Lil Cutesies Moses Basket 2026

I mentioned earlier in the week that I'd finished off two categoies for donations this week.

The first was the night wear and the second is bassinets. I will not need a bassinet for Kits for Kids as the doll is a bit large for the project so all my bassinets are done until I start the 2027 items. Then again never say never. Every time I say never someone says could you...

I also said I was using up my on hand Homespun yarn. Yet for the Little Cutesie doll I tried a new color I've never used before.

I needed to make a minimum for shipping and decided to add some homespun to the order. When I went to check the site as I was writing this, turns out they no longer have Homespun. It does concern me as rumors are floating about the long term life of Homespun and if Lion Brand will be continuing to produce it as they've cancelled some of its off shoot lines. I would hate to see the yarn go but not suprising in the fiber market these days.

The blanket yarn I believe is Herschnerrs Worsted 4 that I've been trying to finish off.

Notes:

This is made using a no longer available Moses Basket pattern from Annie Potter presents Sweet Baby Doll Layette. The blanket is part of Darski's BBL pattern set found here.

I went with a g hook with baby yarn for the Lots to Love 8 inch baby doll and it was smaller than I wanted. I used an I with the Herschnerrs Worsted and it was slightly big but I'd rather slightly big than slightly small. I'd suggest an H hook with the heavier yarn and an I with baby yarn next time.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Moses Basket

I set out to make this one for the Lil Cutesies doll but added too many extra rows to make it larger and the Lots to Love 10 inch baby doll now has its bassinet for the 2026 donation complete.

The pattern for the Moses basket comes from an Annie Potter Presents Sweet Baby Doll Layetter Pattern set that I can no longer get an active link to provide. The blanket is from Darski's BBL set found here.

Notes:

The bassinet is made with Premier Puzzle yarn. The blanket with left over baby yarn of unknown orign.

Note to self that the Lots to Love 8 inch doll needs a G hook for the blanket the 10 inch doll requires an I hook or the blanket is small.

I just need one more bassinet for the Lil Cutesies and these will be complete before my summer deadline.

Lil Cutesies Nightgown

It was almost November before I finished the Lil Cutesie nightgown for the 2025 donation. It feels amazing to be preposting about it in January!

This is the only one of the baby dolls I don't use Darski's Sweetly pattern for the nightgown. For what ever reason her free BBL pattern fits the Lil Cutesie doll better. You can find that pattern here.

Notes:

I read last year's notes that suggested an E hook rather than an f and this worked out well. I would suggest following the directions for additional increase stitches. I fear I missed a couple of these. I would not the next time I make this.

I work at avoiding repeating colors when possible but not a fan of the Ice Cream Lemon Meringue for this project. I've used it for some of the 16 inch dresses and liked it but not a great fit for this smaller project. I had been tempted to repeat Tutti Frutti and I'd go back to that for next year. It was a fun look.

This pattern has directions until row 8 and then make it as long as you want. I stopped a row before the length I wanted and did a sc skip a stitch 5 dc in the next stitch shell to finish the bottom. When complete I finished the back before chaining 30 for the neck closure. This year as I was going across the neck I'd alternated back stitch and front stitch hdc for a little different neck finish rather than the sc chain 3 I've done in previous years.

I also decreased and finished the arms with sc and then added an additional row of sc chain 3 skip one around for a better arm fit and a little decoration.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll BBL Sweater Set

Darski's free BBL pattern set found here is one of my favorite sets for the Lots to Love 10 inch baby doll. I've adapted many of the patterns for the Lots to Love 8 Inch Doll and the Lil Cutesies doll as well over the years.

Notes:

This was made using Herrschners Worsted 8 yarn Jade. However, I bought it two different times and the color was slightly different. I can't replace the yarn at this point so I worked with it the best I could. I will order enough when I have the chance to make the outfit in one shade for the next donation cycle.

Sweater:

I used an H hook for the sweater. In the past I've added some rows being short on yarn I kept to the pattern. Next time I'd make sure I had enough of one color of yarn and keep the longer sweater.

Bonnet:

I went with a G hook for the bonnet as suggested. I followed the directions as written. In the past I've stopped and framed the front of the bonnet. I would return to that for the future.

Pants:

Like the sweater the shorts were a victim of the yarn shortage. They should have been two rows longer. There is no pattern for the shorts. I start with an H hook crocheting around an elastic hair band until I reach the length of the crotch. I didn't go quite far enough here. Then I also needed more rows for the legs. They work but not the look I was going for.

Booties:

The alterations I made for the booties held up. The second bootie worked better as it was made from one whole skein the first I was mixing scraps hoping to finish it.

I use a D hook for the booties.

I added a row including decreases before rows 6 and 7. This made the boots higher and more stable on the foot.

Lil Cutesies Nightgown

With this outfit complete the two smallest baby dolls are ready to be boxed!!! It feels amazing to be getting things organized a bit earlier this year. We are getting some help with delivering to the school this year so we decided getting the stuff boxed so we had some idea how much stuff we actually had to move would be useful.

I looked back at my notes and for some reason have decided Darski's BBL pattern is a better fit than her Sweetly pattern for the Lil Cutesies doll. It could also be that when I made this proclamation I was tired of repeating patterns. However, once I've made the choice I'm sticking with it for now because it seems to work.

This is Darksi's free BBL pattern for the Lots to Love 10 inch Baby Doll found here.

Notes:

I used an f hook for this project with the Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn Tutti Frutti. I made a note to consider an e hook for next year.

This one has you crochet until row 8 and then make it as long as you want. I stopped a row before the length I wanted and did a sc skip a stitch 5 dc in the next stitch shell to finish the bottom. When complete I finished the back before chaining 30 for the neck closure and doing a sc chain 3 sc in next for the neck. It makes it a little more decorative.

I also decreased and finished the arms with sc and then added an additional row of sc chain 3 skip one around for a better arm fit and a little decoration.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Moses Basket

I love when I finish off a specific project type for a donation year. With this moses basket for the Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll all the small doll carriers are finished.

I don't make them for the larger dolls anymore as the multiple yarn strands are too hard on my hands. I wait for the sales and pick up carriers for the Lots to Love 14 Inch Doll and the 2 JC 16 inch Dolls.

Notes:

The Moses Basket is from Annie Potter's Sweet Baby Layette Leaflet. I don't have a link I'm comfortable with at the moment for her website so as I mentioned on the Lil Cutesies notes I leave you with the pattern title and if you are interested it's a starting point to search for it.

The blanket is the standard pattern I use for this rather than the one that comes with the set. I just have found it fits better. It is from Darski's free BBL pattern found here.

The basket is made using Premier Puzzle Yarn in Maze and an I hook. I alternated the fp and bp for more of a "basket" look this time but I think I'd go back to fp in fp and bp in bp next time. It just seemed to work better.

When I can get shipping deals I try to pick up different baby yarns from companies as I like different colors and brands that are available. I just dread the high cost of shipping. I believe the blanket yarn is from Mary Maxim as I stocked up last year when I had a coupon.

I used an I hook with this yarn. I go back and forth on the size of the hook. With the larger doll the larger hook seemed like a good choice to get the blanket to fit.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll BBL Sweater Set

This has become one of the classic donation patterns for the Lots to Love 10 inch Baby doll. I love this sweater set. It originally used up a huge stash of left over yarn and now I have been finding a new set of yarn to continue the tradition.

This is part of Darski's free BBL set that you can find here.

Notes:

Sweater:

I used an H hook for the sweater. The brand is a Herschnerrs worsted that I will need to find more of as I think I have one more sweater set left in the stash I have.

The sweater required an H hook. I only use one button.

Bonnet:

I used a G hook for the bonnet.

I ended up with a slightly different front this time. I'd look at this again to see what happened as I do prefer the original look.

Booties:

I've been struggling with these booties for years so I decided to try a few different things that improved the fit.

I used a D hook making them smaller.

I added a row including decreases before rows 6 and 7. This made the boots higher and more stable on the foot. I've been struggling for years to keep these booties on the doll's feet and this fixes seem to work.

Pants:

I do not use Darski's pants patterns. I used an elastic hair band and crocheted around it for the waist. This time I used hdc for the pattern and when the waist was long enough split for the legs.

Lil Cutesies Moses Basket

I've been trying to squeeze in those yearly items as I work on other projects and it was time to make the Lil Cutesies Moses basket for the 2025 donation.

I've been focusing on using up yarn on hand where possible and when I opened up last year's project blog I realized I'd used the same yarn for the basket Homespun Aster. I have a stash I'm finishing off and this project has been one great way to avoid multiple yarn skeins for this project. The blanket is made with Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn Parfait.

The pattern for the Moses basket is Annie Potter's Sweet Baby Layette. I listed a link to a company that was supposed to be representing her but I'm not comfortable doing it after clicking on the link and getting lost this time so I will give you the pattern title and leave you to decide how you wish to find it.

The blanket is made using Darski's free BBL pattern set found here.

Notes:

I used an H hook for the basket and added rows to the bottom and sides to make it fit the doll. I found it to be narrow as written and I make it higher than a traditional Moses basket so the doll doesn't roll out while the child is carrying the doll around.

I used a G hook for the blanket and added a row before the final row so the end and starting row would be on the same side before I added a row of sc around the edge.

For those who are interested there are two sizes of Lil Cutesies dolls. There is the larger doll that falls between the 8 and 10 inch Lots to Love Dolls I donate. I know every so often I discover in doll forums people are discussing the smaller Lil Cutesie which I ocassionally see but is not practical for this donation.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Baby Doll Moses Basket

I've been using this pattern for several years to provide the smaller baby dolls with bassinets. However, Annie Potter keeps moving her patterns to a different location. I'm not sure how much longer it will be available to purchase. However, her Sweet Baby Layette pattern still seems to be available for purchase from her company here.

This was made with left over Premier Puzzle Hangman I had left over from making a charity hat. I used a H hook. The blanket is made from a Darski's free BBL pattern set found here using an G hook and some old sport baby yarn.

Lil Cutesies Nightgown

Darski created two free pattern sets for the Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll. The first she called BBL which is where this outfit came from and the second is Sweetly. Both pattern sets have nightgown patterns but I find one fits the Lots to Love doll better than the other. I guessed wrong and the Lil Cutesies doll ended up with a nightgown this year.

For future reference this is the nightgown from the BBL pattern made with a G hook. Since I will likely adapt it again for the Lil Cutesie doll I'd likely use an F hook the next time. I'd gone up to a G trying to get it to fit the Lots to Love 10 inch Baby doll in the back but it just wasn't working for me. I decided to see if I could save the time and resources invested by adapting it to the smaller doll. I'd never used it for the smaller doll and it with some adjustments the pattern fits. I just think the smaller hook would make it a bit less bulky.

Notes:

I believe this is made with Bernat Baby Big Ball Baby Baby. I've been collecting the sport yarn as I can find it and the colors seem to be disappearing. It's a great weight for the doll clothes. I don't always keep the labels once opened so I try to make a good guess at the colors. I prefer the variegated/striped yarns for some of the doll projects. It's not always easy to find a great selection so I'm hoping this line isn't being discontinued. I picked up a lone Lavendar at Walmart even though I didn't really need it as I noticed it was the last one they had and I haven't found it online.

As I mentioned above I used a G hook but I'd likely go with an f for a future Lil Cutesies nightgown. I'm working on how to adapt this for the smaller Lots to Love 8 inch doll.

To finish the outfit I did a row of sc around including the collar prior to adding the ties using the directions. I chained 30 rather than 20 for the ties. Mine tend to be short and I find them harder to tie. After I finished a complete sc around in pink I finished the pink and followed the directions for the ties changing from 20 to 30 chains. I decided to add a chain 3 decorative collar. I did a sc in first sc ch 3 sk 1 than sc in the next. This was done in the front loops of the previous row of sc. When I reached the end I finished with chaining 30 for the second tie.

The sleeves are also finished with a row of constrasting color sc and then an additional row of sc chain 3 skip 1 sc around.

I wanted a finish for the bottom I chose a sc skip 1 sc 5 dc shell in next stitch around.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Baby Doll Moses Basket

This project was finished during down moments over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Between the basket and the blanket it was a great project because it was mobile and could be worked on easily without lots of extra items. The Moses Basket pattern comes from Annie Potter Presents Sweet Baby Layette pattern set that can be purchased here. Darski's BBL pattern set provided a free blanket pattern, you can find it here.

Notes:

I used Premier Dominoes for this project. Again this is yarn that I had intended for prayer shawls but not sure when those will be made so I'm determined not to let stuff grow into my permanent stash.

For the basket I used a g hook and the sizing was good. I like the heavier yarn for these baskets. It works up a bit easier than trying to manage the 2 pieces of worsted 4 together. It is a bit lighter but the dolls aren't heavier enough that it makes a huge difference.

I used baby yarn instead of worsted 4 for the blanket so I kept with the J hook instead of reducing to the F hook which I had done last year. As a note for next year I would reduce the hook size as the blanket is a little larger than needed but it still works well enough that I'm not going to remake it. However, next year I'd continue with the baby yarn and experiment with hook size to see what size would be a better fit. I'm thinking the g is likely a good option.

I have a snuggle sack to make for the Lots to Love 10 inch doll and a Moses Basket for the Lil Cutesies doll and this portion of the doll donation will be done for 2024. I need to get back to finishing the JC 16 inch doll diapers as I stopped after two and I need one more baby bib for them as well.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Moses Basket

I mentioned last week I'd be focused on simple projects during the holiday week to continue moving the donation project ahead but to allow me to enjoy the holiday season. This project was completed over a series of appointments prior to Christmas and picked up at home during some down time. While I am commited to a better balance this year between accessories and clothes I am also realistic about what I can do during times like this and finishing something is a plus and far less stressful than worrying about what isn't going to happen.

While I stopped making doll carriers for the larger JC 16 Inch Baby dolls and the Lots to Love 14 Inch Baby Doll I still make them for the smaller baby dolls. While I've found substitutions for the larger dolls that I'm willing to purchase I haven't found anything in the smaller dolls' size and these actually work up fairly easily without much of a challenge to my hands. Most of the carriers/baskets start at the 12 inch doll size even when they advertise that they will fit the smaller dolls.

The Moses Basket/Doll Carrier pattern is part of Annie Potter's Sweet Baby Doy Layette and can be purchased here. With some adaptation it will fit the Lots to Love 8 Inch Doll and the Lil Cutesies Doll as well.

The blanket is made using a free pattern set for the 10 Inch baby doll found here.

Notes:

I used an H hook and Premier Puzzle Yarn Hangman Yarn for the basket.

The blanket requires a J Hook and I used some old baby sport yarn I've had on hand that I'm trying to use up. I do not have a brand for it.

I've had purchased a bunch of yarn for Prayer Shawls and I just haven't been making them. I made myself a promise if I'm not making projects I'm not holding on to the yarn forever. If I come back to the project I will buy yarn again, but I'm cleaning out my yarn where I can this year. Thus puzzle yarn for a doll basket.

I make my doll carriers a bit deeper by adding side rows. I prefer the doll not roll out when the child is carrying the doll so I keep measuring until the doll fits comfortably and I know I can put the blanket in with the doll without the doll being in danger of falling out.

Lil Cutesies Moses Basket

The Lil Cutesies Moses Basket is the last of the small doll Moses Baskets I need for the 2023 doll donation. My hands just aren't up to making the large baby doll baskets anymore.

I picked one up for the Lots to Love 14 Inch Baby Doll during the holiday sales. One of the very generous women who crochets for the donation has shown interest in trying the free pattern I've used for years so that is a possibility. If that doesn't work out I will pick up the basket I picked up for the second 16 inch Baby doll for last year's donation so they both had a doll carrier/bed.

Notes:

This Moses Basket is made using Annie Potter's Sweet Baby Doll Layette leaflet available for purchase here. The blanket is part of the free BBL set you see frequently referenced on this blog found here.

I used an H hook for the basket adding no additional rows. I used a J hook for the blanket.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll BBL Sweater Set

Some projects become classics for this donation because they work up quickly and add something nice to the project. This sweater set is one of my go to projects for the smaller baby dolls. It is part of a free set BBL designed for the Lots to Love 10 inch dolls but I've adapted it for the Lots to Love 8 Inch dolls and the Lil Cutesies over the years when I needed an extra outfit.

There are several patterns included in the free BBL set and you can find it here. I have been using this project to finish up a stock of Herrschner's Worsted 4 that had overrun my stash from a project that I'd bought more than required. However, last year realizing how well the worsted 4 and baby weights work for the doll projects, especially the smaller doll ones I have restocked when I've had shipping coupons. This green is slightly different from my previous stash but it still makes for a cute set for the dolls.

The notes for this pattern are fairly simple the sweater requires an H hook, the booties and bonnet a g hook.

I made the pants for this by crocheting over a pony tail holder and making pants as I usually do. I will make a note here for myself that I was a row short. I'd make the legs just a bit longer.

I just picked up another doll pattern with booties and I'm hoping they fit better as these booties have a really hard time staying on. I have an alternative pattern for the Lil Cutesies I'm using. I'm hoping the new pattern for the Lots to Love 10 Inch doll will work as a substitute for this doll for future patterns.