American Girl Cinderella

Before my cold set in I did manage to finish one of the Princess gowns for the donation. These dresses are always popular and thankfully not as time consuming or challenging as they look. They consume a bit more yarn than most doll outfits which almost proved challenging as I thought I had more of the main color than I did. Thankfully, I found some hidden stash and it all worked out fine.

For those of you interested in the pattern it can be purchased here.

American Girl Pumpkin

As I mentioned in my Ghost posting I like to make holiday outfits for the donation project when I can get to them. This year I also made the Pumpkin costume. For those of you interested this costume is made from two free patterns. You can find the pumpkin body here and the hat here.

I would like to take a moment and thank this designer and all those who donate their designs for the rest of us to use freely. It makes my donations go further. I regularly buy and request as gifts patterns to help with my donation. I recognize people's right and need to make money with their talents to support their own families. However, it is important to let people know that their donation of patterns is part of a larger donation that gets to people in need.

This is a fun quick pattern to make up to give a doll a Halloween costume. Pumpkins were a theme with me this year and this one just seemed a part of it all.

American Girl Ghost Costume

I try every year to get holiday outfits made for the donation, but don't always succeed. This year I did get some Halloween costumes made for the dolls. The first is a simple costume I remember from my own childhood when there wasn't always a great deal of money for costumes. What I remember as being challenging is my mother didn't buy white sheets. She complained they were too hard to keep clean so we rarely had the option for white ghosts or other costumes that required sheets.

The costume is available for purchase here, but it appears to be more expensive than when I received it as a gift several years back. For an experienced crocheter or someone who sews I suspect creating your own ghost costume for the 18" doll is not going to be all that challenging.

Mary Maxim American Girl Summertime Capri Set

This was the second outfit from the Mary Maxim Summertime 18 Inch Doll kit. There is a shrug and a purse I finished for this set, but somewhere on the way to the shoot for this blog, she seems to have lost them. Thankfully, I found them sitting on the couch and they've been bundled up in the package to go with the donation, but I didn't have time for a reshoot, so you'll have to imagine the rest. If you are interested in the kit you can find it at Mary Maxim here. To make it clear this was a birthday gift from DH and I have no association with Mary Maxim other than I am a customer. I am hopeful they make more 18 inch kits as having bought both their kits and Herschnerrs I tend to like the yarn and pattern directions in Mary Maxim's kits better than those I've bought from Herschnerrs. I will say Herschnerr's has had some adorable designs I've liked and bought, but I've not loved the yarn and I have several uncompleted kits because I found myself rewriting the directions as I went and it was frustrating when I had other patterns I could turn to and complete more quickly.

With that I turn to the second pattern from this kit and say honestly I was not as pleased with the second set as I was with the first. Other than the shoes I really liked the overall design of the first pattern. With the second, I LOVED the capris and will be using that pattern with worsted weight yarn so I don't have to increase the hook size to make the pants fit. The pants were adorable and I can see me making them with different tops. I didn't like the top. It was overally complicated to make for something I really didn't like when it was done. The shrug was a nice finish for the outfit. The purse was an easy to make accessory that I'd make again. The kerchief would have been better if there was an explanation about how it went together.

As with the previous outfit I opted out of the sandals. I found they didn't work well for me and instead made the shoes from another pattern I'd purchased here.

I am hopeful Mary Maxim will continue to make these kits as I do like their yarn and the price point is fair if you can get a deal on shipping. I would like to see some themed outfits in the way they've branched out with the 5" dolls.

Baby Doll Nightgown for 16 inch doll

I can't emphasize the gift of a simple project for filling the doll donation bags. This one I worked up while waiting to do something else. It was a great project because it didn't require a great deal of concentration, but I still had another item to add to the donation in a short period of time.

This is the free American Girl Nightgown pattern found here. I had to play a little with hook size do tot he rather round body of the doll, but I was pleased with the outcome.

It was a great way to use up yarn on hand. This was made from left over Caron Pounder Yarn.

Once again I do want to thank the people who donate their patterns for the rest of us to use for free. Your donation makes my donations go further. With these two free patterns by the same designer I've already gotten 4 donation outfits completed this year.

Mary Maxim American Girl Summertime Dress

Mary Maxim's Summer Time Doll Kit for the 18 inch dolls was one of my birthday presents this year. While I love Mary Maxim's yarn and their doll kits, I do find their shipping to be a bit pricey. So, I catch their free shipping when I can and gift giving times are a great time to ask for a gift from them.

As I was making this outfit I realized how much I do like their yarn for light weight projects and after a search was pleased to find you can get it at JoAnn's online. Since they have more frequent yarn sales and shipping offers I do think there may be more Mary Maxim yarn in my doll project futures.

This first pattern worked up very quickly. I did upsize to an H hook. I had no issue with the dress, hat, or poncho. I was not happy with the sandals. I just couldn't get them to fit. So instead of worrying about the sandals I went back to my fall back shoe pattern from a Sun Dress Pattern I purchased here.

This kit comes with 2 outfits so I hope to finish the second one soon.

Baby Doll Dress for 16 Inch Doll

While I enjoy playing with new patterns and learning new stitches I always appreciate simple easy to make patterns that can fill my donation bags for the dolls. I love it even better when I can take a pattern for one doll and adapt it to another. This baby doll dress is adapted from the free 18 inch free Flamenco Dress pattern found here.

The main changes I made to accommodate the body of the doll were an H hook for the top of the doll and an I hook for the skirt. It just made for a better fit. Using the I hook I needed to reduce the number of rows for the skirt section of the pattern.

I went through several versions of the 15" doll before moving on to the 16" doll as each version became unavailable. I like having model dolls to try the clothes on to make sure they will fit the new donation dolls so I try to keep up with dolls I can find for the next donation year. My current favorite doll is JC Toys La Baby 16-inch Washable Soft Body Purple Play Doll that I found when the last of the 15 inch dolls were no longer available. The features on this doll are a bit nicer and I'm finding with a little work many of the 15" patterns do adapt to the 16" doll.

This is Walmart's Mainstay Acrylic Yarn. I had never seen it before and there was only one skein. It just seemed like a fun silly color for a baby doll dress and I enjoyed both the softness of the yarn and the color as it worked up.

American Girl Sun Dress

Sweet Silver Creations has always been one of my favorite 18 inch doll designers. Over the years I've collected most of her 18 inch doll patterns. They've generally appear on my Christmas and birthday lists. I'm hoping some new ones will be coming out soon. This is my first attempt at making this one. You can find the pattern here.

I loved the dress and the shoes. I wasn't as happy with the hat.

Pattern notes:

I used worsted weight instead of sport weight yarn. The H hook worked with the worsted weight to make the outfit fit.

American Girl Dovetailed

Edited to add pattern link. Darski kindly hunted down the link for me on Crochetville. You can find the free pattern here.

I made this pattern 2 years ago for the donation. It is a one of Darski's free patterns from Crochetville, but sadly I believe the link has been lost. If at any time I find it I will of course add it. I pulled this pattern out because to my eye it looks complicated, but it always a confidence builder for me.

Notes for myself, don't forget to have elastic on hand. Easy to use once you have it, but a delay when you have to go find it. I used snaps this year. I seem to have a thing about buttons this year. I've been using more snaps. Other than that I followed the directions pretty much as written.

American Girl Swim Suit

Every year I promise myself next year for the donation I'll make this with worsted weight instead of cotton. I almost had to write this again this year. I started it in cotton, but I was finding the leg openings weren't a good fit and decided to frog it and start again with worsted weight yarn. I love this color blue for the suit.

I've been making this pattern for the donation for several years now. I pulled it out as part of my efforts to work on patterns I knew I could complete to build up my confidence and to get some outfits put away for the donation. You can purchase the pattern here.

There are many free and paid bathing suit patterns on the market for the 18" dolls. I return to this pattern for a couple of reasons. First the bathing suit works up quickly and easily. While I do have to watch my gauge to make sure the outfit isn't too tight, the pattern isn't difficult to follow.

The other reason I return to this pattern frequently is the accessories. While I don't love making the ducky floaty and I comment on it every time I write about it, I always find it cute when it's finished. With the blanket, beach pail, and beach ball it makes a complete set for a child receiving the donation. For my own sake, I try to make the bathing suit during the summer months as it brings back happy summer memories of times spent at the beach as a child. It never quite feels like summer until I've been to the beach.

Baby Doll Diaper Bags

Crochetville's Wishlist came through again to help me with my doll donation project. These doll diaper bags arrived from a Polish Fairy Godmother last Tuesday. Now I just have to make the items to fill them up before the deadline which usually arrives around Thanksgiving. This is such a relief as I really don't like making bags. These are so adorable and will make some little girls quite happy.

Baby Doll Carrier

After taking a break to let my hands heal up I tackled and finished the second doll carrier for the donation last week. Thanks to a thoughtful Fairy Godmother from Crochetville, I don't need to crochet a blanket for this set as she sent me one as part of our wishlist there. I am grateful as this has let me move on to other projects.

The doll carrier is a free pattern and you can find it here.

Now for my project notes. I fell in love with the color of the Big Twist yarn while at JoAnn's and thought it would be a nice break from working with the Caron Pounders or Red Heart. The yarn is softer and I liked the pale pink color. The softer should have been a sign I'd made the wrong choice. Softer is wonderful for MANY projects, but not the doll carriers, which are trying to create an almost basket to carry the dolls in by using 3 strands of yarn crocheted together. The yarn broke more than once and I've never had this happen with any other brand of acrylic I've used making the doll carriers. That to put it mildly was frustrating. So while I will continue to by Big Twist for other projects, I'm making a note to remind myself that no matter how tempting the colors are I must never buy it again to make the doll carriers.

I am thrilled that the doll carriers are finished for the year. I love the way these come out and next year am planning on sending an additional one to a family member so that will be three in a year, but I never ever find myself sad when I'm done making them as they are extremely tough on the hands and wrists. Three strands is just nasty.

Thankful Thursday: Crochet Hamburger and Fries

Once again I am thankful for thoughtful members of Crochetville who continue to support Aztec wishes Holiday Toy Drive. Saturday I received a package from another Crochetville Fairy Godmother with a hamburger with lots of condiments and fries. She also sent a beautiful granny square doll blanket for the toy drive.

Square Doll Blanket

Another Crochetville Fairy Godmother has come through with a doll blanket for my doll donation project.

I love the color and softness of this yarn. There are going to be some warm and comfy dolls this Christmas.

Granny Doll Blanet

Another thoughtful girt from a Crochetville Fairy Godmother. This blanket is for my doll donation project. I love granny squares, but I never have the patience to make them all the same size and then to assemble them all together.

The high school students can add another state to the states and countries that have donated to their project.

American Girl Grey Lady

I didn't get to this pattern last year, but it is one of my favorites. It works up quickly and has some cute accessories. The skirt and top are connected to form a single dress piece. The stitches used in the top create a lovely textured sweater look and the skirt is pleated. The link to purchase it at has switched since I posted about this pattern last. You can now buy it here.

Some notes for myself Bernat Super Value is my favorite grey. It isn't the cheapest worsted, but for what ever reason I love their grey. I love their other colors too, but I just prefer their grey above all others and can deal with Red Heart or Caron Pounders for everything else. I went on a purge to finish off all the grey in the house this year, so by next year I may need more, thus the note to self.

For my crazy gauge I need to use a G hook for the skirt and an H for the top. The panels for the poncho are sewn to each other. This should be obvious but I got distracted this year and sewed the big panel together thinking the other was joined at the end of that joining. No clear idea why this would be a thing and ended up making a new large panel. The big panel is sewed directly to the small panel. Sometimes I have to spell things out directly for myself.

Cozy Post Stitch Doll Afghan

I'm not sure which Crochet Calendar this one came from, but this is another of Michelle Crean's doll patterns and you can purchase the set at Annie's here or her website here. I give you both because Annie's sometimes has sales or coupons, but then they put stuff on clearance and the links die. However, I suspect Michelle will be selling her own patterns for considerably longer. That gives you time to find it if you want it. I find it frustrating to find a write up about a pattern I love only to discover I can't find it so I do what I can to help.

This was a fun pattern to work on. I used up some Caron Simply Soft that I'd bought for a baby blanket project and then changed gears and didn't need so much yarn. It felt good to shop from my stash to finish up another project. I also liked going with the watermelon colors. I don't know why, but this color scheme seems to sneak into my doll donations every other year or so in some fashion or other. A few years ago it was the baby dolls as I attempted to use up some yarn that had been given to me.

So again for the pattern notes. The Caron Simply Soft worked fine for this pattern. It required an I hook to make the size I wanted. Lastly again just a note to help me remember what worked, mark first chain 2 and last hdc with marker for better stitch count. I had a hard time picking these out and thus was confused about getting an accurate stitch count. Once I started putting a saftey pin in these stitches I stopped having issues with my count as I knew where these stitches were located and life become easier.

I'm working on the Valentine Lovey at the moment along with the Gray Lady 18" doll outfit. The ami heart has proven to be the most challenging item for the lovey. I can't remember making one before that wasn't two sides sewn together. I did a quick search on the blog here and as I remembered I'd made some Valentine heart toys for my nephews a few years back, but that pattern had you make 2 sides and sew them together, not the traditional ami style that I was struggling with yesterday. I did however finish one, but it is likely going to be better for a larger toy I wanted to make and send. I'm almost done with the smaller heart that will go with the Bunny Valentine Lovey. I'm slowly getting there and I still have time. My drop dead mail date is the last day of January although I'd like to go sooner if possible. I still need to order the Board Books to send with it.

Edward's Crochet Doll Emporium: Flip the Mix-and-Match Patterns to Make and Dress Your Favourite People

Baby Doll Carrier

The first doll carrier and blanket for the 2018 doll donation are done and I am so glad. I love the doll carriers and the pattern isn't challenging in general, but working the three strands of worsted weight yarn together is hard on my hands. Finishing a set is always a welcome time. For those of you interested in the doll carrier it is a free pattern found on Ravelry here. The blanket is another of Michelle Crean's doll blanket patterns found in Crochet 2018 Day-to-Day Calendar. This year's entry is called Diamond in the Sky and I rather liked it. Red Heart makes the blankets a little larger, but I like to give the child the option of wrapping the doll, which a shorter blanket doesn't allow.

Now for my notes to myself that I make so I can remember what I did that makes all of this stuff work. For the carrier I need 3 skeins of the same color Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. To make this a workable size for the donation doll start with an I hook for rounds 1-10 switching to a K hook at row 11 to end. This is strictly based on my funky gauge. The first time I made this I tried the K hook through out and almost had one big enough for a real child. Those of you reading should test your own to determine how to proceed. My notes are really for me to come back to should I lose the pattern I've written the notes on for next year. I'm trying to get better with my documentations because I have lost patterns and then have no recourse but to experiment again.

As for the blanket I had hoped to start with the yarn left over from the carrier, but situations being what they are hadn't finished with the carrier when I started with the blanket. However, for my purposes I need 2 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver for the blanket and an H hook I was able to use up the remains of the yarn from the 3 skeins I used for the carrier. I love it when I don't have tons of little balls of yarn left over from projects but instead can roll them into the next project. It does wonders for my yarn storage issues.

Easy Peasy Doll Afghan

I got this pattern from the 2015 Crochet Calendar. You can now purchase it as part of a pattern set here. I try to make sure every 18 inch and Baby doll donation leaves with a blanket so I try to start early. I find before and right after Christmas are a good time to get them out of the way. This time of the year, simple is a good choice for me. I find myself having to focus even on simple stuff to keep stitch counts correct.

I started this one while waiting for someone getting some routine testing done. I had it about half done since the testing ran long. It was the perfect choice since I couldn't have concentrated on a book in the waiting area, but the predictable stitch and counting the stitches to make sure the rows stayed even helped pass the time.

Just a note for myself and for those who are interested I used worsted weight yarn and and an I hook to get the size I wanted for the doll. I did not change the stitch count.

I love Michelle's blanket patterns and look forward each year to the new pattern in the Crochet calendar to try something new.