Arne and Carlos Knit Dolls - Here Comes Nancy!

If you've never heard of Arne and Carlos, they are definitely google-worthy.  This Scandinavian duo have created some truly unique knit patterns, my favourite of which are featured in their book, Knitted Dolls: Handmade Toys with a Designer Wardrobe.  This book caught my eye when I was picking up something on the holds shelf at the library.  Not above perusing other people's reserved books, I picked it up and was immediately captivated by the pictures.  I went home and put the book on hold myself. I liked it so much that I bought my own copy and a year later I have knit four different dolls and quite a few outfits.

The first doll I knit, I named Nancy. The pattern suggests extremely small, 2.5 mm (US size 1.5) needles, but the smallest I had at the time was 3.5mm needles which resulted in a slightly larger doll.  Because I knew I wanted to make a sleeveless dress for the doll, I decided to knit her with black tights and no shirt.

I used 100% acrylic yarn from my collection with the exception of her hair.  Her gorgeous locks are the 100% wool Thick and Thin yarn I had leftover from my Slouchy Hat Kit from MelonHead KnitWear.

The first thing I knit for Nancy was a little purple halter dress.

The dress is made from Paton Stretch Sock Yarn in the colour plum.

Then using the same type of yarn, but in the colour olive, I knit a little shrug to go with the dress. Big thanks to my mom who gave me a huge collection of little buttons that are the perfect size for doll clothes!

Still taken by the dress pattern, I made another one, this time using the leftover 100% merino wool yarn that I used to make the little tunic for Fiona. It's from Tanis Fibre Arts and the colour is deep sea.

Now that Nancy had a wardrobe, she needed some friends . . .

Amigurumi Animals

After knitting a little purple bird for my goddaughter, my youngest son asked if I could make a bird for him. I'd used the Amigurumi Animal Friends knit pattern from etsy which is simple and straight forward so I quickly knit up a second bird, this time in red. I modified the pattern to knit it on four needles so that I could eliminate the back seam. Here is the creatively named "Little Reddy".

After seeing the second bird, my older son asked if I could make him something. I had recently taken Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits by Hansi Singh out from the library. I told him if he could find something he liked in that book, I would make it for him. He asked for the hermit crab.  After four false starts, I figured out the pattern.  It was by far the most challenging thing I have ever knit.  In addition to the complicated curving shell, there was the head and six limbs that needed to be stuffed and assembled.  The end result was good, but it won't be anything I'll be attempting again any time soon.  All of the animals were made with miscellaneous 100% acrylic yarn found in my collection.

Cuppow! A Mason Jar Cozy

After knitting the Sassy Stripes socks, there was a nice sized little ball of yarn left over that was perfect for a small crafting project.  I had been thinking about getting a Cuppow lid to turn one of my wide mouth mason jars into a drinking cup.  A jar converted to a travel mug was something begging for a knit cosy. It keeps my tea warmer longer and keeps my hands from burning when the hot liquid is first poured in the jar.

A friend pointed out how handy it would be to have a jar cozy with a handle on it for ease of carrying. With an idea of what I wanted, I followed the basic pattern from Miso Crafty Knits with a few slight modifications.  I started with a ribbed stitch (k2p2) for the first inch and then switched to moss (seed) stitch (k,p,k,p then on the next row knit the purls and purl the knits).  I knit the cosy shorter than suggested and didn't complete all of the decrease rounds so that the cozy went slightly under the jar, but not all the way.  For a "handle" I made a five stitch icord that I sewed onto the top of the cozy.

The handle is perfect as I can just sling it into the crook of my arm when I need to lock the door on the way out of the house or if I need an extra hand to hold onto a kid while crossing the street. I also use it while drinking so if the whole thing slips out of my hand, I won't drop it.

If you live in Saskatoon, you can get a Cuppow at The Better Good on Broadway Avenue.

The Second Socks

Knitting warm socks seems to naturally follow cooler weather. Going into my collection, I chose another skein of hand dyed alpaca-merino wool yarn from Skye at Alpacas of the Coast.  In variegated shades of blue, I could tell it would work well with the Sassy Stripes pattern from Coats & Clark Inc.  Here's Ginelle modelling her new socks!

Milo Vest and Dress

Now that we are fully into fall and school and extra curricular activity routines are established, my busy schedule is starting to seem more manageable.  I have big plans to post all of the things I knit during the summer months!

I rarely buy patterns, but when I saw the Milo vest, I decided the $5 would be money well spent. My favourite part about this pattern is the option to do a detailed insert down the front of the vest for which the author includes at least six different cable patterns that can be used.

To date I have knit three different versions of this pattern. Although I love the pattern as a vest, before knitting the pattern as printed, I needed to fulfill my knit dress obsession and modify the pattern by making some carefully placed increases.  For my first project, I used one 140g/5oz ball of Bernat Soft Bouclé in the colour Teal Twist (100% acrylic = 100% machine washable!). Because the yarn is heavier than what the pattern calls for, I was able to knit the pattern in the smallest size (newborn) and have it result in a dress that fit my 4 year old friend Freya!

Although the dress turned out beautifully, I was disappointed that the yarn I chose obscures the detailed cable pattern that runs down the skirt portion of the dress. Here's Freya in the dress with her sister Astrid wearing one of the Impress Dresses I knit.

To try and do something that would show off the cable pattern, I knit another dress version using three colours of Phildar Castel yarn that I picked up at Value Village. The colours are "loutre", "rocaille" and "jean's" (sic) and the yarn composition is 65% acrylic, 25% wool and 10% chlorofiber.

This is my newest neighbour Amelia who received the dress as a baby gift!

When a friend was moving across the country, she found a shrug she'd knit for herself using a lovely skein of merino wool. Because she wasn't happy with how it turned out, she'd never worn it and it had gotten lost at the back of her closet. She didn't want to give it away as she loved the yarn, but she also didn't want to move clothing she was never going to wear. I offered to pull it apart and make something for her daughter. For this project, I finally knit the pattern as printed, using the heart cable pattern down the front.

After knitting the pattern three times in a row, it was time to move on.  However, now that it's been a few months, I think I could go back to this one . . .