These dollies have been done for a few days now, and I just couldn't wait until next week to post pictures!
I am apologizing now for the ridiculous amount of pictures in this post. All the pictures were just too cute and it was hard to pick just a few.
Yea.... this is pretty much the longest post ever, so I hope you have a snack or something.
As you can see, Ava is so happy about them! I know that she is a bit young to fully appreciate her doll, but I cant wait until she and her cousin are a bit older and can pretend, and dress them up by themselves.
I will most likely be supervising Ava when she is playing with her dolly for now, because Im afraid that if I didn't her poor dolly could get very very dirty, seriously injured or have its face smooshed beyond recognition.
Ouch!!!
Ava had a tea party for the dolls today
Blonde Dolly: "My cup is empty! Why does this little girl keep saying that there is tea in here?"
Brunette Dolly: "Shhh... She's crazy! Just go along with it, or she'll pinch our faces together again!"
I made the blonde doll in Ava's likeness with the blonde hair and blue eyes. The brunette doll is for her one year old cousin Audrey who has dark eyes and brown hair.
I embroidered the girl's names on each of the dollies backsides.
(The dolls are so mortified that I am showing you this...)
The pattern for the dolls can be found in the book "Knitted Babes" by Claire Garland. I really love these dolls because you can be creative and give them any look that you would like. I think that their cute little felt faces and long spindly arms and legs give them alot of character.
The only modification that I made to the pattern is that I made their arms and legs I-cords instead of just a stockinette strip. I just think it looks more appropriate. As for the dresses, lace undies, sandals, those patterns are all found in the book.
I used RYC cashsoft for the dolly bodies, and a mix of Rowan Cotton 4-ply and Katia Mississippi for the dresses and shoes.
Audrey's Doll has hair made out of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere.
It was so awesome to be able to use up yarn scraps for this project. These dolls are so neat because you feel as though you are making something adorable out of nothing.... Out of scraps and odd balls of yarn that you would never use anyways. This makes me think of all mountains of yarn scraps that I have. I would love to make future outfits for Ava's doll and put those scraps to good use.
I am hereby setting a new knitting goal for myself. Dolly already has a summer outfit, but every season from now on... or until I dont feel like doing it anymore...I will knit her a new outfit. That way I can slowly build up her wardrobe. By the time Ava is 4 or 5, her doll will have many many outfits to dress up in, for any type of weather.
I hope the Ava will appreciate all the work I put into this, and that her special dolly will be a treasured plaything for years to come.