Dolphin

I'm continuing to trade off working on my summer birthday projects and my doll donation items. I've got two playset items that are larger I'm working on and then the creatures and other items to use with the playsets to make for the birthday box. I'm working on a variety of different sized doll clothes for the Christmas donation.

The Little Chubby Dolphin pattern is a free pattern you can find here. I've been mixing and matching patterns from different books and pattern sites as I go. I finally got around to purchasing Bathtime Buddies as a Ravelry PDF download even though my library loan has not expired. There are cloth patterns for the tummies of some of the animals to add and instead of photocopying them to use to cut out the pieces (which I'd have had to do even if I'd owned the print book) I can print the patterns as I need them, cut and reprint again if I remake the animals and lose the precut patterns.

I did make some changes to the dolphin. As I've mentioned in previous posts I'm trying to keep the animals small so they will store well and fit the playsets. With that in mind I went from the suggested f hook to a D hook. I did make a white stomach rather than the multi-color tummy for the dolphin, but I wasn't thrilled with the look so I left it off. If I made another one I might try using a lighter weight yarn for the stomach as it just seems too bulky with 2 layers of worsted weight yarn.

I have 75 Seashells, Fish, Coral and Colorful Marine Life to Knit and Crochet on reserve at the library to pick up this weekend to see if there are any additional ideas to add to my ocean playset. I've not looked at this book before but I'm not a huge fan of the combined knit and crochet books as I don't knit. It always seems like the projects I most want to do are the knit ones. I've tried knitting and the best I can do are dishcloths. Crocheting is my fiber talent. That being said it is free to preview from the library so it is worth seeing if there are any fun things to add to the mix.

I found dishcloth material this weekend to use with the patterns in Bathtime buddies so I'm looking forward to experimenting with using cloth and yarn together. I've used felt as an add on but never to cover a hole in a crocheted piece before. It will be an interesting project. If it doesn't work I will have to crochet the holes closed or patch with a crochet patch.