Baby Doll Diapers

Right after Thanksgiving I did an inventory of the doll donations and realized I was short on baby doll items. Right after I dropped off the doll donation and mailed out my Christmas boxes I decided that I would start on the baby dolls to prevent another Thanksgiving baby doll marathon crochet session. The doll diapers work up pretty quickly so it was a great place to start. The most time consuming part is actually sewing on the snaps. The pattern calls for buttons, but I've always thought the snaps were a better option. A week before Christmas and the doll diapers for next year's donation were ready to head into the donation bags.

I was thrilled that the new baby dolls come with baby bottles so those don't need to be made this year. It's the small things in life that make us grateful. Those little small items would seem to be quick to make but they do add up when you are making multiples.

You can still find this pattern via the Wayback machine here although I'm always worried it will disappear. My copy is precious as it is my go to pattern every year.

Brachiosaurus

I've been collecting Planet June's animal patterns for years. Her dinos are a particular favorite of mine as they work up quickly and her directions are pretty clear and direct. You can purchase the pattern here. She also sells sets of patterns which sometimes make the patterns more affordable as do sales. I believe DH gifted me a couple of the dino sets as presents because dinos are popular gifts.

This was a great chance to use up some sport yarn I've had left over from various projects. In many respects this dino project was my orphan yarn project. It was a great chance to dig into some skeins that I'd had left over from other projects or were my "extra" skein I'd bought so I wouldn't run out when working on another gift. Now of course I need to find a way to finish them off so they stop taking up space.

Just so I don't confuse anyone these dino patterns call for regular worsted weight yarn. I wanted smaller dinos which is why I decided to dig into my sports yarn stash. I wanted a collection that would be fun but take up less room. The lighter weight yarn helped bring down the overall size of the animals.

T-Rex

As I mentioned in a previous post my second Christmas box that left the house was full of dinosaurs. I was on a very tight schedule so I tried to choose patterns that would work up quickly. I also changed from my normal pattern of using worsted weight yarn to lighter sport weight yarn as many of these dino patterns can be huge and I didn't want storage to become an issue.

The Little "Un T. Rex can only be found through the Wayback machine here. I've had this pattern on my to do list for a very long time and just never had the right occasion. I've got a couple of other more complicated T-Rex patterns that I'm hoping to put on a birthday finish list. It never hurts to have a couple. My experience is they tend to get in tangles with one another.

This one worked out well for my purposes. He stands well but you will want to stuff the legs firmly without over stuffing. It is a tough balance, but easier than several other dino patterns I've made with dinos that stand on the back legs.