Flashback Friday #1

I have a bit of an unblogged project backlog - some things found their way onto facebook but others were never shared, so I thought I might use Fridays to flashback to projects that have not had their 5 minutes of fame.

I always wanted a little girl, so I could knit her a little layette like I made for my first niece, back in 2001. In fact it was for this reason that I opted to find out what we were having second time around. But because we were keeping it secret, and because there was a little voice in my head telling me that sometimes little girls turn out to be little boys, all I managed to knit while I was pregnant with Madelyn was unisex: a little aqua raglan cardy, and a sweet little cream lace matinee set (hat, booties and jacket) which she wore over a pink hand sewn dress. I was a bit scared to commit the time it takes to knit a little dress and have her turn out to be a little boy! A bit ironic that now I have finally gotten around to knit her a dress she's wearing a size 6, and that newborn dress would have taken far less time! Admittedly I have used 8 ply (and 10 ply for the second one) which is a bit faster than what it would have been to knit a seamed, lace, 4ply dress from one of my antique pattern books as I was planning for her as a baby, but there is a heck of a lot more knitting in this size!
I am forgetting - I did make her a dress from 4 ply when she was about 10 months old, but of course she grew out of it as soon as I finished it, so it always looked like more of a top than a dress and didn't last long. But now she has two dresses from my pre-Christmas knitting adventures that she can wear next autumn and winter. 

She has worn thisTeacher's Pet a few times already, as it is great for sunny days in the early 20's (Celsius) which we were blessed with in November. After finishing this one, I was on a roll, so signed up to test knit another dress!

This Primrose dress is a little big so she can get a bit more wear out of it with leggings and long sleeves next winter.  The oversize was a bit due to my poor measurements, and a bit due to the wool growing when I blocked it. Not so great as I was test knitting and was unable to help much with sizing, but I am happy because my little princess just keeps on growing!  She is already topping Austy's 5 year old mark on our growth chart and she only just turned 4!  It won't be long before she catches up...

Both dresses were designed by Julia Stanfield.