New pony from Ginger Melon's pattern
I told you I was addicted to making these little dolls! The first pony sold quickly, so now I've got a new one made, and up for bid.
Although Flora is not-so-secretly hoping no one bids on this one. ;)
(Flora does have a little pony of her own, however, so she's not being deprived! She has the first pony I made about a year ago.)
Of course it's clear by now that I love Ginger Melon's patterns. They're fun, and fast to make, and pretty dang addictive.
This one is from her Binky Boo pattern.
I just purchased a little racoon pattern from her, as well, and can't wait to give it a whirl!
So I'm not overrun with dolls, as well as hopefully earning a little extra cash to keep up with my dolly habit, this little one, and others I make, are up for auction on eBay. :)
I love this time of year. It's not quite fall, but the weather is cooling down enough to dress in layers and not always be at the bottom one.
The dolls are modeling two new offerings currently on eBay. Lately I've been favoring the Wilde Imagination dolls, especially Amber. But this time Prudence got in on the fun, too.
One is a green cardigan sweater I've had nearly done for quite a while. Sewing snaps and buttons on is not my favorite task, but I finally got them on. I like how clingy this one is. It was really meant to be a sweater with a back closure, but I messed up the neckline a little, and it just looks so much better as a cardigan instead.
With the dark wig and her dark eyes, Amber loooks so good in this dark green. The yarn is from Stricken Smitten, a fingering weight yarn I believe was called Glow Worm. It's sadly sold out (her yarns sell out fast!), but I believe I have enough to make another doll sweater down the road. :D
The second is a stripey sweater that I started recently, for Prudence. Lots of fun stripes, and a nice big neckline. Even sleeveless, it looks like it would be pretty cozy.
This is another reclaimed/recycled yarn project. There is a lot of Penelope's Fine Yarns, plus the silver is from Keystone Art and Craft. All luscious and a joy to knit with.
I've already cast on for a new sweater, but I'm still not sure where I'm headed with it. I was thinking of trying something with a ruffled hem, but as with my other doll knits, I'll see where it ends up. :D
Sometimes the things I knit decide they want to be something completely different than I envisioned. In this case I had pictured a sleeveless sweater top for Ellowyne Wilde or Tonner dolls. I had it knit up, it fit (snugly!), but just needed some finishing touches to make it look better. I wasn't bright enough to take pictures of it in progress, but it needed a clean edge for the hem, armholes, and neckline.
So after I spent a couple of hours knitting on a three stitch i-cord edge for the hem, and two stitch i-cord edges on the armholes and neckline, it looked great! Then I tried to get it back on my 16 inch fashion dolls. D'oh!
I could no longer get it on the doll. If I did, it would only be if I ended up ruining the sweater and snapping stitches. Not acceptable!
So I looked to my twelve inch fashion dolls. My Fashion Royalty Veronique gazed at the rich red color ("Lipstick Lava" is the yarn name) longingly. In the next few minutes I swapped out her current outfit for the sweater, adding thigh high black boots to complete the look. It fit! It was definitely a mini dress on her (mini to the point of scandalous. Hollywood mini.), slinky and clingy, but still not quite right.
Enter the magic of blocking. I soaked the sweater (now sweater dress) in Soak for about an hour. This would have been necessary anyway to make sure inevitable cat fur was removed! After that I blocked it aggressively, stretching the length out, and making it more narrow as a result. It only took an hour to dry, and the results are better than I ever hoped.
Still scandalously short, to the point you wouldn't sit down for risk of flashing everyone and their cell phone cameras, but on a doll it works!
So another happy knitting accident! Now I just have to remember how I did it so I can do it again in a different color. This one is up on eBay as another test for interest. I'm hopeful I can get my asking price.
If anyone is interested in the general pattern, feel free to leave a comment! Enough interest (heck, even if one person is interested!) and I'll make a "how I did it" post soon.
Now off to more thankless tasks. And avoiding the look of discontent my Veronique is casting my way now that the old dress is back on her. :D
Even dolls need a pair of luxury socks. This first attempt turned out to be green reclaimed cashmere socks.
These were knit on size 0 US needles, with a laceweight yarn once again provided by Penelope's Fine Yarns. It's a nice shade of green, more blue undertones than yellow. They are simple socks with ribbing at the top, but they aren't tube socks. Oh no, these have a tiny little heel!
The socks are knit from the toe up, so I can gauge how long I want to make each one before I will run out of yarn. I have a lot of little skeins that are perfect for doll items, so I envision a lot more socks in the near future. The pattern being easy to memorize makes this a great project for tv watching, or to have in my purse if I suspect I'm going to be waiting around for anything for any reason.
This pair of socks is up on eBay. Hopefully this will be another item I can make to help offset the cost of living in general, and doll collecting specifically. :D
Now I need to get to work and try to ignore the indignant glances I keep getting from Ellowyne and Sydney. They got a taste of cashmere socks, and now they want their own. They've already pointed out that it would be impractical for me to knit myself a pair, and that they have been modelling for free, so, you know, some kind of compensation is in order. Soon. :D
