Thursday, February 9, 2012

Knitted dolls by Fiona McDonald

Fiona McDonald's knit dolls are one of the two reasons I wanted to learn to knit!  A year ago, I posted about Fiona's book 'Babes in the Wool,'  (see the post here).   I fell in love with her dolls, especially the way she does the faces.  Now I have finally made one of her designs, from the book 'Knitted Fairies.'

And, even though I used the wrong yarn (sportweight instead of worsted), he turned out pretty cute.  I left off the wings, so he is actually an Elf, but he's happy that way :-)

Fiona has three book on knitted dolls, each filled with ideas for dolls that will make your head spin.  The knitting is simple, and the results are amazing.

She also has a blog; check it out!

And finally, I am fortunate to own one of Fiona's original dolls, crafted by herself.  This doll is even more gorgeous in person.

11 comments:

  1. These dolls are so beautiful!!
    I love your elf, and the Goth doll is amazingly beautiful!

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  2. Absolutely worth the wait. He is so lovely. Now I can't wait to see a Goth! Am I being unreasonable? And now I will have to learn to crochet (relearn) and do one of your adorable dolls.

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  3. really lovely dolls, I could not believe that these were knitted. so delicate.

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  4. Absolutely wonderful. I was given her Babes In The Wool book but I need to learn to knit first. I can still look at the pictures and hope:) Where did you get one of her original dolls?

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  5. I love Fiona's patterns. I can't stop making her dolls... I have another one on the needles as I type :-)

    And I want to see a goth too!

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  6. Beth, I LOVE the elf! The hair is PERFECT! And you did an amazing job with the facial features! I have to confess that I learned to knit when I was pregnant with my daughter (41 years ago) but when I learned to crochet 3 years later, I 'retired' my knitting needles. You are inspiring me more & more to pull them out & dust them off! I plan to check out Fiona's lovely work AND her books! Have a great day & a VERY good weekend! Hugs!

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  7. He's so awesome! i love the way you did the eyes.i've got a fairie knitted but i still haven't done the face. i keep putting off doing the eyes.lol i'm scare of making a mess of it. you are so lucky to have an orginal Fiona babe.i would love to own one. i can't wait to see more of your knitted dolls. ~Anne~

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  8. Thank you ALL for your wonderful comments :-) Knitting and crochet are such complementary skills, I'm ashamed it took me so long to finally learn. These beautiful dolls are easy to knit, and Fiona shows you such a fool proof way to make a lovely face (do it, Anne!).

    The books are full of wonderful pictures, so even if you don't knit, they are well worth having. But, once you have the book, your fingers will itch to learn...just like mine did!

    Have a great weekend, everyone!

    Beth

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  9. These dolls are so fantastic Beth. But, I hate to knit. I'm pretty much a fumble fingers when it comes to using two needles. One is more my speed.

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  10. Hey there, Kate! You do wonderful things with a hook, and the way Fiona does these eyes would work equally well with crochet. The books are wonderful eye candy, worth the purchase just to drool over the pictures :-)

    I'm getting one of the WPA doll patterns you and Judi have been working on; what an awesome project the two of you have created! You go, girl!

    Beth

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