Homespun

Remember the yarn I spun back in January? http://tookenstale.blogspot.com/2013/01/drop-spindle.html Well I finally made it into a hat. It was a chunky weight yarn and with only 3 oz it wasn't quite enough to make a hat for myself so I gave the hat to Amelia.

  

 

Here it is on the spindle single ply.

Here it is after I double plied and washed it.

It was a lot of fun knitting something from yarn that I spun myself. And now I have a better idea of how much wool it takes for a finished project.

Julie

Julie is so happy her clothes are finally ready! 

I remember when she had trouble choosing her hair colour but everything else has been an easy choice for her. She is full of life, and just can't wait for Spring weather!

We tried to go outside for her photo shoot but being typical Upstate New York weather it was very grey and dreary. I was going to put it off for another day but Julie was just too excited and I didn't want to disappoint her.  My husband was very sweet and let me take over the kitchen and turn it into a photo studio. With the white walls and three windows it seemed like the best place. I grabbed some extra lights and we were ready to go.

 

Julie is 18" tall and is made from a double thick organic cotton interlock and sewn with 100% cotton thread which I use for both the doll and her clothes. She is stuffed full of eco wool from happy wandering sheep with no yucky chemicals. 

Her waist length hair is made from an Ultra Alpaca yarn that I first crochet into a wig cap and then hand sew each individual strand to the cap.

 Her features are hand embroidered with cotton embroidery floss and her cheeks are blushed with bees wax.

She is wearing a sleeveless dress with a full skirt and a peter pan collar. I found(correction, my daughter found) this beautiful Japanese floral print cotton at a local fabric store.( I like to purchase my fabrics and yarns from local, independently owned shops). It is fastened in back with two buttons and hand smocked at the waistline.

Here is a close up of the smocking.

 

Julie is modeling her sweater which I knit from a Worsted Merino Superwash yarn. I crocheted her Mary Janes and headband to match. 

The headband ties in the back and can also be used to put her hair in a pony tail.

She is also wearing a pair of white cotton bloomers with a little blue bow.

I used a pair of vintage buttons to fasten her shoes, and a matching one in a slightly larger size for her sweater.

Julie is looking forward to finding her forever home. She has been a delight to make and has lots of love to share. 

She will be available for adoption through my etsy shop tomorrow morning 3/26 at 9:00 am eastern standard time♥

Almost Finished

She is Almost done! As I mentioned in my previous blog I'm making a new doll for my daughters birthday.
This time I wanted to make a smaller doll that could fit in her hand.

Here she is next to Ella. Ella is about 16" so Isabelle is about 12". I gave her little ears and bendy knees.

For her hair I started with a crocheted wig cap. Then I hand stitch layers of yarn to the cap.

I like to make the hair in layers so my daughter can give her any hairstyle. She likes to change her dolls hair a lot!

This is what the back looks like when the hair is pulled up.

Around the face I like to hook the yarn.

Last year I saw a beautiful doll with wavy hair and I new I wanted to try it. You can see the doll here http://www.flickr.com/photos/juli_velo_poupee/5995274340/in/faves-fromthelandofbrung/
at Juli's photostream. She was so nice to share how she made it so wavy. After the yarn is attatched each piece of yarn is unwound.

It takes a lot of time, but it's so pretty it's definitely worth it.

Now she's almost finished. I designed her a little cotton calico dress with hook and eye closer in the back.

I knitted her  little yellow beret out of Cascades 220 Superwash Wool. It was originally for another project but I thought the colour went well with the brown dress.

 I still need to finish the coat. I want to put a blanket stitch around it and I'm trying to knit a matching scarf. That part isn't going so well. She may end up scarfless :(

 Then the  last thing I will  need to do is make her little felt shoes. I will post more pictures when she is totally finished.