Knitting Frenzy

I've been a crazy knitter lately, whipping up doll dresses galore. You can see photos to the right, on display in my Etsy shop. I have another almost seamed and another on the needles. I'm very lucky to have a co-worker who wants to start Christmas shopping in July, so I need quite a few to give her choices. Her 12-year-old daughter loves the dresses.

I took time away from doll dresses to finish the Summer shawl I'd started more than a month ago. I fell in love with the colors of this baby yarn and just had to do something good with it. The yellow buttons are both functional and decorative. The buttonhole edge is just a single crochet with chains to make the holes.

This pattern was inspired by a shawl a friend purchased. She brought it to work to show me and I commented on how simple it was. Since then I've made about a half dozen different ones and have ideas and yarn for others.

The basics: 12-14 inches wide by 48-54 inches long. The finished garment from my friend was 54 inches but I don't block things and when I knit to that length it ended up stretching far longer. So, if the yarn has a lot of give then I knit to 48 inches and they turn out very nice.

I love that it is such a simple pattern that can be changed to look so many different ways.

Here is the one I knit for my friend when she became a Grandma. It starts with a 12 x 12 crocheted granny square and has tiny granny squares incorporated throughout. Same dimensions but a totally different look.