Little Red Riding Hood Mother Finger Puppet

I'm continuing to work my way through Evgeniya Yunitskaya's no longer available Red Riding Hood Finger puppets. Having finished Mom the body of the Hunter is already complete. I'm working on him and another ami project in between some doll clothes for Aztec wishes.

These projects take longer because I make them in pieces. I originally kept them in baggies but during the back to school sales DH found me a plastic pencil box which is perfect for all those small pieces that seem to wander off and get lost. The box is much harder to lose than the small plastic sandwich bags that slip between the seat cushions.

Notes:

I used Premier Cotton Fair yarn for this project with a 2mm hook.

I liked the skin tones and dress colors but I would look for different hair color for this doll. It needs a lighter brown.

Regarding the hair row 8 establishes the bangs and long hair in the back by only crocheting on the 19 dc stitches according to the pattern. I would add rows to this to make the hair longer as mine was shorter than the picture.

There are two more patterns in this set the Hunter and of course the Wolf that I hope to complete soon.

Little Red Riding Hood Grandmother Finger Puppet

This is the second finger puppet from Evgeniya Yunitskaya's no longer available Little Red Riding Hood Finger Puppet Set.

I've been making the individual pieces between Aztec Wishes projects and then once completed I finally got this one together last Monday night. I hope to start on Red Riding Hood's mother soon.

Notes:

I used Premier Cotton Fair yarn for this project with a 2mm hook.

The original pattern has Grandma in a mustard color dress. I went with lavender because it reminded me of my own long passed grandmas. I couldn't imagine any of them in dark mustard.

I ended up not including the shawl that goes over the back of grandma's head and down her shoulders as I couldn't match the yarn used in the pattern. I tried thread and it was too light and all the lighter lace weight yarns I had were too heavy.

For my own notes for assembly I added the arms before the head. This allowed me to create "shoulders" to rest the head between. In the past it becomes harder to find less intrusive places to attach the arms after I've solidly attached the head.

The Kits for Kids donation isn't due until the Spring but I'd like to get some of these smaller more timely projects complete before Christmas as last year the dash from Christmas to March seemed incredibly short. I have some other play sets that work up a little easier as they aren't quite as small and tight so I'm trying to focus on the finger puppets now and rest my fingers with a few play sets between before the post Christmas rush.

Monkey Finger Puppet Blue Overalls

I finished the second finger puppet to go with the Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed book that will be going out with the October birthday box. You can purchase the pattern here.

I used Aunt Lydia Size 10, Natural, Peackock, and Fudge. Peackock was not a pattern choice but as I mentioned in the previous post I decided I'd use colors on hand for the puppet's clothing.

I had an issue with the straps last time so I made them shorter and I crossed them in the back. This seemed to make it easier to join them.

Sister Rabbit Finger Puppet

I had hoped to finish more Easter themed projects this year but the holiday crept on me while I was working on doll donation projects. I also discovered these "quick" finger puppets I thought I'd add to the Easter box were some of the most time consuming projects I'd made in a while. They weren't hard but making all those tiny stitches is time consuming and there were a number of rabbits to be made.

The bunny base is made with Red Heart Crochet Thread Size 10 and the dress with Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread Size 10, French Rose with Tulip Etimo Rose Steel Crochet Hook-1.25mm.

The eyes are standard 6mm but the pink nose comes from CR Crafts where I've discovered they have a remarkable selection not only of colored noses but of smaller sizes as well. I've found larger pink noses in the past but these are nice for the smaller amis.

Notes:

I added rows to the skirt as I wanted it to lay a bit better. I preffered this look to suggested pattern directions. I love the heart buttons. Slightly larger than needed but I need to find a source for smaller doll buttons as I plan to get back into making Barbie clothes.

Yes, I said it. After writing the blog about Barbie patterns and saying I wasn't planning on making them, I had a feeling something would change my mind. It was actually this project. One of the most challenging problems I've found with working with thread is working in the round with ami style projects. With my new hooks, I seem to have met the challenge and decided I'll be adding Barbies to the donation, if not this year than the following year. It all depends on how much I get done between now and Thanksgiving which is my deadline for finishng. I've dug out the binder and dusted it off so I will be experimenting.

Mother Rabbit Finger Puppet

I mentioned in my post about the Father Rabbit Finger puppet that I wanted to try the next finger puppet using Red Heart Crochet, Thread Size 10 and I'm quite pleased with the change in size. The pattern calls for size 20 crochet thread but I can't see myself working with that size thread in the round. These finger puppets are part of a larger Rabbit Family pattern set you can purchase here.

I had a skein of Aunt Lydia's size 10 Bamboo crochet thread which I understand has been discontinued that I used for Mom's dress. This is much softer thread than I'm used to working with and it made for a unique project. The dress almost felt like cloth which is rare in a crochet project.

I had hoped when I looked up the thread for this post to find it was still available as I think it would be great for projects like this one. I also would think it would be soft for other light weight projects. I suspect the softness might be the reason it was discontinued though as it wouldn't have worked if I'd used it for the head as it couldn't have held the shape of the body. So perhaps for the majority of people using thread it just wasn't practical for their tasks.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day which means I really do need to get a move on with this Easter box. The upside is after Easter I have a summer birthday and then nothing until the fall. This gives me some space to work on the doll donation and spread out the fall projects once I finish the summer birthday. I already have ideas for themes for both birthdays so it is a matter of pulling out the patterns and getting the projects finished.

Dragon Finger Puppet

This is the final puppet from the free set I started posting about last week. You can find the pattern here.

The Castle Tote will be going out with finger puppets and a copy of The Knight and the Dragon as part of this year's Christmas box. I'm running out of time to get this box finished but I'm getting close.

Horse Finger Puppet

When I reached the last 3 finger puppets of Leisure Arts Busy Baby BoxesI knew I was in the home stretch of this project. I was thrilled because I could see the finish line of what was beginning to feel like an endless project.

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The pattern for all the finger puppets uses the same basic body pattern so I decided I would make all 3 bodies before going to bed one night. That would leave me with just the details of the puppets to finish. Of course then I got distracted adding the pocket to the roof and fixing the fence but that's a whole other story

Other than the black sport cotton yarn scraps I used for the face details this is all made with acrylic worsted weight yarn and a g hook.

Pig Finger Puppet

Having finished the farm box from Leisure Arts Busy Baby Boxesit is time to make the rest of the finger puppets. I've already completed the chicken, but I put off doing the rest until I finished the box.

Most of the finger puppets I've made have been crocheted in the round. These are made in 2 pieces and sewn together. I found this has made sewing the faces and other details on them slightly easier. Even making two sides they work up rather quickly.

I like the play design of this box which allows children to have the puppets interact with the box or they can tell their own stories with the puppets. As I mentioned in a previous post about the bottom section of the box this has led me to consider adding something to the box for storage of the puppets. I've decided to wait until I complete all the puppets to determine how much storage I need to decide what to add.

Dragon Finger Puppet

While a castle is certainly fun to play with one requires some characters to play in the castle. I chose to make finger puppets. First up is the dragon from the same free pattern set found here.

I used an H hook for the body as I found a g hook made a very small opening that was hard to work on. I used a g hook for the arms and legs. The puppet was made with worsted weight yarn.

I'm up to 3 sets of castle finger puppet patterns so it will be interesting to find out how many end up in the box before this ships for Christmas.