I have totally fallen off the track with posting as I had promised myself at New Year's. I went to a wonderful 4th of July/family reunion party and had a great time, but within a couple days the weather went to 112 degrees and I didn't handle it well. (Neither did several of my plants, and I am afraid I've lost at least two of them.) Then last Tuesday my husband went in for surgery (all is well!), but I had to get up at 3:30 am to get ready to leave with him, which really threw my routine in a tizzy. Silly me, I brought a shawl to work on while I was waiting, but I was so tired I ended up having to rip out all that I had done. Oh well, it kept me busy. I've since caught up on my sleep and I am back with the living now!
My husband was just recently notified that his family is going to have a new addition. The nephew and his wife had a gender reveal at the July 4th party - it's a girl! So if course that means anything I was currently working on or planning to work on has been set aside for now. There are so many wonderful things to crochet for babies - it's so hard to choose! However, I remembered a particular doll that I had seen a while ago that I fell in love with, but it was a paid pattern so I took a pass. But now I have the perfect excuse for buying it! So I did. It's called "Cuddle-baby - amigurumi doll" by Lilleliis and it cost about $4.68 in US dollars (4 Euros). The pattern is well written and easy to follow; it was me who screwed up, so of course it took forever to make.
My suggestion is to make sure you have all the same weight yarn to make this doll with. I thought I did, but it didn't take me too long to realize I didn't. You see, I'm still trying to keep with using my stash, so I worked with what I had. I started with the head and then went on to the body. The yarn I used for the head was at least a DK and the body was definitely sport weight. The head was huge! So I had to unravel half the head and figure out how to make it smaller, which was time consuming. Then I realized I hadn't worked the invisible decrease correctly on the body, which left odd little indents (they didn't show until I stuffed it). I tried to fix it with a needle and thread, but it didn't work. So I had to redo the body. Then I realized one of the hands was bigger than the other, but I was able to fix that with needle and thread. Geez, you'd think I was a novice crocheter for as much as I messed up!
I did decide to embellish a little, so I gave the hat a crab stitch edging with a pink whipstitch in between the grey stitches, and I added a triple heart applique to the body. Even though this little doll ended up taking a lot more time that it should have, I'm still happy with the outcome. I may add the stitching around the wrists and ankles, though - it does give a more finished look. That is, of course, if I can keep myself from starting the newborn booties, baby blanket, 12M sweater...well, you get the idea!
There is one thing I found out that made me sad, though. While I was looking for the pattern on Ravelry, I found another person's version of the same pattern for sale. It wasn't done nearly as well, and now I can't seem to find it. I can only hope that the original designer found it and told her to take it down. The nerve of some people! Another person was trying to crochet this doll from the picture (hadn't bought the pattern) but was having problems figuring out the arms and legs, so she was asking for the directions on the pattern's forum! The designer replied that what she was requesting was illegal and she was shocked that someone could do such a thing. Listen, I've made things from photos, too, but I would never have the gall to go on the paid pattern's site and ask for free directions! So sad this stuff goes on. And one word to the wise - unless a pattern is VERY simple, you're going to spend A LOT of time figuring it out on your own. Trust me - I know! So you'd better think twice if it's really worth saving a few bucks, IMO.
Till next time, keep on hookin'!
My husband was just recently notified that his family is going to have a new addition. The nephew and his wife had a gender reveal at the July 4th party - it's a girl! So if course that means anything I was currently working on or planning to work on has been set aside for now. There are so many wonderful things to crochet for babies - it's so hard to choose! However, I remembered a particular doll that I had seen a while ago that I fell in love with, but it was a paid pattern so I took a pass. But now I have the perfect excuse for buying it! So I did. It's called "Cuddle-baby - amigurumi doll" by Lilleliis and it cost about $4.68 in US dollars (4 Euros). The pattern is well written and easy to follow; it was me who screwed up, so of course it took forever to make.
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My suggestion is to make sure you have all the same weight yarn to make this doll with. I thought I did, but it didn't take me too long to realize I didn't. You see, I'm still trying to keep with using my stash, so I worked with what I had. I started with the head and then went on to the body. The yarn I used for the head was at least a DK and the body was definitely sport weight. The head was huge! So I had to unravel half the head and figure out how to make it smaller, which was time consuming. Then I realized I hadn't worked the invisible decrease correctly on the body, which left odd little indents (they didn't show until I stuffed it). I tried to fix it with a needle and thread, but it didn't work. So I had to redo the body. Then I realized one of the hands was bigger than the other, but I was able to fix that with needle and thread. Geez, you'd think I was a novice crocheter for as much as I messed up!
I did decide to embellish a little, so I gave the hat a crab stitch edging with a pink whipstitch in between the grey stitches, and I added a triple heart applique to the body. Even though this little doll ended up taking a lot more time that it should have, I'm still happy with the outcome. I may add the stitching around the wrists and ankles, though - it does give a more finished look. That is, of course, if I can keep myself from starting the newborn booties, baby blanket, 12M sweater...well, you get the idea!
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| My version - not a bad runner up, hey? |
There is one thing I found out that made me sad, though. While I was looking for the pattern on Ravelry, I found another person's version of the same pattern for sale. It wasn't done nearly as well, and now I can't seem to find it. I can only hope that the original designer found it and told her to take it down. The nerve of some people! Another person was trying to crochet this doll from the picture (hadn't bought the pattern) but was having problems figuring out the arms and legs, so she was asking for the directions on the pattern's forum! The designer replied that what she was requesting was illegal and she was shocked that someone could do such a thing. Listen, I've made things from photos, too, but I would never have the gall to go on the paid pattern's site and ask for free directions! So sad this stuff goes on. And one word to the wise - unless a pattern is VERY simple, you're going to spend A LOT of time figuring it out on your own. Trust me - I know! So you'd better think twice if it's really worth saving a few bucks, IMO.
Till next time, keep on hookin'!
