Stitching myself

Some of you might already know about the Stitch Yourself exhibit, a joint project by Stitch London and the Science Museum. More information here. People are invited to create small version of themselves, and knitting, crochet and sewing patterns are provided to create the blank bodies.

I could not resist the temptation to make a mini me, and last Saturday evening I started. It did not take very long, and by the time I went to bed that night I had the body, clothing, hair and eyes sorted. On Sunday I added a mouth, shoes and drop spindle, and it was done. Can't believe how mush fun it was, probably because it was almost instant gratification, something I don't often get from my slow knitting and spinning.

I knit the body from Paton's Diploma Gold DK, using less than 10g for the whole body. I knit is using magic loop, and did kfb instead of make 1's. I probably should have paid more attention to my decreases - there is a very clear line running down the one side of the face, which I only noticed after adding the arms/legs/hair, i.e. no going back and putting the crease at the back. I blame the lighting late at night...

For the hair, I used reddish-brown alpaca roving (bough from Coldharbour Mill), which looks eerily like real hair (the picture to the left does not do the colour justice). It was a bit tricky to anchor it -luckily it will not be scored - and it was a bit flyaway, so I added some hairspray before I mailed it. There was no way I was going to create a hairstyle similar to my own, so the hair (as with everything else) is more of an abstract representation than a photo image.

The eyes are from Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, and a little bit of sock wool provided the mouth. If you look carefully, there are earrings made from jump rings (beading findings).

The short-sleeved cardigan is a top-down design from leftover Abstract Cat sock yarn. Luckily the arms of the doll are really thin, so the tiny armholes were not a problem. Because of the tiny dimensions, my horrible seaming would have created too much bulk. I want this cardigan for myself now... Please note the little shawl pin (utilising more beading supplies).

The trousers (probably my least favourite part) are from Rowan Denim - because it's denim, of course. Turned out a bit bulky and baggy, but I did not feel like redoing them.

The shoes were tricky. If I had thought about it earlier, I would probably have knitted them when doing the legs. Being optimistic that summer might have arrived, I decided on sandals. They are made from cork from a wine bottle, and little bits of velvet ribbon that was attached to the lable of some clothing item I bought (I always knew saving useless bits will come is useful some day). I sewed the cork soles to the feet for stability, then glued the ribbon to the soles. Really hope the glue holds.

The piece de resistance is the drop spindle I added as symbol of my current addiction to spinning. I very briefly considered a spinning wheel, but did not think it would travel well, even if I could make a passable mini version. Despite appearances, it is not made from a toothpick, because I could not find one. It was whittled from a wooden knife, and then sanded to smooth the edges. The whorl is more wine bottle cork. There is even a little hook at the bottom (did I mention beading supplies?), although it is not very clear, because of the glue anchoring the fibre to it. And no, the wool on the spindle was not actually spun on the mini spindle. It is Bluefaced Leicester, which I also used to stuff the body with (it is from a sample pack which contained small amounts of wool of different types - I've spun plenty of BFL before so I felt I could use the sample for this instead).

Mini me was squeezed into an envelope this morning and mailed to Stitch London - hope she arrives safely!