Cassidy and Noah

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving, and that your Christmas preparations are more joy than work :-)  I came down with a bug a few days after Thanksgiving, and it is only now beginning to loosen its grip on my health.   And of course, I ended up sharing it with my husband :-(  Thankfully, both of us are on the mend.

Something better to share is Cassidy, a doll I worked on, slowly, once I started feeling better.  She is based on Deena Thomson-Menards Lottie doll pattern, which is freely available on Ravelry.  Those wonderful hands are from a tutorial available on her Ravelry group We Make Dolls.   I modified the feet so they would feet those darling baby booties that Cassidy is wearing, which is also a free pattern on Ravelry: sneaker booties on Ravelry.

Alternate foot for Lottie

Romper Pattern for Lottie

Cassidy's puppy, Noah, is from a crochet pattern offered here a few years ago.  You can find it by scrolling down the left sidebar.  Look for the picture of the kitties and 'Links to my Animal Patterns'  :-)

Happy Holy Day season to all of you!!  Stay well.

Dolls and their clothes :-)

I've been working on two dolls from Deena Thomson-Menards Lottie pattern, one for a Knit Along, and the other while waiting for the next pattern in the Knit Along to be revealed :-) 

Rachael Bleu is a slightly smaller version of Deena's doll, about 19 inches tall.  She's close to American Girl size, which is a nice size to knit for.  I made her a blue tunic sweater from a free pattern on Ravely, which you can find here.

I also worked up a raglan sleeve pattern and a jumper dress for Rachael, both very simple knits:

Little Lottie Raglan Sweater

Little Lottie Jumper Dress

Hope your hooks and needles are humming with Christmas gifts :-)

Making Eyes for Rachael

Back to knitting dolls!  I've been smitten by a free doll pattern on Ravelry, by the very talented Deena Thomson-Menard.  The doll pattern is Lottie, and as mentioned, is freely available on Ravelry.  I started a KAL at We Make Dolls, but wanted to try out some tweaks to the pattern, so started a second doll, which is Rachael.

One of the things I was thinking about was eyes, and how to make them myself.  I had several packages of covered button forms, and made up two pair of eyes using them.  I like the way they turned out, and created a tutorial:

Covered Button Eyes

Mine were made with 7/8 inch buttons, but you can use any size you want.  All you'll neeed are the button forms, some scraps of white cotton fabric, acylic paints in white, black and iris color, and gloss or satin acrylic varnish.   These eyes would work for any doll or animal, in cloth, crochet, or knit.

As for Rachael, I used size 4 dpn's to knit her body, instead of the 7's called for in the pattern.  The yarn is Caron Simply Soft, which I do not like for crochet, but it knits wonderfully.  I wanted a smaller doll than the original, so I took out eight rows from the body, and will take eight rows out of her legs and arms (I think).

Enjoy your dollmaking day!

Rachael waiting for arms and legs :-)