I made a new doll....

A really new doll.
 I got out my freezer paper and worked out a new design for my dolls. Some of the pattern is based on the critique, some on a doll buyers input and some on myself and changes I've wanted to incorporate into my design.


I took my time with this dolly. I could see her in my head and she just kept coming together, and when finished...she really looked nothing like the picture in my head but she very much fits the impressions and feelings I had in my head while I was dreaming about her. She has been over 3 weeks in the making. There for awhile I thought about not making dolls any more, but I say that this doll has revived me. I think that is why I named her Ember.

One change I had been wanting to make on my doll pattern is longer, huggy (read curved) arms. I also wanted the arms to be more "floppy." It seems to me that a doll with more floppy arms and dangly legs, make for a more playful doll. I also lengthened my dolls legs just a bit and slimmed out her shoulders.
When I started to put Ember together, on a whim, I decided to try my hand at making a nose. I've always been mildly resistant to putting a nose on my dolls because I REALLY like the simple faces of Waldorf style dolls. It seemed right to give her a nose...new pattern, new thoughts on doll making...new face :)

Her hair is made out of a thick boucle yarn with a bit of a twist...haha, I wound the boucle on knitting needles, wet it down and put it in the oven at a low temp to let the heat set the curl. Boucle alone gives a curly look to a dolly's hair but wrapping it gave it just the right touch. I can't really take credit for the idea though. I've been helping a friend from church make a doll. She has some of this thick boucle too and was trying to figure out a way to make the ends of her dolls hair with a softer look instead of a blunt cut. She wondered about wrapping the hair the way I do and my mind went into overdrive fast. It had never occurred to me to wrap boucle...but what a lovely look it gave her hair.



It was then just a matter of making her clothes. Love Love Love making these little cardigans.

Some of my favorite people

Patrick is getting to such a fun age. He is smiling and cooing. He is a sweet baby.

My husband sure is brown compared to Patrick's soft, white skin.

Patrick and Grandpa. Talkin', talkin'.

Piper, Pearl and Patterns

I've been working on patterns lately. There are so many 15-16 inch dolls out there, I've been wanting to make doll clothes to fit them. I'm hoping to have a few 15-16" dresses in my shop on Friday.

I've gotten two new dolls together.

Meet Piper.

She is showing off her bloomers. They are super cute and comfy to wear.

I took my time with these two dolls. They've been in the works for almost 3 weeks. Sometimes it takes me awhile to dress a doll and it took me awhile with these dolls. I've knit several items but none seemed to suit. Usually, I sit the doll in my knitting basket and decide colors. This time I took them down to my sewing studio and set them in one of my many fabric baskets. A couple of days later, in the mail came the pretty pink and blue fabrics that make up Pipers dress and pinafore.

Pearl is a sweetie. This is one of my favorite doll outfits to make. I like the little smock with a pocket on it.

Her black curls are the "shake and go" type of curls. I like an easy hair style. :)
These dolls will be in my shop on Friday, October 7 at 5 PM. I'll be sewing all afternoon tomorrow on doll clothes.

Knitting

Last year in May, I started a shawl for a friend. I finally finished the shawl last month.

The shawl is La La's Simple Shawl. It is a good shawl pattern for a beginner like me. I enjoyed knitting the shawl. But the truth is, learning to knit doll clothes came with a draw back for me, that being, that doll clothes are small and finished quickly. A shawl is a patient work, in my opinion. Sort of like how Rome wasn't built in a day, neither is a shawl knit in a day. I used a soft wool yarn, Malabrigo in the Stonechat colorway. Its hard to see the stitch pattern in my picture but there is a nice pattern to this shawl.
This weekend I cast on for another shawl. I'm hoping to have this shawl finished by Christmas. I've decided to enjoy the patient work of knitting something as big as a shawl. I think the last shawl took me so long because I found it intimidating to knit on something that got so big. It seemed to big to finish. Once I determined to knit one row whenever I could, the shawl was finished in a short amount of time.

This new shawl is Multnomah and is another easier shawl pattern. I'll be stretching my wings a bit with the boarder but thankfully, if I get stuck, I have a friend who I think will help me. I'm knitting this shawl in the wonderful Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage yarn and the colorway is Dried Rose. Lovely stuff to work with.