Baby Doll Wipes

I keep finding little projects to work on during my time helping family during my Skype homeschooling sessions. These were a perfect project and now I have my first items ready for both 16 inch baby doll diaper bags. You can find the purchase the pattern for the complete baby doll diaper bag here.

Last year I was fortunate and a friend from Crochetville sewed the diaper bags and I just needed to fill them with accessories. That worked out wonderfully as making the bags isn't my favorite task. As I prepost this I'm working on the changing pad. It is normally a rather dull task as it is straight sc, but it is a perfect task during my skype homeschooling time because it requires little concentration. I just need to make sure I click my row counters to track how far I've come. Even that isn't essential as what is most important is that it is long enough for the doll to be placed on for the diaper change. I still need to make the baby bottles and the diapers. The bottles aren't good projects for my homeschool time but the diapers might not be a bad project to add to my list of items to complete during that time.

Crochet Barn and Farm Animal Finger Puppets

I needed a project to send out as a Valentine's present for a little one and I really wasn't it the mood for traditional Valentine's toys. Since I'd made the Down on the Farm for her birthday and the Farm Cilo Bag for Christmas I decided to stick with the farm theme.

I actually picked this pattern up in 2 places Best Crochet Animals, Toys & Dolls and the DVD Crochet World Collection. However if you don't happen to have either of those you can buy the single pattern at e-pattern central here. The pattern isn't terribly expensive, but if you get on their mailing list you will find they have amazing sales all the time bringing their patterns down to as little as $1 at times.

Notes for making the barn which I hope to do again.

I lined the entire farm with plastic canvas to help it be more of a play toy for little hands. I did two layers for the short sides and sewed plastic canvas between them. I found I was unable to do a double layer for the long piece which makes the roof and larger sides of the house, so I sewed sections of plastic canvas to each separate area to help the section hold its shape. I found this gave the barn more stability.

While I left a margin around the edges for sewing I'd make it larger next time for the trim and other items required to put the barn together. I added black around the roof after I'd sewn it together, as the original pattern did not account for having two sides of plastic canvas. This made things a little tighter but worth the need to add as the stability was greatly improved with the additional plastic canvas.

I then decided I needed more puppets. I do get carried away with these projects. I found the next set of patterns as a free pattern here. These are slightly bigger but more detailed finger puppets. These were my favorites.

Last I turned to one of my favorite finger puppet sets to find a horse only to find as I wrote this the link had moved to Interweave Crochet. The horse is part of a free set of fairy tale finger puppets and you can find the set here. I have made this set many times over the years. The dragon and the knight have been particularly popular.

Once finished I packed them all in to make sure they'd fit as the box was only designed for the original animals in the pattern.

I'm a huge fan of adding books to presents and for the holiday packages I try to go seasonal.

American Girl Ribbed Navy Sweater

This was the last of the three sweaters from the the out of print Springfield Collection Sweater Trio FCM494. I didn't have any navy yarn on hand when I started this project, but I wanted to be able to search for this sweater. I realized when I want to look for information on working on these sweaters in the past I lumped them all in as sweaters and it isn't as helpful as it could be to read up on my notes.

As with the other sweaters in this pattern I made this year I reduced the hook size from F to E. I also made the headband which I don't think I did the last time I made this sweater. I will be making them with the two sweaters that don't have hoods in the future. It's a nice finishing touch.

As with the previous two patterns I used the Maggie's Crochet Abby, Allie, and Annie PA972 - 01 for the pants. Depending on how these get distributed the pants will mix well with other outfits.

Trina 16 Inch Baby Doll Dress

As I mentioned earlier I've been adapting a variety of patterns to fit my 16 inch doll project to get a wider variety of patterns. I saw this free pattern here and decided to see what I could do to make it fit the 16" baby doll. As written the pattern is too small so I frogged it and based on previous experience I used worsted weight yarn and and I hook to get the size I needed.

Additional notes for myself:

I changed rows 6 and 7 to increase rows following the established pattern. I did begin the back stitches in row 8 as prescribed. I used ties for this dress rather than a button. I just found it easier for my purposes.

16 Inch Doll Sundress and Hat

As I've mentioned before there aren't tons of patterns that fit the soft bodied 16 inch baby dolls although I do keep finding new ones all the time. Since I donate two dolls a year I do often make multiple outfits from the same patterns. This was the second dress I made from this pattern here.

Notes to myself:

I played with the hat by reducing the increases and I like the look of it much better.

American Girl Hooded Sweater and Pants

As I mentioned earlier as the weather got colder I decided it was time to make some sweaters. This is the second sweater I made from the out of print Springfield Collection Sweater Trio FCM494. I love this hooded sweatshirt/sweater. It's one I try to get to every donation. It's just a fun pattern to make. As with the previous sweater set I went with my favorite pants pattern, Maggie's Crochet Abby, Allie, and Annie PA972 - 01 although this time I made them in black. I figure it will be nice to have different colored pants to mix and match with the kids that get the dolls.

Notes for myself as with the previous sweater I dropped hook size from a F to an E and the puffiness was reduced. I might suggest making the hood with F next time and the body with an E. The hood was a little smaller than I prefer. My pony bead supply is holding up as this is one of the few outfits I use them on so no need to resupply.