Crafty Sheep

Yay! Making lots of progress on my baby doll! But guess what: I forgot the nose. AGAIN! *hits head against the wall*

Urgh. I really, really should make a checklist. Because now that I’m no longer breastfeeding Nynke (*sniff*), I simply cannot use the hormones excuse anymore… Nope, plain stupidity, this.

Well, on the bright side: at least this doll can be cuddled and played with properly, without having to be afraid of dirty or *gasp* torn noses. That’s something I suppose.

Doll’s hair yarn search is going well! I’ve had so many brilliant suggestions! Thanks Stefanie and all others! I’ll continue my research, and when I’ve found the perfect yarn, I’ll be sure to let you all know here.

P.S. Just so you won’t be worried: yes, I’m still making bunnies, too. I’ve got one almost finished, heh.

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I’m on a never ending quest for hair yarn. It should be very thin, preferably organically produced, readily available and not too expensive. Sigh. What am I getting myself into? I’ve been looking around a bit - 100 % merino lace yarn could be what I’m looking for (but it’s relatively expensive), or an organically produced thin cotton yarn perhaps. It’s just so difficult to make a choice purely on what’s available online! There are no local yarn stores left where I live - just the one, and they don’t carry anything I could use. So… any suggestions?

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This is what I’m working on right now. I’m sewing it by hand, because there is just no way I can make tidy seams on a machine when the pattern’s already been cut! I tried, but I had to undo it all again. I really should find that beginner’s sewing course… Although I don’t really mind sewing by hand - it’s very comforting.

The pattern’s one of Sarah’s. I think this one may be well suited to make a doll like the one in the Japanese book! Only a bit less complicated.

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Isn’t this lovely? It’s the cover of my Japanese waldorf dollmaking book, which I bought on Ebay some time ago. It arrived in the mail today, and it’s such a beautiful book! I don’t read a word of Japanese, of course, but if you’ve made (waldorf) dolls before, the patterns aren’t all that difficult. They’re also very well illustrated. The Ebay seller still has lots of copies in stock: Heart Warming Waldorf Dolls

Did some googling, because the same store also has another waldorf dolls book that has knitting patterns in it - but hey, that’s a step too far. Japanese knitting patterns, erm… I somehow found out that the original book is by Karin Neuschütz, and it’s available in German! Yay! So I did a quick amazon.de order. According to my inside contact Stefanie, it’s not 100% the same, but…

O, BTW, I know now why I thought the books were Swedish, Stefanie - some of the the dolls bear a striking resemblance to Marie Spång’s dolls. She’s a Swedish dollmaker that I really adore, and she mentions Karin Neuschütz’s book on her about page.

I feel like a detective now.

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Cranking out more bunnies! God I love them. This particular one is made from New Lanark organically produced yarn. It’s not as soft as the bunny I made last week (see below), but it’s ever so nice anyway. The little cardigan especially has such a nice colour. It’s actually a capelet; the pattern’s here. Very quick knit with maximum result!

I’ve got a family weekend coming up. So… I need to choose which project to take with me. Something stunning, something to convince my family that I’m not actually quite mad. We of course all know better, but the world at large still thinks knitting is profoundly uncool… Hmm. I think I’ll start by giving away this here bunny to my little niece. She’s about to turn three, she could do with a bunny, methinks.

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Phew. Another bunny done, and just in time too! This one’s for a friend’s newborn, and we’re visiting the happy parents & little boy tomorrow. How I hate deadlines…

I love the bunny though. I have such a hard time giving my softies away, each and every time! I just want to hang on to them… Then again, what would we do with a house full of softies? It’s crowded enough here as it is! Got to be strong. Bye, bunny, bye…

(You probably all think I’m stark raving mad by now!)

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Update on my doll! I had a nice long afternoon to finish her hair. My son playing outside in the garden, my daughter fast asleep… Bliss!

Anyway. Meet Lavendula (or Lula, as she herself prefers to be called.) A more rank girl than most dolls I make (see the skinny arm?), but she’s a Lavender Fairy, so she needs to be able to flit around. Now for the dress… hmm.

Have to give that some thought first, and I’m still waiting for the yarn anyhow, so I think I’ll start on the secret cardigan first then. Or rather: start swatching for the secret cardigan… *groan*

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I found the most beautiful cardigan ever for my mother. And I can’t show it to you!! Damn! I don’t know if she even knows of this blog’s existence, but one can never be too careful, right? Okay, there’s a clue in the title. I’m sure you clever knitters will be able to figure it out. It’ll be the turquoise-apple green one. It’s soooo gorgeous.

I just hope that

a) I’ll be able to knit it
b) I’ll be able to knit it well
c) I’ll be able to knit it quick enough

I’ll knit till my fingers bleed, I suppose! No, wait, that’s too much of a grisly image. I’ll knit it with loooooove, very, very much of it. Better.

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I’ve just chucked the little one into bed again - she was screaming her head off all evening yesterday, so she was somewhat lacking on the sleep front. Teething, I presume, the poor thing.

Anyway, leaves a bit of extra dollmaking time for me, so I’ll just pick up where I left last night! The head & body are all done, they just need to be stuffed and stitched together. And then there’s the doll’s wig to be made, of course. I bought some very fine kidsilk yarn especially for that, I’m very curious to see how that’s going to turn out!

As you can see, after a week or two of knitting, I’m currently in the dollmaking mood. I absolutely love that there’s always something for me to do! If I don’t feel like knitting, I can take up a doll. If I don’t feel like making dolls, I can do a bit of needle felting. And if all else fails, I can pick up a book - or just go browse Ravelry or read weblogs!

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