Knitted Fairy

My daughter's fourth birthday is at the end of April and I already have a wonderful little knitted cotton dress on needles. It's from Lucinda Guy's Handknits for Kids and has been something of a challenge for me. Mostly, because of the colorwork involved, I have to pay closer attention than I'm accustomed to doing while I knit. Chatting away while knitting with my mom-friends when we get together on Monday nights has led to more than one session of unknitting. Another issue comes from knitting with a silky mercerized cotton on super slick Addi Turbo needles; my hands get tired and cramped from being clenched as I try to keep it all from slipping away from me. So, I've been looking for a bit of a break from this project...and seeing as I'm feeling ahead of schedule still, I decided to start something new. Oh, and I had a $25 credit to use at the Yarn Garden which was burning a hole in my pocket for a couple weeks. I gave in on Monday, bought yarn, and began working on the knitted fairy from Claire Garland's Dream Toys.

I'm on total knitted toy jag right now. A few weeks ago, I nearly bought every knitted toy book I could find at Amazon, but thankfully came to my senses and went to the library instead. Besides Dream Toys, I have World of Knitted Toys and Knitted Toys checked out right now (and if you're the person with Knit Toys on hold, don't worry, I'm returning it today). All three are full of wonderul, darling designs, but I have been itching to make every single item in Dream Toys. I'm changing the fairy doll design somewhat...or at least, how to achieve the design. Garland instructs to knit flat stockinette pieces and sew them together, but I loathe sewing and I don't like to purl much either. Instead, I'm knitting in the round, which I'm fast at (my first knitting project, which I did over and over again, was a knit-in-the-round hat, ever since I've just preferred to knit in the round to anything else...I think that's what I like best about making socks) and can knit thusly nice and tight, good for a knitted doll project.

I started the doll this afternoon and it's going well so far. I've knit the torso and about half her head. I need to figure out how to get her face on. She gets felt eyes and lips and a little sewn nose. I'm trying to figure out if I do that before or after I stuff her. Also, stuffing will be a tiny bit tricky thanks to my choice to knit in the round, but I'll work that out. Anyway, I am using lovely soft (in texture and color) pink yarns for the body and hair. Rowan Cashcotton 4-ply for the body (cash as in cashmere...delicious to work with) and Rowan Kidsilk Haze for the hair (ideal fairy hair...super soft and fine with a little silver shimmer). I'm thinking of making her dress a mini version of the dress I'm knitting for my daughter. See, sometimes I'm not such a bad mommy.