Happy Anniversary, Ellen!

My goodness, how a year can fly by! Ellen was delivered by Purolator courier one year ago today. We've had all kinds of adventures since her arrival and hopefully we have many more in the months and years ahead.

It's kind of humorous how Ellen became the focal point of this blog: When I told my daughters that I intended to buy a mannequin so that I could use her to build a knitting portfolio, they all thought it was rather funny. One of them asked if I intended to have her ride around with me in my car sitting in the passenger seat like a real person. Another said I should get a group of mannequins and load them aboard the car and go around doing photo shoots with them. Then, she went on to say how funny it would be unloading them while people watched, all the while wondering what in the world I was doing. All said in good humour and we all laughed at the ideas. Anyway, as eccentric as that sounds, when I began to think about it, it really did seem like a great idea because, when I picked up knitting again after several non-knitting years, I stopped doing photography. And, seeing I had spent quite a bit of time and money learning photography I didn't want to forget what I had learned. So, with Ellen around I always had a model for the knit wear and I could still take landscape photos. 

A few months later I started the blog as a way to keep in touch with Andrea and Angela, the daughters who live in other parts of Canada so that they, my Mom, other family members and friends could share in the adventure, keep up to date with what I am knitting, and hopefully be entertained. As you know, from time to time I need a sidekick - to help keep Ellen upright or just as buddy to go on a photo shoot. Enter John (my boyfriend/partner/buddy) and Alana, my oldest daughter/buddy. I think both of them thought I was losing my mind at first, but being the gracious souls that they are, they willing agreed to help whenever they were asked and sometimes volunteered when they were not asked. I always appreciate their help. I also appreciate the encouraging comments from people who write me privately.

Below are some of the highlights of our year.  Cheers to Ellen and thanks to all of you for accepting her as one of your own!

Andrea's Wedding Dress
Photo taken at home but the dress was an adventure!

Placentia

Bridgeport

Twillingate

Brigus

Outside Botanical Garden, St. John's

Sash for Andrea's dress - also a designing adventure

Long Pond

Logy Bay

Cape Spear

Topsail Beach

Manuels River

Mad Rock

Near Johnson GEO Centre, St. John's

Flat Rock

St. Vincent's, St. Mary's Bay

Bowring Park, St. John's

Bauline Line

Bay de Verde

Tea time at a friend's house

Ellen meets Katherine

Kelligrews Beach

Foxtrap Beach

A Wedding, Ellen!

Last Fall when Andrea and Stephan announced their engagement and set a wedding date for October 1, 2011, Andrea asked me to knit her wedding dress. I had just bought the knitting machine (Brother KH 260 medium gauge - 150 needles) and had no experience with it, so the thoughts of whipping up a wedding dress didn't appeal to me at all! Then, Andrea, with the help of her two sisters and their combined charm, eventually talked me into it. I honestly didn't have a clue where to start so I asked Andrea to sketch some of her ideas and I'd try to put them into a pattern. She sent me a picture of a mannequin (not related to Ellen) wearing a toilet paper dress. At first glance I wasn't impressed with this approach but quickly realized that Andrea was thinking in terms of fashion and I was thinking in terms of knit and purl. I would have to convert the fashion into knit and purl without any further input from the outside world.

Now that I had some idea of where this was going I started to source the yarns. I went to Toronto to visit Andrea, measure her from head to toe and have a look around the yarn shops of Toronto. We found the base white pima cotton and the fancy buttons in Toronto. A good starting point, but what about the rest of it? Then I remembered seeing the Tilli Tomas yarns online. My brother and his girlfriend were planning a trip to Florida so I asked them to pick up the Tilli Tomas Beaded Plie (silk with beads). When they went to the specified store, it was in the process of closing the business and the beaded plie was no longer available. Darn! Start again! I wrote Tilli Tomas and they directed me to one of the many online shops that carries their brand, so I ordered online. My Mom had told me about Knit Picks last Fall and I had purchased some sock yarn that I was pleased with, so I began looking on their website to see what I could find. I came across a lace weight baby alpaca/silk blend called Shimmer so I ordered some of that along with a lace weight kid mohair. By this time we are into the middle of March 2011.

I did the tension swatches in April and took a week's vacation from work to knit the dress. That turned out to be a very busy week and I didn't actually start the dress until Saturday, then back to work on Monday. Now I'm feeling a little behind. So, nights and weekends of knitting, seaming and crocheting. We figure about 100 hours in total. John patiently watched TV (hockey, baseball and a few movies) while I worked away at the dress. :-) My goal was to have the dress complete by May 31 because I knew when the warm weather set in, I'd want to be outside. I finished the dress at 11:00 p.m. May 31. Yaay! Ellen modelled it and we did a quick photo shoot before work on June 1, John and I packaged it with a rose scented soap, then John brought it to the post office to ship to Andrea, both of us with fingers crossed that it would fit Andrea.

When Andrea received the dress and tried it on, it fit perfectly! Whew! However, we decided that it needed a sash at the waistline with long tails for a big bow at the back. The sash has been posted in Ellen 

Got Sashed (Again)!

Andrea and Stephan arrived last Monday to prepare for the wedding. We did one dress fitting during the week and all was well. Andrea thought the dress was comfortable and very special. Now I'm glad that Andrea and her sisters encouraged me to make the dress. It was a very worthwhile and fun experience. Ellen also thought it was quite special. Not every mannequin has the opportunity to model a knit wedding dress! Ellen sends her best wishes and congratulations to Andrea and Stephan!... and, her thanks to Andrea for permitting her to share in the wedding dress experience!