Doll with dreads

Made a couple of dolls before this one and always had trouble doing a nice hairdo. 

Then I saw this one from Annita Wilschut (same designer who does the monkey, bear, hippo, elephant etc. I LOVE her patterns so decided to go for it.

The doll (and the hair) are great but the hair is an ENORMOUS amount of work. You need to knit about 100 i-cord hairs strands. Takes longer than knitting the whole doll. But the result is very nice so I guess it's worth it in the end!

A little problem is the weight of the head (because the big hairdo!) so you need to stuff the neck pretty good otherwise it will fall fore/backwards.

I didn't like the fact that she had no nose so I added one!

Gnomes

I know it's not Christmas yet (too hot right now to even think about winter!) but I'm always working ahead of the season.
I've been eyeing these cute gnomes for a while already, apparently they're Scandinavian Christmas Gnomes, also called Tomte or Nisse. I figured they couldn't be too hard to make so I worked on it for a few days and came up with my own pattern (you can download it here). You don't need much yarn so it's a great way to use up leftovers (which I always have an awful lot of)
I'm pretty pleased with the result and I think I'll make some more later to sell at Michelle's clinic for the upcoming Christmas season.

You can of course use any colour yarn and they don't need to be for Christmas (e.g. using green would make them look like a Leprechaun for St. Patricks Day)

Crochet like it's 1975

I use to crochet window coverings, borders and even bedspreads for my first apartment and home in the 1970s.
Still have the pattern books in a drawer.
So when my niece wanted a pretty crocheted cover for the table she's using on her wedding day to sign the registry I got those books out and had her pick out a design.
It was fun to get back to something from so long ago, found out I still know how to do it (guess it's like riding a bike)
Here is the result.
The bride-to-be was happy with it, which of course is the most important!

Update -  September 9, 2017

The wedding day,
my table cover on display

Bunnies & more

These cute animals are all from Little Cotton Rabbits.

The bodies are the same and you can make them into a rabbit, a bear or a cat. 

(there are some more to choose from at the website, but I like these 3 the best).

Having fun using up some leftover yarn to make the clothes.

Double Knit

I learned a new technique these last couple of days!
After seeing some really nice examples (on Pinterest) of so called "double knitting" (knitting 2 layers at the same time with reversed pattern) I decided to try it myself.
It's just so helpful to have YouTube so you can follow visual instructions step by step.
Turned out it's not near as difficult as it seems but you do need to keep a close eye on your stitches.
I started with a small sample piece with hearts (Valentines Day is coming up!).

After I got the hang of it I decided I was ready for something more useful so I now have a great neck warmer in a charcoal/cream gingham pattern. No seams anywhere and totally reversible.

Free pattern here

I think I'll try the Christmas blanket again next year but then in the double knit, it's an absolutely perfect technique for that!