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Saturday, December 28, 2013

As the World Gets a Little Bit Colder...

I know that here in Alaska the winter solstice has come to pass and we are finally gaining light again (thank goodness) but unfortunately we have the coldest months to come. So in the interest of everyone keeping their girls warm, I decided to share this...



Fingerless Glove and Scarf Set

Knit on size 1 needles in lace weight yarn (I used angora here)

Gauge - 38 stitches over 4 inches

Scarf

Cast on 8 stitches. Knit the first 2 rows.

3rd row, (wrong side) knit the first two and last two stitches of the row, but purl all the middle stitches

4rd row, (right side) knit all stitches

Repeat the 3rd and 4th rows until you reach a length that nicely drapes the chest of the doll (you can of course make the scarf much longer if you like). End with a right side row.

Final row (wrong side) knit all stitches

Bind off in knit.


Fingerless Gloves

Cast on 10 stitches. Knit the first 2 rows.

3rd row, purl

4th row, knit

5th row, purl

6th row, knit 4, bind off 2 stitches, knit to the end.

7th row, purl 4, cast on 2 stitches, purl to the end.

8th row, knit

9th row, purl

10th row, knit

11th row, (wrong side) knit

Bind off in knit

Fold the long way and seam together

Then slip on your doll's hand with the thumb through the thumb hole.

If you want to sell finished products made from my patterns you may, but please give me credit as the designer in all listings. The pattern itself is copyrighted and no part of it may be reproduced (by any means) for sale. © Monica Bovee

Have fun and stay warm : )

Sunday, December 15, 2013

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Festivus!

I asked my girls what holiday they'd like to celebrate this year and they chose Festivus... I don't know. That one involves an unadorned aluminum pole instead of  Christmas tree right? Hmmmm... I suppose a large knitting needle might do for that. But then what are they supposed to do with it. Dance around it? Pose for pictures by it? Hmmm... I'm unsure about this one. Anyway, this was the holiday they chose when I entered the winter holiday swap. And this is what my wonderful swap partner Cara sent me...


Two gorgeous little outfits. And get this, the little hat has Festivus embroidered on it! Adorable!

And this is Lady Leopy wearing a fabulous holiday hair bow. Cara also sent us a sweet little puppy ornament (you see the girls are a quite open minded.... they picked out their holiday, but they're not above taking part in mine too).

 There were lots of fun candies too, but the best bit was this...

"Booyah! I know what we're doing tonight!"

A bowling game! It has to be the just the most perfect little Festivus gift ever. Well kudos to Cara for this most clever of gifts.


And Wren is able to hold the ball without dropping it, It's a Festivus Miracle! (actually that took a bit of doing, let me tell you)

Well, it seems to have turned out to be a sweet holiday for them. I'm still not sure why they chose it. I'm a little worried that it might be that 'Festivus doesn't end until you pin the head of household' thing. LOL! Isn't that just the sort of thing that all those people who are frightened of Blythe dolls fear? He he he...

And now for what I sent to Cara...

Her holiday was Christmas, so I started with the obvious.


The ornaments I wire wrapped myself, the string of lights actually light up, and the tinsel garland is silver fun fur.... I think it works quite well. And then for the tree topper I made this...


Sorry the pic is a bit fuzzy, my camera doesn't do tiny things well. It's Angelica Eve of course. I printed her out on Shrinky Dink material, cut her out, shrunk her down, and then affixed her to a thimble and sealed her. I think she makes the perfect little angel for the tree top.

And I sent along these...


I painted and customized these a bit (they used to be white and bright pink!) You see Cara had just done up a lovely house for her girls and I thought she could use some furnishings. Hope she likes them.

And lastly there's these...


A gingerbread dress, some Twilight book miniatures (she's fond of Twilight), a tray of cookies, a nutcracker (it's not Christmas with out one of those right?), some cupcakes, and of course you'll recognize the fruitcake I posed how to make earlier. And lastly, the gingerbread house. Just perfect for a large size gingerhouse for a Blythe table, but it can also be hung like an ornament. And... it's real gingerbread! completely edible! Royal icing and everything. So when you get bored of looking at it, you can devour it. : )

Friday, December 13, 2013

Here We Come A-Caroling...

...or a-wassailing if you prefer. I thought it would be fun to share a little coat pattern for the holidays. I think I've featured this coat here before, most recently on my Mother-in-law's doll Noni. But here it is again.


This little number would be perfect for the season if you've got a girl who wants to go caroling... well, maybe not in the hounds tooth I've made it out of here, but perhaps in a nice fawn or wine color.


Can't you just see your girl singing from door to door, begging for wassail... wait, does anybody drink that anymore? Hmmm... I expect that's why they changed the name of the song. But anyway here's the pattern.


Bear with me now, I'm a knitter not a seamstress but I'll explain the way I did it the best I can. Keep in mind this pattern is not lined so if you want a lined coat you'll have to cut out extra pieces as needed, also I make very small seams (1/8 to 1/4 inch) so keep that in mind and cut the pieces larger if you need to. If the picture above is not of a decent size you can also find the pdf HERE (just remember where it says 'left back' on the body it's supposed to say left front - I corrected it in the picture I've posted above) Here we go...

Capelet Coat for Blythe


Cut out body and sleeves.

Position sleeves correctly (the F and B indicate front and back and should be positioned so they match with the front and back of the body).

Sew sleeves onto body, right sides of fabric together.

Sew sleeve cuffs

Sew sleeve tops (indicated by stars). Please keep in mind that the tops of the sleeves will make up part of the neckline.

Cut 2 of front capelet

Cut 1 of back capelet

Sew front capelet to back capelet along the top, with right sides of fabric together (indicated by open circles).

Sew all sides (except at the neck) on both the capelet and the coat (indicated by solid dots).

Cut out collar

Fold collar in half the long way, right sides together, and sew the short sides together. Snip corners and turn right side out.

Sew capelet to coat, wrong side of capelet to right side of coat, leaving about 1/2 inch of the coat out past the collar on both sides.

Now sew the collar to the capelet and coat matching the sides of the collar to the sides of the capelet (not the coat)

Fold down the raw edge of the collar and sew the remaining raw edge of the coat neck under (lift the capelet up and sew under all of it to do this). You're basically just going along the same seam again with the raw collar edge folded down.

And that's pretty much it. I hope you all enjoy it. I know I usually say go ahead and do whatever you want with the pattern but because this one is based (albeit very very loosely, and with a LOT of modification) on a coat that my mother made me as a child, this one's going to have to be for personal use only. Have fun!

Oh, if you like the hat and want to make that too, it's not one of mine, it's on Ravelry HERE. This is a brilliant little pattern. IIRC I knit it using two strands of Patons worsted wool yarn in black, on size 8 needles so I could match the needed gauge.

Oh and one more thing... a recipe for Wassail. Given to me by a friend long ago.

 Wassail

1/2 gallon apple cider
1 can pinapple juice from concentrate
1 can orange juice from concentrate
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tbs whole cloves
1 sliced orange
 add rum to taste

Put in a large pot and allow to simmer, serve warm.

Happy Holidays!


Friday, December 6, 2013

Mod Girl

Just having a little fun with some left over fabric... you see I was gifted a pair of tights which I absolutely adored but didn't have anything for the girls they would go with. I dug out the old A line pattern and some fabric and viola!





I think the dress and tights (and the little white boots) go together nicely.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful....

It warmed up to a balmy 4 below today so I took the girls outside in their new hoodies for a few quick pics...


Wren in her toasty wool




Sophie in her pretty orange (love the little flower buttons here)...

 


And Moonyeen in her sequined blue. So pleased they turned out so well   : )