon

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

I really pushed the envelope when designing this jacket.
Menswear in Mini is rather rare, so I wanted this piece to be the best I could do.
I love baby ware the best so had to really work hard to finish the project.

 The jacket is now 100% complete and will leave for USA tomorrow

I had the perfect beads in my stash so am more than happy with the result.

!

I am thrilled ...Teri Davies has said she will dress one of her Handsome Men Dolls in my Jacket and send me a photograph for the pattern.

 

Here are some pictures of the process of making this jacket. For me this is the best piece of design work I have ever done.

Detail on Back of Jacket

Showing the working pockets

Adding the Lining

Stitches picked up for the cuffs

Showing V darts at the cuff there is a definite left and right cuff

Enjoy 

Sharon

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

I was asked to knit  a sweater and realized it would have to be on the back burner for a while....so much needs doing.

Then while knitting in all white as I usually do, the sweater kept popping into my head. So I thought I would just try out the collar to see what it would look like...I am so easily distracted....and then
 

VANESSA for a lady doll

Ja ja..... I ended up till late last night knitting...it was such a change to knit in colour,  love how it has turned out.
What perfect  colours for a Christmas sweater after all.
Did my soul good to do something different for a change.
I have charted the pattern so anyone can knit it no matter what language they speak.

Very little written instructions..... anyone out there who could translate English into Spanish/ French /Portuguese  for me?

The translating programs on the web while are great to read a blog and sort of know whats going on, certainly have the ability to make one laugh out loud, that is for sure!

I have it on good authority that patterns don't like to be laughed at! hahaha

As the sweater is now complete I thought I would add a picture.

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

Spent the afternoon going through photo files,

I wish I had not sorted them into new folders as now I can't find anything.

SPRING IS DEFINITELY IN THE AIR

I eventually found what I was looking for, a photograph of an outfit I had made for a lady doll about 6 years ago.

As you can see the socks don't match, I was playing around with different lace patterns to see which would be the best for the ensemble.....

The pattern was written out in a diagram format  using EXCEL.

The tights take 4 days to knit....looking at the ensemble I feel it has not dated, maybe in colour choice, it seems all the young woman are walking around in tights these days.


Enjoy
Sharon

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

I had to take a deep breath this morning....The square of my shawl was not square!!!

One of the more difficult things to get right in miniature knitting is to 

make a square.You measure and believe it is fine.

Then you wash the square and the fabric takes on a life of its own. 

Now I had pretty much got it down pat when working in the Venne 70/2

Working with Madeira catona 80 thread is a whole new ball game.

 

I had finished the square, washed it and blocked it with the edging.

This morning I had to unpick the crochet edge I had done and the cast off edge. 

I had sewn in the cast on and end threads .....MISTAKE.

When unpicking remember to hold the stitches of the fabric with your left hand, then gently tug the thread to undo the knitting, if the thread sticks use a sewing needle to help dislodge the thread, remember the square was already washed taking out the dressing of the thread so it is not so slippery any more......

I DID IT ....STITCHES ALL SAFELY BACK ON THE NEEDLES.

I have taken the day off from knitting shawls.

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

Thought I would show you whats happening in the studio this week. The jacket has to be knitted again, one extra pattern repeat is needed and also needs to be made longer.

I usually knit a new design starting on the gown, can't work out why I did it differently this time. 

This new thread I am using is like starting at the beginning and I am thrilled with the results.

This is a design I have had on my mind for ages love this little rose leaf pattern

The petticoat has to be done next ...I have a thing about petticoats, gowns simply need petticoats....

Enjoy

Sharon

Miniature Knitting in the Studio

A lady from Japan asked if I would knit her an outfit...

For the first time ever I took an order, I have no idea why I said yes, as usually I sell what I have already knitted.....less pressure.

As I had changed the Sean pattern for my "Fellow" I thought why not, I could sit and knit listening to my Audio Books and perfect the pattern at the same time.

 A friend had sent me this Claude Monet card, it was on my desk when I was preparing to take a photograph, I picked up the card and placed the outfit omto it....

I love it as a background for the outfit, the pink water lilies are quiet beautiful, and enhances my knitting.

The outfit is on its way to Japan so I just hope it arrives safely.

I lost count of the hours I spent on the knitting ....getting up early and finding I was still knitting at 11 o'clock at night....I was listening to the audio book of

"A Game of Thrones"...I really enjoy fantasy stories, made me feel I was doing two things at once...perfect.