Pig and her Pancake

Laura Numeroff's If You Give series have been huge hits in various branches of my family for many years. I was looking to make something for a summer birthday coming up and I turned first to If You Give a Pig a Pancake which I'd had success with completing an ami from previously.

The pattern is a free one but from a blogger who has since deleted her blog. It reappeared at one point but has since been deleted again. It is available here but there is no way of knowing how long it will stay available, so if you think at some point you might wish to make the pattern my suggestion is download it and print or save it as it could disappear permanently at any time.

When possible I love giving toys inspired by books as I think it creates even more interest for children in reading. This one is a quick and easy project.

Now for my notes to myself. I used a g hook instead of the e for the body of the pig. I didn't find it necessary to use the smaller hook. I also used some peach yarn similar to Caron Simply soft for the pig. I know it isn't Caron but it has that feel. I ended up using a c hook to get the sweater to fit and I used Knit Picks cotton yarn. It was just too big when I attempted to use worsted weight yarn. The pancake worked up well with worsted weight yarn and a g hook.

Holiday Itty Bitties

My Mom sent me holiday Itty Bitties for my birthday. I love the putting out the little costumed dolls for the holidays. I found myself two dolls short, so I'll need to buy two more dolls to fill out the Christmas costumes she made, but just putting these together when I opened the box put a smile on my face. I have the July 4th ones out now that she made me a while back and I look forward to more of these dolls to display through the seasons.

I love the cape on the one on the end. It has a very old world look to it. For those of you who are interested these are kit kits available from Mary Maxim, which is why I end up having Mom make them as I am no knitter. I was pleased to see they did issue a Crochet Christmas kit recently though so it isn't impossible for me to take on the task.

American Girl Dovetailed

Edited to add pattern link. Darski kindly hunted down the link for me on Crochetville. You can find the free pattern here.

I made this pattern 2 years ago for the donation. It is a one of Darski's free patterns from Crochetville, but sadly I believe the link has been lost. If at any time I find it I will of course add it. I pulled this pattern out because to my eye it looks complicated, but it always a confidence builder for me.

Notes for myself, don't forget to have elastic on hand. Easy to use once you have it, but a delay when you have to go find it. I used snaps this year. I seem to have a thing about buttons this year. I've been using more snaps. Other than that I followed the directions pretty much as written.