Aztec Wishes Donation Headed Out

DH is delivering this year's doll donation to the local tech high school's Aztec Wishes Holiday gift program and thanks to friends at Crochetville it is the biggest donation I've ever made.

This year we have more baby dolls than ever. Thanks to Darski and Tampa Doll at Crochetville we will be sending a beautiful rag doll, an 8" doll and an additional 15" doll in addition to the yearly 12" and 15" baby dolls I usually send. I also warned the director she was going to need more 18" dolls than the two I normally donate to accommodate the beautiful boxes of clothes sent by Darksi and Tampa Doll. I can't wait to hear the director's reaction to all the donations and the kids realization that their program has reached beyond the United States into Canada.

I also need to thank Crochetville friends who have donated tights, shoes, and patterns to the cause. While some patterns are repeated yearly, for my sanity, I need to try new stuff each year to keep this donation project interesting and engaging. Thanks to all of you there are some little girls who will wake up this Christmas not just to dolls, but to dolls with beautiful clothes and accessories. Thank you all.

American Girl Sundress

I haven't posted in ages, but I have been busy crocheting scarves for Christmas gifts. I didn't post all of them because many of them were repeats. I fell in love with the pocket scarf and got lots of requests once the first one was finished.

However, I started to get the urge to return to my doll donation project and wanted to get started for 2016. I got Sarah's Sundress pattern as a gift from a Fairy Godmother on Crochetville's wishlist.

As is usual with me I ended up making a couple of changes to the pattern although it was easy to follow. I am useless when it comes to crocheting into a row of slip stitches. I have used a row of slip stitches to end a piece, but I can almost never crochet back into it to continue on to a new row. So I changed the pattern and it worked for me.

I stuck with Caron Simply Soft as suggested by the pattern, but I decided to use up some left over yarn I had from making scarves. The pink actually turned out to be a good choice.

The next project is almost done. I like to start the year with my holiday projects. The Pilgrim girl only needs a button. I haven't had the patience to sew the buttons yet, so I started on the Santa hat until I have the quiet time I need to get it done.

DH will be dropping off 2015's doll donation to Aztec Wishes this week. Thanks to the kindness of friends at Crochetville there are 6 boxes of wonderful crocheted goodies and extra dolls beyond what I normally donate. I can only thank the kindness of friends who have donated finished items, dolls, shoes, tights, and patterns like the one for today's finished product that make all of this possible. I'm hoping to get some pictures taken before the boxes leave.

Pokeball Scarf

I have a nephew who is a huge Pokemon fan. When I saw a free pattern for a Pokeball scarf here I decided it would make a great addition to his Christmas gifts.

I started making the pattern in double crochet as the pattern suggested. However, I found I didn't like the way it looked and restarted with half double crochets. In order to correct for length I doubled the row count for each color and it worked out fine based on my gauge. Someone else may want to measure their half doubles against their double crochets. I found it did indeed take about two half doubles to make the distance of one double crochet. The scarf is a little stiffer, but warmer than the original I started. I suspect with a few washes it will soften as well. I was concerned that the double crochet holes might leave more chances for it to catch and get torn. He can be tough on his stuff.

Since this one worked out well, I plan on making another one to donate. I know there are plenty of Pokemon fans that might need a little warmth this winter.