pink rose

pink rose, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

Right now my rose garden is in full bloom and thus I am taking lots of pictures trying to capture just how lovely they are!

rose clouds

rose clouds, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

a pale pink rose from my garden

Eloise & Evie

Eloise & Evie, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

Little twin dolls. I made them for my 3 year old neice. I hope she likes them.

I have become obsessed with making these little dolls. I am still trying to get the body proportions right. Instead of doing it the easy way - like actually using a pattern - I just keep fiddling with my own pattern pieces. It is a curse and a blessing to do it this way. It takes much longer to figure out the best method, but you learn a lot along the way!

Some things that I have learned are as follows. First, I have decided that I like a shorter neck (like on the brown haired doll). The problem lies in getting out the ripples that form in the fabric if the neck is too long. You have to clip the seams really well so that it doesn't wrinkle at the neck and under the arms. The shorter neck just looks better.

Also, I think that placing a seam which divides the arms and legs at the body is better than just attaching the arms and legs, or cutting out the body with legs and arms as one piece. This seam allows the arms and legs to bend better. I have an old Raggedy Anne doll that I played with as a child. It has seams where the extremities meet the body as well as at the elbows and knees. That doll is much longer than these, so it works well. However, I don't think that these are long enough for those seams.

Another element that I prefer is having the feet point frontwards rather than toward the sides of the dolls. It takes a little more work to construct the feet this way, but I think it looks better on the doll. The doll with yellow hair has the seams at the arms and legs as well as the feet facing front. I have been stuffing the doll at the skirt bottom before I add the legs. I stuff the legs and them handsew them to the bottom of the skirt. This makes it really easy to stuff the doll. I handsew the skirt together at the hem.

Knitting Finished

finished, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

I finally finished the Cobblestone pullover. It knitted up easily; however, I need more help with the "short rows" in the front, specifically on the "purlwise" short rows. I guess I should have done a search BEFORE I completed the outfit. I found good tutorials with pictures here and here.

multiple

multiples, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

lots of boo boos. that is what I thought of when I was driving home thinking about the challenge for illustration friday. i am not a professional, just someone who doodles alot. after cleaning out the attic, i came across all of the colored pencils my kids have collected through the years. i started doodling. i went from feeling frazzled to a little more focused.

Just Focus!

 

Race Car Driver

Race Car Driver, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

A race car driver for my nephew who is a "CARS" fan. I am putting together a little gift bag for him with the doll, some race cars and a bag to carry them in. I hope he enjoys it for Birthday #3!

I adapted a pattern from Wee Wonderful's Spaceboy pattern. It took me the better part of the day to go from start to finish, but I think it was worth it!

Kitty

kitty, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

I have been working on a kitty softie pattern based upon a folk art cat that I obtained many years ago. I used my boys' old clothing to make up the body of the cat.

I am still working on getting body pieces to scale. In the red kitty below, I felt that the arms were too fat so I redid them for the brown kitty. I also wanted a more primitive version of a face on this one as well. I used old buttons (mismatched) for the eyes and a bit of an old recycled felted sweater for the nose.

The "warholized" version above is care of fd's flickr toys. I love seeing my kitty in different colors!

Valentine Kitty

You know it's a good sweater when...

it has been worn by three of your children...


















and it still looks great!

Yankee Knitter Roll Raglan sweater pattern #21. Yarn by Plymouth Encore worsted weight yarn. Made by me 5 years ago! Worn by all three of my boys at one point or another.