It's busy busy in my household right now!

For the first time in a long while I felt like making some Kelly doll clothes. All of these are my own originals, all crocheted off the top of my head at the time of picking up the hook. I love the overalls the most! The purple/white outfit I was going for a sporty outfit, maybe like a jogger or yoga or something but I don't think I quite got there. Will work on it a bit more and see what I come up with. The purple dress was just playing about and all of a sudden I had a skirt so I reattached where I started and made a top half too. Looks pretty dressy huh! Have been contemplating pattern writing as I really could use extra $$ (who couldn't!) but it's so daunting. I like to just crochet. I came across a hosting site I'd never seen before called www.esnips.com and in there I found wonderful folders full of tatting patterns. I especially like the work by Terri Dusenbury. This is 2 letters from her Butterfly Alphabet. Terri used a lot of joins in her work and as I am lazy and hate (make that despise!) sewing in ends I made both in one piece with a few extra split rings. The J is of course for Jessi and will probably be used on a scrapbook page in the not to distant future. It's made with an unknown size 20 thread and about 1.5" tall. The P is for Pauline, a lady on the tatting along thread I started at Crochetville as she liked the J so much. It's made with size 70 tatting thread and is only about 1" tall. Both are very cute!! I started to tat Jane Eborall's Large Sea Horse but realised my threads were two different sizes... oops *lol* Will go back to that one! I received the MOST AWESOME RAOK the other day (Random Act of Kindness) from some sneay fairy god-kitties at Crochetville. 17 skeins of Bernat Cottontots which I must say is sooooo lovely and soft, not to mention gorgeous colours plus a Kool Kids cottontots pattern booklet; 6pk Boye steel hooks; Scat cat Beanie Baby for Jessi; 12 pks of scrapbook stickers (too cool!!); and 33 scrapbook papers in a project protector! I am soooo overwhelmed and feel so lucky! I love so many of the papers and sat to scrap with them the other day only to decide my workspace was too untidy and I needed to do something about that first. I am looking for a knit pattern for the cottontots and goodness knows what I will make with it all. It's so nice I'de like tojust keep it to look at *lol* I also feel as though I must have made a very positive impression to someone on the 'Ville and that makes me feel very happy indeed!The above dragonfly will be my next tatting pattern if and when I write it up. I think I can make a few modifications to it before I share and writing it wont be fun! I will also modify it so there is a two wing "in flight" version and a 4 wing "specimin" version. I hope!

More of my tatted dragonflies and a heap of lil fishes. I like both! Will be great on cards or scrapbook pages etc. The grey thing is a Kodak film canister lid for size reference. The fish pattern was found online somewhere.. Can't think of where at the moment.All pics [should] be clickable.

Barbie Bizzare

As my little princess was having a birthday, and I was very broke (what's new?), I sat down and got busy with a Barbie doll. I crocheted for weeks, making up my own designs along the way. I am really pleased with so many of these items! I am also pleased with myself for creating them.
A pink halter top, size 10 Aunt Lydias crochet cotton, 1.65mm/#7 hook, 2 buttons roughly 6mm and 2 small fabric flowers pulled off a bunch.

A pink set in size 10 Aunt Lydias cotton, probably a 1.5mm crochet hook, 2 snaps.

A teal and white set.White is likely DMC Cebelia #10 cotton, teal is DMC Babylo #10, 15.mm hook, 2 snaps, 4x4mm pearl beads and a handful of shell pearlescent sequins. A matching clutch purse and a tiny tatted necklace in #20 Twilleys cotton and a 4mm pearl bead.

A halter bikini in Aunt Lydias size 10 cotton. The skirt on the bikini has built in panties and the halter part slips over the head of the doll. The handbag is unknown cotton from my stash and the flower on it and thoseon the lei are ebroidery floss with a 0.6mm hook. Her towel was cut from a face cloth!

This is a little cardigan in Milford 4ply cotton in some kind of "natural" state. It's certainly not dyed and every so often has little flecks of a darker brown, really quite nice. A 2.5/2.75mm hook. Something like that. No buttons or snaps but a simple belt with 2 buttons. Suitable for my little girl to do up on her own. This was rally quite a challenge to make, but I do love it.

The sleepwear is an odd mixture! The mint nightie is a piece of fabric cut into a long trapeziod and edged in crochet, whip stitched from about mid thigh upward. A little cap in matching cream crochet cotton. Cotton was unlabelled cheap stuff, roughly a size 30 and worked with a 1mm hook. The red nightie was designed by TampaDoll on Crochetville, thanks Mary Jo!! I added the ruffles on the sleeve, Mary Jo had only included the ones on the bottom in her pattern. I crocheted a tiny little moon and stitched it to the front with a couple of stars. The red nightie has elastic in the waist, there are no other fasteners on these items. The mask was just a fun extra, and the slippers something I challenged myself to see if I could create them. Thepillow comes from Jessica's toy box and the 2 blankets are both baby yarn (4ply) and 3mm hooks.

I love this coat! It's an OLD crochet cotton by Strutts Milford. It says on the label #8, but it is almost like the 4ply cottons.Certainly much thicker than what I recognise as number 8 cotton now days. Crocheted with a 2.5/2.75mm crochet hook. It was really a fluke that I pulled this on off. I wanted it tailored (or tight to the body) and I managed that. I don't like the camoflauged look the cotton has to it. There are 6 hooks and eyes sewn down the front.The collar corners are sewn in place. The headscarf started out a bit different but became and ear warmer thing as it was getting too big too quick. The leg warmers are just something I decided to do as a fun extra.

Aunt Lydias #10 cotton and a 1.65mm hook create this lil number. Plus about 24 inches of scrap lace. The 1inch lace was worked into directly and the skirt worked up from the bottom. There is one snapon the skirt and 2 buttons on the top (like the pink halter). I love how the waist band in the skirt looks different, when it is the exact sam stitch! Only the body of the skirt is worked in rounds, and the band back and forth.

A nice little blue top in #8 pearl cotton. I can't recall the hook size. The ribbon halter is just looped through stitches and not at all fixed in place (it wouldn't go over Barbies head otherwise). The buttons are 4mm pearl beads which were sewn on after the garment was completed. The button loops are a strand of thread being sewn through, looped, knotted, then sewn on to the next one. I still think it needs some kind of embellishment on the front where the ribbon is, but no matter.

A nice little blue shawl in Strutts Milford #8 (that weird stuff mentioned above) and a 2.5/2.75mm hook. It fits Kelly better than Barbie. Then a scarf, a skirt, handbags, lei and a hand towel.

Some Kelly doll clothes. Not sure if I have shown them before, but here they are. There are others somewhere. I made all these a couple of years ago.

And I am still crocheting for Barbie as we speak. Still trying to see what I come up with!!