Sunshine and daisies

Right now, Chicago has neither sunshine nor daisies.


Nor do we have any degrees Fahrenheit. It's currently around 0F (-17C), and that's the warmest morning we've had since Friday.


So, thankfully, I finished my FIRST FO of 2007: the daisy dress for my big niece.



And a better shot of the colors:


I wove in the ends last night, and was too excited to finally have some knittyness to show y'all that I posted without blocking. It does need a bit of a block, especially the intarsia.

Anyway, the specs:

Pattern: Daisy dress from Adorable Knits for Tots, of course.
Yarn: Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet size 3 mercerized cotton thread (approximately equivalent to sports weight yarn; chosen because I had a gift certificate to Joann's and Paton's Glace didn't have fun enough colors
Needles: My grandmother's old needles, around US size 2. Very long and pokey
Notes: I followed the stitch directions for the smallest size to get the 1-2 year size. Row directions were followed for the 1-2 year size. It's a biiit too small for the 1-2 year size, but it's close enough that a block could stretch it. Yes, I should have blocked before seaming. I used a crochet edging on the neck and sleeves rather than a knit one, and may redo one of the armholes because it's not very tidy.

What a boring knit. Lots and lots of st st, on small needles, in stiff yarn. Actually, I liked this cotton thread -- it's shiny and lustrous, and produces a nice, even fabric. But cotton + size 2 needles = ow. The needles tore a hole in my yarn-guiding left index finger, and the threat was a bit rough on my fingers. Of course, now I'm making a matching dress for my baby niece. This one will be green, with turquoise trimming. I'm making up the stitch numbers as I go along to make it approximately 6-month-old-sized.

The intarsia, though, was fun. It was my first time using intarsia on a garment, and my second time using it, period. I like it! It's a mess, though, and there were lots of ends to weave in. But since it's just a tiny little area, this was a good beginner intarsia pattern, I think.

Anyway, hopefully I'll have the other dress to show you soon, and quite possibly a sewing FO, too!

Oh, and check out the results of my closet deconstruction. After making the skirt from pants, I just couldn't stop, so I resized two baggy tees and cut up two shrunken, felted sweaters into shrugs.