A Christmas post already???

Yep, even though we haven't gotten far into November, I'm already wanting to post about Christmas.  No disrespect meant towards Thanksgiving, of course; I love most of my family, and I love turkey.  But since I've got some presents completed I thought I'd share them.  I have a cousin...well, actually she's my third cousin, but family is family, right?  Anywho, this child got a new American Girl, so I've been slaving over my needles for the past two months to make doll dresses.  I've got three completed, and I may make one more.  Depends on my mood.  Anywho, here's Dress #1.

I've already made one of these for myself; it can be seen in my My Twinn post.  I had plenty of yarn left over, and some buttons as well, so I duplicated the dress.  The yarn is Red Heart Boutique Unforgetable, 100% acrylic and oh so soft to the touch.  This particular color is called "Stained Glass," but other colors are available.  I even found a ball of it in a solid shade of deep purple, one color that doesn't show up online!  The pattern can be found here; copyright belongs to a lady named Elaine Baker.

Dress #2:

This too can be seen on the My Twinn post, but in a different color.  The dress I made for Denise is made out of mint green baby yarn and pink Red Heart Super Saver.  This dress is made out of the same baby yarn, without the Super Saver trim.  Since I now have pink baby yarn I didn't need Super Saver!  I think the baby yarn is Baby Bee Sweet Delights (60% acrylic, 40% polyamide), but I'll have to dig out the band to make sure.  If so then the baby yarn for Denise's dress is likely "Mint Charm," while this dress is made up of "Sugarplum (main color)" and "Bashful (accent color)."  "Bashful" looks orange online, but in real life it's pink with a very slight orange tint, rather like poached salmon.  It's wonderful yarn.  It makes soft, smooth stockinette patterns and springy, buoyant garter stitch patterns.  It's also good for Barbie doll clothes if any of you like to knit small dresses.  The pattern is from ABC Knitting Patterns.  I'm not sure who owns the copyright, but the website says these patterns are from a woman named Elaine Phillips, so I assume she holds the copyright.

Dress #3:

This came from another ABC pattern that I'd never tried before, but as it turned out I needn't have worried about how it would come out.  My biggest problem with this was finding circular needles in a size 7, which was a surprisingly difficult task, mainly due to my own inattentiveness.  Needless to say I did find the needles I wanted.  The pattern calls for Wool of the Andes, but rather than try to obtain that I settled for Yarn Bee Effervesce, 80% acrylic and 20% polyamide, which turned out to be a suitable substitute.  The main color is "Orchid Haze," and the accent color is "Morning Glow."  Hobby Lobby's website has "Morning Glow" listed as "Morning Glory," but they appear to be the same color so don't allow yourself to get confused if you want to find this yarn.

If I decide to make the fourth dress it will likely be this pattern, made out of I Love This Yarn Super Soft in Soft Blue.  Baby yarn also works for this particular pattern; I've made one in yellow for Xenia.  The eyelet panel shows a little bit of fabric torso underneath, but not so much that it's distracting.  In short, I've worked hard on these dresses and I desperately hope my little cousin will like them.  All three (possibly four) of these dresses involve the use of small buttons, so I'm a bit concerned that her fingers will be too little to get the backs fastened.  I may have to modify those button holes to make them easier to see.

So that's my cousin taken care of.  Believe it or not, I also have something doll-related for my grandmother!  Grandma has kept me in dolls for most of my life; Barbie, American Girl, porcelain, you name it.  It turns out that when she was a child she owned a Shirley Temple doll and a Madame Alexander doll, both of whom she cherished.  One day she came home from school and the dolls were GONE!!!  It turned out that her mother (my great-grandmother) had given them away to a destitute family whose daughter did not have a doll to play with.  Great-Grandma was a sap for children, and she hated to see one go without.  Unfortunately that meant her own daughter had to do without for awhile!  Grandma bears no resentment towards her mother for this stunt, but she still pines for her Shirley Temple doll.

Surprise, Grandma.  Look what we've got!

This Shirley is eighteen inches tall with her original wig.  I'm not sure if the clothes are original or not, but they suit her.  She's composition like the Creepy Babies are, and she has a few cracks and dings here and there.  I doubt Grandma will mind the cracks and dings; what concerns me is the size.  Grandma's Shirley was likely small, as most of the vintage Shirleys I've seen are.  This doll is tall enough to fit in with my larger girls.  In fact, she's a smidge taller than Ana Ming!

Positive, negative, or neutral, I'll share her reaction when we give Shirley to her.  We also shopped around for a replacement Madame Alexander doll; Grandma swears up and down that her doll was Jeannie Walker, though I doubt it since the dates don't match up.  Jeannie Walker was made in 1941, and Grandma was a young teenager by then.  McGuffey Ana might be a more likely choice, but what the heck do I know?  Jeannie was the one Grandma connected with when we went through some of my magazines, so I'm going to try to find a Jeannie for her.  Too bad those little gals are worth a pretty penny.  But then again, so is a decent McGuffey Ana!  I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled.

Best wishes,
RagingMoon1987