Mermaid Musings

Several weeks ago, I was asked by Kelly DeSandro to pattern test her new Jane doll, which is available on Etsy. 5-23-2023 Note:  Sadly this seller is not longer on Etsy, but the link will take you to similar dolls.  This is a revised version of her wonderful Jane doll, which I had purchased and have made several of.

This new version is an amazing refinement to the original doll.  She has a remarkable head jointing technique, and a more shapely body.  The resulting doll is simply beautiful. 

Kelly's instructions are meticulous and well photographed.  An amazing doll awaits you with this pattern!

Enjoy the crochet!

The Adventures of Columbine Duskywing

On the trail of Giant Rainbow Snails is Columbine Duskywing, fearless freelance Malacologist for Hanover College, along the banks of the Ohio river.

Columbine is the daughter of Professor Horace S. Duskywing, head of the department of Invertebrate Studies at Hanover, an eminent Lepidopterist, and in 1869 elected chairman of the Society of Kentucky Lepidopterists.

Columbine's mother is the Lady Acadia Hairstreak, a woman of wealth and a notorious social butterfly of the lower Ohio river.  A longstanding question among the society of the Ohio river is how the dusty Professor Duskywing ever managed to beguile the lovely  Lady Acadia to be his bride.  Maybe Columbine being a seven month child had something to do with it...

Not having strong maternal instincts,  Lady Acadia left most of the childrearing to her husband;  a gentle academic with a vague fondness for this unexpected daughter.  He provided few rules of behavior, a shocking oversight in Victorian society.  He expected obedience, respect, and curiosity; he gave affection, and unlimited use of the university libraries.

From an early age, Columbine could be found sitting, crosslegged as often as not, on the dusty floor of the library, nose buried in some book of natural history or exploration.  Marco Polo! Amerigo Vespucci!  James Cook! Charles Darwin! Great stories of discovery, but no women.

Dust motes shimmered in the pale light of the one window in the library, but Columbine did not see them dancing.  No women.  Couldn't women discover a continent, or a new species, or sail around the world?  There was Ida Laura Pfeiffer, the Austrian woman who had traveled (twice!) around the world, documenting plants, minerals, and mollusks as she traveled, but no other woman on these library shelves.

What might she discover, Columbine mused.  The Giant Rat of Sumatra, Kraken of the Arctic ocean, Blue Mountains Panthers in the Australian Blue mountains?  Maybe the famed Rainbow Snails of Yellowwood Forest...

Quite unexpectedly, Columbine's mother realized that at 18, Columbine was quite a lovely girl, in spite of her shockingly unconventional behavior.  The only interest that Lady Acadia ever bestowed on her offspring was to plan her coming out season and ball, much to Columbine's dismay.  Columbine simply could not bear to be squeezed into a corset, and paraded to polite society like a prize broodmare.  Ugh!

So quietly, on a clear but moonless night, Columbine packed a small rucksack with her precious books on invertebrate zoology, journal, magnifiers, a spare shirt and a bar of soap, and some jewelry she would never wear.  Dressed as a laborer, she climbed out her bedroom window with the false dawn, and headed North.  Looking for Rainbow Snails and Adventure!

Looks like she found them!

Check out the links throughout the post :-)

Frankensteining

My dear friend and kindred spirit, Joyce, coined this word.

Frankensteining: verb; to create a doll from elements of several other doll patterns.

Which is what I've been doing lately, and like the good doctor for which this verb is cognated (probably also not a word), I am well pleased with my final version.

This doll is a combination of the freely available Eva doll (available on Ravelry), the purchased Jane doll (available on Etsy), and my own Simply Ami doll, (available here on this blog), plus a bit of body tweaking.

The point is, if you have been making dolls for a while, you probably have a nice collection of patterns, and certain attributes of each doll that you particularly like.  Don't be shy about combining the bits you like to make a doll uniquely your own.  But keep in mind that this is not pattern design, and that credit to the original designers should be given.

So thank you, Jessica Doering, for the Eva doll that provided the size; Kelly DeSandro for the Jane doll that provided the shoulders, head, and dainty feet; Simply Amis, for the swing legs, and my own tinkering for the body shape and wig.

I can see clearly now...

I had known for several years that I had a cataract in my right eye, but various circumstances, and my innate fear of anything medical, had me putting off cataract surgery.  Until now.  On the left is a fair representation of the vision out of my right eye (without the swirl effect, thank God!).  So, after my dear husband had this surgery back in November, and came through with flying colors, I gathered my courage and did the same late last month.

Whatever was I afraid of???  The surgery took about 40 minutes, with zero pain.  None, nada, zilch.  Actually, that can be a drawback because, except for the eyedrops four times a day, you can easily forget that you've just had a major surgical procedure.  Soon I will be tested for new glasses, but already my vision is so much better; no more fog in my right eye, looking much more like the image on the right side above :-)

I've been working on several projects in the last month.  Beatrix, above, and below in better focus, is another Jane Doll (pattern available on Etsy and Ravelry).  Her look was inspired by the sweet embroidered girls of LiliPopo:

And, I also completed an embroidery for my sister's birthday

Plus some other special projects not quite complete.  I have another Jane Doll on the hook, and have become enamoured of another doll pattern (thank goodness it never ends!).

In spite of snow on the ground this morning, spring is here!

Many Projects!

I've been working on many projects the last few weeks, so now its time to take a breather and do some posting.  First up is a crochet doll carryall that has been rattling around in my brain for a while.
Crochet Doll CarryAll

I love dolls with wardrobes, and boxes, cases, trunks, etc to keep all their gear in.  How about a soft crocheted carryall :-)  This one will work nicely for dolls nine inches tall and smaller.  It has a doll pocket, and three accessory pockets for her goods and gear.  I added some pop with crocheted flowers from an old Annie's Attic pattern I had on hand, and used a lot of stash Red Heart yarn to make it.

For my latest Jane Doll, Verity, I created a Red Dress Ensemble, with a cute cloche to wear with her dress.

Red Dress Ensemble

This fits an 8.5 inch Jane Doll, but by changing hooks and yarn it could fit a larger doll.

I also made a happy discovery that some of the outfits designed for my Simply Ami doll will fit the small Jane Doll as well, like this shrug

One last project, something colorful and whymiscal and totally fun!

This absolutely delightful Rainbow Tree by Vendulka Maderska.  You can purchase it on Etsy or Ravelry.

Make your world colorful, and enjoy the crochet!

Gauge matters; playing with yarns and hooks

From the left, Jane Doll in fingering weight, sport weight, and worsted weight yarn

The first doll I made from Kelly DeSandro's pattern was Ebony Jane, in the center of the picture.  I crocheted her with sportweight yarn (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes sport) and a size 1 steel crochet hook.  For the second doll, Azure Jane on the right, I used worsted weight yarn (Patons Classic Wool) and a size C hook.  And finally, for Emma Jane, on the left, I used fingering weight yarn (Knit Picks Palette) and a size 1 steel crochet hook.  The dolls range in size from 8.5 inches, to 9.5 inches, to 11 inches tall.  

This is the versatility of gauge, and matching up the yarn and hook to create a firm fabric for making a doll.  This way you can satisfy yourself with a larger or a smaller doll, just by changing around the yarn and hook.

I created a wardrobe for Ebony Jane, but I wanted to be able to use the same patterns for the other two girls.   I made each of them the basic camisole and undies/pants, plus a cardigan sweater, to work out what hooks and yarns worked best for each doll.

Ebony Jane's Wardrobe includes information for making these garments to fit three different size dolls, depending on what yarn and hook you choose to use.

Happy Dollmaking!

New Day, New Doll Pattern

 I was surfing through Etsy yesterday, just looking at all the offerings for crochet patterns.  So much wonderful, wonderful creativity!  Anyway, I saw this doll pattern:  Jane Doll and, well, I just had to have her :-)  Look at those wonderfully shaped shoulders, and the sweet, slim body lines.

5-23-2023 Sadly, this Etsy seller is no longer available  

I made the doll as written, except to make the head separate from the torso and give her a move-able head with a neck stub (you can find how I do this in several posts on this blog).  The pattern is exceptionally well written, with lots of construction photo's and detailed information.  Particularly nice is the detail given to making her full and lovely head of hair.

Ebony Jane

My Ebony Jane is crocheted with sportweight wool yarn and a size 1 steel hook.  I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes sport in Chestnut, Blossom Heather, and Peapod.  Her hair is a combination of three yarns:  Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport in Fairytale, Plymouth Yarns Alpaca Boucle and Classic Elite Yarn Pirouette, a lace weight mohair.  It took about 120  16 inch strands to cover her head.

Ebony Jane is 9 1/4 inches tall  before being wigged.  Her arm articulation is accomplished with twisted pipe cleaners.  I am looking forward to many enjoyable hours making her a wardrobe, and some sista's :-)