Blythe and Strawberry Shortcake

Clair (my Blythe doll) looks a bit peevish, as though she was a big sister made to dress like a little sister; well, guess what?

In this case, the Blythe sweater was made first, then modified for Strawberry Shortcake.

The sweaters have back snap closures. Strawberry's sweater has minimal shaping, but I gave quite a bit of waist and neckline shaping to Blythe's sweater. The yarn is a "bamboo from rayon" blended with wool and nylon... maybe it's a bamboo yarn, and maybe it isn't, but it's lovely to work with, and soft with a sheen.

The skirts are rayon; elastic waist with pink tulle underskirts attached; rickrack trim at the hem.

I'm not going to post the sweater pattern as I am not totally satisfied... it needs a bit of rework which I will save for another day.

Room with a view; a FS Lookout in the Pacific Northwest.

Elevation: 4300 ft.

13 miles east of the Pacific Ocean; overlooking the Pistol River watershed, and the Gardner Ranch, which was settled in 1885 by my great grandmother Rebecca and her husband Ben. They had two children; Harley and Ina..

Ina was my grandmother; she was married to Jeff Forkner and had 4 children with him. They built a house on her 1/2 of the ranch; purchasing lumber from the mill on Carpenterville Road.

Later, she was married to Keith Dunning, and had 3 children with him. It was he who talked her into selling her 1/2 of the Gardner Ranch and moving south to the land of opportunity: was it Fortuna, CA? In any case, he left her there with the three chiildren and the 4 older children. I heard it said that the older boys ran him off.

Back in my own childhood, my parents would spend a couple of weeks each summer at the ranch, with all us 6 children in tow. They helped with shearing the sheep; we children played.... there was a very steep slope where we used to climp up to the top with pieces of cardboard and sliding down... someone invariably got hurt, but we loved it! Memories, memories.

We began going to SnowCamp LO in 1995; it was no longer "manned" or "staffed", but had been turned into a vaacation rental by the FS. It became one of our "go to" spots.

Later when the 2003 Biscuit Fire ran amuck, and burned the structure, we were among the group that volunteered to rebuild the structure. Since that time, Frankster and I have volunteered to "open and close" the lookout each season.

We couldn't have asked for better weather! Sunny, warm and no wind! Yay!

Often we are there when the winds are 40 mph, gusting to 80 mph. It made the job of putting up the shutters so much easier not to worry that one would be blown out of your hands and over the mountain! Our good friends, Stephen and Cris, were there to help us, so the job went quickly and smoothly!

Can't wait till opening next season!

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake wearing her original pants with the hat I recently knit for the Tanya doll; seems they both have 6" heads!

The little sweater is my newest pattern; much modified from my Blythe sweater pattern to fit Strawberry.

I made the first one to slip on over the hips, but doesn't work for her. I added a back opening and will add only one top snap. It would close completely, but I like the bit of flare.

Once I was happy with the pattern, I tested it out on about 10 different yarns! Why, you may ask? Well, they're so tiny and a bit like popcorn... make one, and you want to do another!

After I get all the yarn ends woven in and the snaps attached I will begin listing them on my etsy. It will be interesting to see how much interest there is in Strawberry!

:D

Strawberry Shortcake

I rescued a 2002 Strawberry Shortcake doll from the abyss of my granddaughter's room; she cleaned up nicely, so will be drafting patterns for her soon!

Tanya's Knitted Cloche

Tanya is the newest addition to my growing collection of dolls. She is from the Signature Collection from Barbara Lee. Measuring 8" high, she has a 6" head circumference.

This hat fits "What's Her Face" and will likely fit some of the other dolls with slightly bigger heads than Barbie.

My other hat patterns were either too small (Skipper, Licca, Momoko, etc) or too big (Blythe, Pullip, American Girl, etc).

So, this sweet little porcelain doll gets her own hat pattern.
Needles: size 1 DP
Yarn: sock weight yarn, shown: German Regia self-striping yarn, and turquoise Wildfoote from Brown Sheep Co. Both knit up at approximately 9 st per inch.


Cast on 54 stitches; join, be sure stitches are not twisted. (18-18-18)
Knit stockinette stitch for 1.75"( about 20 rows). then:

Decrease for Crown:

Rnd 1: "K4, K2 tog" across to 45 st. (15-15-15)
Rnd 2: Knit around
Rnd 3: "K3, K2 tog" across to 36 st. (12-12-12)
Rnd 4: Knit around (note: this is final round of knit only)
Rnd 5: "K2, K2 tog" across to 27 st. (9-9-9)
Rnd 6: "K1, K2 tog" across to 18 st. (6-6-6)
Rnd 7: "K2 tog" across to 9 st. (3-3-3)
Rnd 8: "K2 tog, K1" across to 6 st. (2-2-2)
Rnd 9: "K2 tog" across to 3 st. (1-1-1)

ICORD Topknot:
Knit the final three stitches onto one needle. Knit ICORD for 18 rows (54 st, if counting). End. Thread yarn thru a tapestry needle and weave into the center of the cord then trim; tie topknot. Weave in tail remaining at the beginning of the cap.


And, this is Tanya... she has glass eyes and real lashes. I don't show a full body photo... when I found her in an antique shop she was dressed in her original outfit which is bulky and cumbersome... Later, after making a new outfit for her she will appear again.

Note: Pattern is copyrighted and available for personal use only.

Dammit Doll

Started out to design a rag doll to wear some of the doll clothing and knits that I make....

this one won't do it, but she's kindof fun anyway!

She's destined to be a "Dammit Doll".... to be kept handy for when you feel the urge to whack someone, but your better sense tells you "NO!"

She is made from decorator weight cotton, her ankles are perfectly sized for grabbing, and her body is firmly stuffed for good whacking on the car steering wheel, the tv, sewing machine, or computer; maybe the phone that rings during the 6 pm news.... Yell "Dammit, dammit, dammit" as you give the offending item a couple of good whacks. +_+

She has no face yet and hasn't been closed up at the top of her head, but she is soooo expressive with those long unstuffed arms! With arms crossed I am tempted to give her face raised eyebrows; then I shifted the arms and she looks like the morning after the night before..... :D

On the other hand.... perhaps she should be a "Mood Doll"..... to keep at your desk to forewarn the unsuspecting that today is NOT the day to mess with you!

Textured Fall Head Wrap or Scarflette

I found this fuzzy textured yarn... it has been the rage for several years for those long skinny scarves; you know the ones! Anyway, I was inspired by the fall colors of the yarn... I added a strand of a German Crazy Zauberball self striping wool sock yarn to it for extra color.. Look closely and you will see a bit of blue in it! I also had in mind adding a natural fiber to the poly/acrylic stuff to give it (an me) integrity.... :D

The design is straightforward to knit; simply cast on three stitches, then add one stitch at each end on every row as in "K1, M1, K,... rib knit to the other side ending with P,K, M1, K1... yes, I increased on every row. Keep going until you are done, then stop! Mine ended up being about 8" x 20" excluding the braids.

Bind off loosely; add braided ties. The size is perfect for a head wrap or tied loosely at the neck for a pop of color over a jacket or sweater.

The uneven number of stitches resulted in an edge of knit 3.. with K1,P1 rib knit throughout. I had in mind to knit until the scarflette was wide enough to tie around the neck but changed my mind when nearing the end of the skein.

I liked the idea of the pop of color in the braided ties.

For the ties I wrapped yarn from hand over elbow and back again for 36 strands; cut; divide shaded yarns equally for each side. Slip the strands through the end of the scarflette and with ends even, begin braiding. You can be obsessive compulsive and count out even numbers of colors for the three strands or let them come as the fall... I fall into the obsessive compulsive route, so there ya are!

Happy knitting!