Alice has some older siblings and today I gave a very late birthday present to her big sister, Jenny. Ages ago I asked her, if I was to knit her something, what colour she would like. She replied pink or purple. I went with purple.
We visited this afternoon and Jenny and Alice kindly posed for me. Well, I didn’t have to plead. Jenny was most willing, and Alice, after we practically tied her to Jenny with the scarf, was incredibly cooperative.
This was one of those projects where digging through the stash brought up a long forgotten skein, the kind I thought I’d never find a use for. It’s Waratah Fibres. Just a nice, hand painted 8ply merino that, at 100g, was exactly the right amount for a 10 year old’s scarf, particularly as it grew considerably after washing.
The pattern is the Yarn Harlot’s fabulous One Row Scarf pattern. If you’ve never made it, I highly recommend it as a simple but efffective way to both knock over a quick scarf for a gift and use up those odd skeins of handspun or handpainted yarns.
Jenny’s quite a stylish girl. She tied it on herself in this way and I think it works well! She said the wool was a little scratchy and I confess I thought so too, even after washing it. But I’ll advise her mum to maybe wash it again and see if that helps.
They’re great friends these two, even with such a big age gap. In fact there’s almost the same gap between them as there is between Alice’s mum and I. Seeing them together brings back such memories!
What was really cute as we were taking these photos was that Alice picked a dandelion and knew at once that you blow the seed heads into the air! How very clever! Jenny says she taught her – good girl for remembering!
What was funnier was watching her pick the stalks that had long since lost their seed heads and blowing on them anyway!
Jenny, incidentally, is a keen knitter herself. She didn’t bring any with her today but tells me she’s made some mistakes on her current piece and wants to know if we can have a knitting and baking day together some time soon.
I don’t think she’ll have to twist my arm!
Bells
Bellsknits 
I still have the scarf from 2 years ago. I probobly won’t be wearing it now that I am in Queensland and it warmer.
Thank you so much people. I love the scarf Bells.
Beautiful scarf and great photos.
How is it that that kid just keeps getting cuter? And a sister? Who knew? She is just as adorable AND she knits! Love it. Beautiful scarf, Bells.
I love to knit, Im Jenny,
I was going to suggest the hair conditioner as well. It saved a scratchy scarf for me.
What adorable freckles! And how terrific that they are friends.
They are lucky to have such a great Auntie and all the lovely knits. That scarf is so nice!
Lovely photos Bells!
The scarf suits Jenny really well and she looks so pleased with it!
Those photos are just so sweet – the first especially one is lovely! I always wished I had a sister, so it’s so fab to see Jenny and Alice get on so well, hope it continues! Not to mention Jenny’s knitting and baking interest – excellent work Aunty Bells!
Very sweet couple of girls there, it looks like they get on very well š
And a gorgeous scarf, *of course*!
What a lovely family time you seem to be having!
What beauties! Big sisters are the best.
What a great auntie you are, for suck nice gifts as well as bake-and-knit day. Oh, I’d so love to join in. It looks like all of you had a lovely time. I can see Alice’s belly peeking out from under her shirt in that last photo; nothing makes me squee and tickle and laugh like a baby belly does.
Lovely scarf, and they both look happy! I second the call for conditioner to soften it.
I shall fourth the suggestion of hair conditioner! A couple of drops in a sink full of water, let it soak, rinse it a bit.
Jenny looks like a wonderful big sister. It’s great watching siblings together. There’s a 7-year gap between my oldest and youngest, and he is just putty in the girl’s hands. He told me one of his classmates hates babies, and he was indignant: How can anyone not like babies?? His sister is so much fun!
And how lucky for you to have someone else to knit for. š
I third the hair conditioner suggestion. (I don’t use it on my hair any more, but still occasionally on hand knits in wool).
These photos are really special, and the scarf is beautiful.
Oh my god, Ronny and I have just been gushing over these photos. Our little girl looks so beautiful and Jen Jen is just gorgeous! She loves the scarf bells, Alice has been modeling it a lot tonight to. To all reading, bells is a wonderful aunty both to alice and ronnys other kids love her to š
a day of baking and knitting with miss jenny sounds wonderful! lovely scarf, and doesn’t alice look cute with her haircut! i’ll have to cut my girls hair like that too.
Those are some great pictures – how adorable! And how great to have a new partner in knitting, too. You guys will have great fun together. (BTW, someone told me hair conditioner – a sock in a solution of it and water – helps a lot with the scratchiness of wool; you might want to tell her, to see if it helps with the scarf. Which is very pretty by the way!)
I love Miss Jenny’s scarf, very pretty and the color suits her very well. She looks as though she loves being a big sister too. They do say little kids are like sponges and remember things, pity we cant sometimes wring the sponge and remove some of the info, lol!
Lovely photos, every one of them. That scarf is great and works well for a man’s scarf too which is what i used it for.
Get her to try rinsing it in diluted conditioner. Does make a difference to the scratchiness, but can take a few goes to get the concentration right – can need more rinsing.
What a stunning scarf and two beautiful little ladies to model it! I love the pic of Alice with the stalk!
Lucky girls they are to have you in their life, and how happy and gorgeous they both look. I hope we are going to get another post about the amazing pie as well!