My Life Loom Knit Hat and Crochet Shawl

At a Christmas Church sale we attended I found a used My Life doll to help with the modeling for the doll donation. This hat fit her much better than my primary doll and she actually is one of the current models we donate so it seemed fitting to use her for today's post.

I will be posting later in the month once it is finally finished about a winter warming donation project I participated in and it got me thinking about returning to looming. I never have been great at it but people always talk about looming hats for charity so I thought it would be a good idea to practice before I started making loom hats for humans. This is actually yarn left over from one of the charity hats I made. I'm finding the 5 bulky is a bit thin for hats but again the doll isn't quite as picky and it was a great practice project.

For those of you interested the blue knifty knitter loom fits the 18" dolls. If you are not using the no longer available knifty looms I believe the blue is considered to be the baby loom. Try your smallest loom on top of the doll's head to see if it will fit. I hadn't loomed in several years and was following the directions for the baby hat. I previously had measured the hat on the doll's head to see when to stop. This hat is about 5 inches long and a little high. The baby pattern I believed suggested 6 inches which would have been huge. Next time I will measure it on the doll.

Last year I was working on camping outfits from Adoring Doll's Camping pattern for the Glitter Girl Doll found here. Instead of using an f hook I ended up using an H hook which fit the 18 inch doll but not the intended Glitter Girl Doll. I had intended to go back and create a camping outfit for the My Life Doll but it never happened. As a result I found myself in January with two accessories and decided it was OK to donate them as a pair of accessories without a complete outfit.

American Girl Winter Clothes

I know when you buy out of print patterns you can struggle to match yarns. I thought I got lucky when I went to make the sweater set from Edie Eckman's Crocheted Wardrobe for 18" dolls. (American School of Needlework 1278 published in 1999.) I actually found the name brand and the color online and I ordered it. I should have been suspicious when black was no longer available, but I found black in another brand and it worked out fine. However, when the other yarn arrived I realized it might be an issue. It didn't look like the picture. I decided to try making the scarf first. Sure enough, it was clear this was not the yarn from the original pattern. It would look awful for the sweater. However, it wasn't bad for the scarf pattern from the sweater set. I decided a change of plan for this outfit was needed. The mittens are from this same pattern set.

For those of you who loom knit the blue Knifty Knitter loom works great for the 18 inch dolls. I find the chunkier yarns are the easiest because I don't have to use 2 strands of worsted at once. If you follow the directions for the basic hat that come with the looms, it works up pretty quickly. I find making them is a nice break from crocheting from time to time.

The sweater was made using an out of print Springfield Collection Sweater Trio from Fibre Craft FCM494. This pattern becomes available pretty frequently in places that sell used crochet patterns if you are interested. It tends to be fairly affordable. The sweaters are cute and they work up quickly. The pants are from my favorite Abby, Allie and Annie pattern set, from Maggie's Crochet.

After my first attempt failed, I bought a color close to that in the picture in the same brand as the black to try to make the sweater set again.

Barbie and American Girl Doll Free Patterns are listed on my blog at these locations:

Barbie Crochet and Sewing Page

Barbie Knitting Page

Ken Page

Kelly/Skipper Page

American Girl Doll Crochet and Sewing

American Girl Doll Knitting

Doll Blankets and Pillow Patterns

Baby Doll Patterns:

Baby Doll and Cabbage Patch

Additional Doll Patterns also Available on the Holiday Blogs:

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving