SockPixie, the mother hen...

SockPixie is a mother hen right now, caring for her oldest chick as she is leaving on Tuesday for Paris.
That means a lot of last minute sewing...
So no colorways for this weekend.

Miss SockPixie...

Children grow up so fast. I can see Miss SockPixie so little and look at her now, on the eve of her departure for France, on the eve of her 20th birthday...

I will miss her a lot...

A Special Day for the SockPixie Family

Today is a special day for the SockPixie family. First, it is Mr.SockPixie's birthday!
Little Miss SockPixie and I went downtown Boston this morning to get him a present. We picked a lovely pen for him. We can hardly wait to give it to him.

When we got home, a package had arrived for Little Miss SockPixie. Guess what it was! It was her Tiny Betsy McCall doll!

Little Miss SockPixie got dressed for her daddy's birthday, and asked if I could take a picture of Betsy and her together.

It makes me so happy to see her so happy...and thinking about how happy Mr. SockPixie will be... what a beautiful day!

Tulip Colorway Collection

I am dyeing the colorways for this weeks's Tulip Collection. Tulips are such varied flowers, sometines subtle, sometimes bold, sometimes tone on tone, sometimes multi-colored.
I wanted to keep the green separate and thought it would be fun to give each colorway its companion mini green skein so that you may knit the cuff, heel and toe of your socks in the contrast colorway, or add a little contrasting edging to a shawlette, or do a fun ribbed edge with the barber pole worsted... The fun possibilities are endless.

I hope you will enjoy my bouquet of tulips!

Tiny Betsy McCall

You know that I like dolls a lot. I am afraid, I like them as much if not more than Little Miss SockPixie. I have now for years knit and sewn clothes her American Girl Dolls. I love everything to be a little retro wether it be a doll sweater, a baby or a doll sweater, or even something for grown girls.

Yesterday, I fell in love with a doll, the Tiny Betsy McCall(by Tonner ). Tiny Betsy McCall is a remake  of the original 1950's Betsy McCall. She is only 8". She is so perfect, I had to get her for Little Miss SockPixie!

I am going to have so much fun sewing and knitting for her. She will of course belong to Little Miss SockPixie...

Tulip Colorways

After the Spring Green Rhapsody colorways, this coming weekend will be tulips, tulip colorways.
Tulips are my favorite spring flowers. Their colors are so fresh and vibrant, a real breath of fresh air after the long winter months.

I am off to create colorways...

Premie Baby Sweater: Remake 1 and 2

A few days ago, I knit a premie baby sweater and loved it. I decided to write a pattern for it. The pattern will be for premie to 2 year old size.

I want to make a few changes to the original, but it will still be a quick easy knit for babies using a worsted weight yarn.

I picked colors today for the new samples. I picked colors that would make the yoke fun, and would give the sweaters a touch of retro French! ( The sweaters will be gifted to my new little cousin due to be born in May in Paris.)

One of the sweaters will be oatmeal and blue, while the other will be oatmeal and red. I can hardly wait to pick the buttons!

I had time to work on the pattern for the Retro Cardi for Girls last night aand have made some progress. It should be ready soon.

That's it for today. Now I need to go drink my coffee. I just realized thanks to the splitting headache, and an unusual impatience that I had forgotten to have coffee this morning...

Progress on the Retro Cardi for Grown Girls

I have been working on the Retro Cardi for Grown Girls. I am done with the left front, and the back. Tonight will be the right front, and then on to the sleeves.

I love this pattern knit in the alpaca. The soft halo gives such subtlety to the pattern.

Tonight I am working on the pattern for the Retro Cardi for Girls. The children will be in bed, Mr. SockPixie will be working on projects of his own, it will be quiet and I do need quiet when I edit and size patterns!

Sring Green Rhapsody Colorways

The Spring Green Rhapsody colorways are ready and uploaded.
It was a lot of fun to play with a unique color theme, and to create different moods of green, some bright, some warm, some muted, some vibrant...

I hope you will enjoy my vision of spring. Have a great Sunday!

Mission Accomplished: I finished the Premie Baby Sweater

Mission accomplished. The premie sweater for little M. (my friends L. and S. have just adopted him) is done, and already gifted to this beautiful little boy.

I took the time to take a few pictures of the sweater before giving it to M.

I had 2 colors, a golden yellow, and a white in a worsted weight. I knit the sweater top down, and played with the colors in the yoke.

After the yoke, I kept a simple garter stitch edge along the fronts of the sweater, and picked these amazing buttons. Picking the buttons was really hard, the yellows were all wrong, and so were the whites, then I saw these, and fell in love. They look a little like morning dew...

I picked up stitches along the front edges to create a nice finish, and give the sweater a little body.

I really love how easy this sweater was to knit and of course the classic, retro feel appeals to me. I guess this is another pattern for me to write. I have a feeling this is going to become our family pattern for all new babies. Kind of a nice tradition don't you think?

Spring Green Rhapsody

I have been feeling that spring is coming, the bulbs in my garden are even coming up!
The only color I want right now is green. For this Sunday's SockPixie store update I am creating a Spring Green Rhapsody!

While the yarns are drying, here is a Green Button Rhapsody!

Knitting Marathon

I was sitting with the children, homeschooling, and knitting the Retro Cardi for Grown Girls when the phone rang about 30 minutes ago. It was my dear friend L.

She was calling with the most wonderful news! They just got a call from social services. There are adopting a little boy. He will be coming home on Friday! He is a 4 1/2 pound premie.

I am so happy for them. There is no greater joy than a new baby. Which also means, that I have until Friday to have something ready for the baby.

The idea is a top dow cardigan, in a worsted weight, washable of course, and ultra soft... This is what I found in my stash. This baby is a little spring baby. The colors remind me of little yellow crocus poking their noses out of the snow... This is a great oppotunity to design a quick knit for premies!

It is 2:11 p.m.. I am starting as soon as this post is done. The knitting marathon has started...

The Retro Cardi for Grown Girls

While I am working on the edits to the Retro Cardi for Girls pattern, I have already started work on the Retro Cardi for Grown Girls. By that, I mean girls like you and me!

The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca, and the fabric will be a lovely retro 1950's circle skirt.

For now it's back to knitting, as the skirt and the Retro Cardi for Grown Girls have to be ready before March 30, when Miss SockPixie leaves for France!

Forced Vacation

Due to a shipping delay of base yarn, SockPixie is on forced vacation this weekend. New colorways will be available on Sunday 03/14!

The Retro Cardi for Girls

Little Miss SockPixie and I had a wonderful time together this morning, taking pictures of the Retro Cardi for Girls.



As she was putting the cardi on, I found myself giving her the same kind advice my mother had given me. As I was buttoning the cardi, I told her she should always leave a couple buttons open at the neck to show how beautiful it was , and leave the last button at the bottom edge of the cardi open to emphasize the gracefulness of her waist.



Growing up in France, I learned to love the timeless beauty of simple lines, of an understated lace panel, a shoulder, a perfect button, of simple knits.



The sweater is done, but I still have work. The pattern now needs to be sized and edited before I can offer it as a pdf.

The Retro Cardi for Girls is Finished

The Retro Cardi for Girls, the companion to the Retro Cardi for American Girl Dolls is finished.

I even made a retro 1950's circle skirt to go with it... Everything was ready for some pictures except Little Miss SockPixie... She is sick in bed with the flu...


Until she gets better, here is the Retro Cardi...

Buttons for the Retro Cardi for Girls

In my last post I told you I was going to get the buttons for the Retro Cardi for Girls.



They are round, with clear apple green edges, and a square opaque apple green center. I love the fact that will be tone on tone, adding interest but not too much interest!(They came from Windsor Button in Boston.)

They will look wonderful on the green cardi don't you think?

The Retro Cardi for Girls a Companion to the Retro Cardi for American Girl Dolls

I am done knitting the Retro Cardi for Girls, the companion sweater to the American Girl Doll Retro Cardi.



I basically kept it really close to the doll sweater, with the 2 lace panels on each side of the folded over button bands. I used the same technique as for the retro cardi for dolls, creating a clean sharp fold with slipped stitches.



I decided to make the sleeves a little shorter (way more practical for active little girls!)

I love how the lace pattern is showing up in the Cotton Classic.



I will pick buttons tomorrow. I have my eyes on some very retro, vintage looking clear green buttons... I am also looking forward to sewing the strawberry skirt!

I will work on the actual pattern, and sizing over the weekend. At least I hope so...

Magic Slippers

Do you remember these great Baby Magic Slippers knit with what I called the tiniest yarn walnuts?




Well, I am working on a great new design using 2 even tinier yarn walnuts...

Cute as a Button

You know my love for buttons...



So diverse, so simple, so colorful, so funny, so serious, so wild, so respectable... Just like us knitters, don't you think?