School project revisited, new dolls

When we moved house last year, I came across some special notes from school days. When I was 12 or 13 years old we knitted a pair of socks in the handicraft class. (We learn to knit a potholder when we are 8, to knit and purl and knit in the round to make mittens when we are 10.) Here are my notes about making the heel, which is for many knitters the trickiest part.

We also learned to knit cables and simple lace patterns, and after making this sampler we could select our personal favourite for our own pair of socks.

I chose the simple lace pattern. As you can see, I liked the socks and wore them out.

I decided to try my notes and knit a similar pair using modern yarn.

Funnily enough, my notes didn't mention how many stitches to cast on (I figured it out from the heel instructions), nor how many stitches' repeat each pattern was. It looks like the teacher took it for granted that everyone knows how to knit a basic sock! I decided to knit the new socks in a child's size. Here they are before damp stretching.

While at the pink yarn, I knitted a simple striped pair in a woman's size.

And then I used up the beige rest from those stripes, and a brown rest yarn with an orange rest.

I ought to have chosen a smaller size, because I had not enough of the orange so I had to buy some more. So now I'm sitting here with with about 80 grams of orange yarn, not enough for a normal pair of socks. Need to dig in my yarn stash and look for stripe yarn again.

The ground floor where my sewing machine is, is the coolest place in the house. I have been spending time there too, making new dolls for Unicef. The adoption fee of each doll will guarantee the vital vaccinations for one real child. Meet the new group of three:

Tiina is a 12 year old sporty girl from the 1950's, loves cross-country skiing and swimming in the lake.

Anni loves wearing her "almost princess" dress and thinks long curly hair is overrated.

Nelli loves flowers and strawberries and other girly things.

I hope they will soon find new homes. I hope I will soon have new ideas for new dolls!