See, you all really like knit dresses too, don’t you?  Thanks for the lovely comments on my Jessica dress.  I think that next time I make it I will cut it shorter, and shorten it a bit through the torso.  My usual short person alterations!  But in the meantime, I really like my wearable muslin.

And guess what – my Lekala-along jacket is finished!  But you’ll have to wait for modelled photos, I’m afraid.  Once I had it all cut out and started sewing it came together quite easily.  Having a dedicated craft room really helps in that regard, because I did a lot of the sewing in fits and starts between doing other things (like working and caring for my family) and I could just put things down and pick them up again.

In the meantime, I have a bit of a backlog of finished projects just waiting for their opportunity to be blogged.  Thank goodness for Ravelry as a repository of information!  It says that I finished crocheting Clare’s Stradbroke top on the 18th of January, after starting it on the 1st of November.

This is a cute style by Deanne Ramsey, also known as Addydae Designs.  I have crocheted quite a few of her designs now, and have enjoyed all of them.  She is an Australian designer, so many of her patterns work well with yarns that are readily available here, such as the Bendigo Woollen Mills Spring Cotton that I used here.

The top buttons at the front. After making it and Clare trying it on, we decided to stitch the straps on permanently rather than having them adjustable, as they were pulling a bit and looked awkward. We left the buttons in place for a decorative touch. Clare later decided that she also wanted a ribbon threaded through the bodice for extra security. She is possibly likely to wear this layered over another top more than on its own in any case.

The straps come from the centre of the back, so don’t have any tendency to slip off shoulders. I crocheted this in the size 6-7 for Clare. The top of the bodice is elasticised, with four rows of shirring elastic threaded through the post stitches on the wrong side, which brings it in to fit around the chest but then allows it to flare through the skirt. This could easily be lengthened into a dress if you fancied.

There are a couple more crochet projects in the works at the moment, one for me and one for Clare. Neither are progressing quickly. I have a “school mums” weekend away coming up soon, so will take my crochet along with me then and hopefully get through a bit more hooking. More details on Clare’s top are on Ravelry here.