What Fairy Wings Are Made Of

The older sister of the quilt recipient turns 5 in June.  She is definitely on the path of being a really girly girl.  She loves playing dress-up, Disney princesses and is a big fan of the color pink.  I didn't know how to quilt when she was born and I was rather adamantly against making baby knits for anyone.  Her arrival into this world was greeted with the standard Polish baby present: money.  I'm so excited about giving the new baby (a girl, by the way) the quilt, but, at the same time, I feel bad that I've never made anything for her older sisters. 

So I've been trying to figure out what would be good gifts for both of them.  Quilts are out since I've already got another baby quilt to make for the summer.  So I've been trying to find knitting projects that might work.  My mom bought a copy of Boho Baby Knits and I liked it so much I went out and bought a copy of my own.  And the project that really grabbed my attention in that book, looks like the perfect gift for my oldest neice: The Woodland Fairy Wings
.
Since my niece loves pink, I opted for the aptly named "Strawberry Soda" color of Kid Merino as the solid color in the wing and Strawberries and Limes for the variegated color.  Although it doesn't look it in the picture, the variegated color way has touches of the exact same color pink as the Strawberry Soda, so I think they will play well together in the wings.  (The gold ribbon yarn makes up the loops that hold the wings in place on the body).

I'm hoping that the fact that the wings are done on Size 10.5 needles and the ribbon yarn portions are done with crochet will mean that this will knit up quickly.  I had brief reservations about a relatively unwashable yarn in a gift for a child, but when I thought about how lovely and airy the final product would be and how much even I would have loved such a dress up toy when I was a little girl, I decided that sometimes it's better not to be practical about everything.

Now if only I could find the right thing for my second oldest neice -- she's almost three and is a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine and likes to help her dad out when he fixes things.  Something tells me that fairy wings aren't really going to be up her alley!