Crafty Sheep

Thank you for all your input! It seems the prevalent opinion was that Mima’s outfit didn’t need a cardi at all – or if she did, it would have to be one that isn’t as much off in colour and texture. I quite agree; that’s why I asked. I think a cardi in a different colour, and a different material,  will be a good addition to the outfit – we are gearing towards Autumn after all, and a girl does need something for those cooler days coming up. So! A new cardi, it is! I found a lovely dark pink cotton yarn in my yarn stash, which I’m trying out right now. If I like it, I may even decide to knit Mima a little hat and booties as well. In Summer, she’ll just throw off the extra layers, and voila. A doll for all seasons, eh?

In other yarn news: have you seen Rowan’s new Alpaca Cotton? It’s so, so… sumptuous! (Can one call yarn sumptuous? After feeling this alpaca mix, I believe one has to!) Bunny knitting season is upon us, I can feel it in my bones…

With a big thank you to THE one and only bunny knitter, Julie, who posted about it first and made me whip out my purse immediately.

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My dearest readers,

I’m having a bit of a problem. I’ve finally taken up my knitting needles again and have been working on Mima’s wardrobe a bit. Not a problem as such, but here it is: I don’t quite know what to think of the combination tunic-trousers-cardi. Don’t get me wrong; I love the cardi. I knitted it especially for Mima. But now that the trousers & tunic combination is almost ready, I’m having second thoughts. So – this is where you come in.

With the cardi:

Or without:

What do you think? First one to answer gets a felt strawberry (just kidding!)

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I think I am going crazy – I distinctly remember seeing two new comments last night, but this morning, they’re not there anymore. So – Karina and Juliane, my apologies! I think my weblog was hungry and ate them? Very strange, this… *scratches head*

Anyway, to answer your question Karina, I don’t sell patterns or kits, I’m afraid. But seeing as you’re hunting dollmaking supplies in Australia, you may want to get in touch with Little Jenny Wren, a dollmaker who’s in Australia as well. She may be able to point you in the right direction!

And Juliane – thank you! I’d be honoured if you used my tutorial for your classes! Please let me know if there’s anything that’s unclear or unlogical. I think I just thought of an inconsistency between the two tutorials this morning – need to check and will report on it here.

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A couple of people have told me they had problems covering the back of their doll’s head when using my tutorial, and since I remember having the exact same problem when I first started making this kind of hair, I thought I’d clarify!

I haven’t got my original model Lina here at the moment, since she’s still hanging out at my friend Stefanie’s house, probably drinking Summer cocktails and thoroughly enjoying herself!

Fortunately, Mina offered to take her place. Thank you Mina!

The trick with getting the back of the head covered is to add enough yarn as a whole, especially at the back. Also, having more than one layer helps.

What I do is this: my first layer of yarn, spread out from the front to the back of the head, covers the doll from forehead to about halfway down the back of her head. I stitch this down in the middle, until just below the crown, bunching up the surplus yarn at the back as I stitch (because it originally went halfway down when spread out, and I’m now securing it until just below the crown, I’ve got some extra yarn).  After it has been secured, I fingercomb this extra yarn down the back of the head, starting at the crown. Unfortunately, I can’t show you any pictures of this part right now, as most of my dolls-in-progress are still in boxes waiting to be unpacked! But I hope my description will be sufficient for now.

The next step is to stitch this first layer all around the head as usual, starting at the side, at eye level,  making sure to gradually dip down a bit when you reach the back of the head, and up again to the other side. Like this:

And seen from the back:

This should leave you with a well covered head!

A ‘regular’ second or even third layer of yarn, stitched down just in the middle, will make it look even better.

See?

And combed down, it’ll look like this:

I hope this helps! Please let me know if there’s anything that’s still unclear, and I’ll do my best to clarify things a bit more!

© Meike, August 2009.

**Feel free to link to this tutorial , but please do not upload it to your own site / duplicate it in print. **

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Eek! We’re almost there! In just over a week, we’ll be moving to our new home. Naturally, we’ve been extremely busy – but yesterday, I just had to get started on a doll. It had just been too long. Ever since buying a little-girl-and-doll pyjamas set from Hema, my favourite Dutch department store, I wanted to make Nynke a doll that could wear the matching doll pyjamas. This is the result; she’s called Lena (pronounced the Dutch way:  Lay-nah. More or less!).

I’m currently knitting her a little dress from this fabulous (and very simple) pattern:  Rainbow Dress.

Only doll-sized, of course, as Lena is only 10 inches tall. And I’m thinking of also knitting her a little hat, to secure her hair until Nynke is a bit older.

That’s my update for now – more in a week or two, I hope!

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Thank you so much for all your kind words about my grandmother. She is at home now and seems to have rallied a bit. She can eat some small bits of soft food again, which seems to have bought her some time. Still, when my sister and me went to visit her last Saturday, it felt like saying goodbye for the last time, and it probably was.

In other news: the weather’s been so gorgeous around here! Sunny with just enough wind not to make it feel too hot. We took the kids to sea this morning; the perfect little bike tour. I spent the rest of the day knitting in the garden. Mima’s tunic is done, and I’m also making great progress on her pair of Picky Pants.  If you ever feel the urge to knit a pair of longies / shorties / soakers for your little one, this is your pattern – I love it. No math, just very clear instructions and a great number of shaping and finishing options. And – on small size needles, using sock yarn – perfectly suitable for Waldorf dolls. Excellent!

And last but not least: tomorrow is the day we’ve been looking forward to for so long – we’ll get the key to our new house! Yay! So if I drop off the radar for a while these coming weeks, you’ll know where to find me. I’ll be painting, painting, painting, and o, did I say painting?

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I packed up two dolls this morning… Sniff!

Lavendula and Cuddly (no name for that one, cuddlies have to be named by their little owners!) are now on their way to the United States, where they’ll be reunited with my pink ballerina doll, Rosalina! I finished the cuddly yesterday evening, and for the first time ever, I am now confident about embroidering eyes! I’ve found that all I really need is one strand of embroidery floss, instead of the often recommended two or even three strands. That, and a good lamp plus a magnifying glass… Ugh. Whatever happened to my eyes? Must be middle age approaching…

Anyhow! Crafting can now resume as normal – back to Gwendolina! Although I also found this extremely sweet pattern – Wasabi the Gregarious Pug. O!

Available from Rebecca’s Etsy store here.

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My whole house currently smells of lavender. I’ve been working on a custom cuddly doll for Francesca, a little girl turning one in June, and yesterday evening, it was lavender time! I often use dried lavender from my mother’s garden to scent my dolls, but there is one drawback to that – if the doll were to get so dirty that it needed a bath, soaking it completely would in all probability cause the lavender to mould… and that is just not something you’d want to happen!

I have therefore started to use lavender essential oil instead, especially on the cuddlies. When I see the kind of love Nynke’s cuddly doll gets, and the grubbiness of the poor thing after more than a year of cuddling, well… Essential oil it is! It is more fleeting in scent, but the upside is that it can be reapplied after washing! Just a few drops will do the trick.

So. I’ve been trying very hard to get started on my other (or should I say my ‘real’? Naaah…) job today, but this smell, it just keeps distracting me… poor little faceless dolls keep calling out to me… finish me, finish me… No, no, no. Work first, play after!

But before I go – I also wanted to show you Gwendolina’s new ‘do!

See? Better, no?

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See? I am being a good girl! I’ve been working on nothing but my gnome girl, Gwendolina. (Okay and one tiny teensy custom order, shhhh!) And making good progress, too! Gwendolina’s hooded cape is finished. And the hood just fits around her hair, too, which pleases me to no end! When the hood is down, I am not so very satisfied with the haircut, though. Must think of what I am going to do about that. Snip a little bit here and there, perhaps. Or strategically bunch it up into two little buns. Not quite sure yet. It’ll get to me soon.

Now, I must run, because I need to finish preparing dinner before Olivier gets back from his swimming lessons. And I also should check on Nynke, who is usually doing any number of naughty things in the garden when I’m not looking. Byeee!

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