Finished sweater set...

I finished up the dress last night & this morning. And I relearned that sleeves already sewn into the round are a pain in the rear to sew into place. But that's the way the pattern said to do it. Note to self: should you ever again be insane enough to make that dress, make the bodice, then the sleeves, then the skirt, that way you don't have to fight with round sleeves into an already-made bodice.

Again, I love the patterns in Candy Babies. I really do. I think they're incredibly innovative. Hmm, I guess I should say I love the garments in the book. The patterns, not so much so. I appreciate the knitting-pattern-style writing, where it says stuff like "work even until piece measures 7 inches" rather than "Rows 3 - 27: repeat row 2." But other facets, especially the joining of the various pieces, just don't work out as well.

So, on to the pictures. First photo--the dress alone:
I had to make a few changes to the pattern. The back of the bodice is supposed to be just straight HDC, but even using the same size hook, it was huge compared to the front, so I did the entire bodice in the pattern stitch, which I think looks nicer anyway. I also did several rows of the pattern stitch (2 repeats of the whole kit n kaboodle) on the skirt, which gave it a pretty nice look, but I'm still not certain I'm totally satisfied. And I made the sleeves shorter than the pattern called for, as on the model they came down to her elbows, & I wanted a short-sleeved dress.

Here are the dress and sweater together:
Cute, huh? I made the body of the sweater a size larger than the dress, but made sure the sleeves were short enough for the six months size. The sweater needs to be able to fit over the dress for them to be a true set. The sweater is a bit longer than I'd like--stupid me didn't adjust the length in the main part of that--but overall I think it's a very nice look.

And I have absolutely no plan for it...Sigh.

Today's noncrochet talk--Bobbie is has just about mastered the capital A and is moving on to the lowercase of the letter. I've got her the practice writing tablets like I remember writing on in school, but lines mean nothing to her, the dear. She writes as she lives--large & enthusiastic. There will be time for refinement later.

And the good news does not end there. Linda peed in the potty. IN the potty, rather than on the lid, or beside it, or in front of it. Which means she's getting better at feeling the urge to go, and I'm getting better at recognizing her signs and prompting her to get on the potty. Nope, I don't ascribe to the 'later is better' school of pottytraining, but that's all I'll say about that topic, since it is even more of a hot-button issue among mamas than abortion, it seems.