doll clothes for the birthday girl

finally. this doll has some clothing.

she arrived the christmas before last wearing only a nightgown. zoe has been wanting a change of clothes for her for quite some time. she now has a few items to mix and match.

can i tell you how much fun i had making them? a lot. just as much fun as when i made the doll.



(some details: i wanted to make the doll in the first place, after seeing the bamboletta dolls. i bought a kit from dancing rain dolls, but i'm not sure the company still exists. then i got really motivated to make the clothes after seeing this on trulakids. i do plan on making at least one more doll and some clothes for miss g. and maybe aryn. we'll see.)

The Cake

 when i saw this cake, i knew that i wanted to try it on the next birthday.

i fell in love with the casual, messy, colorful look of it all. (the original site shows a much more sophisticated, cleaned up cake.)

at first i thought i would make two cake mixes for the batter, but then i changed my mind and went with one cake mix. i wasn't sure i'd made the right decision when pouring each color into the pans to bake. they were very thin. and when i took each layer out of the pans, i was even more worried. the yellow broke into three pieces.

icing holds a lot of things together. and covers up a lot of mistakes.

i'm still in love with the casual, messy colorful look of it all.



Back Loops

i am a lefty, so this picture is taken from the left-handed perspective. ( i did find this tutorial on stitchdiva.com for all you right-handers.)

a good way for me to remember this is that the back loop of the stitch is the one farthest away from my body, and the front loop is the one closest. i hope this helps.

Classic Baby Blanket

Twelve years ago, when I had my first baby, my great-aunt Maureen gave me a beautiful gift. The gift was a crocheted baby blanket.

I loved this blanket for its simplicity and elegance. And I've used this same blanket for each one of my little babes.

This blanket is one of my very favorite gifts to give. Years ago, I asked my aunt Maureen how she made it...what the pattern was. She was never very specific because I think she had just made it up herself. She did tell me what stitch she used, so I just figured it out on my own and came up with something myself.

After some years of making this blanket (and showing a few others how to make it as well), I've come up with a set pattern. One that I follow each time I make this blanket now. Last year, I wrote it down.

 I still love this blanket for its simplicity and elegance, and my hope is that you will too.

Materials:

1 ½ cones (about 920-1035 yards) 100 % cotton 4-ply yarn in ecru

size J (6mm) crochet hook

Gauge:

4” x 4” = 12 dc x 6 rows

CHECK YOUR GAUGE. Use any size hook to obtain the gauge.

Finished Measurements:

36” x 36”

Terms used:

ch = chain                                                                       sl st = slip stitch
dc = double crochet                                                        sp = space
sk = skip                                                                        st(s) = stitches


Note: Ch 3 at beginning of dc rows DOES count as a stitch.

Main body:

Ch 110

Row 1: Skip first 3 ch, dc in next 107 ch; Ch 3, turn. (108 stitches)

Row 2-52: Dc in the back loop of each dc across; Ch 3, turn.

Row 53: dc in the back loop of each dc across, DO NOT fasten off; turn work to begin shell border.


Shell border:

*Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same sp, 2 times. Sk next 2 sts, sl st in next st; continue from * around the entire main body. Join with a sl st at the beginning ch 3. Fasten off and weave in ends.