Merlin

There’s a beautifully illustrated book about a girl and her mouse doll.

Phoebe’s Sweater is written by Joanna Johnson, illustrated by Eric Johnson, indie published by their company Slate Falls Press, and has knitting patterns for a girl sweater, mouse doll and dress, and doll sweater. Irresistable, right? Definitely.

Here’s my Phoebe’s Sweater in size 2:

and a closeup of the buttons:

The buttons came from JoAnn, and I’ve stacked the smaller pink butterfly button onto a round white button to frame it and make it a suitable size for the buttonholes. I do like the effect, and the pink is the exact shade of the yarn in the Phoebe mouse doll and her dress:

which makes the whole set coordinate harmoniously. A sweater for the doll completes the set:

throw in a copy of the book, and there’s an unforgettable gift for a small girl and her reading, knitting, parent to share. I’m sad to part with the book myself, though. I’ll have to buy another one.

Merlin helped me knit them all:

He works for ear scritches, and a biscuit now and then. Good doggie.

It’s possible I may have unvented something. Y’all tell me if you’ve seen this before. Double i-cord trimmed seam.

and from the side:

Yes, that is Merlin at the lower left. It’s a challenge to take a photo of my knitting without getting some of Merlin in it. Besides, he makes a nice background.

This sample is scheduled for felting, and I think the i-cord trim will be just the right accent. The cool part is doing the seam and making the i-cord is all the same process.

Want to try it?

Pick up and knit stitches along both edges you wish to seam. I’ve picked up one stitch in each garter ridge on each side. In the photo, these are on the colorful needles. With dpn, cast on six. *On “right” or “public” side, place a stitch from the right holding needle onto the dpn. k2tog, k2, sl 3 as if to purl. Turn work. On “wrong” or “private” side, place a stitch from the other holding needle onto the dpn. p2tog tbl, p2, sl3 as if to purl.* Repeat between *s until all stitches are taken up. Bind off. Reward self for cleverness with chocolate, if available.

Wasn’t that easy? For those of you with sharp eyes and nosey attitudes, you’ve probably noticed that I’m knitting with two strands held together, and that the right holding needle is accidentally poked into the i-cord. I also know you’ve counted and noticed that I have seven stitches of the i-cord yarn on the needle, one from a holding needle (leftmost), and that the work is ready to turn, and work a “wrong” side row. You get more chocolate for your extra cleverness. You are wondering about that extra i-cord stitch, right? It’s between the two icords and knit on both sides, to be garter stitch. Theoretically this could be any number of stitches. That would make this technique extremely useful for say, a boxed pillow cushion, you choose the pillow’s thickness. More stitches, fatter pillow. Without middle stitches, a knife-edge pillow. Skip the bind off, and weave the last stitches into the cast on.

I’m off to find some chocolate now.