16 Inch Baby Doll Diapers

One of the projects I try to knock off early in the doll donation project each year are the diaper bag items. I need a total of 4 diapers for the 2 JC Toys 16-inch Medium Soft Body Baby Doll La Baby I donate every year so it feels good to get them off my to do list. I try to make a couple in between other projects to keep them from becoming a tedious exercise.

This is a free pattern still available through the Wayback machine here. I have a supply of yarn that was gifted to me and I've been working through it for years. It is a variety an older brands of acrylic and all in various shades of off white. I've been using it primarily for the diapers for the last few years and I would like to believe I'm starting to make a dent. I have enough to finish this years diapers. It is a blessing to be able to make them without needing to buy yarn.

A note to myself for the next set. I followed my notes on the pattern which list a K hook. I'm using my new Ergonomic hooks and found the diapers were a little looser than normal. I read a previous posting about using an I hook and I'll experiment with that as it might have to do with the stretchiness of this yarn. It might need a smaller hook. I will change my notes to reflect the hook size on the pattern as well as noting them on the blog after I make the next set. I continue to use snaps with this pattern.

I did find Melissa & Doug Baby Food & Bottle Seton sale and I was able to purchase 3 sets so the 2 16 inch dolls and the JC Toys, Lots to Love Babies 14 inches Baby Doll will all have one as part of their donation. While bottles are easy enough to crochet, the plates and baby food jars are not as easy to make so the feeding kit makes it a more complete set to donate.

My First Prayer Shawl

I mentioned last week that I had joined a Prayer Shawl Ministry Group at my Church. When I got home from the first meeting, I dug out some leaflets I had, downloaded some free patterns from the Internet, and even went online to reserve some books to preview from the library. I like variety.

As I started working on this project, I realized how nice it is to have a project that I can work on and just relax as I am doing it. This particular project works in threes so when you get to the end of the row, if you have done the row correctly, you have an even outcome. If you made a mistake, it is very clear. It makes it the perfect project to work on when you might be distracted.

This shawl is called Comfort and it comes from Prayer Shawls II (Annie's Attic: Crochet) a leaflet I picked up when it was on clearance at Annie's Attic. I love the texture it created as I was working with the yarn. I used a One Pounder of Caron I picked up while I was at the meeting. While the pattern didn't finish off the ends, I didn't like the leaving the ends unfinished so I chose to finish it off with a shell. The One Pounder didn't leave me with enough to finish off the shawl so, I chose grey because I thought it looked good against the blue.

I am used to taking pics of dolls and toys. I need to find a better method to show off the shawls.

I started the Double Hug Shawl from Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion, The: 37 Patterns to Embrace, Inspire, and Celebrate Life that I borrowed from the library. After previewing it, this is on my buy list. I have a wedding to attend in July and I am thinking a Double Hug one in black might be a nice addition to my wardrobe. There are several other patterns I can see making to donate.

This is also helping my stash busting goals. I had bought some I Love This Yarn for a project and never got to it. Now it’s going to a good cause.

Crochet Games of Ancient Greece Update

I'm continuing with my Olympic challenge to make play food for my Christmas toy donation. The food works up quickly and I may need a bigger box before I am finished with my donation.

The focus for yesterday was breakfast. I made a second pancake, two sausages, a whole egg, a cracked egg with an egg inside, and a fried egg. The pancake, sausage, egg, and fried egg came from an old Annie's Attic pattern, Crochet Toy Food, 87F12. The cracked egg with egg inside came from Tasty Crochet: A Pantry Full of Patterns for 33 Tasty Treats which is one of my favorite food books. They also have a great pancake pattern if you need one. While there are lots of free patterns out there, Tasty Crochet provides a nice collection all in one place to work from when you are trying to build a toy food pantry.

My favorite is the cracked egg. I made this for a family member before and it is a huge hit. Children like being able to crack the egg and have it "come out" either into a bowl to "mix" or on to a pan to "cook."

I have to look at my food crochet books to decide where to go next. I'll have a weekend update on the challenge next week.

AC Moore Rewards

My AC Moore $10 off rewards coupon arrived in the mail yesterday. All that swap shopping had rewards. I encourage people to sign up for the various store's reward programs, mailing lists, and email lists. I have benefited greatly from the coupons and special offers. If you buy craft materials, keeping it affordable means knowing about the sales and the deals.

Don't forget if you have not entered the Fashion Doll Leaflet Giveaway for a Leisure Arts crochet leaflet you can enter here.

I finished another dino for the donation project. I should have a picture to post soon. I put a T-Rex on the hook last night from a pattern I have not used yet. I am hoping to have this finished today, as I need to drop these off tomorrow.

I also realized that I started my afghans out of order. The Kitty blanket is going to be delivered Christmas Eve. The other one I need to make has to be shipped. Therefore, I began working on that one yesterday, too. I also read of a new technique to work with the yarn on the Kitty one so I may want to experiment with that to make the back of the Kitty blanket neater when it is finished. I am making the Sunset Throw from the August 2011 Crochet World magazine using Red Heart Super Saver Melonberry. It is an interesting look and I love the colors. It is working up quickly.