tephra: Photo portrait of a doll with shaggy, dark orange and copper hair, wearing a pink slouchy hat and sky blue glasses. (Default)
Buttercup Miniatures did an Advent knit-a-long and I decided to join in using Lionbrand Amazing Lace yarn and US #0 (2mm) needles. I had no idea if the finished item would fit any of my dolls but I was sure I could send it to a friend with more varied dolls if it didn’t. I don’t have any male dolls at this scale so it was a gamble from the start.

A grey, shawl collared cable knit sweater on a pale wood background.

I basically crossed every cable other than the center panel wrong but didn’t want to start over when I noticed it and just kept going. The ropes should have been snakes and the outermost cables should have been Xs and Os but I still like it. Maybe I will knit another with the cables done right… well at least with the Xs and Os, I prefer the ropes actually.

Seaming was a mixed bag of simple and nightmarish. Setting in sleeves is never going to be something I enjoy, but doing it with a cable at the edge of one piece and no selvedge stitch? ARGH!

The same grey sweater on a Bobobie March doll with wild hair in shaded of orange and gold.

It fits my Bobobie March like she stole it from her boyfriend. The armhole depth is very long for her and the sleeves could be one rope cable crossing shorter.

The same grey sweater on a Wild Hearts Crew Rallee Radmore doll.

The fit on Wild Hearts Crew is great! I was impressed that the neck stretched enough to get over her head.

The same grey sweater on a curvy Barbie Fashionista "spring into fashion" doll.

It even went on a curvy Barbie Fashionista easily.

I would love a Made to Move body for this girl. I bought her specifically to model that crochet flamenco dress she has on under the sweater, so articulation didn’t matter, but then I fell in love with her face. (Not in love with the glue head I deal with and the “look at it funny and it floats” static prone hair.)
tephra: Photo portrait of a doll with shaggy, dark orange and copper hair, wearing a pink slouchy hat and sky blue glasses. (Default)
Finishing more old stuff

Sometime last year someone on one of the knitting discords posted a link to the Shusui Shrug pattern. The designer was thoughtful enough to post a video on how to get the thing started and I just had to try it….

image

Now, before I show the back, let it be known that my Knit Picks needles decided to betray me and the cord came out of the needle right in the middle of the two color brioche portion and dropped a couple dozen stitches.

Let it also be known that acrylic crochet thread doesn’t actually like to be knit with all that much and wants to be straight. Yeah. But! I did get everything back on the needles, and after several attempts even sort of got everything fixed!

Just please ignore the horridly uneven tension that remains even after attempts to fix it and blocking. And that one strand that ran on the RS instead of the WS that I didn’t notice until I was pinning it out to block, okay?

image

Bernat handicrafter #5 crochet thread

US size 3 (3.25mm) needles for body/upper sleeves

US size 1 (2.25mm) for sleeves after the body division

tephra: Photo portrait of a doll with shaggy, dark orange and copper hair, wearing a pink slouchy hat and sky blue glasses. (Default)
While I was procrastinating about blocking the sweater I posted I knit something else.
image

Inspired by a pattern called Tanrenga, which I liked because it made me realize I could turn a top down triangular shawl into a vest if I wanted to. So I looked for shawl patterns and then said screw it and improvised with the old classic feather and fan, like the original used.

image

Fingering weight yarn (Lion brand Summer Nights) on US size 1 (2.25mm) needles. Lightly steam blocked. I tried out the Channel Island bind off (Icelandic variation), but I think if I have to match the CI caston I will do a type of sewn bind off with doubled yarn.

Her tank top is what happens to uncomfortable footie socks. It’s pretty bad hand sewing (I hate hand sewing) but it does the job when I need a layer to put under an open lace vest, yes?

The doll is a Dollzone Feilan on body b45-002. Yes, her wig needs a little TLC but I’m kinda terrified of screwing it up.
tephra: Photo portrait of a doll with shaggy, dark orange and copper hair, wearing a pink slouchy hat and sky blue glasses. (Default)
In my defense, the project bag got eaten by stash and I only found it again when I had to deep dive because of the Stay At Home order. I know that’s not much of a defense.

Anyway, back when the Hunger Games was The Thing and Catching Fire was about to open, knitters kinda lost their minds over Katniss’ sweater (and that one arm cowl/vest thing). I poured over every high res promo shot I could find and knit my version of the sweater for one of my dolls. Then, probably in 2016 or 17, I started another from my notes on the first.

So when I was stash diving I found what I had finished, the side panels, tail, and bottom hem. About half the sweater was already done so I knit the sleeves and then in the fiddly bit to fill in the torso and finish the yoke.

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This doll (Dollzone Mo on body b45-012) is a bit taller and slimmer through the shoulder and bust than the one I made the original for (Featherfall Elf Iruhi on Resinsoul Rong body) but I think the fit is okay, as long as you don’t mind flashing a bit of belly (the low rise pants don’t help; yes I knit those too).

image

My version was knit before we had a shot of the back of the movie sweater, and from what we could see of it I had assumed the side panels were square and met in the back. The real sweater is more boring so I didn’t even consider restarting when I saw the back was different.

Knit with Aunt Lydia’s Bamboo Crochet Thread (discontinued, dammit) on US size 0 (2mm) needles.

That’s one more thing out of the WIP pile. I might even finish the rest if the SaHO keeps being extended.
tephra: Close up of doll hands holding knitting in working position. (knitting)

So I had a wild hair last month and started swatching an idea…

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And after a few variations, I stated knitting… and ripping and re-knitting. Until I ended up with this (unblocked):

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The wine/maroon neckline is sort of fail, but by the time I knew how it would look I had finally managed to get the grey neckline/yoke area sorted out and I was not ripping it again.

I had knit the sweater to go with the skirt I had knit previously, so then of course I had to knit a hat to match.

image

Now I just need to knit her some socks. Unfortunately I am thinking I might not have enough grey yarn, which is a horrible thing to think when you are nearly finished the first sock.

I’m hitting the end of my enthusiasm for this project, so  she might go sockless if I lose yarn chicken. Maybe I will get back to one of the ideas I have had for making her some boots instead.
tephra: Photo portrait of a doll with shaggy, dark orange and copper hair, wearing a pink slouchy hat and sky blue glasses. (Default)

I did finish up some human scale knitting, and blocked some human scale crochet, but I don't have photos yet. So instead you get to see more of Fiona.

A grey Hujoo Phoebe Mouse doll standing on snow and leaves in front of a tree trunk wearing a black handknit sweater, black and white houndstooth pants, and black combat boots.

Hujoo doesn't use s-hooks in these dolls, so until I get around to restringing her I can't just take off her head to dress her like I do with my other dolls. Because of that, and the fact that I am not a fan of bulky fasteners like snaps and velcro (which is not great with knitting anyway), I had to come up with a neckline that would allow me to dress her feet first. However,  I didn't want the neckline to be super large and open either. I think I succeeded with this design, which has "tabs" on the front and back that overlap in the shoulder in the sleeve cap area. At this scale the overlap is kind of like having a shoulder pad in there, but I think it looks okay.

I'm going to knit another to streamline the process; picking up for a tiny sleeve in the round while overlapping bits was fiddly to say the least. After that, maybe I will write this one up as a pattern for sale. We shall see.

tephra: Close up of doll hands holding knitting in working position. (knitting)

While I have been knitting and crocheting right along all year, I haven't really been doing much, or finishing much, for my dolls. I fixed that this past weekend.

First, the craft project that kicked things off.

A grey Hujoo Phoebe Mouse doll sitting on the edge of a silver laptop with a doll sized pale yellow laptop open on her lap. The doll laptop has a cheese wedge for a company logo.

More photos and other projects under the cut. )

And that's it until I either update with the finished human scale things from this year or I finish more doll things.

tephra: Close up of doll hands holding knitting in working position. (knitting)
Because it's not knitting, and an update at this stage would be huge. It's too close to bedtime for that much effort anyway.

Fiona - Headband Bangs

Just a quick little headband for Fiona, my Hujoo Phoebe Mouse girl. The bangs are a bit of boa/eyelash yarn that I tucked under the edge.

Crocheted with one ply of vintage Red Heart Lustersheen on a US #7 (1.65mm) steel hook.

I've been working on a wig for her but the first attempt stalled at the bare wig cap stage due to engineering problems. I'll probably finish it up eventually, but she will need a head bang to keep the bits in front of her ears down I think.

tephra: Photo portrait of a doll with shaggy, dark orange and copper hair, wearing a pink slouchy hat and sky blue glasses. (Default)
The craft output of the last year has not been up to the usual level due to life events. I know I mentioned my mother's valve replacement surgery that was scheduled for last summer and ended up being last fall. What I didn't mention is the reason for the delay; my Dad died. I spent late summer and fall with Mom and my brother and didn't get home until early November, which is also why you didn't see any hints of NaNoWriMo last year. I wanted to do NaNo but there was just nothing for me to work with, not even enough to really get a character or setting started, and absolutely no energy to write with, especially not with nearly a third of the month passed already. It hurt a bit to skip a year but not as much as trying and failing would have.

Anyway, I did actually get some crafty things done in the second half of last year. Many photos behind the cut. )
tephra: Close up of doll hands holding knitting in working position. (knitting)
The craft output of the last year has not been up to the usual level due to life events. I know I mentioned my mother's valve replacement surgery that was scheduled for last summer and ended up being last fall. What I didn't mention is the reason for the delay; my Dad died. I spent late summer and fall with Mom and my brother and didn't get home until early November, which is also why you didn't see any hints of NaNoWriMo last year. I wanted to do NaNo but there was just nothing for me to work with, not even enough to really get a character or setting started, and absolutely no energy to write with, especially not with nearly a third of the month passed already. It hurt a bit to skip a year but not as much as trying and failing would have.

Anyway, I did actually get some crafty things done in the second half of last year. Many photos behind the cut. )
tephra: Close up of doll hands holding knitting in working position. (knitting)
And knitting, of course. A lot of it for dolls.

Things have been... not that great, for the last couple months. Things will continue to be not fantastic for the next couple months at least. With that in mind, let's just focus on what I have been doing/can do that I enjoy.

Photos. So many photos. )

And outside the cut for being recent and pretty (in my opinion) some more crochet doll shoes.

I sent these to Kris for her MSD sized girls. I wanted to know if they would fit Planetdoll minis since I only have Resinsoul and Dollzone (old b45-002 body) dolls to fit things on. The answer is yes, but they could fit a bit better, so I have some tweaks in mind for my next attack of shoe making. Since you can't judge the scale here, the shoes are about 5.6 cm / 2.25 in long.

 Shriara's Flats Shriara's Wedges

That's five pairs I've made, a prototype and four test pairs with different sole styles (flats, wedges for flat feet using 3 and 4 layers of cork, and a 4 layer wedge for high heel feet). All that testing went into writing up a pattern up for sale.

December 2022

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