There are so many things I still have to learn about knitting. My latest project taught me a few important lessons. It all started when I saw the adorable toddler dress found in the latest issue (April '07) of Knit N' Style magazine. I thought it would be perfect for Melissa's baby girl, Rowan, who had a birthday coming up. The pattern calls for about 400 yards of mercerized cotton. I substituted Plymouth Fantasy for the Schaefer Laurel that it called for. To make a long story short....the finished dress is very heavy. It feels like it weighs 2 pounds. But after reading the yarn label I realized that is mathematically impossible. I used a little over 3 skeins of yarn weighing 100 grams each. So, the dress weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 325 grams or .7 pounds. I purchased the beautiful Kelly yarn, that I posted about previously, because I didn't like the way my tension looked and because the dress seemed heavy. The Kelly yarn (55% cotton 45% acrylic) weighs 50g per skein. I will end up using about 3.5 skeins for a total of 175 grams or .39 pounds. That's nearly half the weight! Not only is the weight better, but my tension is much more even with the cotton blend.
So, let this be a lesson to new knitters out there. If you want a light weight summer garment, and the gauge and yarn content are basically the same, be sure to compare the weight of the yarn as well. I wasn't able to get the dress in the Kelly yarn finished in time for Rowan's birthday on Saturday. I guess that's ok since it's freezing outside. Jack and I had fun at her party. She is a beautiful baby. I can't wait to see her in the finished product. I will post pictures of the dresses later!
Here they are...still not 100% finished. First dress to the left in the heavy cotton and dress to the right in lighter weight cotton/acrylic blend. My crochet edge around the sleeves on the yellow dress is way too tight. I'm still looking for a way (non crochet) to edge the sleeves on the striped dress. Then I just need to add my knitted flower and I'll be done. 
This is a photo of some of my thrift store finds. I love the yarn the pink sweater is made with. I can't wait to felt it. The other sweater is already pre-felted. I'm sure by mistake. And..I just couldn't resist the embroidery on the infant jeans for $1.50. I have a great purse in mind for the sweater and embroidered jeans. It'll be way too pre-teen for me, but I bet I can find some little girl who will love it. Top left is a little denim dress I plan to embellish somehow!?!? I'm trying to finish current projects and get reorganized. I have been very bad about starting a project before the next one is ALL the way done. I got a couple of really good books recently. The first one is Color Works: The Crafter's Guide to Color by Deb Menz. I'm the kind of person that can sit and stare at a wall of yarn for an hour and walk away with nothing. I love color, but have grown frustrated trying to coordinate certain projects. This book is simply amazing. I'm already looking at color so differently. It comes with color wheels you can remove from the book and take to the yarn store with you. It shows color examples in different crafts such as quilting, bead embroidery, knitting, spinning, etc. I highly recommend this book! The other book is from Indygo Junction. It's called Bag Boutique. There are some nice solid purse and tote designs here that can serve as a blank canvas for your own creative ideas. I need to ramp up my sewing skills....but I'm looking forward to giving these a try. 
