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Miss Fox sewing pattern in the shop!

Miss Fox sewing pattern is available in the shop, in time for holiday making! This is the first year in many that I’ve intended to add a new pattern to the shop and actually been able to pull it off. And this little fox has sat in my sketch book forEVER so it’s very pleasing to get her out and into the world. I was so excited to get her done and out that I couldn’t take the time to find the perfectly cute name for her, so she’s just Miss Fox. We’ll leave it up to the future recipients of Miss Foxes to come up with their cute names. Please share them with me if you think of it, I love to see all the toys y’all make!

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little sweater and likes

I made a little sweater for a new KCL doll yesterday. The sweater turned out really well. I know the key to knitting for dolls is to use finer gauge yarn but I always try to short cut it. Here I didn’t and I used Sidar Snuggly Spots DK and it was perfect. The pattern I used was a free one I found on ravelry, Huckleberry Friend, for an 18″ doll. I shortened the yoke by 4 rows and the sleeves by some (not sure, I eyeballed it) and it fits perfectly.

I posted this pic last night on instagram, after it’d gotten dark, and then my phone died for the day. Woke up this morning to the most likes I’ve ever received! So fun! I am definitely energized by the feedback. It reminds me of when I started blogging and was very driven to finish new projects to share with everyone. Of course back then everything was so new that it was very exciting… oh my gosh have you seen japanese craft books?! holy cow, did you see this new site etsy?!!  But even with everything under the sun having been done before (as it always has but now the internet just knows about it) I am super happy connecting with my people again. Of course nothing is ever as black and white/on and off as this, but I do feel in general that I’ve spent the last 5 years or so connecting with my brick & mortar community, growing roots in my town, our schools, my neighborhood, and now I’m rediscovering my internet community again. Checking in with old friends, enjoying the largess that is the internet instead of being stressed out by it, and again geeking out over crafts with you all! Fun fun! And I love the blog even more because no one reads blogs anymore! haha. Now it’s just us, and I can totally be myself.

While I was having concentration issues with my knitting yesterday I hit the thrift store and now I have another stack of must-do sewing. These woolens I think will fit in perfectly with a blanket/quilt scheme I’m hatching.

And I bought another pile of baby clothes to make into doll clothes. I have high hopes for these. The first top I cut into I totally botched, but I’m refocused now. I really want to make a slew of outfits quickly and I think this is a genius solution. I’m off to see if I’m as smart as I think I am…

 

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Monday to-do’s

I mixed two yarns for this girl’s hair and I LOVE how it turned out. I have two more Kit, Chloe and Louise dolls ready for hair but now I need to hit the yarn store first and see if I can find cute yarn to go with these colors I’d picked out.

I made a sparkly deer. Oh, I love her. She’s so cute and just how I was picturing her. I made her from a tiny glittery tweed J.Crew miniskirt I found at the thrift store. She’s a tiny bit on the backburner because she’s got more of a holiday vibe going and I have more Fall coziness themed stuff that I want to get done. Like a woodland elf I just started. And I was going to try a chipmunk friend for miss mouse.

For those waiting for the fox pattern, things are looking good! I think she’ll be done much sooner than I thought.

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all dressed up

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Ours was soggy and rainy, per Chicago regulation. Honestly I don't even mind. I can't imagine how much candy the kids would bring in if crappy weather wasn't slowing them down! Phoebe was a goth fairy, most excited about the make up, and Oscar was scary pumpkin mask bought at last minute. It was definitely a last minute holiday for us (except Phoebe who was ready weeks ago), pumpkins bought at 4:59 before place closed at 5, candy bought day of, Tim was finishing up pumpkins as trick or treaters were coming to the door. But we pulled it out and fun was had by all!

Everyone on facebook is joking… now today, it's Christmas.. haha. What haha? YOU BET IT IS! Especially for us holiday makers. Today I start my who's getting what handmade gifts list, and get to work!

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great yarn for a KCL doll

I always run through the yarn aisle whenever I go to the craft store to see if anything inspires me to make a doll. I loved this super bulky, subtley variegated brown.  Shoot! I tossed the wrapper but I think it’s Lion Brand Thick & Quick in Sequoia. I made up a doll with the Kit, Chloe and Louise pattern and gave her a serious head of hair with this yarn. It turned out really great. Phoebe has already given the doll a few hairstyles, the first pic above is the one she left her in this morning. I always want to do a fancy braided swirly bun updo kind of thing with dolls but really the kids playing with them love to have that hair loose and flowing so they can make their awesomeness.

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I knit a Halloween kitty

The key to keeping up with blogging for me is to not get waylaid by bad photos. It’s raining, it’s dark, my house is a mess and there’s nowhere to take a cute photo but if I worry about that it’ll be another 3 months before I blog again. So here’s gray cloudy day kitty. Our school’s bookfair was last week and I was co-chair so I spent many hours at school. I brought Jess Hutchison’s knitted toys pattern book and some black yarn to keep me occupied during down time. I take full responsibility for those ears though. Jess’ pattern is for a very cute bear with nice ears.

The fox pattern is coming along nicely, yay! I made a second that turned out just like my first. I figured out how to explain the jumper. Would you call that a jumper or a dress? I’m still worried about that nose though. It is tough.

My shelf redo is coming along well too. I’ve made a section for Elsa dolls. Again, gray dreary day photo.

The top row are my Land of Nod dolls and the bottom row are Elsa’s I have hanging out, with my Frozen version of Elsa on the right. So uncool. Does anyone else have a 8ish year old daughter? Frozen, and especially the Let it Go song, are very uncool now I am told. Reminds me of when Oscar decided Thomas was for babies and was BAD! He’d go crazy if Thomas was mentioned. Oh, the fun we had teasing him about that. I’m pretty sure though if I tried to “torture” Phoebe by putting on Frozen she’d just sit rapt through the whole thing, singing along. She’s all talk. Anyway! I am thinking about renaming that pattern. First she was Elise and Elsa Elf, then just the Elsa doll. But with that name being so branded now I feel like she needs something else. I may add new hair styles and outfit ideas too. My, I’m ambitious today. Back to working on Miss Fox!

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craft room chaos

Okay, Miss Fox has an outfit I’m happy with, finally. I wanted something simple so after you’ve put the fox together you can whip out the dress super fast. I’m still fussing with the finishing. I tried to leave it frayed and unfinished but it’s bugging me. We’ll see. I’m going to take a stab at getting this pattern together this week and see if I can get it up & ready to go quickly.

 

But first of course I must continue my slow but steady, and always inconvenient, clearing out and cleaning up of my craft room. I’ve done one side of my closet, my sewing desk, my crazy button situation, almost finished the other side of closet, piled my thrifted wools and tweeds and organized all my knitting supplies. (Oh! I forgot to show & tell that! That solution turned out wonderful. I’ll take pics today) Right now what’s bugging me are my display shelves. I need them to be less crowded and to make some sense. I started a WIP (works in progress) shelf. Now how to put the rest of these back up in some order. Some may go to storage. And I think some may go to etsy. If I can pull the trigger! I decided eons ago to focus on patterns instead of selling finished toys. I’m thinking I may want to do both.