Snow Family

I posted a while back about finishing the first member of the family the little snow sister. I didn't get the chance to post updates as I completed the family so I thought I post one update of the whole family. This family is made from an out of print pattern Annie Potter presents leaflet The Snowbuddies from Snowville. I've not currently seen it released as an e-pattern but I hope some day it becomes available as it has 3 sets of snowmen including this one, a Vicotrian Christmas Caroling set, and a snowmen nativity.

The first one finished was big sister who I wrote about previously. I had intended to write about them as I finished them, but this time of the year gets busy and I finished these up the week before Thanksgiving when I was rushing to finish my Christmas presents and donations. So after posting big sister I ended up waiting to get the pictures done until everyone was completed.

Mom was the next one I took on and completed. I thought I had a brilliant idea with Mom's hat. I had purple yarn from previous afghans that I really wanted to use up and it looked promising. However, promising is not a sure thing. Thus Mom's hat is two-toned and not intentionally. However, I did finish off yarn I'd used for an afghan for a child while she was in high school who is now in college so it was nice to see the stash left overs gone and the two tone looks Ok.

One reason for choosing this pattern over several snow family patterns was the baby. The family this is going to has a big sister and a new baby this year. Having the baby snowman seemed a wonderful way to make it personal. However I wanted this set to be something that could be played with not just a decoration. The pattern calls for sewing the baby to the Mother snowmen. I didn't see this being a long term solution. So I adapted the baby doll carrier I make for the donation to a smaller snowbaby size and made it so Mom or Dad could carry the snowbaby. It can also be set down and the baby can be removed to play with at any time. My thought is next year to add a sister to the snow family. After all I can't imagine the littlest one will want to be the "baby" forever. We will see what time allows.

Papa Snowman was the last of the set to be completed and thankfully, other than baby, the one with the fewest and simplest accessories. Where the pattern suggested gluing I sewed everything on to make it more secure to endure play time. I found the button for Papa's vest from a collection of extra buttons I've acquired over the years that come as spare buttons. Mind you I'll never be able to remember which outfit they belong to, but they do make excellent buttons for items like this because they are a little different from the buttons I buy in the store. I've decided to take those odd buttons and start storing them with my doll buttons. They could prove useful.

Just a note to myself, I made Papa's scarf in long rows rather than short. My hands were getting tight from doing close ami stitches and I found the longer rows easier to make. I don't think it created any issues when it came time to wrap it around Papa's neck.

One last shot of the happy couple together.

Victorian Snowman Caroler

I completed a snowmen family set for a swap. I was waiting until my partner received her package to write about the project. I found the pattern in Annie Potter Presents The Snowbuddies from Snowville. There is no pattern number listed on the booklet.

When I originally purchased this booklet from a vintage vendor, I only thought there was one pattern for a family of snowmen, father, mother, daughter, son, and baby as pictured on the cover. In fact, this has three patterns, which I had seen separately in other locations. It includes the Victorian couple I made for this project, which I had not seen before, and the Snowman Nativity, which I had seen offered separately.

I decided the Victorian couple was unique and chose that as my project for the swap. Since the father was the largest, I started with him.

I love the way the faces are shaped to give the snowmen faces. Many patterns provide a round ball, but this pattern actually provided shaping for the forehead, cheeks, mouth, and chin, which was unique in my experience. The caroling books are not part of the pattern. The pattern calls for paper and gluing them to the hands. I actually enlarged a free Barbie pattern, which unfortunately appears to have a dead link.