Tribute to Darski

One of my favorite 18" Doll Designers has decided she is done with designing and donating her patterns to all of us. I am so grateful for all the patterns she's shared that I decided to go back and revisit the items I've made through the years. Sadly I don't have pictures for all the items I made with her patterns. However, I thought it would be nice to demonstrate how many children ended up with items made with her patterns. So thank you Darski. I have so enjoyed finding your new patterns at Crochetville. However, I am pleased to see you are still posting pictures of the clothes you love making there.



November 19, 2010 Original Blog Post here





December 1, 2010 American Girl Mrs. Claus Original Blog Post here




December 21, 2010 Holiday Dress Original Blog Post here



December 22, 2010 Mrs. Claus based on Darski's We Gather pattern. The original blog post is here.

July 1, 2011 American Girl Colonial Outfit Original Blog Post here

July 19, 2011 Witch Costume again based on the We Gather pattern Original Blog Post here

October 6, 2011 Another Pilgrim Doll Original Blog Post here

October 20, 2011 Mrs. Claus again it is one of the more popular outfits for donating Original Blog Post here

Blue Pilgrim November 26, 2011 Blog post here

Pilgrim Dress December 4, 2013 Original Post here

December 17, 2013 American Girl Christmas Dress Original Post here

December 18, 2013 Mrs. Claus Original Post here

American Girl Witch January 9, 2014 Original Blog Post here


Darski, I know I've made other patterns of yours, but I don't have them documented here. I know that I return to the We Gather pattern constantly, as you can see here. I also have made your Christmas Dress even more times than documented here. I am truly grateful for you sharing your gift. Thanks to you and other creative people I have been able to make gifts for family and friends. Now that most of those children have outgrown the dolls I've continued with my yearly doll donations. Without the genrous offerings of you and the other free designers my costs would make the donations much smaller.

Fabulous Finds

I love buying crochet patterns. New, used, in print or out of print I am always thrilled to find new to me items to explore. I hit a treasure trove last week and was thrilled to find some items I was interested in at very reasonable prices.

First up above is the picture of the Debbie Ann patterns I picked up. These are for a 16" doll that is also available in an out of print pattern. I have the smaller Bitty Baby version I got in Annie's Favorite Crochet Dolls. However, I was less interested in making the doll than in seeing how these patterns might be adaptable for the 15" big bodied Mary Maxim doll and perhaps some of the accessories for the 18" dolls.

I also am to the point of almost finishing my collection of Annie's Crochet Newsletter. I was able to pick up 4 more of the magazines. I am currently missing issue 5 from September/October of 1983 and any issues past 99, the last one I have acquired so far. If anyone happens to know the number and date of the last issue, I'd appreciate just leaving a note in the comments of this post. I know at one point it changed into another Annie's magazine, but I haven't been able to find out how many issues were printed before the change. I love this little magazine and only wish they still published something like it today.

I found a good deal on The Prayer Shawl Ministry: Reaching Those in Need (Leisure Arts #4225) so I picked up a copy to add to my growing collection of Prayer Shawl patterns.

I also got a Leisure Arts dishcloth book I hadn't seen before. I like having new dishcloth patterns to try. They are quick, practical projects and I'm always looking for new ones.

Just one note or a reminder on buying patterns, as I have said before, you need to comparison shop. I have looked at many of these patterns before and had a price point I knew I wanted to pay. When you are dealing with out of print patterns, you are sometimes at the mercy of the market. If they have what you want and you aren't willing to wait, you will sometimes find the prices painful. I usually can wait, so I find some amazing prices. The other warning is make sure the books/leaflets are out of print. After no success checking my normal pattern sites, I went looking for Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion, The: 37 Patterns to Embrace, Inspire, and Celebrate Life at my used book store sites. Now this book is still in print. The used bookstores were selling a used copy in "good" condition for more than the full retail value of the book. This is common when the book is out of print and hard to find, but not when the book is still being discounted by major retail bookstores. I picked mine up at a discount and with an additional coupon at a retail bookstore. I bought a new copy for considerably less than what the used versions were priced. It pays to comparison shop.

I look forward to experimenting with my new finds. There is one more Prayer Shawl book I'm hoping to preview from the library before I decide to purchase. It should be in at the beginning of the month. Than I can start hunting for my best deal if I choose to purchase it.

Double Hug Prayer Shawl

This is the Double Hug Prayer Shawl made using the pattern found in Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion, The: 37 Patterns to Embrace, Inspire, and Celebrate Life that I recently purchased after borrowing from the library.

I made this one using Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn that I had in my stash. I found the Granny style pattern easy to work on and quite relaxing. Having a pattern that I didn't have to check constantly was great when went got to crochet/knitting group meetings. My doll patterns tend to be too complicated to share socially and get anything productive finished.

My pictures are still not quite where I want them, but I think hanging the shawl is an improvement over my first attempt to photograph a shawl.

I have my third shawl over half done. I am enjoying exploring this new type of crochet project. I already have yarn lined up to work on some additional projects.

If you arrived here looking for free Prayer Shawl Patterns please check out the following Blog Page:

Free Prayer Shawl Patterns

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