Beautiful Handiwork

Well, I’m pretty blown away this morning by the photos in this post at Pondered in My Heart—and by the tremendous compliments paid me by her family’s enthusiasm for my Martha and Charlotte books. There is nothing more exciting to an author than seeing how her books have come to life for someone. Kimberlee’s daughter Mary Rose is apparently a big fan, and her thoughtful big sister made her some Charlotte-inspired goodies for Christmas: a handmade copybook, Blue Back Speller, and gorgeously illustrated alphabet book. Truly lovely work, Lydia. I am very impressed.

And wait until you see the handcarved toys and spindles Kimberlee’s sons made for their sisters. What a family!

Speller
By the way, the original "Blue Back Speller"—Noah Webster’s American Spelling Book, originally published in 1783 and used by generations of American schoolchildren—has been republished in a facsimile edition. That’s what I used to help me write some of the scenes in Charlotte’s schoolhouse. You can read most of it online at Google Books.

But I have to say, I think I prefer Lydia’s version!

The Nice Thing about This Picture Is that It Doesn’t Show How Badly I Botched the Sweater

Sweater

I learned to crochet when I was eleven, but I took about fifteen years off. And I’d never made anything but blankets, I think. This was my first attempt ever at a sweater (either knitting or crocheting).

Here’s the pattern I used: Baby It’s Cold Outside.

Rilla drew a lot of compliments at the park, but honesty compels me to confess what a mess I made of the project. First of all, it was supposed to be a present for a newborn. Of course, since I spent over a year on the sweater about ten newborn friends grew into toddlers before I had a chance to give what I thought was going to be the perfect new-baby gift. Hee. As I (finally, at long last) crocheted the final stitches, I had two dear friends who were counting down the days to the arrival of wee daughters, and I was delighted with the timing. The only difficulty was going to be in deciding to which baby girl I’d send the sweater.

Then I began whipstitching the sides together and it became clear that this sweater wasn’t going to work for either one of the newborn lasses. Rilla bopped past as I held it up by the sleeves, biting my lip doubtfully. The sweater looked more like her size (and she’ll be two in April) than newborn size. Hmm. I am sure I followed the directions meticulously. I can’t possibly have been at all distracted during the year and a half of sporadic bursts of hooking, right? The year and a half in which I packed up and moved to the other side of the country? No cause for absentminded mistakes there, surely?

Humph.

The sizing problems, it turned out, were the least of my mistakes.  I mean, there are worse fates than accidentally making a sweater the perfect size for your own child. Of much greater concern was the fact that the front left panel was some two inches longer than the back of the sweater.

Whoops.

I unraveled the extra rows, but now the two front panels are different sizes. As I said, you can’t tell from this picture. Since one panel buttons over the other, the discrepancy looks almost intentional—sort of boxy and chic.

At least, that’s the story I’m going with.

I haven’t made the buttons yet but when I do you’ll see what I mean. If you compare mine to the picture, you’ll see how terrifically I blundered.

Fortunately for me, Rilla doesn’t give a hoot about following instructions to the letter.

Climbingwall

Standingwall

Donotwalk