Rag Doll Dress

I made a promise to myself that I'd get back to the dolls I'd neglected and try to get them more outfits made before the deadline. With some dolls that presents more of a challenge than others as I don't have specific patterns designed for them. As I was working on the free Linmary baby doll pattern found here it occured to me the dress portion of the pattern might work for the at least one of the rag dolls. I'd need to work adjust fiber and hook size but it was worth a try.

I started with Knit Picks Palette yarn from my stash and a D hook. That hook size was too small to fit around either doll so I increased to an e hook and after reaching the arm hole determined that this dress fit both dolls but was a better fit for the 13 3/4" CR Craft Doll rather than the 15" Factory Direct Rag Doll. I'm trying this pattern again for the 15" doll with different yarn and a different hook to see if I can get a better fit for the larger doll.

I stayed with the original chain length. I stuck with the top pattern until I reached the dolls waist at which point I switched to the skirt pattern. I then proceeded with that pattern until I reached the desired length. While I alternated color for the top and added the trim for the top of the dress I chose not to trim the arms or add the contrasting color to the bottom as I had done with the baby doll dresses. I liked the way the blue stood out alone. However, the top was the starting chain and it did need to be trimmed to finish the outfit. I chose to do that with the contrasting color as suggested by the pattern.

Lots to Love 14 Inch Doll Dress Hat and Shoes

One of the advantages of donating multiple sizes of dolls is when you make a mistake you sometimes can recylce the project for use with another doll.

This was my second attempt this donation cycle at the free Linmary Knits crochet baby doll pattern found here for the JC Toys -16-inch Baby Doll but I had two issues. First I forgot to add the extra rows in the dress, which is in all fairness designed for a 14" doll. The extra rows make it a better fit for the 16' doll. The second issue was an experiment on the hat. I found the g hook for the hat was too large and the pattern calls for an e hook. The e hook fit the 14" doll well but was too small for the 16" doll. This made switching this outfit to the Lots to Love Babies 14" Doll a practical solution.

The shoes are part of a petite dolls 14" doll pattern set you can purchase here. The pattern calls for DK yarn and I was able to use up more of the Herrschner's worsted weight yarn I was given by a member of Ravelry's Charity Knitting Group. The rest of the outfit was made with baby sport yarn.

This of course means I will need to make one more outfit from this pattern to fill the baby donations. I'm also thinking about experimenting with it to see if it would fit the larger of the two rag dolls.

Just a note to myself for future projects. While this slides off easily on the 16" doll due to the soft shoulders it is a little harder to slide on and off the harder larger bodied 14" Lots to Love doll. It might be wiser not to join at the top but wait until the waist using a snap to close the next time I make the outfit for this size doll.

16 Inch Baby Doll Carrier

I looked at my stash yarn as I approached this project and realized I didn't have 3 skeins of the same colored purple yarn but I could mix and match to finish the project. This seemed like an ideal solution as my goal is to reduce my rather large stash of yarn to a more manageable size. Using up yarn on larger projects is always a great way to start. I came close to finishing with the 3 skeins I started with but the 2 Red Heart skeins gave out at the very end when it came time to make the handles. I had enough left from a partial pounder and found 2 slightly different Red Heart Super Saver purple shades to finish off the handles. I thought the finished look was fine.

I'm already scanning my stash to decide what to use for the last doll carrier. I need to give my hands a rest as working with the 3 skeins at once is hard on my hands and wrists, but time is moving quickly. The deadline will be here before I know it. I'd like to have the stuff ready early if possible.

For those of you interested this is a free pattern and you can find it here. I've modified the pattern to make it slightly smaller as I found the original to be rather large. I crochet the first 10 rows of the pattern with an I hook and finish the remainder with the suggested K hook.

The granny blanket came courtesy of a donation from a MO member of Crochetville. I'm fortunate that she and others help me with this doll donation each year. It means more kids get dolls with clothing and accessories each year.