Thank you for your comments and sales!  I admit, launching the new shop is a little nerve-racking, hee hee.  Anyway, I’m glad to have put the shop up because I can focus more on making things, the best part.

There are many new treats in the shop, including these vintage digital kits!  I’m really happy about them, actually.  I love vintage postcards, particularly Victorian and Edwardian ones, and I’m so stingy about them - I can’t seem to part with them!  So, along with vintage buttons, millinery, calling cards and even an old saucer, I made a digital few kits to share.  Violets & Violas, above, has a ton of high resolution PNG files which are really nice because they have transparent backgrounds which are good for layering in blog headers and scrapbooks.  (And since they are 300 dpi, you can print them out too!)

There’s also a kit with pretty blue vintage buttons, ranging from the 1920s through the 1950s, in PNG format and in a handy collage sheet (JPG) to print out (both 300 dpi).

And red & pink vintage buttons too!  Love those swirly ones.  Oh!, what projects can be made with these…

I’m so thoroughly enjoying the little rain we are having.  Staying in, snug and cozy.  For dinner tonight we’re having tacos with blue corn torillas  (I just love the novelty of them) which I need to make ready right now.

Happy Wednesday, my dears!

(P.S. Images are watermarked and degraded for posting purposes - digital files do not contain these watermarks and are high quality, of course!)

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/SJoaIKOBBQI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/dIasoyots4Y/s1600-h/alice-rose-strawberry2.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/SJoaIKOBBQI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/dIasoyots4Y/s400/alice-rose-strawberry2.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5231522644628669698″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”br /Little Strawberries with Rose Whipped Cream/spanbr /br /1/2 pint heavy whipping creambr /2 t. rose flavoring (or to taste)br /1 generous drop of rose pink gel paste food coloring, or similarbr /sweetener (here I used agave nectar, about 2 T?)br /br /1 basket of strawberries, preferably organicbr /Violet syrup for drizzling (optional)br /br /I usually start whipping up the cream then add everything else (flavor, color, sweetener) once it starts to firm up a bit. Not sure if this is the proper way but it works for me. br /br /Well, there you have it, really easy. Not much of a recipe but sheesh this is good stuff. You know what’s span style=”font-style: italic;”really/span good: dolloping the rose whipped cream over homemade waffles and fresh fruit. Yea.

a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/2294483840/” title=”Modeling Violette - Detail (sorta) by faeriefurballs, on Flickr”img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/2294483840_ae54b06c37_o.jpg” alt=”Modeling Violette - Detail (sorta)” height=”457″ width=”400″ //abr /br /I wore my new a href=”http://thefabledneedle.blogspot.com/2008/01/two-sleeves.html”groovy sweater/a out to sushi last night. It’s so warm, I didn’t even need a coat! It is kind of like a coat, only with no opening in the front.br /br /I’m not sure what it does for my figure as it’s so bulky and not fitted in the waist (on me). But I do like the modern-ness and whimsy of the huge stitches and bulbous bobbles.br /br /Here’s a full length view (for scale):br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/2294457808/” title=”Modeling Violette by faeriefurballs, on Flickr”img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2294457808_df8cdcc82c_o.jpg” alt=”Modeling Violette” height=”760″ width=”400″ //abr /br /span style=”font-weight: bold;”The following are my modifications and errata that I found in the pattern. (It’s kinda a lot - you’ve been warned!)/spanbr /br /I made the Small. I subtracted 2 rounds from the waist ribbing b/c I’m short. (I’m 5′2″ on a good day.) I made the sleeves 1/2″ shorter as well. It’s a little big in the waist area - you’ll see why below. While I was blocking this I got really impatient waiting for it to dry so I stuck it in the dryer on low for about 5 minutes. It did shrink a little without getting stiff so it worked out for me but I can’t say I recommend doing that because you can’t undo it.br /br /I only used 5 (actually, more like 4 1/2) skeins, not 6. It’s Twinkle Soft Chunky in Urchin. The stuff is expensive and I wish I could have saved the extra $20!br /br /SPECIAL STITCHESbr /This is just a tiny error, but “Sl” in “T3L” and “T3R” is written as “S1.” I’m sure no one else noticed but I did probably because I’ve never done cables and I was concentrating on the text really hard!br /br /DRESSbr /Lattice Patternbr /The lattice pattern in the photos cross at the hem of the skirt but if you follow the pattern as is, the diagonals will meet in a “v” instead of overlap.br /br /So I added this:br /Round 00: K2, p8, *k4, p8; rep from *, k2br /Round 0: rep Round 00br /(Actually, you could rep Round 00 again to make the crossing more noticeable.)br /br /Then start Round 1 of pattern and follow the rest of the rounds.br /br /In Round 1, the C4R is what creates the overlap. But in the pattern, the round ends and begins with k2, which means that the left side seam will not cross. (I assumed.) SO, at the end of Round 1 with 2 sts rem: sl 2 rem sts on cn and hold in front, pm (right needle), sl 2 sts from left needle (beg of round) onto the right needle, k2 from cn. I’m pretty sure this is how I did it — If you plan to do this, please make sure it looks right before proceeding!br /br /Note that Round 26 is marked as 24 in the book. (Round 24 is in there twice.)br /br /Last paragraph in column 1 on page 86: says to cont through Round 28. NOW you have 28 rounds if you include 00 and 0.br /br /Regarding getting the ribbing to match the lattice. I tried to dec 28 times per the pattern, but it’s hard to do when you are supposed to just dec the purls. I gave up on that after 3 or 4 tries. I also only dec 24 times and I dec every knit stitch (k2tog) so the tops of the lattice were 2 sts across instead of 4. (The waist is a little looser but I think that’s ok for me. ) The knit rib comes directly out of the top of the lattice tops. I also made sure that the front would have 2 knit sts in the very middle, for the bobble vine to come out of. Sometimes I disregarded the pattern to make that work.br /br /I counted sts to find out where the middle of the booble vine should be. (On top of the middle knit rib.) I counted 16 centered on the front and pm at either end so I knew where the pattern falls.br /br /FRONT NECK SHAPINGbr /br /In the second paragraph of this section, I end with 14 sts instead of 12 for the back. I did the math and 14 is how many you should have. (If I’m wrong, let me know.) But 14 sts does not make an even 2×2 rib. But I left it at 14 sts b/c I thought a neck that is too loose is better than one that is too tight. I made 3 purls (instead of 2) on each side of the neck to make up for the 2 extra sts.br /br /I added 3 rounds to the neck. Because this sweater is so bulky, the neck as is looked out of balance. Anyway, with a sweater this warm you might as well go all the way and snuggle up the neck too!

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/R7y2bJxkpYI/AAAAAAAAAH8/15uQXQ2VYuk/s1600-h/CIMG7747.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/R7y2bJxkpYI/AAAAAAAAAH8/15uQXQ2VYuk/s400/CIMG7747.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169207049911051650″ border=”0″ //abr /My a href=”http://thefabledneedle.blogspot.com/2008/01/two-sleeves.html”Groovy Sweater/a is finally done, I’m calling her Violette. Now the sweater’s slowly drying in the breakfast nook. I’m hoping it has shunk up a bit because it’s a little loose on top. (Yes, I know, I’m saying this Twinkle sweater is a little too big! Ms. Chia is right - do not pay too much attention to garment measurements. Body measurements are much more important.)br /br /I’ll get a picture of myself modeling it after it’s blocked. I took one photo of me wearing it before blocking and, well, I just look all lumpy and cartoonish. Not a good look. Gosh, wading through my pile of WIPs is at times a struggle as I am always thinking of new projects to start. I need to work on some more patterns and also branch out into new things for the shop. Ack, if only there were more hours in the day! It doesn’t help that a coldish-flu-y cloud is lingering over the household. Second time this season. I’m so over being sick. OVER it. Not very convenient.br /br /Back to knitting. I’ll also post my mods for this sweater as I made a lot of them. All in all, though, I really enjoyed this project. So very fast and the super chunky yarn makes me feel like a doll. (As far as proportions are concerned.)