Zoological and a new knitting pattern

Immediately following the release of my last knitting pattern Mesh Panel Tee, I decided to downsize it and release it as a child's pattern. This was accomplished over a month and a half ago with only a final edit holding me back from publishing. And so it sat..... and sat and SAT... until FINALLY, today, I did the final editing (basically a spell check and some measurement conversions) and got it published on Ravelry (link to buy at the bottom).  I'm not sure why I didn't finish it before, but there you are.

The main purpose of this post is to show off the skirt I made for Chey. I've mentioned (many times) that my daughter is not very girly, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. She hates pink and loves green? I knit her an acid green skirt (Silly Frilly). She hates Barbies and Princesses... how about a Zombie Mermaid?? (check out the shirt in the picture linked for the skirt)?? I sneak in the girly in every way I can...nail polish, feathers for her hair, ladybug shirts, butterfly shirts, animal shirts with lots of sparkles. The result is that we're both happy. She gets her way and so do I.  It was with this happy medium in mind that I found a cute skirt tutorial on Pinterest and somehow stumbled onto the most perfect fabric at The Purl Bee. It's a black and white printed fabric with every imaginable animal: from ants, to crocodiles to zebras, to dolphins to rhinoceroses. I started it last week and finished it today. I didn't end up following the tutorial at all, it was more my inspiration, but look at the result.....

I interrupted video games for a photo shoot. She hides her mood well, no?

It's a very simple skirt to sew. I cut three strips of fabric, each twice as long as the last (the longest piece was two strips sewn together) and did a double fold hem on both the top and bottom of each piece. I threaded a piece of elastic through the top hem of the shortest piece and sewed it down on each edge. I then sewed each of the longer strips with the fold to the OUTSIDE of the fabric so that it would ruffle slightly above the ribbon trim. I created the ruffle by pinning the fabrics together in 1/8th sections and then bunched the excess between the pins as I sewed the pieces together. I then sewed a length of grosgrain ribbon over the ruffle seams and finally, sewed the whole thing together down one side..... Another win for the both of us.....

If you'd like to buy the pattern for the top she's wearing... It's my latest: Mesh Panel Tee: Child (perhaps I should try to use my imagination to come up with something more interesting for the next one??)