Royalty came to the Kumquat household in that time as well:
Our little future goddess, born July 10, 2009. Up until then, my nesting frenzy was on the needles. I made her coming home outfit. It was a thousand degrees out, but that little girl was wearing the kimono, hat, pants and socks I knit!!!
I also made her mitts and booties:
...annd then there was a drought. Taking care of Bugaboo, and then going back to work, and learning to juggle everything took its toll on my craftiness. I no longer had a "craft room," we had a nursery.
Now, after a whirlwind year of learning and loving this bundle of joy, I'm slowly working the things I did before Bugaboo back into my life. For her Dedication Ceremony in two weeks, I'm making the Short-sleeved dress and had by Drops Design (b10-7):
The directions for this outfit have been translated from...Swedish? As I cast on and attempted to begin, I understood why such a sweet dress has only had 11 people make it on Ravelry. I could not figure out the chart. The amount of stitches in the chart did not fit the number of stitches. I pulled out, tried again. Same thing. I called my mom. She, too, came up with the same discrepancy.I realized that the chart was facing the right side. The knit/purl/knit rows on the beginning of the chart? Really knit every row for an edging. Rip out, cast on, try again.
I went to facebook and Ravelry for advice. And, as it's always the way, as I hit "Post," it hit me: I was reading the chart backwards. Knitting charts need to be read in the direction you are knitting for that row. So, when on the right side of a garment, you read the chart right to left; wrong side left to right. Once I recast, I was gleeful. I figured it out! HA-HA! Maybe I hadn't been out of the knitting game so long! The row finished perfectly, matching the chart!
I forgot to add the four stitches on either side for the garter band. I made a judgement call to not rip out a fourth time and kept going and started the next row.
Since then, things have been going well! Progress so far:
I'm using stitch markers in between every other repeat of the pattern, which keeps me mindful of where I am in the repeats. The stitch markers are a combination of freebies from Simply Knitting magazine, and these adorable little beauties from a yarn shop in Falmouth, MA:
I think it's the curlicues that I fell in love with. Having purple beads doesn't hurt, either.
I took the project photos with my iPhone. I plan on adding a link of this blog to my Facebook page. I've been able to do all this while Bugaboo naps. Sometimes, it all comes together.
