my new friend Oskar

I finished another Sven Scandinavian pattern. His name is Oskar. And, I love him! 

I have knit this pattern once previously to make Juergen and had planned to make him a wife with my next doll. But! I was on instagram and one of the knitting ladies I follow was making the pattern with a red beard and I knew I had to also make a ginger version!

While I am making a doll I usually start to think about their personality, their story in my mind. So, even though this guy was made second, he really feels more like Juergen's cool older brother.

I was knitting this doll while in San Diego for my father in law's funeral in July. I was working on the sweater while I was there. I took a list of perspective names and my nephew helped me pick one.  Such a small detail but it's special to me.

As with my previous iteration of the doll I altered the foot. Here's a bit of a close up of the boot. I forgot to to the sock part, so he's slightly shorter than Juergen. meh.

I also decided to make his hat more of a beanie style.  I followed the notes from lorix5 (Lori times 5) on Ravelry for her Bjorn.  I did the decreases from another hat pattern I have in my library and I really like how neatly it turned out! 

 For reals this time my next version will be a female companion for one of them! I have so many ideas on hair options and outfits.

Quilts of all sizes

 I have been busy busy over here lately so blogging has sort of fallen by the wayside. But! Never fear, I have been sewing and knitting for sure. A lot of gift making really, so also I had to wait to share until I had given the stuff.

First up is a baby quilt.  I started this back in the Summer for a new baby in Scott's extended family. I know it's hard to see but each middle square is a fussy cut from Guess How Much I Love You prints. The pattern was from the May/June issue of Quilty magazine that I thought would showcase the middle squares well.  The fabric was super cute and fun to work with and everything came together really easily.  I gifted this quilt at Thanksgiving.

Close up of one of the middle squares:

I'm not sure if I've talked about this next project before. If I have, forgive my forgetfulness :) grin! I knitted this little guy from a pattern called "Sven and Solveig Scandinavian" by Cottage Creations. 

 This was a fun knit!  As I was knitting him I really felt like his name was Jurgen instead of Sven. The pattern is super fun, lots of charm and little hints in there about dollmaking - like ways to customize via name, hair color, sweater style. The pattern shows Sven with a white beard but as I was knitting I felt like Jurgen was a younger guy with darker hair and maybe a clean-shaven face.

A friend of mine asked me if I could make a doll quilt and pillow for her daughter for Christmas.  This was a no brainer! Of course I said I could! She sent me a link so I could figure out measurements and such. It's this duktig bed from Ikea.  I did a quick google search and found a blog called One Little Project that has a whole series on bedding accessories for the exact bed! Sweet!  

 Next I picked out fabrics for a little patchwork quilt - this was so FUN! I have so many fun girly prints and I really had free reign to put in what I thought she might like.  So the tutorial that I linked was for more of a blanket, which would have been fine but I really wanted a mini quilt.  I think I used 5 inch squares for the top. I drew straight lines on the top in erasable ink and used my walking foot to do the quilting lines.

This was the first time I used the walking foot attachment with my machine and it was great! Super easy and I'm very pleased with the stitching. If you've ever stitched straight lines without one you know that the fabric can get pushed by the foot and cause puckers and pleats especially where the lines intersect. With the walking foot it doesn't do that.

Here's the final product under the tree for Christmas!  I'm pretty sure that pillow came out way too big!!!! Yikes. I'm not sure what happened there?  oh well. I made a pillow with sheet fabric and then made a reversible pillowcase to coordinate with the quilt. The reverse fabric is the bright pink print in the quilt.

And, since it's Christmas I did make myself a little something. One thing I love, love is Christmas Nutcrackers!!!!  I have a collection of wooden ones and ornaments that I love.  I was in Joann's Friday night when I spotted some nutcracker fabric. Eeeeeeee! I bought some, came home and washed it and Saturday made this lined drawstring bag! Their faces just crack me up (get it, lol)! I also made a needle cozy to match since I'm going to put my Christmas sock project in there. 

So, that's it for me here this week. I hope you all had a nice holiday season! Mine has been very reflective and calm, which has been nice. It's almost a new year! What are your plans?

Dollmaking

So I made a doll yesterday.  I had an idea in my head starting out and once I got to the face it totally changed.  The little face turned out so sweet. I did a satin stitch for the eyes which actually turned out really well :)

I've made a lot of dollies but have not tackled yarn hair since the dolls I made as a child. For a long time it just intimidated me, I could not think of a way to secure the fibers.  That is one thing that is important to me when I give a gift to a child - I don't want the thing I've made to fall apart easily. And yarn hair?  Well, that just sounded like it could be pulled out too quickly and then who wants to play with a bald doll???  

Ok anyways, back to the subject! I did a quick google search yesterday morning prior to starting the doll.  I found this post from Fig & Me that had some interesting pointers and lots of links to other makers/blogs which is where I found the one I ended up using: Crafty Sheep's post called Waldorf Doll Hair Tutorial.  

I have included the links if you'd like to check them out. The Crafty Sheep tutorial was easy to follow and solved the mystery of how to get all the strands of yarn under control and sewn on fairly quickly and easily.

Okay, let's talk about pattern.  I draw inspiration from a lot of sources. I have a couple of books in particular that inspire me which are shown below.  I also have a few patterns that I reference. Usually what I do is pick a pattern and trace the parts I like and modify as needed to get the look I want.  For this doll I used the body pattern from the We Make Dolls! book shown below but I changed the head by taking a plate and re-drawing the top of the head.  I use a pen with erasable ink to draw the face on by hand then embroider around that.

p.s. I should say that the links I share are just meant to be helpful, not tryna sell anything and I'm not paid to share. Sorry, I figure that is obvious but I know that's a big deal for some people......uggggg....so there you go.

Ok, this next set of photos is for my Mom.  We were discussing doll patterns and I told her about this one that I have had probably since high school and I found it either in a thrift store or yard sale...don't remember now. But, I LOVE it.  You can see it is from 1965, and was in a Woman's day magazine. I don't know if the pattern was included in the magazine or if the lady ordered the paper pattern from there.  I have all the pieces for the Annie Doll and the mini. One thing I love about finding used patterns from older generations is the handwriting. I know it's faint, but above the title it says "17" tall doll" in cursive.  Handwriting like that is slowly fading away I think.

The photo on the left is the magazine clipping of the article.  The photo on the right is an advertisement in the magazine that I just think is funny!  "The place to be is Puero Vallarta"

Anyways! I also altered the arm from the pattern. I made that little triangle of dress fabric be part of the arm instead of sewn as one complete piece. I also added a little collar to the body which turned out cute!  I think she turned out really well. I did tack the hair down a bit on the sides but not all the way across the back of the head, which in hindsight I might have done.  Meh. maybe next time.

At the last minute I added satin ribbon bows for her pigtails.  The little girl I made this doll for loves really girly stuff so I thought that would really add to the girly factor.  What do you think?  I think this little doll is ready to be a friend, to share secrets and adventures and hugs!  

In other news I am making a spaghetti sauce in my crock pot today. I threw in the last bit of my roma tomatoes from the garden and some zucchini as well.  It should be yummy!!!  I love cozy Sundays :)  Have a great week!!!!

catch up part 3 inside edition

This post is to catch up on sewing and knitting projects.  First up, this little zipper pouch.  This is one of those projects that I had literally no choice in making. I woke up one morning, was scrolling instagram and saw a little hexie pouch in the "you might like" mish mash of recommended pictures.  I got right up and sewed the pouch right then - it needed to be in my life!  If you want to check out my inspiration it's from What Saysie Makes, and I'm also linking the blog post where she talks about it.  Her blog is beautiful as is her instagram profile.  Anyways, I obviously didn't have the same fabrics she used, but that's totally fine!  I have tons of cute fabrics to choose from!

Next up is this vanilla sock.  I know lots of people have said that they like this sock but I personally do not love the yarn.  Or, rather, the colorway. I tried a new to me pattern for the heel, it's called the OMG heel and you can find that pattern on Ravelry.  I really actually liked the heel, it was very very well written.  It was so clear and did not make any assumptions about heel knitting experience which I really appreciated.  I have knit a few knitting patterns where the designer assumes certain things are "understood" and I was the person who just didn't get it!  Thank God for google.  

I just had to include this sweet puppy picture. I woke up for work one morning and this was my Rocky dog sleeping next to me.  His ears! 

Ok so this next project is completely Kay Jones of the Bakery Bears fault inspiration.  She had talked about it on the podcast, and at first I was like - no, I don't need to knit this guy.  Then! she mentioned it again and talked about her inspiration and how she had seen it on instagram made by Lori so naturally curious I checked it out and I was like oh man I need this pattern!  It's called Sven Scandinavian.  So incredibly cute and detailed!!!  

It's a paper printed pattern so I ordered it from the website, Cottage Creations. Kay mentioned on the podcast that the service was really good and she had gotten a confirmation email after she ordered. I have to just say that she was right! I also got an email but mine was to let me know that the pattern was being reprinted because Carol, the designer, had run out of copies!  I emailed her back and let her know that I was not surprised since I had seen it on the podcast and I know there are a lot of followers both there and Lori's instagram.  

I received the pattern a couple weeks later, which I thought was great considering it had to be reprinted.  I set to knitting my version of Sven right away.

There are name suggestions in the pattern of alternate names. Carol encourages everyone to think of names as you're knitting.  I love that!  I have always felt as I make a doll, whether sewn or knitted, that their personalities develop as they are made. So, my Sven has actually turned out to be Jurgen! Isn't he cute?

Last weekend I had a baby shower to attend. The baby's room theme is cacti.  I knew I wanted to make a quilt as my gift.  I did a little google search, and found this quilt. I bought backing fabric and white on Thursday, prewashed it after work. I decided to do two rows of squares for the body of the cactus.  I pulled all green fabrics from my stash and didn't have any repeats!  I pieced the front after work on Friday and put everything together and quilted on Saturday before the shower!  Yikes! I was a bit late to the shower because I wanted to wash it before giving so it would pre-shrink.  She really liked it so that is a win!

I'll leave you with this picture of my fall mantel.  Mom, if you're reading this - that scarecrow is the one I was telling you about with the sign "no crows" and then I like to put that crow sitting next to him! ha! 

monkeys and kitties

Okay, so this is going to be a bit of a catch up post.  The last couple things I worked on were gifts, and I wanted to wait until I gave them to post about them.  First up is a baby quilt.  One of the nurses at the office is having a baby boy.  She has had trouble getting and staying pregnant so this has been a very special expectation for her and I wanted to make something special.  She's had the name picked out pretty much since they found out it's a boy, Uriah, and that the theme would be monkeys.

I know it's a little risky embroidering a name before the baby is born but I went ahead anyway.  The middle looked too bare without something there.  I drew out his name and then a little monkey holding onto the tail of the R.

I realized just now that I didn't get a good picture of the finished quilt!  This is very blurry I know, but you can at least see what the whole of it looks like.  For the center I followed the Building Blocks Baby Quilt on the Moda Bake Shop website.  I had intended on following the entire pattern until I finished the borders on the middle part.  Then I was like, nope!  Also I wasn't sure I'd have enough of the darker navy print to get a bigger border.  I did use that print as the binding though since I do a bias binding it doesn't need much to get enough binding for the entire quilt.

I got out of my comfort zone for the quilting.  I did all over loop-de-loops in the patchwork area.  In the white borders I did straight line quilting and then stippled teensy tiny in the middle.  I did NOT like the loopies.  Nope.  Too easy to get out of control, stitch definition suffers and the quilts are too heavy for me to maneuver that way.  Even though it's a baby quilt it gets heavy!  Finished size was just about 50"x50".  Yesterday was her baby shower, which I did gift it them but it was the longest shower in the world so I left before I saw her open it.  I'm bummed about that but I went with a friend and we had already been there over 2 hours and it was going to be at least over another hour before they would be getting to gifts, so we gave up.  Boo.

In knitting news I finally knit a Bakery Bear!!!

Doesn't look like a bear though!  ha!  I have seriously been wanting to knit a Bakery Bear since the pattern came out.  I bought the pattern ages ago, but have just been working on so many other things!  One of the doctors at the office who is really cool just had a baby.  Well, rather, his wife had a baby! Her name is Karleigh, and when I heard the name I wanted to knit a little kitten!  It's like I had to.  Had. To.  And I knew that she needed to have tights and wear a little lacy dress.  I originally wanted a fuzzy yarn but couldn't find one suitable.  However.

 At Joann's I lurked the 2 yarn aisles searching for the perfect, right yarn.  These 3 wool ease yarns have been on my radar for years.  They just look like the go together.  I've always tried to think of a good reason to buy them but didn't have a project.  Until now. (cue maniacal laugh)  Yes!  

Boy this picture is pretty washed out.  Sorry about that.  But!  you can see the lace pretty well on the dress.  I've had a book in my crafty library forever called The Encyclopedia of Knit and Crochet Stitch Patterns.  It has all kinds of knit and crochet techniques and stitches and gives you the pattern of the stitch that you can add into any pattern that has the right stitch count.  I don't know if that makes any sense?  I've always wished I could be clever enough to make up a pattern and I think fitting a stitch into an existing pattern may be the closest I'll get to that wish!  Anyhow, this is stitch pattern #311 in the book which is like a lacy drop.

I used the ears from the knitted fox pattern I have from Little Cotton Rabbits, I just added 2 rows to make them a bit bigger.  I used the tail pattern from the Gelato Giraffe pattern by the same designer as the Bakery Bear, again just extended a bit and left off the fringe.  The nose is still the same from the Bakery Bear pattern I just looped the yarn about the bottom and pulled tight to make little kitty cheeks.

Speaking of kitty cheeks.  George was not having it when I was trying to take pictures of the kitty.  First off this is her chair.  She was not willing to share her chair with another cat, real or not!  ha

I have another big project in the works but I'll share more once it gets closer :) (hopefully next weekend) I just don't want to jinx anything!  Hope you have a great week!

knitted bunny improv

Okay, let's talk knitting for a bit.  We know I love to knit up bunnies!  There's that.  On my desk at work I have my first two knitted bunnies.  A lady I work with asked me last year (!) if I would knit a bunny for her niece's birthday in April.  I tried to dodge it.  Because of course then it's like, how do you put a price on one of these bunnies???  They do take hours to make, so even if I put like minimum wage price on the time it's out of the range anyone would pay for a toy!  You know?  But.  I eventually said I would.  Cue March 2014 (how did that sneak up?) and I realized that I better get busy knitting!  A few years ago I bought this pattern, Mother Bunny, from etsy.  I've used it a ton of times.

This time, though, I made major modifications to the body.  The pattern is written to make the body starting with the legs but on two needles knit flat and then joined to the body also knit flat.  I wanted the body to be all ONE piece, knit in the round.  So, I improvised.  Since this is basically knitted amigurumi, I just did like I would with crochet.  Start with 6 cast on stitches, join in the round and divide stitches between 3 double point needles.  Increase the next row each stitch to make 12 total stitches.  Then the next row increase evenly around to get up to the 17 stitches in the pattern.  Once one leg is as long as I wanted I put the stitches on "hold" on waste yarn.  Once both legs are done I divided the total stitches onto 4 double points and joined the main body color.  

Here's where I had to put my thinking cap on.  How to add arms?  As soon as I got the body as long as I wanted, I then just made a hole kinda.  Basically you just focus on one side of the body at a time.  I was working with 4 needles which means that 2 for the front and 2 for the back.  So, I knit across 2 needles, turned the work before going to the next 2 needles, and purled the next row across.  Knit row, purl row till I had 4 rows.  I left those stitches there and moved the working yarn across the little divide and did the same thing for the other 2 needles.  This created a "V" opening at each side.  I put the stitches from the needles on 2 separate pieces of waste yarn to save for later.

You can check my ravelry for more pictures, my rav name is colimachia.  Along the V I picked up stitches, I wanted 12 total, so I picked up 4 stitches along each side of the edge.  For the top of the arm I cast on 4 stitches and then joined that with the picked up stitches to make a circle with 3 needles.  Knit as long as I wanted, changed colors and then started decreasing down to 6 stitches, then thread the yarn through a needle and pull tight.

For the neck/shoulders I had put the stitches on "hold" on waste yarn.  Now, once the arms were done, I came back to them and picked them back up on needles, adding the stitches along the top of the arm.  I also picked up a few extra to ensure no holes :)  Now I'm back to 4 needles and I think like 43 stitches?  It doesn't really matter because I wanted to make sure I had no little holes.  For the next couple rows I just started decreasing evenly around till I got back to 34 stitches.  Usually I don't decreased the entire amount in one round.  So, like I decrease 2 stitches per needle on one round.  Next round same thing and so on.

Then, refer back to the actual pattern which started decreasing down to half I think?  I don't remember.  Anyway you get down to not many stitches (grin) and then you just thread a needle through the stitches and pull tight!  

I did the head exactly as the pattern, which is worked on two needles and is kind of a pain.  But the end result is so cute!  So it's worth it.

She wanted floppy ears, which the pattern does not have.  Again I improvised.  Most ears in patterns are knit in garter stitch which looks super bumpy and I don't think goes very well with the rest of the bunny.  So I stockinette and then sew felt along the inside for stability so the edges don't roll in.  If anyone really wants the ear pattern I made just message me and I can share it.  I just feel like I'm super rambling right now and who really wants to read all about that?  LOL  unless you're trying to actually make the bunny then who cares, right?  

Bottom line, I really, really love this little ballerina bun!  When I first put in her eyes she looked kinda mean.  I reworked the face a few times until I got her to look friendly.  Then, once the ears were on she looked like she was excited to dance!

dolls and stuff

I have had a very productive weekend! First, a friend's daughter is having a birthday and I thought it would be really fun to make a red riding hood doll! I have been seeing them all over blogworld for at least a year now but never had an excuse to make one. I had bought a book a few months ago about making dolls because I love making dolls and a little red pattern was included.  I did add a few extras that were not included in the pattern directions.  One was the little skirt that I had intended to be a little apron but once it was stuffed turned into kind of a skirt.  Also the button placket was supposed to be felt.  I'm not a big fan of felt on something that has the potential to be washed so I wanted to use the least amount possible.  The ribbon and rickrack were an addition.  I added beads for the little hairclip and also ponytails.  The little girl is blond so I thought it might be fun for her to have a blond doll?  Idk.

I am so close to being done with the squares for the arrow quilt.  Only 3 more blocks and then I can sew it together.  Of course, before sewing them together there is the staring period.  Staring and shifting.  Right now I'm trying to decide what colors need to be added.
And then I conquered something that I really didn't want to do.  Jan had asked me to make a couple of Mya's volleyball tshirts smaller.  She had taken them to the alterations store who was going to charge $25 per shirt to make them smaller!  Cuckoo.  So she asked if I could since she had seen a tutorial on pinterest and it looked easy but she doesn't sew.  Huh.  Yep, I could do it but here's something you may not know about me - I hate sewing knit fabric, buttons and zippers!  But, she said Mya is so uncomfortable in them and she's so petite.  I looked up a tutorial for reference.  I really liked this one but at first was a little afraid to cut the fabric.  Once you cut you can't go back.  The next one looked easier but I could tell that the underarms would have some weird bunching.  If you've sewn anything with a kind of corner you know that without making a notch it gets bunchy.  Well anyways I did sew the underarms and sides like the second one and it was uber bunchy looking and grody. 
Which meant that I would have to suck it up and cut the fabric and just pray I got it right.  Y'all my armpits were getting sweaty!  What if I ruined her tshirts????  But, thank God I've got some garment making experience and pretty much know how things should go.  Basically they turned out really well.  the second one I want her to try on and make sure it will be comfortable because it did bunch a teensy bit under the arms.  But.  I did get them really really close to the size that she needs.

I also got to talk to my Mom today, which was nice :)  She's in the process of using up her stash and making stuff!  We've talked before about how easy it is to shop and shop and have great ideas and then spend so much time doing that that we don't actually get to the doing part.  So, I'm proud of her for getting to it!

new dolls dress and sweater

So, this morning I accomplished two things.  One is this little dress for the new doll.  It took a little bit of sewing and resewing to get it right, like couture for dolls!  The proportions on this doll are tricky, but I got it right and will know what to do next time for a pattern.  I'm thinking I might add a little belt? 

Here's the sweater I was working on. I think it turned out really well.  I found the pattern on Ravelry, here's the link.  This doll is quite a bit bigger than a Blythe, or my other dolls which I usually use a Blythe pattern for so I did a few modifications.  I added a few rows, used bigger needles and a larger gauge yarn than the pattern called for.  I notice now in the picture and looking at the pattern picture that I didn't do the garter stitch all along the edge.  Whoops.  I took off the necklace that came with her and made her a new one.  It doesn't quite cover the icky glue spot but is an improvement I think.
Other than dolls stuff I haven't done much.  I might do some regular sewing.  Or read?  Who even knows.

playing around

Um, okay so I'm going to share a botch up.  Because I think it's sort of funny!  So, I bought this Bradley doll at Goodwill for $4.99 with the intent to renovate her.  I don't like the look of Bradley dolls - they have giant poofy skirts and look a little like old west  dolls to me.  The one I bought had a giant bonnet and giant hoop skirt.  But, on flickr I saw a doll that I thought was tres cool and looked like it had begun life as a Bradley.  And, so I have taken off the awful clothes she came in and have started making a dress.  This is the rough draft, so forgive the stitching.

I'm not sure what to do about a couple of things.  The spot where her necklace is has a dirty looking glue spot underneath.  Also, where the bonnet was there is a line of glue on her hair.  Um, which leads to the botching story.....I thought I'd make her a wig!  I know, where do I get these ideas???  But, nevertheless that's what I proceeded to do.  I watched a you tube tutorial where the girl took a plastic baggie and put it over the head and then hot glued hair over it.  I didn't account for the ginormous top of this gals head!  So, I ripped it taking it off to trim it down.  And I used the only saran wrap that I have, which happens to be pink!  LOL! 
Then I thought maybe it would work on one of my other dolls???  The answer was no, but it is a funny photo :)

Dude! That's a whole lotta hair!  And you can see the saran wrap.....ugh.  I might try again though.......we'll see.
I do have a project that did work to share with you.  I started this maybe a couple weeks ago in anticipation of Fall.  Then, was a little annoyed that it's getting cold already and didn't work too hard on it.  But, finished it up today and I like the way it turned out.

Originally I had in mind to make the leaves all facing different directions but you know how it is, you start turning things this way and that, and voila! I liked them all put together like this. I had the purple binding leftover from another project and I really like the way it looks.
So, early today Jan and I went to the annual rummage sale at the fairgrounds. We thought that all day Saturday is bag sale day, but it really started at noon and we were there at 9am. So no bag sale, which is really fine. Last year I stuffed my bag with anything that looked interesting and ended up with some stinky stuff and stuff that didn't work so it was a waste of money. This year I just picked stuff I'd really use and paid the same as I would have for a bag. I got a couple of wreaths forms, some green pom poms and some random other bits and bobs to stick on wreaths.
After that I had a wild hair and drove to Merrill which is like 20 minutes away to the quilt store. And bought a ton of fun fat quarters!

I kept taking bolt after bolt to the cutting table because I kept wandering while she was cutting and finding new whimsical fabric! The store was PACKED because I guess the first Saturday of the month they have a thing. I mean, I couldn't even get in the door at first! No joke. I'm glad though because that means the store is definitely getting supported.
Tonight Kristin is having a Pampered Chef party which I'm going to. I've been eyeing their garlic peeler!

another girly monster

I guess I just can't stop making monsters! :)  This is the latest one, at first she was not my favorite.  I made the body a little too small, and when you're trying to sew around already stuffed limbs that can be sort of annoying.  So, by the time I was finished with that part, I hurried through the rest.  As a result her eyes are off center and sewing up the opening was a little sloppy.  Hmphf.  So she drove around in the car with me for a couple of weeks so I could think of what to do with that.  Today, I added the flowers that look like two puffs of hair a little bit.  I saw the tutorial on Make it and Love it, which is a blog I follow.  So now she is complete!  And has found her home in my chair with the rest of the monsters :)