Petite Purls, Issue 13: A Review

I only discovered Petite Purls when I began this blog, and I was sorry not to have seen it before. It features very cute and clever patterns for children's clothing and toys, and all their patterns are available for free online. Let's take a look at Petite Purls' Issue 13.

Not a bad little doll, though the shape of the wings looks rough, I wouldn't have made the arms and legs that stringy because they look out of proportion with the rest of the doll, and I would have coordinated the colours a little better. Though I suspect any little girl who was given this wouldn't be as critical as I'm being.

This sweater is pretty, but maybe not all that wearable. It looks like a sweater made to be worn only in summer, but I would feel it needs to be layered over something because it'll show a good bit of the skin on the little girl's chest, and putting something under it makes it not practical for summer's heat. Maybe I'm just being a little too prim about feeling a toddler shouldn't wear this sweater by itself?

This vest is a "Pirates of the Caribbean sweater". Creating a theme sweater is one way to get away from the usual "stripe across the chest" boy's sweater pattern.

Really, really like this one! This dress with its knitted bodice would be a good way to use up small amounts of yarn, be quick and easy to make and very cool and comfortable to wear, and is ever so pretty.

This would have been cute to make for a boy in say, 1942, but I wouldn't make it for a small boy in 2012, any more than I would dress him in knickerbockers. It's just too quaint and odd-looking and out of step with how boys dress now, and would make him stand out from other boys in a way neither he nor they will like. The designer does say she lives in Germany, and maybe this look would be quite appropriate there, but I can't see these shorts working for a North American boy. Though I bet the mother in this Onion article would think it "really smart".

These two patterns are crocheted, but they're so adorable and inventive that I just had to include them. Once you're finished making the whale and its little ocean blanket, the blanket can be folded up and stored away in the whale, along with some toys, making it the perfect take-along item for going to the beach or the park.

Another practical idea: a pocket on the front of a sweater to hold the baby's toys. It reminds me of the sleeper I gave one of my nieces when she was born and that had a squeak toy sewn into the front of it. It made playing with the baby very convenient. Though my niece's two older siblings (then aged 3 and 15 months) did get a little too into squeezing their newborn baby sister to make her clothes squeak.

Quite like this one. It'll look just right with a dress and be the perfect cover up for summer evenings. The XO cable on the sleeves is cute in a age-appropriate way. The sleeves are too long but when you're making clothes for children it's a good idea to aim for a size too large so they can get two years' wear out of it instead of just one.

I wouldn't have included these sweaters as they are just generically nice (although those colour combinations are unusually sharp and crisp) but for one detail: the strap that allows for the rolling up and fastening of the sleeves. It's very practical and will help you keep your child presentable right through sandbox time and finger painting... until lunch gets spilled down the front of the sweater.

Another cute, cool, comfortable, easy-to-make summer dress with a knitted bodice and fabric skirt.

The two knitted bodice dresses in this post reminds me of a similar one I made for my little grandniece, using a pattern from Vogue Knitting's Spring/Summer issue from 1990, though I just used the basic instructions and did not include VK's intarsia pattern or go with anything like its colourway. But I made it entirely from materials I had lying around and even had enough yarn left to whip up a matching purse. I'm not going to be posting much about my own projects on this blog, but just for this once, here's the picture.

This is Not Your Mother's Pantsuit. Although it Might Have Been in 1969

One of my many favourite things about this picture is that it includes all those four views of the outfit, as though we might otherwise miss an aspect of its full glory. I'm trying to figure out when this photo dates from. My best guess is that it was published in the late sixties. If I'm right, I'd love to see this outfit make an appearance on Mad Men, worn with that sublime unconsciousness with which the talented Mad Men cast carries off all their hilarious-to-modern-eyes outfits.

Why I May Have to Rethink My Stance on Knitting Machines

In the video above, which was shot at World Maker Faire in 2011, artist Andrew Salamone is shown demonstrating the knitting machine he's programmed to knit images and displaying some of the amazing work he's produced with it: a ski mask with an image of his face on the front, a "break beat" scarf, and a sweater featuring a picture of Bill Cosby wearing a sweater with a picture of Bill Cosby on it. Bill Cosby, for those of you too young to know or remember, wore a series of dreadful sweaters on The Cosby Show in the eighties. Salamone hopes to someday get Cosby to accept and wear the sweater he's designed, and I hope he succeeds. I'd just love it if The Cos did something so meta and self-deprecating, and God knows Cosby can't reject this sweater on the grounds that it's in any way inferior to the sweaters he's worn in the past.

Check out more of Andrew Salamone's knitted art on his web site. In my favourite piece, Salamone recreates a still from "The Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody".

Knitting the Cute

Fiona Goble is an unstoppable monster designer of theme doll knitting patterns. She's published books of patterns for a number of sets of dolls. They're amazingly detailed and very, very cute. And as a bonus, all these books also contain a child's version of the illustrated story they are based on.

You can knit your very own Knit Your Own Royal Wedding. I love that Charles looks slightly dour and that a couple of the corgis are included.

You can knit your own nativity scene with Knitivity: Create Your Own Christmas Scene. Those sheep are just too adorable.

Or if you prefer to stick with secular holiday ornaments, as I do...

Goble has offered us a way to knit the twelve days of Christmas with The Twelve Knits of Christmas.

There's also 'Twas the Knits Before Christmas.

And then there's Fiona Gobel's Noah's Knits: Create the Story of Noah's Ark with 16 Knitted Projects, in which Noah wears a sou'wester. The book probably doesn't include every species of animal on the planet, but I predict that you'll feel as though it did by the time you're done knitting two of all the patterns included. Animals do seem to be Gobel's strong suit.

Will I be making any of these dolls or toys myself? Probably not. They don't quite meet something I call the Utility Quotient. By which I mean that everything I decide to make has to be useful enough to justify the hours put into it. And anyway my decorating tastes don't run towards the cute. I bet they'd be great for little kids to play with, but I don't have any children. Though conversely, if I had children, I would probably not have the time to make the toys.

I do have a friend who collects British Royal memorabilia and who might just swoon for joy if I made her a set of the Royal Wedding dolls (one of her favourite gifts that she ever got from me was a book of Charles and Diana paper dolls that I found at a Value Village for $1, and she told me she forces everyone who comes into her house to look at it), but much as I like to see her that happy, it still seems not worth all that effort.

I do look forward to seeing whatever book Fiona Goble publishes next, though. I may not be into cute toys myself, but I'm not made of iron either.

A Knitting Project That Deserves Full Support

Yes, those are exactly what you think they are.

Breast cancer survivors who knit can knit their own prosthetic breasts instead of buying silicone prosthetics. Those who have done so say the knitted breasts are lighter (or can be weighted to exactly the weight wanted), more comfortable, and cooler. Knitted boobs can be custom made to whatever shapes and sizes are wanted. They can be made to resemble a woman's skin tone, or in colours to match her lingerie or outfit, or embroidered with her initials or "tattoos". A woman can even swim with them (gel prosthetics float, which as you can imagine would make a front crawl challenging). An experienced knitter could probably make a pair of breasts in less time than it would take her to travel to a medical supply store, have a silicone prosthetic fitting, and go home again. And at the cost of ball of yarn and some stuffing (which most knitters have lying around anyway), compared to $300 to $500 for one prosthetic silicone breast, they're by far the most affordable choice.

Beryl Tsang, a cancer survivor and knitter, tells us about her search for a prosthetic breast and moment of knitting inspiration (and shares her boob pattern) on Knitty Tsang has also launched a web site for breast cancer patients and survivors. Not all woman who need prosthetic breasts can knit, of course, so knitting groups have formed to knit boobs to donate to women in need of them. A group called Bosom Buddies in Moline, Illinois, has made knitted breasts for women in 18 states. Another breast cancer survivor and knitter formed the Knitted Knockers program in 2007, and is urging knitters to form their own local chapters.

For my part, I'm imagining the patterns Vogue Knitting might come up with for knitted prosthetic breasts if they ever decide to go there. And yes, I'm also imagining reviewing them.

Remember All Those Times an Earring Got Caught on Your Sweater?

When I made an earring holder some time ago, I used a piece of screening from the roll I keep around for repairing window screens, and I was happy with that, but I must admit these look really good. They won't take much time or money to make. If you knit, you probably already have an extra ball of yarn lying around that you can use, and possibly also a spare picture frame. If you feel the need of technical guidance, there's a free pattern available on Ravelry.

The Family that Struggles with Abject Self-Hatred, Robs Convenience Stores, Bakes Pies, and Tries to Destroy One Another's Life Work Together, Stays Together

There are so many things wrong with these patterns and with the staging of this photo that I hardly know where to start, but do you want to know what I find MOST disturbing about this knitting booklet? That it was written by Meg Swansen. That's right, Meg Swansen: daughter of master knitter and knitting designer Elizabeth Zimmermann; renowned designer, author and knitting teacher; long-time columnist in Vogue Knitting; owner of Schoolhouse Press, a well-known publishing company specializing in knitting books; and administrator of a knitting camp in Wisconsin.

Perhaps this booklet was written during a rebellious phase, when Swansen got into dropping acid and said, "All right, Mother, I'll show you. I will knit, but only for the purpose of destroying knitting."