Christmas FO: Belle, Princess of TP

Another gift I knew early on what I wanted it to be was this one. Back in 2014, I made Cinderella for my sister's friend's daughter. She turned out ridiculously cute, and when I showed her around to my family my dad said, "What is it? One of those toilet paper covers for the back of the tank? My Grandma had tons of those." The decision was made then and there: my dad needed a princess toilet roll cover, lol. Flash forward to this Christmas when I was making my official plans, and this popped back up. Perfect!

So this time I went with a different princess in the same idea. My dad thinks that Belle is Disney's hottest princes, lol, so it was only appropriate that I make him his favorite, right? I used the Belle pattern by Sahrit Freud-Weinstein (the same designer from the other Disney dolls I've made). Belle and Cinderella are the only ones without lower limbs (meaning their skirts are empty), so they are the only ones that qualify for toilet roll covering duty.

To make this a "toilet roll cover", all I had to do was lengthen the skirt section. I just kept repeating the double crochet layer, throwing in the scalloped layer when I felt like it to keep things pretty. I think it worked out rather well :)

So I just kept making the skirt until it was tall enough to accommodate a standard roll of toilet paper. Now that TP will always be dust free!

Belle was made with all yarns from my stash. The beige and brown are Vanna's Choice (in beige and chocolate) and the yellow is Loops and Threads Impeccable in Butterscotch (luckily this was their old recipe for yarn before they made it super clingy). Her dress is quite fancy and slips down over her shoulders like in the movie. So cute!

So there you have it - my dad's Christmas gift :) He thought it was pretty awesome and I am happy to report that Belle has been in her rightful place ever since and doing a fine job, lol.

FO Friday: Princess Ariel (and The Whole Princess Gang!)

I finished my final princess this past weekend :) Check her out!

It's Ariel! I think my teaser was a bit of a dead giveaway as there are only a limited number of Disney princesses with tails, but hey it was fun to keep a surprise :)

I made Ariel using the Ariel The Little Mermaid pattern by Sahrit Freud-Weinstein. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this pattern. I'd had so many issues with the Jasmine and Cinderella patterns that I was braced for more of the same, but this pattern went off without a hitch! I am happy to say that this is a great pattern and I would totally recommend it. The pattern gives a short or long hair option and I went with the shorter since that was the photo that the request was made from. I did extend the pattern to make her longer - I wanted her to go well with the size of the other two princesses. To extend her I just added straight stitching rows: the tail has 8 straight rows, the torso has 6 straight rows, and the arms have 6 straight rows. I think it balanced her out nicely and she is still nicely proportioned :) This was a very simple change to make, so don't hesitate if you want her to be bigger.

Her hair is done in a pretty interesting way and of course she requires a star for her hair. I wish I could have found a more starfish looking star instead of just a normal one, but I searched everywhere and this was the best option. I think it still gets the idea across :)

The bra in the pattern is designed to be removable, so it has a metal snap as the back closure. How scandalous!

"Draw me like one of your French girls."

Just for those who may be curious, the yarns I used were: Vanna's Choice in Beige and Scarlet, Red Heart With Love in Lettuce (light green), Caron Simply Soft in Iris (purple), and an unknown inherited acrylic for the darker green.

Finishing Ariel mean that this set of princesses was ready to ship of to Japan! In fact, these little ladies are on their way as we speak. I really hope their new owners love them as much as I do :)

I have another item that I also finished this week, so check back here shortly!

FO Friday: Say Hi To Cinderella

My second princess doll is finished! Here's Cinderella :)

Isn't she cute? Even though it was an interesting experience making her, I can put that aside because she's so adorable.

I love her little headband and earrings!

For this little lady, I used the Cinderella Amigurumi Doll pattern by Sahrit Freud-Weinstein. I said quite a bit about these patterns when I made Jasmine a few weeks ago, and the same problems ring true. I had so many issues with this pattern - so much so that I made the first arm at least 4 times before it looked right. I aslo have a big issue with the widely ranging sizes of the dolls. You'd think that a set of similarly designed dolls from the same pattern designer would all be close to the same size, right? Apparently not. This lady is designed to be only 5" tall! Jasmine came out almost 8", granted I did make her with a bigger hook, etc, but I did those same changes to this doll and she would not get bigger. I ended up having to add several rows and increases to the bodice and skirt (after making it entirely and seeing it was too small, I had to unravel it and start again ... yeah). She's still a bit short at only 6", but she's really cute anyway. Plus, considering no girls in the kingdom had a foot as small as her, I'm guessing she was rather petite anyway :)

Also, she has nothing under that skirt! It may be a good thing, since this way it can be played with like a puppet too, but I was expecting at least legs or something, you know? Especially since she's famous for her shoes! 

For those who are interested, I used Red Heart With Love in Daffodil for the hair, Vanna's Choice in Beige for the skin, Baby Bee Sweet Delight Pomp in Bare Blue for the lighter blue, and some unknown yarn for the main blue (yay for stash yarn). I really love the color combo :)

In spite of the pattern weirdness, I love how cute she is, don't you?! I'm very excited to get these to their new home. I just have to make the final princess and then they will be off to Japan.

WIP Wednesday

Well, this week has been yet another jumble of craziness. I worked on my next princess commission over the weekend, but I got so frustrated with the pattern that I angrily tossed it aside, lol. Here is how it looks thus far:

Hopefully you can tell it's going to be Cinderella. I'm using this pattern by Sahrit Freud-Weinstein. To say I'm having issues with the pattern is a gross understatement. The biggest problem I have is that the author uses steel crochet hooks. Regular hooks are very different in size, so I'm pretty much just guessing on what hook to use - this means that I've had to make each piece at least twice. I made the entire body/skirt only to realize how short it is - then I read where the pattern says it's designed to be only 5.5 inches tall. My problem is that this is going to be a set of dolls ... and Princess Jasmine is almost 8 inches tall! Cinderella would have looked pint sized in comparison, so I had to bump up my hook size in hopes of it coming out bigger. The skirt itself is still kind of short, so I've left it unfinished and I will go back to it and possibly add more rows to make it taller later on. I also have no idea how the author used the size yarn she used and got the results she did - I've used all worsted and sport weight yarns (size 3 and 4) like the pattern calls for, but the size 3 yarn was WAY too small - like it was riddled with holes. Totally not good for a doll stuffed with poly-fill. So, I've had to hole the light blue yarn in double just to get it to look right. Add to all these issues that I was watching a show so bad it was offensive, and you end up wanting to ditch the whole thing, lol. Anyway, I'll pick this up again soon once I've cooled down. Plus I have other projects that need to be finished first (*cough* zombie *cough*).

And what do you do when you have lots of other pressing projects to finish? Why, you start making a new dress, lol. I told myself I would be responsible and not start this until I finished my other obligations, but of course I was so excited about my muslin making success this weekend that all I want to do it sew it up. So Monday night I finalized my pattern tweaks and cut out the real fabric. Holy cow, what a job that was. I bought 3 yards of this fabric thinking that was plenty, but I'd never laid out the skirt pieces before - they are so wide that I would literally have needed 4 yards to fit it correctly - crazy. The Project Runway pattern (by Simplicity) itself is well drafted, but it's kind of annoying how the envelope just tells you how much fabric you need for each piece you add (i.e. short sleeves 3/8, dress bodice 1 1/4, etc). That's all fine if I'm only cutting one piece, but you can always lay the smaller pieces in the unused space next to bigger pieces (like the skirt). I spent over 2 hours figuring out a cutting layout and then cutting the pieces. I had to lay the fabric across my bed, lay out a piece, mark where it sat, then pick the piece up and repeat until I had all the pieces accounted for. In the end I made it work - only by cutting the back skirt and bodice pieces upside down. This fabric is so crazy that it's not immediately obvious the print is directional, so I'm not too worried about it. When I was done cutting, these were the only pieces left that were larger than 1":

One of these pieces is a sleeve I accidentally cut backwards - I almost cried, lol. Luckily there was enough to cut it again. I even managed to fit all the pocket and facing pieces out of the fabric. Granted the selvages are in my seam allowances, but at least it fit. Now I just have to get more time to work on this. Not only do I
Not only to I have my zombie and princesses to finish - I also have people coming over to dinner on Friday so I have been busting my but cleaning up my mess from trying to organize things. Last night I cleaned the kitchen to the cleanest it's been in months - tonight I tackle the dining room which is covered in mail.

Sorry if my tone sounds super complainy, lol, I'm actually pretty upbeat about everything in real life. I just wanted to give a proper representation of the process. It seems to be all or nothing - isn't that always the way it goes? Hopefully things level out soon :) That's all for me this week - head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to check out what others are making!

FO Friday: Say Hello To Princess Jasmine

Well, I actually managed to finish something this week :) That's one of the glories of amigurumi - they're fairly quick projects!

I finished my commissioned Princess Jasmine! Isn't she cute? The pattern certainly had its issues, but I love the design and I was able to make it work out.

Her earrings are sewn on, but her headband and necklace are removable. Also the hair is just tied back, so the hair can be let loose. I will say, the hair is kind of a pain to arrange correctly, lol. But if you perservere it will eventually lay right.

I just love her eyeliner! Also, the straps of her bodice move - all little things that make her more play-with-able for a kid, I think.

Not a great picture from the back, but it gives you the idea on the hair. To make Jasmine, I used Vanna's Choice in Beige for her skin and in Mustard for her gold accessories. The black is Everyday Soft Worsted and her clothes are in Red Heart With Love in Jadeite. I think they came out very true to the animation colors :)

Here is one thing I did change and I thought I would mention it here for anyone else who wants to try this pattern. The pattern tells you to just make an oval shape for the shoes and not do any additional sewing afterward. This would have lead to a hole in the top of the foot - it looked like a weird boat, frankly. So, I did a whipstitch across the top and it smoothed everything out nicely.

So, that's one Disney Princess finished, and two still to go :) I'm really excited to finish them all and send them on their way!

That's it around here this week :) Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what other fun things people have made.

WIP Wednesday

This week has been a bit more non-knit/crochet focused than my weeks have been in a long time, lol. I still managed to get some projects worked on, but I'm in kind of a strange transition period. I'm not really sure what clicked, but all of a sudden I am desperate to get my house organized. I've been sorting through our junk room that has remained untouched since we moved as well as putting everything where it goes/making a large pile for a yard sale in the near future. And I still managed to get some stuff made! lol I'm pretty impressed with myself, I must say :)

Anyway, I started on a new commission this week just for a change of pace. Want to see her?

It's Princess Jasmine! lol She is the first in a series of 3 Disney princesses I will be making over the next few weeks. They will be for a little girl in Japan!

I already have all of Jasmine's other pieces made and ready to put on, so I'm hoping to finish her up tonight :) I just have to fix her hair and put on her jewelry. I used the Jasmine Amigurumi pattern by Sahrit Feurd-Weinstein (specifically requested). I will say, this pattern is definitely not for a newbie! The pattern includes both written row-by-row instructions along with diagrams of the stitches - believe me when I say that I there were many times that I had to look at both to figure out what the designer is trying to say. The wording can be pretty confusing, so I would have to check the diagram and go from that. Also, just the eyeliner and the hair took me a solid hour to finish! And I had to add quite a few more hair strands than the pattern recommends to get her hair to look full (translation - so she didn't have any bald spots, lol). In spite of the issues, I am really happy with how she's coming out. I can't wait to get her finished!

Like I said, after I finish Jasmine I will be making two other princesses. I think I will leave them as surprises on here :) So stay tuned for more Disney cuteness!

I also made some progress on my Myrna over the weekend - gotta love travel knitting! I managed to do all the waist decreases and I'm onto the ribbing. It still looks like it's going to fit right! Hooray :)

I really love how the waist shaping looks - so neat and tidy :)

And here's the ribbing thus far. I've pretty much accepted that I will not be able to complete this sweater for the Outfit Along because of all my other projects I need to finish by the end of the month that are for other people. It's kind of a bummer, but honestly I have come to terms with the fact that I've got to majorly cut back on my knitting/crocheting if I want to get other things about my life organized, and I am ok with that :) As fun as it is to participate in the online knitting/sewing/crocheting community, real life is more important. Plus, I've got the sewing bug again, lol. I've been desperate to try out Simplicity 2444 for a while and that desire is major amped up since I got those awesome printed cottons lately. I've already traced the pattern and cut out a muslin - in actual muslin! Novel idea, I know. I'm not sure when I'll actually get to sew it up and tweak it, but steps have been made and that's exciting.

And since I've worked so hard on this, I will show you my junk rooms even though they are incredibly shameful, lol. The photo to the left is what used to be the "room of doom" - so much so that you could barley walk in the door. As much as I was embarrassed by it, I wish I had taken a before photo just to show how far it's come. The middle is my freshly organised closet in my sewing room. The buckets now are organized by type/size of yarn (one of Caron Simply Soft, one of wool and blends like Patons Classic and WoolEase, one of Bulky, one of "fancy yarns", and one of sport - fingering) and the drawers are all my acrylics I use for amigurumi. The drawers are now organized by brand of yarn (one is Vanna's Choice and Everyday Soft Worsted, the other is Red Heart With Love and Super Saver). I have another drawer unit out in the room that is all cheap thrift store acrylic like Caron Sayelle. I also organized all those boxes at the top with sewing notions, trims, etc. It's been a ton of work. The final pic on the right is my pile thus far of "things to sell" - some will be ebay or craig's list items, but most will be in a yard sale. It's coming along!

So that's been my week :) Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others are making too!