Openwork Sweater Experiment for an American Girl Doll

Lately I have been designing things that actually have to fit. This is my first sweater design for my daughter’s American Girl doll. She chose the sport weight yarn (and the outfit to take the photos.) This open work crochet stitch does has a minor issue; the doll’s fingers won’t move, so it is a bit fiddly to get the sleeves over the hands. My eight year old did figure it out herself, though.

I am trying to decide whether to add a small button and loop at the top of the sweater or not. I am working on a second sweater like this one to offer in my Artfire Studio where there are already ballet shrugs and tutus for 18 inch dolls, so I will probably test out the button idea on that one to see how I like the looks of it with a button. I am also working on getting the pattern written for others; I am hoping to work on a couple more cardigan sweaters with different stitch patterns as soon as I finish teaching Vacation Bible Camp next week.

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A Little Surprise for My Daughter’s Birthday

My oldest daughter will be seven next week and will be receiving an American Girl doll for her birthday from her grandmother. The gifts that we are giving her happen to be going along with the theme of the doll. Her younger sister went with me to the used book store this week to pick out a couple American Girl books to be her present. We also have a table and chairs set that are American Girl doll sized that a coworker gave my husband.

At first, I planned to make a dress from a pattern I found online, but no matter what I did I could not get anywhere near the gauge called for, so I put it aside. Fortunately, I found a pattern book for three 18 inch doll sweaters that I apparently purchased on clearance at a local craft store some time ago. I decided to make a sweater and asked my nearly seven year old what color sweater she thought her doll would need to go with the cute skirt she received for Christmas. (My daughter already has the doll pictured, which is not an American Girl brand doll, but is the same size.) By the way, I found the skirt in a shop on Etsy called Helen’s Handmades.

This sweater was fairly easy to make, being mostly one stitch, with some ch loops that form the braided look down the front and on the arms. I do not think Springfield (fibrecraft) makes the pattern anymore; I have emailed them for some further information.

This is one more item that helps me use up some of my yarn, since my yarn diet is still going strong.

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Hiding Pony Purses from My Girls

I found a cute pattern online at Kristieskids for a horse purse that I printed out and then set aside, meaning to try it out for my kids later. Then my Etsy team came up with a challenge that involved using rainbow colors. At first, I tried to come up with a headband that I liked using rainbow colors, but was having a hard time adding the fifth color. I looked through my pattern printouts for inspiration and saw the horse purse. Since my youngest daughter loves My Little Ponies, I looked through her ponies for some color inspiration. I made the first pony purse for the challenge, adding a little trim to the purse opening as well as a crocheted button and loop to close the purse.

A friend of mine has a daughter who loves purses, so she requested a pink pony purse to match Pinkie Pie. After making the first purse, I decided that sport weight yarn would be much better for the mane than worsted, although splitting the yarn after attaching it might also give the main a full look that would have thinner strands.

So now I have made two pony purses, neither of which are for my girls. I am trying to make sure they don’t see either one so that I can surprise them later with special creations later on in the year. We will see how that goes since my oldest already figured out I have puppets and has “ordered” a ballerina puppet once I finish her sweater.

My latest project is a summer sweater for my oldest daughter from Lion Brand. I made one for my youngest, so now my oldest wants one, too. Once I get it finished I will try to get them both to model for a post.

ASL Sign for the Post:To sign horse, make the sign for “H” and use it as a horse’s ear, wiggling the pointer and middle finger back and forth a bit.

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Etsyhooker of the Week — Moose Threads

I know I have seen Moose Threads’ shop before, perhaps in a promotional thread for one of her lovely sweaters. This week her latest hat, with the lovely red truck caught my eye. It is often hard to find items that are really cute for boys, so I knew this is a shop to feature. I don’t even have any little boys to buy anything for right now. She also has a cute hat with a car, and another with a submarine for little boys.

For girls, she has several adorable items, including this brightly colored hat with a butterfly floating around on it. She also sells some cute skorts, which are made utilizing bike shorts underneath the crocheted skirt.

If you have a very special girl in your life, you may want to purchase this set for her, which will last long enough to be put away for her children in the years to come.

If you head over to Etsy, please check out Laura’s Left Hook as well.

ASL Signs for the Post:To sign hat, pat your head a couple times, or pantomime putting on a hat with both hands. For car, close your hands into fists and put your hands where the three and nine o’clock are on the imaginary steering wheel and drive. To sign butterfly, your hands become the butterfly wings and your thumbs are its body. Check out the link because I think a picture is worth way more than my brain in describing it.

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Etsyhooker of the Week — WeeBeeUniquesByJulie

As a crocheter, I think to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” when I look at this offering by WeeBeeUniquesByJulie. I certainly have been known to indulge in some ice cream straight from the pint on occasion, especially after the kids are in bed. I love that she shows it with the “low fat” peeking out from the top. Mine would never say that; I tend to hit Dove or Ben and Jerry’s if I get a pint.

WeeBeeUniques also has a couple cute sets of facial scrubs with great packaging. I love the bright colors of these sets, but you could also get a set made to match your bathroom if you want.

I had a difficult time deciding which item to put in as my third to showcase WeeBeeUniques. She has many lovely items to keep adults warm, but this adorable hat and sweater set caught my attention.

If you head over to Etsy, please check out Laura’s Left Hook as well.

ASL Signs for the Post: To sign ice cream, imagine you are holding an ice cream cone and licking it. To sign hat, pat the top of your head.

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Crocheting something for myself

I know I don’t really have the time, since Christmas is coming and I am so far behind on that, but I have started a new sweater ( NOTE: need to be a member for viewing free patterns) for myself anyway. Now that I have made it through one skein of yarn I am worried that I may not have enough yarn and might need to incorporate the five skeins of a different color into the sweater. I made this sweater before in the actual yarn that was required, but found some Lion brand yarn in blueberry and lime blue at Dollar Tree and just had to buy it. Then I discovered that it is a different weight than the first yarn. I can still get the gauge (well as close as I can get gauge — mine are always too tall, so I adjust as I go), so I am trying it out. The first sweater turned out to have an open enough weave that I have to wear a tank top under it, so maybe with a bigger weight yarn I won’t need to do that with this one. It is an experiment. I think I will look at my completed sweater today to get an idea of how far along I am compared to how much yarn I have used before I get too far along.

The verdict is that I will have to use the lime blue along with the blueberry, as you can see from the photo above.  I think I should be fine with yarn if I use a couple blocks of lime blue in the body part.  I will have to decide later if I want to trim the sleeves and bottom edge and turtleneck with the lime blue.  I guess I will see how it looks without first, then add if needed.

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