this week's makes

I've always got a few projects on the go. Last weekend I made my first garment from a real, honest-to-goodness pattern. This isn't something I've patched together from the windmills of my mind. Uh-uh. I've come to realise that no matter how much I think I can just 'figure out' how to make something by looking at something similar, it always takes three times as long and turns out half as good as I'd hoped it would. So I had a go at making the Dress with Ruffle Trim from the book Carefree Clothes for Girls, which has been raved about all over blogland (though it has received mixed reviews on Amazon). I found the pattern pretty well-written and easy to follow (though I have little pattern-following experience from which to judge). I used some super-inexpensive unbleached cotton calico for the dress (which I didn't line as per the pattern), and made bias trim and ruffles from some smooth-as-butter Paul Smith shirting cotton. I'm pretty happy with it, though I took in the size 6 at the sides for Eva, as it kind of swamped her. She is petite, so perhaps I should have made the size 5. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with it, considering my very low level of skill and the very low cost of the materials.

I'm about halfway through knitting Eva's birthday blanket. She asked for a rainbow-coloured blanket, but my LYS didn't have the wool I really wanted. I was after the colours of the spectrum in an aran-weight 100% wool that would stand up to being dragged around the house and perhaps even into the garden. In the end, I went for the acid hues in the Artesano 50% wool/50% alpaca line, supplemented by some Rowan Pure Wool in yellow and Classic Yarns Extra Fine Merino DK (double stranded to get gauge) in orange. Because I couldn't get the colours of the spectrum, at the last minute before casting on, I decided to do thinner varying stripes rather than the ROY G BIV rainbow I had planned. Eva has seen it in progress and is delighted, so if she's happy, I'm happy.

I've also cast on and completed the yoke of a Swing Thing cardigan for Eva in wool she chose last year (from Babylonglegs in her Chocolate Strawbs colourway). The pattern only goes up to age 3-4, so thinking I was clever, I sized up my needles, hoping to get a bigger cardigan. Silly me. I only have 200 grammes of this beautiful wool, and there is no way I'm going to get a cardi out of it. I've reached the stage where I either need to stop, frog it and re-knit it on smaller needles, change to a different colour wool for the body and arms, or accept it's going to be a sleeveless, cropped bolero. I don't really know what to do. I am in love with the wool, though. It's a superwash Merino and an absolute joy to knit with. I highly recommend Sarah's wool.

I finished a new hat last week. It was intended for Esme, but actually fit Imogen's head better, so I gave it to her. It was lovely - knit in the same wool as her birthday cardigan, with earflaps, a bobble on the top and tassels. But guess what? She wore it once and it has since disappeared! Hopefully it will turn up and I can take a picture. It was kind of my own pattern, but I used this pattern for the crown decreases.

What are you working on this week?