Barbie

I never thought I'd buy a Barbie.  However, there are so many fab Barbie knitting patterns on the internet, and I'm trying to get to grips with knitting, that I gave in and bought one.  Here are the things I've knitted so far, sorry about the terrible quality of the pictures, must have the settings wrong and a bit of a shake on...



Simple Knit Top Pattern

I'm still persevering with knitting.  This little top has a knitted body and crochet sleeves.  I'm still having trouble getting neat edges on my knitting so decided to do these crochet sleeves as it gave a neater look than my knitted ones...

Crochet Sleeved Knit Top – doll size 10/11/12 inch

Needles – for slim doll 12(2¾mm) and 10(3¼mm)                  for chubbier doll 10(3¼mm) and 8(4mm) Yarn DK

Front (or back if making cardigan)

Cast on 20 stitches with thumb cast on

Rib 3 rows

Knit first and last stitch of every st st row

St st 9 rows and place marker

St st 10 rows

Cast off

Back (or fronts if making cardigan)

Cast on 20 stitches (or 10 if making cardigan)

Rib 3 rows

Knit one stitch at side and 2 at centre on every st st row

St st on 10 stitches for 9 rows and place marker

St st 10 rows

Cast off

Repeat for other side on the 10 stitches remaining on needle

Sleeves (crochet)

Sew the shoulders leaving enough neck hole to suit your doll Sc around armhole from marker to marker

3 ch then dc 1ch in each st

One round for short sleeves, more if you want longer sleeves

Join sleeves with a slip stitch

Sew or crochet sides together.  Sew buttons on centre back (use small buttons that will ease through the knitting without the need for buttonholes)

If you need any clarification let me know

How To Make A Simple Bed

Two shoe box lids, one smaller than the other.  A piece of card cut to size for the headboard.

Stick the smaller lid right sides together with the bigger lid, the smaller lid becomes the base.  Cut the piece of card so that it fits snugly into one end of the bigger lid and the height you want for the headboard.

This is what you end up with...

I think that for the small amount of work it took this bed is pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Even the bedding didn't take long, it was mostly just straight sewing and the mattress is just some wadding sewn into a cover.  The crochet blanket was very quick and easy, I did make it smaller than in the pattern so that it would fit the bed.  And I made quite a few mistakes because I was excited about getting the bed finished!



All-in-one

I finished another little crochet underwear item, once again from Beth's blog.  I still haven't bought any nice crochet cotton so this one is also made using 3 ply baby knitting yarn.  I think it suits Ginny...

I've got to have a bit of a break from crochet now.  I promised my friends that I would come up with some bed linen for us to make.  I have plenty of white polycotton and loads of lace.  My idea is to have lace and pin tucks on the sheet and pillow case.



Lacy Undies

I found the pattern for these undies here and just couldn't resist making this set.  Ginny is a bit small for the pattern as is, so I had to alter it a bit.  I think it is very pretty.

Crochet Shoes

I've been messing around trying to make some shoes for my dolls.  I tried fabric but they didn't look very nice.  Then I tried crochet shoes but found them very fiddly to do.  Today I spent time writing out a pattern so that I could understand it.  Here is the finished result, they don't look as neat in the picture as they do in real life...

Here's the pattern that I came up with to fit a 40 mm foot, using 4 ply and a 3.5 mm hook but by changing to a thicker yarn or a bigger hook it would fit a bigger doll...

Shoes

Row No

Chain 6

1

1 sc into 2nd ch from hook

3 sc

5 sc in next loop

4 sc

2

In 1st loop 2 sc

5 sc

2 sc in each next 3 loops

5 sc and join

3

hdc in fp of sc  (18 sts)

Join

4

6 sc

Sk 1

1 sc

Sk 1

1 sc

Sk 1

1 sc

4 sc

join

5

6 sc

Sk 1

1 sc

Sk 1

1 sc

5 sc

join

ch = chain

sc = single crochet

hdc = half double crochet

fp = front post

Sk = skip

A Dressing Gown

Here's Ginny wearing the dressing gown I just finished.  I haven't blocked it yet, I don't block before sewing up because I never get the pieces to match for the sewing, it works out better for me to block last.  All I do is dip the garment into a bowl of water, squeeze out the excess with a towel, shape and leave to dry.

Remember the blue jumper I knitted that Chloe refused to wear?  Well, I sent it to a blog friend for one of her dolls.  Here is Kyle wearing it.  It really suits him doesn't it, it's much more of a masculine design so I was glad he liked it.