And so it begins~~~ A trousseau for a little Princess.

Finally - I can begin to show you the little baby treasures that I have been working on for so many months~~~



Little "baby no name" is expected to arrive in about 5 weeks. We are calling her that because her parents are keeping her name a secret. Fine. (so much for any personalized heirlooms!)
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The very first thing that I made for our little princess was this little beaded hat. (I painstakingly pushed every single bead to the outside so that none of them would be against her little head.) Pink tulle adorns the top of the hat - and in the middle of the tulle is a little piece of green ribbon. (You kind of have to look hard to see the green - it did not seem to photograph very well.)

Do you remember the pink beaded yarn that I showed you earlier? I knitted a little princess coat from that yarn. I kept the pattern simple because the yarn was already so exquisite.



The little coat has 3/4 sleeves and is meant to fit like a little loose coat or cardigan. Like the little beaded hat, I literally spent hours pushing all the little beads through to the outside of the coat. This was one of the projects that I knitted while we were gone on our travels.

While we were strolling around on the beautiful island of Curacao, I found a little fabric shop on one of the side streets in the city of Willemstad. (!!!!) Inside this sweet and dainty shop was a delightful display of laces, all of them handmade there on the island. I bought this beautiful assortment of laces---

The pale pink beaded ribbon was the perfect trim that I needed for this little princess coat. I hand sewed it around the neckline and up the front of the coat.

The exquisite beading is rather hard to photograph - I hope you can see the beautiful detail of the lace from these pictures.

(That is the little Moses basket peeking out in this picture - I will show you more about that later---).

So, do you like her little trousseau so far? She really will look like a little princess wearing this coat and hat, don't you think?

Not everything has to be pink does it? I also wanted to make her something a little more traditional. (Traditional meaning, not pink and beaded---).

This little boat neck sweater has rolled sleeves and a rolled hem. The sweater is knitted from one strand of Lorna's Laces shepherd worsted. This is the softest yarn to knit and work with - an absolute delight to your hands. This yarn comes in a variety of fabulous color variations, (and I have quite a stash going!) The little hat is knitted using 2 strands of Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn. (And yes, I have a bit of a stash in that also!)

The adornment is my own design. OK - I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with those little green tags that come attached to the Vera Bradley handbags. (I mean totally obsessed!) I save every single tag from every piece of Vera Bradley that I own. My family and friends - they give me their tags also! Here is a picture of my "green tag" stash in a teacup in the Sacred Yarn Room. Admittedly, this is pretty weird.

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Here is a little heads up for you---. I will be giving away a beautiful purse from the newVera Bradley Spring collection in a "Welcome to Spring" give away, probably around May. When the winner receives their beautiful purse - rest assured that I have ALREADY removed the little green tag. (Yep - I already did!)

Using those little tags in this design was so much fun! They naturally twist and curl, and this played into the design on the hat and sweater. (I have been waiting for just the right opportunity to decorate with my little "stash" - and this was the perfect chance!) Don't you just LOVE it when you get to do something really creative with your "stash"!

The little off white ribbon flowers were purchased - (but they were part of yet another stash, and I have had them forever. Don't remember where they came from.) The little green leaves are actually little glass beads.

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This little hat takes FOREVER to knit. It is not hard, just basically round and round, and round. But - when you get to the part where you have to put it on 4 needles (!) - then you have to knit that way for about another 6 inches, because that is the part that ties in a knot at the top of the hat.

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Picture this - I am sitting outside on the top deck of the cruise ship on a sea day. We are cruising along and the wind is about 15-20 miles an hour. I am sitting there trying to keep my yarn straight and keep it from blowing into the ocean below AND I am knitting with 4 double point needles. The best part - just watching the looks on the faces of the people as they walked by me. Hilarious! (I think I have pictures of this to show you later!)

The back of the hat and sweater features a little adornment also. Part of the design on the sweater actually starts on the front of the left shoulder and crosses over onto the back. The picture below shows the back of the little knitted set.

This is just the first of so many little things that I want to share with you. There is another little knitted heirloom to come - my beautiful storybook blanket. (I can't wait to show that to you!)

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Remember the vintage baby story gift tags? My dearest friend, Mary, created the most beautiful treasure using those little gift tags. She showed it to me today and I was moved to tears. So that is yet to

come---. (And the Moses basket, and the beautiful lamps, and the sweetest little doll baby pram that you have ever seen, and the bunny basket and the diaper cake---- AND the baby shower is next Saturday! )

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If you are not just totally enthralled with baby things - you might just want to skip the next SEVERAL postings! Being a grandparent is really such a wonderful blessing!

Vicki