A-line Dresses for Mini Free Spirit

Here is a pattern for the Mini Free Spirit for an A-line dress. Actually, three dresses, each one with a different pattern stitch for the dress and different sleeve and neck treatment. All made with size 10 crochet cotton and a size 5 steel hook.

The link to the pattern is here:

A-line dresses

And also on the left side of the blog page.

Have a safe and joy filled New Year, hopefully also filled with plenty of time to crochet :-)

Merry Christmas!

Finally the mini's are all dressed, just in time for Christmas. We are all wishing you a very Merry Christmas and blessed New Year. Hopefully the New Year will bring joy to all of us, and plenty of time to crochet :-)

These little outfits were made from an Annie Potter Presents pattern leaflet designed for Fibre Craft's 'Cindy' doll. Sadly, this particular pattern set is out of print, but my next project is to design a cute little A-line dress for Mini Free Spirit that can be accessorized with collars and sleeve options.

Below are Emily and Sarah, with their Labrador pup Cody, also wishing you the very best for the holidays and the year to come.

Enjoy the crochet!

Crochet Abbreviations

Someone just asked about how to read crochet abbreviations. I found a site that lists the most common US crochet abbreviations and what they stand for. The link is here:

http://www.needlepointers.com/displaypage.aspx?ArticleID=29065&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.karpstyles.com%2fcrochet%2fcrochet-abbreviations.html

And I have also placed it in the 'Links I Love' listing.

Once you know what the abbreviation stands for, you can go to this link from Crochet Pattern Central (also in 'Links I Love') to see how the stitch is made:

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/stitches.php


Happy crocheting to all of you, beginners and experienced alike. And, Merry Christmas :-)

Do you read Russian?

If you can read Russian, you are in luck. Here is a link (which can also be found in 'Links I Love') to a Russian crochet forum with lovely crochet toys and dolls. One of the members graciously translated the Free Spirit pattern to Russian and posted it on the forum.

http://www.supersadovnik.ru/hmforum/post.aspx?id=433107&pg=3#433107

Enjoy the crochet!

A Good Hair Day

I really do love making wigs for my dolls :-) As you can see above, I decided to make three different wigs for my warm brown Mini Free Spirit. She could not decide if she wanted to be a blond or a brunette, or how she wanted to wear her hair. So, I made a dark golden blond long-haired wig, a strawberry blond wig with two ponytails, and a brunette wig with one ponytail.

These wigs really are easy to make. The yarn does all the work; for these I used a very hairy worsted weight yarn. I also used a mohair laceweight yarn held with the worsted weight to add highlights to the hair, but this is not necessary. The hairy yarn give a wig cap that really doesn't need to be covered with yarn strands, so I didn't. For various ponytails or pigtails I just hooked a few strands of yarn in the appropriate places and pulled the yarn together with little hair clips.

I have not had any luck finding these yarns locally, so my best advice is to try A Child's Dream Come True, Magic Cabin Dolls, or Weir Dolls and Crafts, all on the web.

Below you can see how she looks in her different wigs.


Enjoy the holidays, and enjoy the crochet!

Seasons of Joy

The Christmas holiday, Holy Day, season has begun. For many of us who make our gifts, it probably began several weeks ago :-) It has been several years since I actually pounded the pavement shopping for gifts. Between the internet (let your fingers do the walking) and crocheting (more of the same) I've avoided most of this mayhem.

I say mayhem, and so it seems to me as people wait in line for hours for Target or Toys R Us or WalMart to open their doors so the latest 'must have' toy can be grabbed. This seems so strange to me, since most folks, and children, probably have trouble remembering what they received for Christmas last year. What are the things that stick in your mind?

The things I remember are the year my siblings and I decided to make our parents Christmas stockings; or the year we all pooled our resources and got our Dad a class ring from his college Alma Mater. One year Larry and I each recieved a collage of our favorite things, made for us by two young friends. We both still have ours...mine is on the refrigerator door.

I hope all of you can make lasting memories for yourself and your families this Holy Day season. It is a time to rejoice in family, life, light in the darkeness, and the birth of a special child. Celebrate, and find the joy.

And enjoy the crochet!