Baby Doll Carrier

I'm very excited to say I'm done with the second doll carrier for the 2020 donation!!! This means no more for this year unless I need one for a gift. This rarely happens, but I did need an extra one last year.

The only real challenge with this pattern is the need to crochet with 3 skeins of yarn. It is a bit hard on the hands. I tend to alternate working on the carriers and working on another project.

I was able to finish the first project using stash yarn. This was the first donation project I needed to purchase yarn to make this year. I just couldn't find three matching skeins of yarn in appropriate colors. I don't feel to bad. Not everything is going to work out as a stash busting project.

For those of you who are interested in making your own doll carrier this pattern is a free pattern available here.

I finished this at the beginning of February so I making good progress getting the baby dolls ready for the donation.

Drop Waist Baby Doll Gown

I didn't precisely set out to change this pattern into a drop waist dress, but I did want the top of the dress to be longer before I started the skirt based on my experience from making the first dress. I actually kind of like the look of this dress. When I attempt this again I might make the top a little shorter but I'd still stick with the dropped waist. I rather like how it looks.

For those of you interested in making doll clothes you can find a free pattern for the dress and hat here. The shoes are from another free pattern set Peachy Keen found here. Since they fit the JC Toys, La Baby 16-inch Pink Dollwith minimal challenges it has become my pattern of choice. I use an I hook to get the shoes to fit and I add a couple of chains to the strap and the shoes fit easily. I've tried several other patterns with varied success. I also find the strap helps keep the shoes on. Even when I can find a pattern that fits, the shoes still don't always stay on the feet.

This project helped me with my mission to wipe out the orphan yarn in my stash. This is another ball of sport baby yarn that thankfully is much smaller than the yellow ball. I've used it on several other projects over the years, but it takes a while to finish one off. I think I still at least one more doll project left before I can declare this ball finished.

Some notes for myself I used an I hook with the sport yarn to make the outfit fit the doll. I used a snap as a closure the fist time I made this outfit this year. This time I made the dress in the round allowing it to be slid on and off and it works fine. I would do that in the future as it is simple to make and for the child to dress the doll.

I write this during the last days of January and I can see my stash of baby doll clothes growing for the doll donation. I'm hopeful in February to have enough of a supply that I can start to turn to the 18 inch dolls and continue on my holiday boxes going out to family.

Baby Doll Splash of Color

I generally don't like making duplicates of patterns in the same donation, but this year in order to increase the number of baby doll outfits I've been crocheting two outfits from each pattern to increase the number of outfits I can donate for the baby dolls. This way both baby dolls I donate have a copy of each outfit I make. However, for my own sanity I have refused to use the same colors. In order to make it feel a little different I've been using different colors.

As I mentioned in the Dress for February post I adapted this dress from a free Dora the Explorer 15 inch doll pattern found here. Fall colors have always been favorites of mine so I decided to go with red, orange, and yellow. The shoes are as always from the free Peachy Keen pattern found here.

Notes for adaptations:

I needed a K hook for the bodice of the dress. I switched to an I hook as soon as I started the skirt. It quickly gets to large in the skirt area without switching over to the I hook.