Miniature knitting for Heather Maciak

When I met Heather Maciak during November 2015 in Vancouver we had an instant connection and didn't stop talking all afternoon.  She gave me a lovely gift of a dress and shoes set for Lexie, which even came with its own miniature stockinette doll.  I didn't have a gift for her as I hadn't imagined we'd be lucky enough to meet, however during our conversation I picked up that Heather had never learned to knit though she is an accomplished seamstress and a NIADA doll artist.  So when I returned to England I set about the enjoyable task of designing and knitting a miniature sweater (cardigan with buttons) for my favourite 8 inch porcelain dolls.

I scaled down a Sasha pattern which is knitted all in one piece from the neck down (originally designed by Lauri Bolland and available on Ravelry).  The Sasha sized pattern is knitted on 4 ply sock wool with 2.75mm knitting needles, the pattern I devised for Jenny and Lexie is knitted on 2 ply lace wool with 1.5mm knitting needles (size 16), which I bought specially for this project.  In fact I ended up buying a set of different sized circular needles as well as 4 double ended needles, as the sleeves are knitted in the round, making the entire sweater seamless.

The partly knitted first sweater on the circular needle, with safety pins holding the sleeve stitches for knitting in the round later

Lexie looks at the knitting progress of the first sweater

Lexie models the partly knitted first sweater, before the sleeves were knitted

First I knitted it in plain off-white 2 ply wool, carefully noting down the details of each row as I went (I had my laptop on my lap as I knitted and the original Sasha pattern to hand).  It was a slow process as sometimes I wasn't happy with how it was working out so unraveled some of the work to adjust it. However once the first little sweater was knitted, I decided I wanted to try miniature fair-isle knitting!  So this time I used an excel spreadsheet to create a grid with coloured squares to work out the entire pattern before knitting it, then worked to the pattern, making a couple of adjustments to it as I went along.

Fortuitously I picked on colours which as it turned out Heather absolutely loved.  She knew I was knitting for her as I sent her a couple of 'in progress' early photos, but didn't know what I was making and knew they would take some time to complete.  However finally I was able to sew in all the ends, stitch on the buttons, block-press them with a cool iron and try them on my Jenny and Lexie for photos.  The first one had been knitted without button holes, the second I knitted button holes but wanted both to do up properly, so I had to use sewing thread to secure the edges of button holes I'd created by pushing wider the gaps between stitches using a thicker knitting needle. It made for slightly tight buttoning of that rainbow buttoned sweater.  I was careful to ensure the placing of button holes in the pattern on the computer as a result.  The buttons were a lucky craft shop find in the card making and decorating section.

Front view of the completed sweaters just before I posted them to Canada

Back view of the completed sweaters just before posting to Canada

I posted them to Heather in February, however at the time she was up to her eyes in dressing over a thousand miniature dolls for the United Federation of Doll Clubs convention souvenir doll and didn't have a moment to spare for taking photos of her Jenny and Lexie opening their package though I received a very happy email from her when the sweaters arrived.

In July, when Heather was all ready for the two back-to-back Doll events she had been working towards for months, she was able to get her girls to show their reaction to the miniature knitting I'd made for them.  The following 12 photos and captions are all published here with the permission of Heather Maciak (previously shared on the Jenny and Lexie Yahoo group).

Jenny, we got mail!

Don't drop it, let me help

Its from our friend DollMum!

Yay!  lets take it home and open it

What's in there Lexie?

Its our new sweaters from DollMum

And she sent us a letter - Winnie the Pooh, my favourite

Lexie, will you please help me!

Jenny, you look adorable!

Now I'll help you Lexie

We love our new sweaters

Thank you, DollMum!

Once I had sent these cardigans to Heather, I set to work to make one for my own Maciak dolls.  I had bought a selection of small balls of 2ply wool via mailorder from Shetland which had enabled me to add colour to the second sweater.  One of these balls of wool was a deep glorious purple and I decided to knit the fair-isle pattern in a combination of purple, red and pale green and blue for Lexie.  I haven't yet knitted for my Jenny, so the commercially made cardigan she wears in the following photos came with my first Patsi doll (Heidi Plusczok).  The girls decided to go and pick some lavender from the garden and it was the perfect foil for Lexie's new sweater.

Lexie picking lavender and wearing her new purple fair-isle sweater with her favourite doll 

A close up of Lexie's purple fair-isle sweater

Jenny was getting right into the lavender picking

Close up of Jenny wearing a commercially made hat and sweater (Boneka) borrowed from Patsi

Jenny was enthralled by the lavender

Lexie loved the scent of the lavender in her borrowed bag

Lexie and her dolly with lavender 

Jenny loves lavender

Jenny and Lexie in the Lavender

I got enormous pleasure from knitting these miniature sweaters for the girls.  I do still want to make one for my Jenny but haven't decided on the colours yet.

A postcard from Cornwall

It was summer, the roses were blooming in the garden despite bursts of heavy rain. One day Laura received a letter.

"Who can it be from?" she wondered

Inside the envelope was a postcard puzzle

Laura tipped the pieces onto the table and started doing the jigsaw puzzle

It was not too difficult to see that there were 4 pictures divided by white borders

Soon she had all the edges done and started working on the middle pieces

"Last piece" said Laura as she put it in place to complete the picture

It was four photos of a village called Boscastle in Cornwall

Laura carefully turned the puzzle over (yes, it can be done) and read the message on the back.  It was from her friend Henry.

"Dear Laura,
We are having a lovely time in Cornwall despite the weather not being the best!  We arrived for a day in Boscastle and it is now pouring down with rain so had to wait in the cafe for ages until it cleared - no real problem as we enjoyed lunch and a cream tea! We went for a walk and admired the wonderful views once it stopped raining it was rugged, wild and wonderful!  We did have a couple of days when the weather wasn't too bad and will blog about the places we visited.  Much love, Henry :-)  P.S. Hope you had fun doing this puzzle postcard."

"Thank you Henry, I did enjoy piecing this together and reading about your Cornish holiday" said Laura

Laura hasn't visited Boscastle but her girl has been there twice, when she was much younger as we had 2 caravan holidays at Tintagel. Boscastle was severely flooded in 2004 because of a severe cloudburst (it hit the national news).  In our visits to the village it was good to see all the repairs that were done and improvements to the flood defences so it was a relief to know that despite Henry's rainy visit the village wasn't flooded again.

Flowers for the Queen

To celebrate her Majesty the Queen's 90th birthday, Laura took her little brother Edmund to a Flower Festival in a nearby church.

The first arrangement they saw was called 'The United Kingdom' - it had red roses for England, leeks for Wales, thistles for Scotland and Shamrock chrysanthemum flowers for Northern Ireland.

Laura and Edmund admired the 'United Kingdom' flower arrangement

They discovered the Queen's handbags on a table.

Laura liked a handbag decorated with hydrangea flowers

Edmund tried to lift a handbag of small white flowers just like Mia Tindall (the Queen's great-granddaughter) did in the 90th birthday portrait

They found a display commemorating the Queen's close association with the Commonwealth countries. There were postage stamps, flags and a portrait of the Queen, as well as vibrant flowers including pincushion protea flowers from South Africa.

Edmund and Laura liked The Commonwealth flower arrangement

There was a magnificent display of the Queen's Coronation including photos of the event and a stunning arrangement symbolising the crown and clothes she wore for that historic event in 1953.

Edmund and Laura admired the Coronation display

The Coronation display was so elegant

Nearby was a tribute to all the soldiers lost in war, called 'Lest we forget'.

Laura and Edmund bowed their heads at 'Lest we forget'

Edmund was fascinated by the red poppies and spotted a bugle in the display

There was a red, white and blue display called 'Diamonds and Pearls' which represented the Crown Jewels

The 'Diamonds and Pearls' display matched their clothes very well

Edmund liked the display called 'The Royal Family Tree' which celebrated the changing of the guard and the garden parties at Buckingham Palace as well as a family tree showing images of the family closely related to the Queen.

Laura and Edmund had fun spotting different characters in 'The Royal Family Tree'

Edmund particularly liked the little guard figure while Laura liked the crochet hats which represented the hats worn at the Buckingham Palace garden tea parties

Seeing the garden party display made them hungry for cake which they found in the hall.

Laura and Edmund were glad to sit down for a rest with tea and cake

  Laura and Edmund found the Queen's crown depicted in flowers.

Edmund and Laura with the Queen's floral crown

The floral crown was beautiful and Edmund was pleased that Laura allowed him to stand beside such an important symbol of Royalty.  He was on his best behaviour and stood to attention like a Buckingham Palace guard.

Near the crown was a large urn for donations towards the cost of the flowers.  Edmund added a few pennies while Laura watched to ensure he didn't tumble inside it.

Edmund added his pennies for the flowers

 At the door of the church they found the Queen herself!

Edmund and Laura met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Edmund and Laura with the Queen

I had made the dress Laura wore in 2013 (I sent a matching one to Erica for Christmas 2012 Secret Santa swap), however when Edmund knew that Laura was taking him to see the Flower festival he asked for a waistcoat in the same fabric.  My younger girl made the lined waistcoat for him (she did all the machine sewing, turned it the right side out, ironed it and had a bit of help with the buttons (decorative) and press stud fastening. His waistcoat pattern is a scaled down version of one which we bought from Lorraine at the Sasha Celebration Weekend in May.

Raffle prizes from the Sasha Celebration 2016

Today I mowed the lawn when I got home from work.  However Daisy wanted the daisies in the lawn first so my girl dashed around and picked them for her before the mower got to them.

These are our raffle prizes from the Sasha Celebration weekend - Daisy the 1980s baby, the lovely smocked dress donated by Ginger from her collection, the tandem bicycle, a pink knitted dress, socks, hat and dress set Lorraine won and gave to baby Daisy, a petticoat by Alexisoffe donated by Linda Simpson, a hat and mittens set donated by Jackie Kraemer (and given to my girl by Jonny).  Not shown are Daisy's basket and the other bassinet (made up with mattress, coverlet and trim by Judith of Dollydoodles) and the miniature shopping trolley because Makie doll Isabel has claimed it for her own.   

Daisy, Daisy, her bicycle made for two and Laura wearing the smocked dress, with most of the other raffle prizes

Laura and baby Daisy with the spring flowers

Baby Daisy with the daisies

We were really lucky with raffle prizes, several wins so my girl nominated Iris to have one of our winning tickets and then two gifts from other winners towards the end of the raffle.  Daisy is now wearing the knitted dress set and looks very sweet in it.  The bunch of daisies is in a vase with water.

Sasha Celebration weekend 2016 - part 5

It was Sunday morning of the Sasha Celebration and we all gathered for breakfast together.  I brought my restored Ponfa pram to the table with Miranda who had not yet made an appearance.  My girl dressed Laura in her new smocked dress (thanks to Ginger for donating it to the raffle) and 3 of the babies came too.

Miranda, Laura and babies Amy, Leo and Daisy at breakfast

Jocelyn's girl was pleased to have a turn at pushing the pram

I also brought my Heather Maciak dolls Jenny and Lexie with the miniature knitting I'm doing for them, to show to Laura H, Jonny and Lorraine who are all knitters, but didn't photograph my little porcelain girls at the table.

After breakfast we all gathered in the room with the Robin Hood display for one last time of chatting.  My girl had got into the spirit of Robin Hood - a few years ago we had a caravan holiday in Sherwood forest so had a toy bow and arrow (and a hat belonging to her big sister).  We found some boots, leggings and a hoodie (from last year's Guide Camp) and a green sash I used in a school stage performance when I was about 7 or 8, so I didn't need to make anything - we just assembled the outfit.

Robin Hood and the display

Robin Hood at the Sasha Celebration

Some people had to leave before we got into position for a group photo.

Sasha Celebration 2016 group photo

One more joined the lineup for the Sasha Celebration 2016 group photo

Nicholas James and other dolls started to leave the Robin Hood display to find their way home through Sherwood forest.

My girl with Nicholas James in their Robin Hood outfits - she did most of the sewing for NJ's outfit

Kendal didn't have much time for her photo studio as her Sasha Brood was the highlight of the event so managed to squeeze in a few photos at the end.

Kendal photographing two Sasha dolls who had been in the Robin Hood display

Nicholas James in Kendal's photo booth

"Lights, camera, action" as Kendal photographs Nicholas James being Robin Hood

It was sad to say goodbye to people - we had such a wonderful weekend and I know I didn't manage to speak with everyone I wanted to this time.   I am really pleased to meet and chat with Ginger at last who was on her first ever trip to England, I also managed brief conversations with some of the other international visitors and some people I'd met before but not everyone.

I would like to thank Janet with her helpers Trisha and Theresa for doing a sterling job of organising the Sasha Celebration weekend in their 'spare' time.  Most people have no idea of just how much work goes on behind the scenes to make such an event successful - months of co-coordinating, negotiating, planning and checking on the tiniest details, smoothing things over when unexpected issues arise, taking risks (booking the venue means paying a big deposit) and some frustration is almost inevitable.  It is a huge responsibility and I do hope that the organisers enjoyed themselves in the midst of all the work of continually ensuring that things were running smoothly throughout the weekend.  I know they'll all have been very tired afterwards - that too goes with the territory of being a volunteer event organiser (I have experience of organising a multitude of concerts in the last 10 years for local fundraising).  I am very grateful for all their dedication which resulted in such a fun and memorable weekend together celebrating Sasha and Gregor, Robin Hood style.