Donations from Friends

This summer I received a package from a dear friend Tampa Doll from Crochetville filled with wonderful doll goodies for my donation. She is always supportive not just with her donations but with her kind words and thoughts. The students like my donations, but there is a cool factor in knowing their cause goes beyond state borders and inspires people to send stuff for them to give to kids.

I also have to thank the people who have gifted me patterns and other crochet related items over the years when Crochetville had wishlists or swaps. Those patterns still get used every year for these projects. I still have a pouch of buttons one of my swap partners sent me I'm working my way through as I make my doll clothes. The Valentine's hat was sporting a special button I found in there. I can't tell you how many other buttons I pulled out over the years to use on other projects. It has been a gold mine.

Then there are those who write and post the free patterns I use again and again. I posted a note to the woman who offered the free doll carrier pattern on Ravelry and got a nice response in return last week. It is important we recognize and honor the people who help us continue to do our work. Darski thank you. You have supported me through the years with physical donations, but I can't tell you how many times I've pulled out one of your patterns, my favorite being the We Gather, to pull off another donation. Even when you can't crochet your thoughtful sharing of your patterns continues to create charitable works.

So thanks to all of you for spreading good will and cheer.

18 Inch Doll Donation

I think this was the area that disappointed me the most this year. I started on a high note working on a holiday theme and then life got in the way and my donations were not nearly as good as they should have been. However, instead of beating up on myself I'm going to celebrate what was accomplished. My Mom felt up to sending me knitted donations and those are included here as well. This is the first time in a few years she's been able to send me stuff so I guess you have to take what you can and realize it is more than what would have been accomplished without trying at all.

Thanks to Mom for these,

The 16 Inch Baby Doll Donation

When I realized I needed a new baby doll I did some research and settled on the JC Toys, La Baby 16-inch Doll because it was closest to the Mary Maxim doll and had the best chance for adapting the patterns I was already using. The doll is an upgrade and I've been pleased with the process of switching over. It will be easier next year as both dolls should be the same therefore eliminating size issues in fitting clothing.

I experimented with an old Annie's Attic pattern and have the first outfit for the 2018 donation finished for this doll. I hope to get started on the 2nd one shortly.

Baby Doll Diaper Bag

When possible I like to add fun extras to the doll donations so kids don't just get the doll, they get fun stuff that adds to the joy of playing with the doll. This year both the 15 and 16 inch baby dolls got their own diaper bags. Several years ago I got the gift of a pattern for a diaper bag that included a changing pad, wipes, and a bottle. The pattern is no longer available for purchase as a separate item you have to purchase it with the doll pattern so the price has gone up. For those of you interested the pattern is available for purchase here.

I try to challenge myself and include stuff I think kids would enjoy playing with as I make these items. I had hoped to get further but life often intrudes. I introduced play food and only got one jar of carrots made. Perhaps next year I can do better. The pattern I used was free and available here. This pattern also included the bib I made for both doll bags.

Lastly what is a diaper bag without at least one diaper? This has been my go to free pattern for diapers and thankfully it fits the new 16 inch baby doll too. As I went to share the pattern I found the blog has gone and even the wayback machine can't find it sadly to share with you. Update to say the Wayback machine came through at least for a short while. They don't hold on to entries forever so if you want it I suggest you download the pattern from here. One more lesson that we should always copy and save the patterns we love because there is no telling when they are going to leave the Internet never to be seen again.

I'm not going to jinx myself by saying I hope to get more done next year on the diaper bags. That seems to be the kiss of death. I will say they were a huge hit when I dropped them off at Aztec Wishes. The accessories were the hit of the day. I will have to see what I can do. I'm already trying to see what I can find for cotton colors for the bags. Our local yarn places don't seem to carry the big cotton handicrafter yarn that I used to use for these and had been using up back stock to make them. I may have to resort to ordering online. That is for another time.

I am pleased to note I did finish up the first baby doll donation for 2018, which I can hopefully post about once I've finished documenting the year that was 2017.

Doll Carriers

I've done a lousy job of tracking my progress this year, but one of my reasons for blogging is to have a record of what I did to help me decide what to keep doing. So there is nothing wrong with going back to document. I dropped off this year's doll donation and while smaller, it did have some interesting additions this year I want to track and remember to see if I can in fact build on for next year.

First up are the doll carriers. I used the last of the Mary Maxim 15" baby dolls up this year and had to move on to JC Toys, La Baby 16-inch Washable Soft Body Purple Play Doll - For Children 2 Years Or Older, Designed by Berenguer which is actually a nicer doll. It has required adjusting a few of the patterns to fit the slightly larger body, but overall I like the look better.

As for the carriers, these are much nicer than the doll baskets I'd made in previous years using the pattern from Dressing Up Dolly, Leisure Arts 2725. An added advantage to my readers is the carrier pattern is free and available on Ravelry here. These carriers are much more stable and user friendly for little hands. Just a note on what I did for myself and others. I used worsted weight yarn and I didn't make a mattress. The dolls fit fine. I did use the blanket pattern from the Dressing up Dolly booklet, but there are plenty of doll blanket patterns out there to use.