Gifts of Love

Christmas this year included some very special gifts, from our nephews and one of my Aunts.  Top left are candle holders made by our oldest nephew; they are Ball Mason jars with colored tissue paper decopaged to the outside.  Inside were the most delicious cookies, baked by my brother, the Master Cookie Chef!  Top left is an embroidered stitchery depiciting myself, Larry, and one of our cats, created by our middle nephew.  Lower right is a birdhouse, made by our youngest nephew, and lower left is a lovely glass ornament with my Mother's picture, given by my Aunt.

Ivy Rose and Ginger Kate are flanking the favorite gift I ever received as a child...this sweet stuffed tiger.  I was eight or nine, I think, when I found him in my stocking on Christmas morning.   And nestled between them is the 2014 White House Ornament, a tradition my Mom and Dad began several years ago.  Our Christmas tree is now heavy with them.

Ginger Kate has joined my sweet family of knit Waldorf dolls.  We want to share her rompers pattern with you!

Ginger Kate's Rompers

I am going to call these dolls Cottage Flowers, as that is what they make me think of.  Knitting a doll, and thinking of flowers, in the middle of Winter is a happy pasttime.  I hope all of you are having a happy day :-)

A Merry Christmas to All!

Here is hoping that all of you have a blessed Christmas day, shared with those you love, and filled with wonder and joy.

My final project for 2014 is a sweet Waldorf doll with a knit body.  Ivy Rose is about 12 inches tall, with a classic Waldorf head secured to a body knit in worsted weight yarn on double point needles.  No seaming!!

The pattern for Ivy Rose and her pinafore is here.  The instructions include a link to a picture tutorial for making the head that I put together several years ago:

Head tutorial

and a tutorial for making hair:

Hair tutorial

Both of these tutorials are also available here on the blog, along the left hand side.

Ivy Rose and I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

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.

Goodbye, sweet Charlie

Sweet companion in our lives from September 9, 2001 to November 20, 2014.  How hard it is to say goodbye.

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 :-)

The Well-Dressed Demon :-)

I had to give Angelique a few more Demon touches, including a knit dress with a skull motif around the border, and a neckchain of demon trinkets :-)

The neckchain idea came from this blog:  http://www.insidecrochet.co.uk/patterns/day-of-the-dead-bracelet/
I used a skull pattern from the Lionbrand site, and an Irish rose of my own, but the idea was all hers.

Here is the pattern for Angelique's Demondress. 

Angelique Morelle Demonchilde

Demonchilde

Demonchilde born of Flame

Perilous to speak thy name!

Earning credits to enter Hell

On Demonwings dark and fell.

Do you have an Angel near

To pray for thee; to shed a tear?

Do you have a soul to save

From the bleak undying Grave?

Demonchilde, come to Me!

And tell me if its Hell you see

Or Heaven on that distant shore

Of deathless dreams forevermore.

Just in time for  Halloween, some Demon Details that you can add to your handmade doll.  I started with Isabelle Kessedjian's My Crochet Doll, and added horns, wings, and a few facial touches.  Voila!  A Demonchilde!

Check out these Demon Details for yourself :-)

I plan to knit her a black jumper festooned with skulls along the bottom, but I didn't want to wait that long to share her!

Bernadette and Emelie

Two new girls to join my family of My Crochet Dolls by Isabelle Kessedjian.  Bernadette, on the left, loves mathematics and music.  To her, trigonometry is beautiful in its symmetry, and Baroque music as precise and complex as calculus.  Her plans are to be the commander of the first human-crewed Mars mission!

Emelie, on the right, is quite shy.  Social discourse leaves her breathless and anxious, but she has a magical way with animals.  She calms them as they calm her.  Her dream is to have a small farm and run an animal rescue there.

As unlikely as it seems, these two are best of friends.  Emelie listens with fierce affection to Bernadette's dream of escaping gravity, and Bernadette helps with affectionate care the many strays that Emelie nurses.

Emelie's Nightgown, and Bernadette's Knit School Outfit are both freely available.  Bernadette's book bag is from Isabelle's book My Crochet Doll.

I'm sure we will be hearing more from these friends :-)