Lots to Love 14 Inch Doll Bear Lovey

With Covid, my subscription to the UK magazine Simply Crochet has been somewhat eratic in its arrival. I've missed a few issues but I was thrilled when issue 112 arrived a few weeks ago. One of the things I love about Simply Crochet is there are always little extras. This edition had a double ended wooden hook and a dinosaur supplement which I hope to explore at some point. Dinosaurs seem to be a popular gift and new patterns are always welcome.

What caught my eye as I was looking through the magazine was an ami pattern for a mouse called Sweet Squeak. While the mouse was cute I had no need of a mouse pattern at this time. What drew me to the pattern was the mouse was carrying a bear lovey. I'd never seen something like that before.

I'm always looking for new accessories to add to the doll donation. It makes the dolls more fun for the kids and selfishly keeps me more engaged as I get to try new projects. This was unique and not something that had crossed my mind to make for the baby dolls. I'd made lots of loveys for children why shouldn't their baby dolls have one as well?

This was a quick project and allowed me to use up yarn on hand. The bear was made from Omega Sinfonia sport cotton. The blanket section was acrylic sport yarn I had on hand. I used a B hook for the bear and a C hook for the blanket. I added rows to the blanket to get the length I wanted before adding the final trim row. I'm not sure what the dimensions were supposed to be, I went based on how big I wanted it to be for the doll.

The pattern includes instructions for adding a loop to the back of the bear's head so the mouse can hold the lovey. I adjusted this slightly for the dolls. To make this work for the JC Toys - 16-inch Baby Doll the chain will need to be longer as the loop was to short as written to fit over the arm. It did fit the JC Toys - Lots to Love Babies 14" Doll but for future projects I'd make it a little longer as it would be easier to slide on and off the doll's arm.

If you are not a subscriber to Simply Crochet but would like to find the pattern you can a digital copy of the magazine here.

Jeremy Fisher

I'm continuing to add more Beatrix Potter characters and books to the October birthday pile. Up next we have The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher.

This pattern is part of the supplement from Simply Crochet issue 110. You can purchase this edition of the digital magazine here.

I've gotten used to looking for yarn substitutes first because I've been trying to keep my amis smaller than many of the suggested sizes and secondly in this case the UK yarns aren't always readily available here in the US.

It is also a great chance for me to work through my stash rather than buying more yarn. For this project I used a combination of Hobby Lobby's acrylic sport yarn and A.C. Moore's now discontinued house sport brand to get the colors I needed for the project. I used a D hook for all items except the coat. I started with the D but found the coat was too small. The coat had a much better fit when made with the sport yarn and an F hook.

Squirrel Nutkin

I made Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit for the Easter box. I wanted to continue with the series and next up is The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin which appeared in the supplement of Simply Crochet issue 110. You can purchase a digital copy of the magazine that includes the supplement patterns at Ravelry here. The supplement includes four Beatrix Potter patterns Squirrel Nutkin, Jeremy Fisher, Tom Kitten, and Samuel Whiskers.

While the pattern calls for a UK brand of DK yarn I chose to use Vanna's Choice Rust and a D hook as I am determined to use up as much yarn on hand as possible for my projects. It took almost a complete skein to finish this project.

As this is a UK magazine the terms are UK crochet. However, since the stitches don't change, I didn't have to write down any changes. I was able to easily remember the dc was the US sc. I tend to get more confused when the pattern moves between stitches and I need to keep converting as I'm working through a pattern.