Friday, November 26, 2010

Basket and Bread

Almost two years ago, while I was reading various articles and books about miniatures I came across some suggestions for using linen floss to make miniature baskets. I think this flower basket was one of the articles I read. In any case, I picked up the burgundy, brown, and green DMC linen floss from my local Michaels. Unfortunately I think those may have been the only colors they had, and they were never restocked. I never got around to following the woven basket instructions, but at some point I came across a cute little crochet basket by Pierrot (Ravelry link). Rather than using the suggested yarn, I used a single strand of the DMC linen floss, and a 0.9mm hook (US size 12 or 14). The basket could stand to be blocked, but I think the scale was approximately correct.

Cinnamon Hawthorne carrying a basket of bread:

The bread and the rolls in the basket were the result of reading various instructions and watching some number of YouTube videos about polymer clay food. In particular, this rather detailed video tutorial on bread. Since making the bread and rolls, and realizing I lacked useful powder colors to accent polymer clay food, I've collected a few more powders that looked like they would be useful, but I haven't tried them yet.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Knitted Baby Jacket

I went to re-check my notes/diagram for Prissy's vest (shown in this post), but then decided that the first knitting pattern I posted should perhaps be a little easier. Also, I wanted to test an idea I had for a top-down shirt/jacket with no seams to worry about. The result after the second attempt came out okay; here is Sandy Babblebrook wearing the second test jacket:

These jackets were knit with US size 000, or 1.5mm, knitting needles. I originally knit them with a size 8 perle cotton (DMC brand), since I already had a gauge swatch. Afterword, I also knit one up in a size 20 cotton cordonnet or crochet thread (specifically, Handy Hands Flora); I think it may be slightly larger, but not enough to be a problem. The perle 8 cotton is the purple jacket below, and the size 20 cordonnet is the blue jacket.

The instructions are both charted and written out. The pdf of the pattern, shown below, can be downloaded via GoogleDocs or Ravelry.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Kid's Sale at B&N

This post is completely off the topic of clothing, but it is Calico Critter related. Barnes and Noble has started a Kids Club. It's not for kids to sign up for, it's for adults to sign up for and list their kids. Of note is that you are supposed to receive a $5 reward for every $100 spent on kid's items (books and toys). Not much, really, but the program is free to join.

Why is this of interest to Sylvanian Family collectors? Barnes and Noble carries Calico Critters! They don't have a huge selection, but it seems worth mentioning because B&N is currently having a toys and games sale: buy one, get one 50% off. The offer only runs through November 15th however.

So I ordered myself the hedgehog family and the elephant family:

Although, I was really tempted by the dress shops: Camryn's Country Boutique, and Margaret & Halley's Dress Shop.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Crochet Slippers for Sylvanian Family Baby

Well, I've mostly been keeping my posts in order, but I wanted to make the slipper pattern available. I went back and double checked my hastily sketched diagram, that I mentioned in The Slipper Project, to make sure it was correct. Luckily it was. On my first test, however, I misread my own pattern. Oops. So I went back and made a second pair, using three colors instead of my standard two for illustration purposes. Here's the initial diagram, and one of the original pair of shoes (in peach) along with the two new pairs created during the pattern test:

The slipper is constructed in three parts: a sole, the shoe sides, and the upper toe. The sole begins with a line of chain stitches, then works in rounds to make an oval: shown in medium blue.

The sides consist of three rows of single crochet stitches: shown in yellow.
Finally, the upper toe consists of two rows covering one end of the oval: shown in light blue.

After checking my initial pattern, I went and wrote up the instructions nicely. Here's a picture of the new chart:

Complete instructions, both written out row by row (using ch, sc, and dc) and charted with an explanation of the symbols, can be downloaded via GoogleDocs or Ravelry .

Pictures of the shoes on one of the baby grunts: