A Strange but Wonderful Dream

I had a dream last night that I was laying in a field and crying.  Evie came through the grass and put her hand on my hand and told me to stop.  Her voice was just a whisper, just a hint, but it was very clear.  I looked at her in the dream and saw that her articulated joints were gone, that her glass eyes were real eyes.  I felt startled, but I was sure it was the tears in my eyes that were blurring the lines.  Evie continued to talk and said that she wanted me to stop worrying.  She said that I felt disconnected because I kept the family separated in my mind.  She said a lot more, but I don't remember the words, but we seemed to be having a picnic in the grass while chatting away, and I was really enjoying her company, feeling like long lost friends who realized that no time had passed at all since the last meeting.  The dream was strong, I could feel the warmth of the sun, the smell of the grass and the very very real presence of Evie.  I hated waking up and realizing it was a dream.  Evie was so present, so close, so real.

I have been wrapped in the memory of the dream all morning.  What did she mean by keeping everyone separated?  She, herself was always rejecting the new arrivals, always wanting everyone to go away.  Now she speaks of a family.  Have my dolls bonded while I have been away?  Are they now a family?  Being an only child, I have a hard time understanding this family thing.  My daughter is expanding her family, even though she is an only child.  Why is this so hard for me?  Too many people in one place make me feel overwhelmed.  Social anxiety I guess.  Too many dolls do the same thing.  So why would Evie think I could accept the idea of a family of companions?

Sigh.  I don't know.  In the meantime, I am trying to keep busy with my hands.  I am knitting Miette a pink cotton blanket.  The pattern is K2, P2, K2 together, YO, repeat.  It's a bit more lacey than it appears in the photo.  I felt bad when I laid her down to sleep and realized that a child's blanket with zoo animals on it was just not her thing.  She looked painfully annoyed, but her good manners kept her tongue in check. 

I finished her nightgown, which I cut out while on home-time and handstitched here on the truck.  I haven't made a complete garment by handstitching in so long.  I think antique style clothes look just fine being hand stitched, while modern clothing needs the clean look of machine stitches.  I really enjoyed sewing by hand and think I will do much more of it here on the truck.  I made a drop sleeve, but since I don;t have an iron, it is puffing up too high because of the stiffness of the lace.  I will wash it when I get home and iron it so that it flows in the direction of the wrist.  One of my bjd shirts used ribbon to gather and close a sleeve at the wrist and I really liked that techinique and will use it more on my dolls, especially since I would like to avoid using elastic on Miette's clothes.  I did use snaps to close the back, because I did not have the right kind of buttons, I will eventually make button holes by hand and add small shell buttons.

Miette is being a wonderful and patient companion as I try to work through my feelings right now.  I am so glad she called my name at that antique shop that day.  All my Victorian yearns rest on her pretty little self.

The Red Coat is Finished....as in NO MORE.

I had very little luck at Walmart.  They were out of red ribbon, had an awful selection of buttons.  Sigh.  I decided that since the coat was not going to be one of Miette's favourites, I would go with white.  If only there had been a more muted colour for a contrast.

 

  

Lucky for Miette, we were now in Texas and it was hot!  The whole coat thing was started when we were in a blizzard, so much for being practical.  The temp was now 85 and we were sweating.  Off with the coat, and let's redo the hair!  Miette always loves to have her hair done.  Since we had ribbon, we could now use it to hold her braided buns.

 

We played around with an old dress (much too short so she wouldn;t let me photograph it in full) but I made a quick lace cap and she was pleased.  THIS, she mentioned with emphasis, was the style she preferred.  Pastels and lace and there can never be too many bows, she reminded me.  

 

 

 

Yes, Mon Amie, you are right.

The Red Coat

The red coat is a failure.  Miette insists that it is not her colour, and I have to agree.  I guess I am so use to Nisse Red that I failed to see that Miette is a pastel girl.

 

Here I am working in the sleeve between the front and back panels

 

This is the back of the coat with the two sleeves on each side.

 

Just need to sew the top of the sleeves

 

Have no clue yet how to finish the front closure.

 

The coat fits well.

 

Miette HATES it.

Louisiana

Miette's Coat

I am still working on a coat for Miette.  I used the same lace pattern I used on Audrey's sweater.  I worked up to the waist, creating a front panel of garter stitch, then decreased after a few rows of garter for the waist band.  The needle is on the back panel:

 

The yarn is not that bright of a red (taked at 4 am with flash because I am impatient that way) it is a soft muted red with coloured specks, the same yarn I made a sweater and cap with for Olwen.

I instantly regretted that I didn't create a thicker waistband so that it would be more defined.  I the pattern holes are there and could have yarn woven through, so that might be an option.  The coat is really not her colour, so if it just doesn't suit by the time it is finished, I make give it to one the the nisse children.  Nice that they are the same size!

I really wish I could make a dress for her right now.  I have to wait until we hit a Walmart and I can get a smaller crochet hook for the cotton threads I have here on the truck.  I doubt I will have any time to pull something together on the next hometime, but perhaps I can quickly sew a few things to hand finish when we get back on board.

I am missing the children so much!  I yearn for them.  Yet, Miette is very good company, she is such a good travel companion.  I never thought I would love a little antique girl like this. 

A Blue Sweater

 

My littlest angels.  What can I say?  The incredible joy they bring me on a daily basis.  I wish I could record all of the things they say and the cute things they do, but just as with real children, it's the moments that happen so fast, one cannot record them.  For me it is usually in the evening when it is too dark to take pictures and I can't afford to run out the battery on the small camera with flash.   But I took this picture when they were waiting for supper and getting impatient.  Never am I as important to others than at dinner time.  I have the ultimate power as a hungry husband and 4 little nisses look to me to feed them. 

I started a sweater in a lovely pale baby blue thin yard, as soft as angora, but not as fuzzy.  This one is for the girls. The first work up I did, I didn't like at all, so I ripped it up to the base and started again, deciding at the last moment to do a ragland type arm joining and will let the openings be across the front joinings with little pearl buttons and thread a pearly ribbon through the bottom holes.  I am having a difficult time knitting while truck bouncing, my tension changes too often, but I am not a perfectionist, and a handmade sweater looking handmade is ok with me.

This top was ripped out:

 

Better:

 

  

For DZ BB's, it seems on sock weight yarn,  that a cast on of 32 stitches for the body and 22 for the arms works fine. I started with a single rib pattern for 4 rows. The hole pattern is kit 2, Yarn Over, knit 2 together and repeat.  On the next row, repeat and then switch back to knit and purl.