Glitter Girl Nightgown

I discovered this You Tube pattern last year while searching for a nightgown pattern for the Glitter Girl doll.

I am always grateful for those who make free patterns. I believe when offering a free pattern the format is in the designer's hands.

If you struggle as I do to follow video patterns while crocheting I suggest taking notes and creating your own pattern. I am not free to share it here I don't own the design but I can share the technique.

This year I went back and fixed some things I missed when I wrote my notes from last year. If you love video patterns this clearly doesn't apply.

One challenge I had this year was the puff stitch. I realized the puff stitch wasn't quite right thus the picture below as a reminder of the pattern I want versus the pattern I created on my first attempt this year.

Notes:

I use size 4 Herrschners Baby Worsted 8 Baby Stripes Hydrangea for this outfit with an f hook.

Do not pull any stitches off hook until number of yarn overs complete for puff stitch then yarn over all stitches for puff.

I had done a different stitch a while back that creates a puffier stitch and this was not what was needed here. One of the reasons for the second picture is a reminder of the flatter puffs.

For this doll I do 25 rows to get to the length I wish.

Dog Finger Puppet

I started on my finger puppets for Kits for Kids.

I actually have a crochet pattern binder for puppet patterns I've acquired over the years and I went there first.

This is a pattern from the defunct Crochet Pattern Central. While they generally were a place that just listed patterns, they did have a few like this one that were hosted on the site. With some help I did find the pattern but no promises how long it stays available if you are interested so I suggest downloading and saving it. You can find the pattern here.

As I went to save a copy for myself I found the designer's name credited at the bottom as Yvonne Boucher. The pattern was written in 2006.

It has been a bit since I've made ami's or puppets so I started with the directions as written and they were big for my adult hands so I did change hook size for the puppet.

Notes:

This was made with the same Caron Pounder I made the mouse with previously. I want to say this is Taupe. I stocked up on shades of brown for some previous doll projects and clearly it was meant to be for this project.

As I mentioned above I started with the suggested G hook but the tube was huge. I made this guy and have started the cow with an e hook. To get them any smaller I'd have to change yarn weight to be able to use a smaller hook.

There is an interesting technique for making eyes with pretied knots I've never tried before but will be using from now on when I can't use safety eyes.

Since the dog has a sewn on muzzle I did use a saftey eye for his nose but with the open inside safety eyes are viable for puppets. The eyes have to be sewn or use eyes that can be sewn. I love learning new useful skills on a project and I've already used it for the cow's nose.

As I've mentioned previously these posts are all preposted. My deadline is April 15 and this guy was finished one month ahead of the deadline.

Mouse and Cookie

I heard about another program associated with Aztec Wishes being organized for this year, Kits for Kids when I did the drop off last year. I likely am not going to finish a huge number of projects for 2026 but I am going to get done what I can before the April deadline. I will also get a better idea of what works when I participate in the packing in May for 2027.

I have been hyper focused on the doll donation and finally decided to reach out to find out more about this project and deadlines this month. The deadline is tight for this year but there are some of the smaller items from the Aztec Wishes donation that were put aside to help with this project and I will finish what I can before the deadline.

I've always been a huge fan of combining toys and books. I've made the combo of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie book and Ami a few times now. However, with my focus on dolls and lots of other life stuff happening I haven't made any amis in some time. This was a great project to get myself back into the game. I've since started on finger puppets.

Notes:

This pattern has disappeared several times but I do have a link for the moment here.

I used the suggested e hook with worsted 4 acrylic I had on hand. I did use Herrschner's 3 weight for the chips on the cookie as it was the closest color I could find.

At some point in my last round of Ami adventures I stocked up on pink noses because when I went to look I had a gallon storage bag full. I had used thread to sew the last mouse nose as I couldn't find the safety noses. Clearly I wasn't planning on running out again.

The one part of making ami's I don't love is sewing the pieces together so when possible I adjust. I split the body like I'm making pants for a doll and worked the directions for the mouse legs top down instead of feet up. I would do this again to avoid sewing the legs on. This left the head, ears and the arms to sew.

I used a D hook with pink and followed the ear directions to make an inner ear. I then made a second ear with the main color and the e hook and crocheted them together for the ear. I know fabric is popular with ami's but I've never had luck with it for ears, etc.