Just in time for Creative Black Friday!

Just in time for Creative Black Friday; the Friday after Thanksgiving where we all stay home and make something special for someone we love :-)  For Ivy, my latest Travel Doll from Fiona's Travel Doll pattern, a new dress with a knit seed stitch bodice and hem.

Travel doll seed stitch dress

If you are at a loss for what to make someone for Christmas, there are many, many sites with free knit and crochet patterns.  Starting with Ravelry, all you need to do is register (free!) and you have access to literally thousands of free patterns for dolls, toys, wearables, you name it.   Many low cost patterns as well.

Lionbrand yarns is another great site for free patterns.

1500 Free Amigurumi Patterns is actually now 2000 free patterns, and a great site.

Crochet Pattern Central  and Knitting Pattern Central are also great sources for free patterns.

So make yourself a cup of your favorite hot beverage, put a Christmas CD in the player, get out some yarn and the tools of your choice (needle or hook), and enjoy the day!

Rose's Jumper....or more adventures in knitting in the round

I made Rose a white camisole, and as I looked at it, I thought it would make a sweet blouse, if only it had sleeves.  But, I hate setting in sleeves; and thought that knitting in the round (ugh!) would be too hard.  As I pondered, weak and weary, I decided to give knitting in the round another try.

So, with the camisole finished, I picked up the necessary stitches around the armhole with a crochet hook and placed them on three double point needles, and knitted away.  And low and behold, the sleeves turned out pretty good :-)

The blouse begged for a sweet jumper, and the jumper begged for some embellishement when it was finished.  So, a simple knit jumper (with a touch of crochet around the upper edge and shoulder straps), with simple lazy daisy flowers.  To be clear, only the sleeves of the blouse are knitted in the round; the rest of the knitting is done flat and seamed.   Maybe a future outfit will be knit entirely in the round.  And, for those who prefer this, both blouse and jumper would be easy enough to convert to double points.

Travel doll blouse and jumper dress

Rose is from Fiona McDonald's free Travel Doll pattern, available on Ravelry.  You'll find a link to the doll pattern on the left sidebar of this blog, along with some outfits to make for her and her traveling companions.

Jasmyn's Chinese jacket and skirt

I love paper doll books.  They are a wonderful source of inspiration for costume design for any era or culture.  Dover Publications has hundreds of titles for paper dolls, from Ancient Egypt to Steampunk to Contemporary Thrift Store :-)

For Jasmyn's Asian inspired outfit, I used the paper doll book shown above to find a style we both liked.  The jacket is simple to knit, with a very little bit of crochet for the collar and trim.  The skirt is also very simple.  Here is the pattern:

Travel Doll Chinese Costume

This outfit is for Fiona McDonald's free Travel Doll pattern.   The doll is tremendous fun; come join us!

Jasmyn

I go through periods where I can't seem to stop making dolls...obviously this is one of those periods :-)  Jasmyn is another doll from Fiona's wonderful free Travel Doll pattern, available on Ravelry.  She will have an Asian themed outfit, I hope, if I can pull it off in knit. 

This doll is the perfect, perfect doll to make for gifting at Christmas.  She is quick to knit, classy, has a lovely long and lanky silhouette; a great canvas for doll creation.

I'm pretty sure there will be more dolls and outfits coming.

Move-able head for knit dolls

I love making dolls with move-able heads.  It is a technique I learned from the cloth doll making community, and have applied to crochet dolls.  It is a technique that works well with crochet; crochet creates a sturdy fabric that is perfect for three dimensional objects like dolls.

Will this work with knitted dolls?  The answer is yes, if you stabilize the neck.  I used Fiona McDonald's travel doll to work out the details, and have a picture tutorial of the process on my photo share site, ipernity.  Here is a link to the tutorial:

Knit doll head joint tutorial

And for completeness sake, here is the link for the tutorial for crochet dolls:

Crochet doll head joint tutorial

You may need to alter your pattern to create the doll head and torso separately.  Give it a try!  You're sure to be pleased with the result :-)

New knits for Fiona McDonald's Travel Doll

In case you couldn't tell, I'm having a great time knitting up outfits for this perfectly sized knit doll.  She now has a pair of slim pants, short skirt, and cardigan sweater.  All very simple to knit.

You can see in the bottom right picture that Columbine's trousseau is growing :-)

Knit Cardigan Sweater

Knit pants and skirt

Keep warm, and knit up a storm!