More for the collection

Actually, these are not for my growing pile of toys, they are destined for a craft sale I have entered in early November. I have not tried to actively sell any of my things before so it is both exciting and a little scary. But, it will be a fun day whether people are interested in buying the things I have made or not! To get ready for the sale, I have made some more of my dress up dolls, and some other smaller toys. I plan to make a few more monster toys for the sale so the girls are not over-represented with the dolls!

These dolls show the different skin tones and also a few other hair styles that can be made. The clothing is always an adventure as I don't really know what to dress them in until they are done, and that inspires me to design their clothes.

Julia, long brown hair and loose ponytail, with beige skin.

Helena, with blonde hair done in 2 braids on top of her head, with pink skin.

Eva I believe I have posted about in another post. She has black hair, done with a single braid across the top, and brown skin.

Idalia, with lighter brown hair, done in an up-do (lots of braids then braided together), with beige skin. 

Views of the hair styles. If you would like to know how to create any of them, please just ask!

Different clothes for different gals! It is such fun creating the outfits for them to wear! 

I also made a long coat set for one of them. It has the coat, a poncho, boots, hat and mitts for those cold days to come. The trim and poncho are mohair (Mickey, my cat just loves any natural yarn so I had to be on the lookout for him while I was making these as he will eagerly steal the yarn to wrestle with it!) The main yarn for these was actually cotton, which is nice for doll clothes as it does not pill and is not as slippery to put on and take off for little hands. 

Those fingers are so darned cute! And his mouth has a tunnel behind it so he can really "eat" things! 

This is a monster I also just finished. He was part of another pattern test and was a very nice change of pace from the dolls. He got chased up the cat ladder by some ghosts that I made by special request for Hallowe'en!

That appears to be all I have to say for now .... off to make a cup cozy tonight and then back to dolls and monsters! 

Have a wonderful week!

Lil' Chipmunks

Change of pace and some cute little critters! One of the dialysis patients requested a chipmunk to give to his wife for Christmas, as she has been feeding a little chipmunk all summer. So I set to work finding a pattern that appealed to me, then went searching for just the right yarns to complete her. I am most pleased with the results. So pleased, I made 2 of them! 

This is a free pattern, if you are so inclined. Really cute chipmunk to crochet It is crochet. I used a 3.75 mm hook. Normally I use a larger hook for my amigurumi toys, but the yarn I found in the perfect colour was just DK, and it was not tight enough with a larger hook. The body is done in Mellowspun DK by Mary Maxim in bronze. There were many small parts to sew together, but I find when I do the sewing as I go, it is not really a big deal. Other than the body colour, the rest of the yarn was bits I had left from other projects.

The pattern calls for just a small tail, but I opted to make a longer tail. For one, I crocheted 8 stitches in a circle until it was the length required, then did a decrease row and then closed the opening. I stuffed it lightly, and after sewing the tail onto the body, I crocheted the stripes right onto the chipmunk. That is the chipmunk on the right below.

For the next chipmunk, I crocheted the tail as a rectangle, again 8 stitches wide. After the body colour was done, I went along both sides with a row of black in single crochet. I then added a row of white single crochet but I also joined the black edges together to form a tube which was then sewn onto the body. For the body stripes, this time  I crocheted a long chain of single crochet the length needed to go down the back, and up the other side. The stripes were 3 rows of single crochet .... black, white, then black again. Once the stripes were finished, I sewed them onto the body, starting just behind the ears. This is the chipmunk on the left, below.

Both ways of making the tail and the stripes gave a nice result and were about the same in difficulty to make. I embroidered the eyes by making black knots which I secured at the neck before sewing the head and body together. I also gave both chipmunks a pink bow, since the request was for girl chipmunks! :D

Maybe you would like to create a few of these very sweet little creatures for someone you know as well!