Well, It SEEMED like a good idea!

The last week of January, I got a new knitting magazine in the mail.  As I always do, I sat down right away and marked any projects that caught my eye.  Frequently, I mark projects, then get sidetracked, or come to my senses, or otherwise change my mind.  This time was different.  I found this:

from the March 2011 issue of Creative Knitting,
designed by Sara Louise Harper

I instantly thought this outfit would be so cute for each of the little girls, in their "signature colors" for Easter.  After talking to Don, I ordered the yarn.  Not the exact yarn called for, but a more affordable option.  Then I set out to finish a few more WIPs (works in progress), to "clear the decks" for my new purchases.  (Yep, so much for the New Year's Goal!)  And then, The Box arrived.  It had to have been the biggest box I've ever received from JoAnn.com.  I unpacked the yarn:

I guess I should have expected it, but some how, 5 balls of blue, 5 of pink, 5 of purple, 4 of yellow, 11 of cream and 1 of green sounded like a lot less in my head.  Unpacking that box, I felt totally overwhelmed.  What had I gotten into?  And I stretched the budget to buy it; I was committed now, or the girls wouldn't have Easter dresses. 
That night, I got started on Katie's dress.  She gets the blue, of course.  This is the beginning:

Ten rows of cream colored 2x2 rib, and the beginning row of the blue color.  So far, so good.  I think I can do this.  After getting to this point, I decided that I'm not really skilled enough to knit separate pieces of a dress at different times, and have them come out exactly the same length.  So, I cast on the back piece at the same time.  This means I was knitting 2 different pieces, on the same needle, with 2 balls of yarn.  Are you with me so far?  The first 17 inches were easy:  identical directions.  The hardest part was keeping the yarn from tangling, which still wasn't bad.  Time to cast off for armholes and neckline.  Different for each pieces, but still pretty easy.  Time too finish the arms.  This is a sleeveless dress, so it was really just armholes.  Now, I was knitting 2 pieces, on one needle, from 4 balls of yarn.  A little more challenging!  Just about the time I was thinking the twisted yarn was going to win, I discovered I was done!  Yay me!  I sat down that night and seamed the two pieces, which was a first for me.  Then, I had to pick up and knit the contrasting ribbing for the neck and sleeves, and presto, I was done, except for the embroidered details.

Yay!  And it fits her!!  Double Yay!  From the time I unpacked the yarn until I took my last stitch was only 8 days, and 2 of those days I never picked it up at all, so I'm thinking that this is very doable!  Especially since Easter is late this year.  My plan is to knit the 4 dresses, then the 4 sweaters, then do the little details.  If there is time and yarn left over, I will make them little purses too.  And yesterday, Emma asked if I could knit them hair bows.  I feel like it's all possible!

Yesterday afternoon, I started Emma's dress, but modified the pattern.  Instead of knitting 2 separate pieces and seaming them later, I joined the pieces to knit in the round.  Not only is knitting faster for me than purling (which is eliminated by doing this), I won't have to do the seaming either.  This is how far I got last night:

Almost to the halfway mark.  Not bad for about 3 hours of knititng!  I will definitely keep you posted!