16 Inch Baby Doll Carrier

I rather like this project for the donation despite the fact it is rather hard on my hands as it uses threee strands of worsted weight yarn together to make a carrier strong enough to tote around a rather large baby doll. This combined with the diaper bag gives the doll and all its extras storage. I was lucky this year and Caron Pounders were on sale and I got enough for the two JC Toys 16-inch Baby Doll carriers. I'm hoping to have enough from my stash to make the slighly smaller Lots to Love 14 inch doll.

This is a free pattern from Holland Designs found here.

I've been altering this pattern for years to make it a better fit for the dolls I donate. I crochet the first 10 rows of the pattern with an I hook and then switch to a K hook for the remainder of the pattern. The original pattern was designed for a Cabbage Patch kid and I suspect the larger size was a better fit. The narrower JC dolls fit better with the smaller carrier.

For my hands sake I tried to stick to 2 rows a day. The days I went over before switching to another projcet I felt it. I don't plan on starting the second carrier before April. I have plenty of projects that need doing and I'm hoping this will give my hands a needed rest.

I haven't finished any doll blankets yet and the doll donations generally come much later in the year, but this carrier will leave with a blanket for the donation.

Lots to Love 14 Inch Doll Carrier

The doll baskets are usually projects I tackle right after the last doll donation leaves the house. This year I put them off and I realized I needed to begin tackling them as they are not quick projects and while not a hard pattern to follow crocheting with 3 strands of worsted weight yarn at once does make them a physically challenging project for me.

I started this one last winter and put it aside as other projects beckoned. I left it in a project bag with the required yarn and directions as I knew I'd be back to finish it for the donation. After finishing the pumpkin, this seemed like a great Olympic watching project. Last week after the Olympics were over I continued to watch the streams of events as it was easy enough to avoid results for most of the events and I rarely take the time to see many of these events at any other time.

The free pattern for this project is available here. I normally adapt it for the JC Toys - La Baby Doll by crocheting the first 10 rows with an I hook and switching to the K hook to finish the project. I've just found this is a better size for these dolls. For the JC Toys - Lots to Love Babies 14" Doll I used an I hook for the entire project.

Normally 3 skeins of Red Heart will finish the project. I started with 3 skeins of Premier Basix but ran out just short of the top of the basket. I had one skein of Premier in my stash and ended up working from both ends of a Caron One Pounder to finish the project. I'm determined to make these baskets stash projects rather than buying more yarn. I have a huge stash that just needs to be downsized. So the rest of the carriers might be a bit more colorful this year.

The beautiful blanket comes from one of the amazing contributors to the doll donation from Crochetville. I received a beautiful box of doll blankets and 18" doll clothing from MO and I can't thank her and all those who help each year enough.

Baby Doll Carrier and Blanket

I've been making good progress on the doll project, I'm just now catching up on making the posts. The doll carrier is one I make frequently and you can find the free pattern here.

I've been fortunate the last few years and do to the generosity of online friends I haven't had to make many baby blankets for the doll donation. I've had lots of donations that have covered the need. It was interesting to get back to making doll blankets. This comes from my favorite doll blanket pattern set which can be purchased here. This pattern is the Easy Peasy Afghan in the Annabelle's Afghan set.

My favorite part of working on this project was the color of the blanket. It was so bright and cheerful it was a joy to make.