Snow makes for GREAT designing/knitting time!

We are having some wonderful snow days .... starting on Friday, the 5th, we are now on our 5th day of lots of snow on the ground.  We were only off-power for about 24hours (when we high-tailed it to Raleigh to stay with dear, dear friends) ... so now all is good.  The kids are building an igloo and a "luge" run in the back while dh shovels the latest snow-fall.

Me?

I'm doing what any self-respecting mom/wife would do -- baking bread, cookies and cakes; keeping the house cozy warm; and, of course ... knitting.  Knitting up a storm, as it were!

Our last snow-filled weekend, (January 30-31), I designed and knitted a few things for a niece's first baby. 

Introducing, the "Eliza Collection" ...

A bevy of booties!  These five pair of booties ... in graduated sizes ... are all knit in Dale of Norway's Falk - a washable 100% wool that knits up beautifully and will hold up nicely to lots of washing.

Ruffles

Heart sox

Baby-tears

Lavender and Lace

Ballet Flats

But the piece de resistance ... the real glory of the "Eliza Collection" is

Miss Bellissima Bunny the Ballerina.  Inspired by a design by Lucinda Guy in her book, And So to Bed, mine is knit all in one piece (except for the removable circle skirt).

Wearing a knitted-in pink leotard, Bellissima is 15-inches long.  She is a very cuddly bunny with her stuffed belly and her flat appendages.

Her full-circle dancing skirt is fun to knit -- all garter, short-row shaping making the circle with eyelets for a drawstring waist.

A sweet face, embroidered before stuffing, completes are little ballerina.  She is knit in a washable cotton-blend yarn and is made to withstand anything Miss Eliza does to her.

So what do you think of the "Eliza Collection"?

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com