Owlishly

Sick

Aaarrrggghhh!  I thought I'd be able to avoid getting sick since it's been two weeks since the kids were sick and my husband was sick last week, but unfortunately being around them and a couple of late nights wiped me out.

I have figured out the percentage/stitch ratio to make Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby sweater from her Knitter's Almanac for my little girl's favorite doll.  I think it's turned out pretty well so far, I just have one more sleeve to do and then sew on the buttons and I'm done with that one. 

I've been reorganizing a bit, so I'm trying to find miscellaneous half finished dolls to finish them and write up the patterns, but with being sick my mind is completely muddled so that's going to have to wait a couple more days.  Additionally, I just wanted to let you know that if you've sent an email that requires my thinking about something, I'm going to try to get to them tomorrow or the next day when I can make sense and not have to re-type everything I've written 3 or 4 times :)

The rest of October pattern sale

 

So, I'd signed up for an Artfire account last spring, and then never put any patterns in the shop over there.  I thought I'd try it out, but maybe I'm just used to Etsy's format because I don't think it's as easy to find the patterns over at Artfire.  Anyway, maybe there's just a learning curve that I've yet to master.

But in effort to kick things off there, I'm having a better deal than the one I'm going to offer on Etsy- you can use the coupon code OCTOBER DEAL to get 20% Off on orders that totals above $18.00 in my Artfire studio. In addition to that, the first 10 sales made will get an free Chester the turkey boy pattern thrown in.  This sale will end at 11:59pm October 31st.

In my Etsy shop, if you enter the OCTOBER DEAL in the note to seller section, I'll refund 15% of the purchase price on orders that total above $18.00. This sale too ends at 11:59pm October 31st.

Custom Mere with a Hollyhock tail

Since I'm in a blogging mood...

I was asked to make another Mere doll that looked like the one I did for Plush You! so this was the result.  I think now you can sort of see it seaweed that I did to tie the hair back, since the red sea star didn't go so well with the colors of the tail.

I modified the tail a tiny bit, but not very much. I don't know if it's noticeable, but otherwise, everything else about her is the same.  I did use a yarn needle when I embroidered the fly stitch scales on the tail and it was so much smoother than when I used an embroidery needle, probably due to the blunt tip.

I hadn't been able to work on any new patterns lately, but now that I've finished up all my custom work, I'm hoping to get a couple finished up.  And I finally added all my patterns to my Artfire shop, I'll probably create a separate post about that and the special that's going on over there in yet another post :)

Magdalena

Is this little doll that I just made.  She's for a project that I'll let you in on in a couple of weeks if all goes according to plan, but I couldn't wait on sharing the picture of her :) There'll be more details on yarns, etc. later.

Nostalgia colorways

I think I'm fairly consistent in professing my love for Malabrigo, so I won't go on and on, but I did make the Noble Cowl in Malabrigo Nostalgia. Some of my favorite colors make up this colorways, and I figured that it'd be a good one to use for my first foray into knitting a lace pattern.

I'll probably take even more pictures of it when it's been steamed and blocked- I love these colors so much!

Also, I'm trying a new frame around my pictures, I was getting tired of the rounded edges.  I think I like the way it looks. But I'm not sure. What do you think?

So, about stuffing.

Well, as mentioned, I wanted to talk about stuffing a doll. I like to try out different types of fiberfill/stuffing/filling/roving etc. for dolls but I have to keep coming back to the regular Poly-fil.

This bamboo one is 100% Bamboo, made by Fairfield and part of their Nature-fil line. It was too smooth, and when I really packed it in a doll the way I typically do, it made the doll feel slightly heavier than they regularly are, and when you squeezed the body or head, it didn't bounce back- it had to be manipulated back into shape.  I really want this one to work out, but I think that for the types of dolls that I make I need to use something different.

This one is Mountain Mist EcoCraft Fibre, a fiberfill that's derived from corn which is turned into Ingeo™ or PLA.  So far this one is a lot easier to use than the bamboo for the type of doll I make.  It's soft, but still is lofty and maintains the springiness that I like. I bought it at my local Jo-Ann's, but haven't seen it as readily available.  Fairfield, the same company that makes the rest of the fiberfills that I'm discussing, does have a PLA Corn product called Nature-Fil Corn Fiber, but I have yet to try that one.

This is Soft-Touch poly-fil Supreme, and according to the Fairfield website, the fibers are siliconized to make it feel softer and silkier.  I use this type interchangeably with the regular Poly-fil (both are 100% polyester), and like them about the same for my dolls. 

This Poly-fil is the one that I use the most, I like it's loftiness and springiness, and it's the one that I have the most bags of ;)  I usually keep a bag in the trunk of both of our cars since I typically have a yarn project with me when I go places, but it gets unwieldy having to carry this in and out of the house every time I leave, and I don't have to keep stopping to get it when we take off on a whim.

I've yet to try wool roving/batting to stuff a doll because to be honest, I don't know exactly where to get it in bulk.  I've been poking around Waldorf Doll making sites looking for info on making a doll for my niece & daughter for Christmas gifts, and also to find information about wool, and so far I read that West Earl Woolen Mill (717-859-2241- there's no website!) is the place to go for carded wool batting, but I haven't called them yet.

Tips

When I stuff a doll, to get the best looking doll I take my time.  Most of the time I use the Clover Soft Touch crochet hooks when I crochet a doll, so I just use the handle to stretch and shape the doll limb or body to prep it before stuffing it. 

I pull off very small amounts of the fiberfill and then pull it apart so that it's just barely held together and it's nice and fluffy before stuffing it into a doll part.  Then, it just becomes a matter of layering it in. And it's important to not try to hurry and put clumps in, because then your doll is just lumpy and misshapen.

It is time consuming, especially because I try to get as much in as possible. In the picture above, I used the amount of fiberfill that's behind the doll head to stuff another head the exact same size as the one shown, and I needed a little more before I was finished.

For tighter spots, like the legs and feet of my dolls, I use the handle of my crochet hook to push the fiberfill in, and that way I can get it situated exactly where I want it. And then when it's time to seal off a head, or body I fill up that part as much as I can, and then decrease my stitches until there's just a tiny hole left, and then I stuff even more in.  It really helps to retain the integrity of the shape if the doll is stuffed to the gills :)

I hope that helps, and if I've forgotten anything please feel free to add to this in the comments, the more shared information, the better!