Ken Ski Outfit

I previously made this outfit for Ken back in 2021 using the pattern found in the out of print House of White Birches Crochet Wardrobe for 11 1/2" Fashion Doll Including a complete Wedding Ensemble and Trousseau.

This is a black and white newsprint leaflet but I love it for this project because for the most part the patterns are designed for people who want to make a wardrobe for a child to play with rather than an adult who will display the dolls. I have been exploring the patterns a bit more this year and returning to some like this one I hadn't used in a few years. I'm trying to get better about notations so when I do return to a project I have a starting point.

One challenge I have had is that the sizes on the model dolls change. Sometimes significantly and sometimes in a minor way. The first Ken I used for the donation is more similiar to the current model I'm using now. The middle one, the Vet was smaller and required significantly more changes to the old fashion doll patterns to get the clothing to fit. Sadly, this Ken looks like he's been discontinued so I will have to start searching for a new model. I'm hoping to find one similiar in size to this one because so far the old patterns fit him pretty well.

Notes:

I used Knit Picks Fingering Palette and a C hook for all items I would suggest using a D or E hook for the hat as it is tight.

Sweater:

I've played with changing colors at the top. I like this look better than the previous look. The single strand stripe got lost at the top. The double stripe looks cleaner.

Don't decrease sleeves at row 11. While it gives a more realistic cuff look the hand does not fit through the cuff once the count is reduced. I think I realized this before but without notes I tried the reduction and pulled it out. Pallete doesn't always love being pulled out.

Pants:

I end up crocheting around to cover the elastic and then reducing. I waited to reduce after making the legs. I think in the future I would experiment with reducing after finishing the elastic row as the pants get puffier the longer the additional stitches remain. I did get down to 15 stitches for each leg and that was a good fit once I reached it to get them easily on and off.

As I mentioned earlier these dolls seem to be slightly different in size. I needed to add rows to 18 to get the legs long enough for Ken's pants.

Hat:

After realizing Ken's hat was tight I went back to see if I left any instructions for Skipper's hat I'd made earlier and sure enough I had so for next year's project I leave myself the reminder from Skipper's project. I'd also seriously consider going up to a D hook as this was snug.

I added one 2 dc in one dc in next row for the hat after reading my previous project notes and I found this made the hat fit better with the doll's hair.