the tale of 2 dolls

This is doll #1 that I started knitting eons ago.  Read -->long before Christmas.


The pattern is from this book that I found while scrounging at the thrift store.

So cute & so scrappy !  I couldn't wait to get it done and have it sitting on the shelf in the living room looking all festive & lovely during the Christmas season.

There was a just a bit of a teeny problem.

The obvious of course is that Christmas has already come & gone and look! this doll still has no arms attached and is totally faceless.  And doggone it! I am so close to being done.  But I am trying to come to grips with the very real, very cold reality I may never get to finish this doll.

Why?

Scroll back a few stories and I was being very witty about playing tennis.  Not real tennis of course, but I was injecting humor in my very catastrophic inability to knit or crochet because of 'tennis elbow'.  (And please also note ----> I am feeling extremely foolish for being so whiny about this.  I mean!  Seriously!  I know that there are people out there having to deal with waaaaay more serious stuff than this...)

So my bag of knitting sits next to me all silent.  And I wonder if I will ever be able to knit or crochet again.  The possibility stuns me.  Really?  It can't be!  And take it back out & knit a few stitches only to shove it back into the bag because my. elbow. hurts. way. too. much.

What's left?

Feel sorry for myself?  Tried that and my kids & husband were ready to throw my out on my backside.  Seriously, Mom?  It's just knitting! (Plus that gets real old, real fast.)

I started paging through this same COUNTRY DOLLS book and there are lots of cute patterns...oh, look! a pattern to sew a doll...using scraps of fabric and my sewing machine.

Well, it HAS been a bazillion years since I did anything like that...

...but here she is.  Doll #2

I must say, I had forgotten what a treasure it is to sew.  And when she came out looking like this?

...I knew that all is not lost.

well, hello dolly

There is no age limit to dolls, is there?

My girls may be in their teens, but I know they share in the same love I do for a doll.

So with my g hook & oodles of leftovers from my stash of yarn...

...I got busy with crocheting a doll.

The pattern is from an old magazine that my great-aunt Bertha was tossing.  I don't even remember the name of the magazine, but knew without a doubt I had to add this pattern to my crochet library.

And how cute can a pattern be when it comes with accessories?  Cape, beret and hatbox.  Oh, my!...just the description of them warrants a need/desire to make them!

Once I saw how adorable this whole ensemble worked out (and because I was flitting thru the house practically dancing with her) my older daughter just wanted me to stop dancing also wanted a doll.

In her color scheme.

With of course, the cape, beret & hatbox.

And here she is.

I changed up the face and hair. And if you know a great tutorial for adding yarn hair, please let me know!  This was a bit of a hit-and-miss with me. (read ---> an almost disaster.)

Regardless of maybe needing to improve the hair, I am pleased with how cute they both turned out.

anna's apron

Hand-crafted aprons. Aprons to match every hand-crafted dress. Such vivid memories of her and her aprons.

Standing in the crispness of the cold winter, arms protectively 'round my dad. And her apron carefully wrapped simply around her waist. This is my grandma.

Her simple work ethic; her diligence for her extraordinary needle-work; and her quaint beauty still stun me to this day. Finding a book at the thrift store, I came upon a pattern for a muslin doll.

I so wanted to capture her in the simplicity of a hand-crafted doll.

And of course, adorn her in her apron. Anna's apron.

Our tween and teen stood over my shoulder watching me make this doll and they too, wanted one. Only they wanted one that they designed. One that suited their personality.

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Here are those three friends. So different. Yet sharing so much.

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