Sometimes the things I knit decide they want to be something completely different than I envisioned. In this case I had pictured a sleeveless sweater top for Ellowyne Wilde or Tonner dolls. I had it knit up, it fit (snugly!), but just needed some finishing touches to make it look better. I wasn't bright enough to take pictures of it in progress, but it needed a clean edge for the hem, armholes, and neckline.
So after I spent a couple of hours knitting on a three stitch i-cord edge for the hem, and two stitch i-cord edges on the armholes and neckline, it looked great! Then I tried to get it back on my 16 inch fashion dolls. D'oh!
I could no longer get it on the doll. If I did, it would only be if I ended up ruining the sweater and snapping stitches. Not acceptable!
So I looked to my twelve inch fashion dolls. My Fashion Royalty Veronique gazed at the rich red color ("Lipstick Lava" is the yarn name) longingly. In the next few minutes I swapped out her current outfit for the sweater, adding thigh high black boots to complete the look. It fit! It was definitely a mini dress on her (mini to the point of scandalous. Hollywood mini.), slinky and clingy, but still not quite right.
Enter the magic of blocking. I soaked the sweater (now sweater dress) in Soak for about an hour. This would have been necessary anyway to make sure inevitable cat fur was removed! After that I blocked it aggressively, stretching the length out, and making it more narrow as a result. It only took an hour to dry, and the results are better than I ever hoped.
Still scandalously short, to the point you wouldn't sit down for risk of flashing everyone and their cell phone cameras, but on a doll it works!
So another happy knitting accident! Now I just have to remember how I did it so I can do it again in a different color. This one is up on eBay as another test for interest. I'm hopeful I can get my asking price.
If anyone is interested in the general pattern, feel free to leave a comment! Enough interest (heck, even if one person is interested!) and I'll make a "how I did it" post soon.
Now off to more thankless tasks. And avoiding the look of discontent my Veronique is casting my way now that the old dress is back on her. :D
