Aztec Wishes 2019 Donations Have Been Delivered!

I just want to send out a THANK YOU to all my friends at Crochetville for their amazing generosity that makes this such a great donation drive every year. It is always so much fun to be the person that gets to deliver the stuff but honestly all of you do so much to make it happen.

I do love donating to this program because the high school kids do learn valuable skills helping to organize the drive and yes the children get to play with the toys that are donated. It just expands the number of people who benefit from the hard work you do. Thanks to all of you.

One of those bags was filled with doll blankets donated by people from Crochetville and that doesn't include the 4 blankets I used for the dolls I donated. It is such a blessing and an honor to see all the beautiful work that is done.

American Girl Rain Coat

This is another pattern from the free pattern set Weatherby found here. This outfit works up quickly and I like adding it because I don't often make outdoor wear for the dolls. I like to vary the types of outfits I include in the donation and having an easy to make coat makes it an ideal choice.

At some point I need to find a boot pattern to go with this pattern.

Koala Christmas Ornaments

I love making unbreakable ornaments for people with kids or those who have kids that visit because its nice to have ornaments little ones can help hang or you don't worry too much about them touching.

I inherited my Mom's Christmas ornaments when she moved and I have a box labeled unbreakable ornaments from our childhood that were boxed separate for this purpose. When we were little these were the ornaments we were allowed to hang at the bottom of the tree. Safe for us to put on and safe for us to touch during the excitement of the holiday. Some were hand made, others purchased.

As we got older and grandchildren appeared the unbreakable still was an important feature of holiday celebrations. I can say in my own home I've been grateful that these distractions have kept other ornaments safe from little hands.

That being said as I've learned over the years unbreakable doesn't always mean unbreakable. My plastic childhood ornaments that seem to have been made of steel have been broken as I've dropped them in my adult years. However, they have been less likely to shatter than the beautiful glass ornaments from my grandmother's time that I've inherited.

So how does this all relate to the Koalas you may ask? I've tried to pass on this tradition to other family and friends with little ones who want/need their own "unbreakable" ornaments for little hands by making crocheted ornaments for their trees.

This year I opened my holiday binder to the Christmas section in search of an ornament I wouldn't mind making 2 of to send out in my Christmas package. I struggle when I need to make duplicates in short periods of time. I can duplicate doll outfits yearly, but not one after the other. So I needed a pattern that was quick, simple, and interested me enough to make 2 in a close time frame.

I've learned over the years that while it may seem a good idea to make different items for different ones sometimes it can create problems if one item is deemed to be the "better" item. So I decided why not try to make the same item slightly different for the ornaments. Thus I bring you this years Koala ornaments.

This is a free pattern found here. Now the original pattern uses sport weight yarn and I primarily work in worsted weight yarn. The patterns author kindly provided a link to someone who built on the pattern to make it the same size but using heavier weight by adjusting the rows. You can find that here. You will need both patterns if you decide to use the second pattern for the worsted weight option as the second pattern refers to directions only found in the first pattern. The pattern sets include directions for a panda bear and a brown bear too.

This is a fun project and a great way to add a little holiday cheer.