Knitting Needles for Fine Threads

After "Quick Rewards #1" and "Quick Rewards #2" I decided size 10 crochet thread was really much too large and thick for my Sylvanian Family characters. So I moved down to a Perle 12 thread for "Quick Rewards #3". Unfortunately the smallest needles I had at the time were 000 (#3-0), which were a tad large for the Perle 12 thread. For the bedspread and vest mentioned in the last post I used a Perle 8 thread and three strands of embroidery floss, respectively, which seemed to match well with the #3-0 needles.

Getting into this miniature knitting adventure a little more, I started browsing other sites showing examples of minitature knitting, such as Mini-Mum and Lesley's Miniature Knitting. I learned that needles finer than #3-0 exist, but I wasn't sure I was ready for miniature knitting, so I cut myself two lengths of #19 gauge wire from a spool I had sitting around, and filed down the ends slightly using a sharpening stone. Then I knit myself a mini gauge swatch in size 80 cotton thread (2nd from the right on the bottom row):

The swatch went well enough that I decided to start on a skirt. I used a single strand of embroidery floss and two stitch pattern from Nicky Epstein's "Knitting on the Edge" [GoogleBooks,B&N,Amazon]: Petite Shells for the bottom hem in a dark pink, and Peasant Ruffle for the rest of the skirt in a light pink. By the time I was mostly finished with the skirt, I decided it really was time to get some real needles. So I made a trip to Lacis and picked up #5-0, #6-0, and #8-0 double pointed needles, and size 12, 14, and 16 crochet hooks.

I finished the bodice of Patty's skirt using the new #5-0 needles, then tatted a couple shoulder straps (more details on Ravelry).

Although I was excited about starting new projects with my new needles and hooks, I remembered my sizing failure on the purple vest; I made a few mini gauge swatches using one and two strands of embroidery floss:

Prissy still needed a top to complement her skirt, so my first project with the new needles was to make the rest of her outfit. I decided to try a 'Bramble' stitch pattern; this time I made a gauge swatch first, shown in the upper left of the picture:

Since the vest doesn't close in the front I also made her a small bib front, in a 'Florette Pattern' (according to The Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery by Mildred Graves Ryan [GoogleBooks,B&N,Amazon]).

Here she is in her complete outfit (again, more details are available on Ravelry):

Eventually I got around to blocking the skirt, and found out it was now too large for Prissy. Instead, it fits a small adult, such as Tilley, better.

So now I need a new skirt for Prissy, and a top for Tilley.