Nihon Vogue - Year 2 - Gathered Sleeve

My lovely sister reminded me that an update to my blog was way overdue. Hard to fathom where the last month has gone... I have been so distracted by work, Nihon Vogue, the election and my new Kindle from Amazon.com!

For Nihon Vogue, our first project for Year 2 was a Gathered or puffy sleeve garment. I had started knitting this garment three times. Once with yarn that I didn't think I would have enough of and the second time with yarn I had plenty of. At the beginning. 3/4 done up the back and fronts. But... I then lost the ziplock bag they were in. Fell out of my tote bag someplace in the parking lot between the pharmacy and Target at Factoria Shopping Center.
So I started knitting the dress all over again. But with different yarn because I no longer had enough of the yarn that I had been midway through the project with. Good thing this sweater dress is for a 3 year old and not a 43 year old! The smaller size made it quicker to knit (and reknit and reknit!) and also fun to try some artsy techniques that I wouldn't normally tend towards on an adult sweater. The bodice is a knit/purl combination diamond pattern that looks like a lattice trellis. I crocheted the button loops on the back and crocheted a scalloped edge around the neck, cuffs and hem. The Czech glass buttons are from Beads and Beyond (now merged with Quiltworks Northwest) in Bellevue. I added the crocheted flower garland and 18 more buttons as flower centers after I decided the dress needed "something else" between the transition from stockinette stitch and the diamond pattern. I am happy to have it completed and happy with the way it turned out. Now I have to focus my attention even more so on the next two projects - Dolman Sweater and Raglan Sweater. There is a lot of knitting to be done by mid December when the next Nihon Vogue class is scheduled.