Skipper Mermaid

Last month I wrote about making this outfit for Barbie. You can find the free pattern here.

I decided to see if I could adapt the pattern for Skipper using Caron Simply Soft Paints Oceana that I had left in my stash and seemed like it might be a good fit for this project.

To make this fit Skipper I had to make some adjuatments to the original Barbie pattern as she is a smaller doll.

Notes:

I used an E hook for this project and the lighter Caron Simply Soft Paints rather than the Mary Maxim Prism I had used for Barbie.

These changes were enough for making the top fit.

The tail was long for Skipper so I needed to adjust the pattern. I followed the tail pattern and stopped at row 27 as this was the length best suited for Skipper. I finished the tail with row 33. I made the fins and added them as described in the pattern. They fit fine.

Walled Garden Prayer Shawl

I borrowed Modern Crocheted Shawls and Wraps from the library before purchasing. When I saw the Walled Garden pattern I knew I wanted the book.

Sadly I was in a rush to get the pictures taken as we were headed out when I took these but the colors and the texture on this shawl are wonderful. This actually is one I would love to have for myself. This was the first prayer shawl I made for a specific person not just to be given out randomly and I knew who I'd make it for when I saw the pattern. The key was finding the yarn. Lately manufacturers introduce beautiful colors and then sadly by the time you purchase a book or pattern the yarn may no longer be available.

When I first started searching for Caron Simply Soft Rose Garden it was challenging to find in the amounts I needed. The pattern requires 7 skeins and since the yarn was hard to find and I am known for needing more than the pattern requires I ordered 9 from Mary Maxim as they were the only ones who had the colors and the amount I wanted. There shipping is often expensive but if you can wait they do occasionally have shipping deals and that's when I ordered.

Sadly, my pictures aren't great but the colors really do give you that feeling of being surrounded by a beautiful garden. It is a heavy shawl as you can imagine with it using even 7 small skeins of yarn. However, come winter I expect it will be a nice reminder of the beauty of summer when we don't have the beautiful summer flowers to show us.