Final One Skein Project

Well, I've finally finished my pal Mary's project! Since she makes miniature items for fashion dolls, I decided to make a sweater and shawl for one of her fashion dolls. I used to collect Barbie, Gene, and other fashion dolls, and still have a collection of them, so I had models to work with. I decided to knit for a Gene doll using a pattern in a fashion doll makeovers book I have. Well the pattern was quite poorly written. It gave no gauge, no schematic, and no measurements. To make matters worse, the Elann Peruvian Baby Silk yarn I used had so many plies in it that I regularly missed catching them all while knitting. The needles I used were so slick that they frequently slid out of the loops. Despite all these hardships I managed to make the sweater anyway, although it varies quite a bit from the original design. I then crocheted a shawl out of the same yarn using a Bernat pattern that I miniaturized. That was a piece of cake. I couldn't believe how quickly that crocheted up! After getting the hang of the lace pattern, I decided to add little sleeves to the sweater to tie it to the shawl. The sleeves were no problem, either. The Baby Silk is definitely a yarn more suited for a crochet hook than a knitting needle in my opinion!
Mary also has been knitting hats for babies and donating them, so I wanted to make her a hat to include with her next donation. I used Lily Sugar 'n' Cream cotton and this MagKnits pattern by Erssie Major as a guide. I like how the hat turned out, but would do a few things differently the next time around. The seaming isn't the greatest, but hopefully it will keep some baby's head warm just the same!
I also included a slew of pattern books in this final package. Mary loves them! I got some free pattern books when I went to the Yarn Factory Outlet in Listowel, Ontario last month, and got extra for her. I also included some yarn for Mary to make more hats with and another skein of Matrix, since she loved the first ball I sent her so much! I got it as a mill end, but it's the same quality as the balls in the stores.
I'll be shipping this package out tomorrow when I cross the border. I can't wait for Mary to get it!