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!

Yarn Skin Tones

Above, from the left, Red Heart Classic in Lt. Peach, Red Heart Super Saver in Aran, Buff, and Warm Brown, and Red Heart Classic in Mid Brown.

I'm always on the lookout for good yarn colors to use for my crochet dolls. I have used a lot of yarns over the years, and I do have some decided favorites. In worsted weight yarns for many years my favorite has been Red Heart Classic and Red Heart Super Saver. These are resilient, non-stretchy, inexpensive yarns that make a very strong and sturdy three dimensional fabric.

I would love to use natural fibers for my doll bodies, but when I do the stitches seem thin and the stuffing shows easily between the stitches. I've tried cotton, 100% wool, and wool blends, but none of them satisfy me like the acrylic Red Heart yarns. I've also tried the new 'soft' acrylic yarns, but again, I felt the stitches were thin and too much stuffing showed through.

Vanna's Choice yarn by Lionbrand is another good choice for doll bodies. It is slightly softer in feel than the Red Heart Yarns, and works up slightly smaller, but the stitches are firm and close up nicely. Beige and Honey are great body colors.

The toughest color to find is a pleasing light peach tone. Most are either too pink or too bright. The Red Hear yarn above is a little on the bright side, but it does make up to a cute doll . If you have any suggestions for good peach tones, please share them :-)


While waiting for some clear acrylic eyes to arrive from CR's Crafts, so I can paint my own eyes, I used the Aran body to create Cathay Rose, a little Asian girl. She is a Mini Free Spirit; her outfit is a modification of the nightgown pattern for her tunic, and the underwear pattern for her pants. I used a lovely Tencel/Wool blend yarn for her hair that is very shiny and very black.

Maybe you could think of other Nationalities to create for Mini Free Spirit :-)

Good Thing Come in Small Packages

Of all types of dolls, small dolls are my favorites. The kind that fit snuggly in your hand; that you can put in your pocket or carry in their own little bag. Shortly after Free Spirit was born, I was thinking about making a mini version. Meet Jenny and Carina, the first Mini Free Spirits. She stands a little over seven inches tall, and is crocheted from worsted weight yarn.

I used Fibre Crafts 'Cindy' doll as the body model; there have been some really cute crochet patterns published for this doll, a couple of them are shown above. There are still a couple in print (unfortunately, the ones above are not). So, if you are fortunate enough to have collected some of these patterns, great! If not, I have several patterns for clothing for this new doll.


As I was making this doll, I got a bit carried away with accessories. The little bed is made from a broken picture frame, wooden spools, and some twigs from the back yard. The bench and chair are from a very old pattern for clothespin furniture, that has managed to stay with me through several moves. I did have to search frantically for it after our last move :-) The coverlet and afghan are block patterns from the book "200 Crochet Blocks" worked in sportweight yarn.

The patterns for the doll and clothing are located here and on the left sidebar:

Doll pattern: 

Nightgown: 

Underwear: 

Dress and Sunsuit: 

Mohair Sweater: 

Below is Carina, in the dark braids, and Jenny, with the curly red hair. Carina is wearing a dress from the pattern that comes with the Cindy doll; made without any alterations :-) The Mini Free Spirit Doll pattern includes instructions for both hair styles below, plus several others that are very easy.

She works up faster than Free Spirit, and is just a lot of fun to make. I hope you enjoy her!

When every surface is covered....

I've been housecleaning. And as we all know, housecleaning if done right, can kill you. I take this very seriously. I don't want my epitaph to read "She was a fine housecleaner."

However, when nearly every flat surface in your home has a doll (or two or three) on it, action must be taken. Sadly, our walls are pretty full too. So, what do you do when you have more dolls that must be adequately displayed than there are places to display them? What I did was to remove most of the china from my china cabinet and turn it over to the Free Spirits :-)

What do you do? I'd love to know how you display dolls, and what you do with overcrowding conditions. Many of my dolls go to charity, or become gifts. How about you? Please share your ideas on how to display our lovely handwork.

As you can see, Gabrielle is right at home with the Blue Willow and her puppies :-)