Winter Warmer Donations

I generally don't make lots of human clothes. I do occasionally make shawls, hats, and scarves. A group of friends were collecting hats, scarves, and mittens for a local family shelter from December to January and I decided this was something I should not only make time for now but I'm commiting to working on as I do my doll's clothes to be ready for the next collection.

The hats were all made using a free Premier Yarns pattern found here.

One of my goals for this project was to use up yarns I had on hand where possible. All but two of these hats were made with Premier Puzzle Yarn that I had thought I'd make shawls with but never ended up making. The light colored one was made with Premier Chunky Bloom. The solid purple one was made with Homespun Aster. It's getting harder to find Puzzle Yarn locally. I wanted to experiment with the Bloom Yarn so I picked up a single skein to try. I used the left overs for a loom knit doll hat.

I used an I hook with all yarns. I liked the first purple hat so much that I used the left over yarn I had to make myself a hat as it got really cold during this drive and I didn't have a winter hat myself. This hat was a little loser around my glasses which I really liked as I hate when a hat pushes my glasses into the side of my head.

I went looking for free scarf patterns on Ravelry that were more than just a single stitch pattern but also not overally complicated and would used yarn I had on hand. The first pattern was free when I got my copy but there appears to be a charge for it now. You can find the pattern for V-Stitch Puzzle Scarf here.

Notes: I used an I hook with Puzzle Yarn for this project.

I needed 2 skeins as I needed to complete 2 more sections with second skein. A partial skein would work for second skein.

I made the scarf 70" long.

I numbered the repeat rows and I used a stitch marker to mark row ends.

This was made with Backgammon.

These are quite warm. I had some Premier Basics Emberand forest green. I had 3 skeins of the red on hand but foolishly started with a single skein of green. Since I refused to buy more green I ended up finishing off with a partial skein of Red Heart Hunter Green Yarn. It wasn't ideal but it is warm.

I used a K hook with this project. As written with the worsted 4 yarn I had, this pattern was more like a scarf shawl which was not what I wanted. I decreased the stitch count to 20 stitches of the stitch pattern which measured about 6 inches which with this pattern made it easier to wrap around the face and neck for warmth. The waffle style stitch makes for a nice warm scarf.

Hunter's Warm and Comfy Scarf Free Pattern found here.

I had some time in January before these were due so I decided to explore my Knifty Knitter looms that hadn't been used in some time.

I started with a basic e wrap hat with Lion Brand Hometown Yarn which is a thickness of 6. I used the adult purple loom with this project.

I'm still working on learning to count the size of the looms but a friend told me the purple was the correct size for an adult donation hat so I started here. I'm working on learning the terms as I go.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Cuddle Up Romper

One of the advantages to dressing and donating multiple sized dolls is when something doesn't fit one doll you have a shot it will fit another rather than having wasted all your effort and time on an outfit.

This is Amy Carrico's Cuddle Up Romper pattern for the Lots to Love 8 inch doll which is not currently available. According to my records I haven't made it since 2021 and I didn't write much about my experience back then.

However this year following the suggested hook size the outfit was huge. The shirt would have been big but OK but I had to decrease the waist just to fit the Lots to Love 10 inch doll despite the stitch count being right so clearly something wasn't OK.

Notes:

I used a D hook with Bernat Baby Sport White and Pink.

I had to fiddle with joining the legs to get the stitch count to match and the legs to join.

Later I did additional reduction rounds above what the pattern suggested at the waist as the pants were large even for this doll.

I needed to make a larger starting chain for the headband as the original pattern does fit the smaller doll.

Not all a loss as I know have this set up to use with the larger doll. I am playing with my hook size to see what I need to adjust for a better fit for the smaller doll.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll BBL Sweater Set

This has become one of the classic donation patterns for the Lots to Love 10 inch Baby doll. I love this sweater set. It originally used up a huge stash of left over yarn and now I have been finding a new set of yarn to continue the tradition.

This is part of Darski's free BBL set that you can find here.

Notes:

Sweater:

I used an H hook for the sweater. The brand is a Herschnerrs worsted that I will need to find more of as I think I have one more sweater set left in the stash I have.

The sweater required an H hook. I only use one button.

Bonnet:

I used a G hook for the bonnet.

I ended up with a slightly different front this time. I'd look at this again to see what happened as I do prefer the original look.

Booties:

I've been struggling with these booties for years so I decided to try a few different things that improved the fit.

I used a D hook making them smaller.

I added a row including decreases before rows 6 and 7. This made the boots higher and more stable on the foot. I've been struggling for years to keep these booties on the doll's feet and this fixes seem to work.

Pants:

I do not use Darski's pants patterns. I used an elastic hair band and crocheted around it for the waist. This time I used hdc for the pattern and when the waist was long enough split for the legs.