Doll Fabric: Help Needed

So as I mentioned in my earlier post, I have decided to accept Audra's invitation to make homemade gifts this Christmas and am going to make gifts for my 8 nieces and nephews. For the three oldest nieces, I have decided to make these dolls complete with a little knitted cardigan. For each doll, I need to choose a fabric for the dress/body and fabric for the tights/legs. I have tons of little fabric bits in my stash that will work perfectly. Unfortunately, I have too many choices. These are the different combinations I have created so far. My thought is that the top fabric would be the dress and the bottom fabric would be the tights. I need opinions. Which ones do you like best?

1: Red Polka Dots/Blue Trees & Birds



2: Turquoise and Red Paris/Red Polka Dots



3: White with Birdcages/Pink and White Geometric



4: Brown with Scotties/Pink and White Geometric



5: Pink and Orange Large Floral/Pink and White Filigree



6: Turquoise with Cupcakes/Red Polka Dots



7: Turquoise with Cupcakes/Pink and White Filigree



8: Cream with Large Floral/Green with Orange Flowers



9: Green with Orange Flowers/Cream with Orange Petals



10: Cream with Multi-Colored Flowers/Brown with Mini Flowers



11: Cream with Multi-Colored Flowers/Green Floral

As you can see I have way more options than I can use for three dolls. Please help me by letting me know your favorites. Thanks!

Thump Thump...Thump Thump

N playing with his stethoscope. Got to love him.

Accepting the Invitation

My friend Audra recently started a blog. Her reason for blogging is to share her pledge to make gifts for her children (instead of buying them) until Christmas 2011. Recently she extended the invitation for others to join her in her goal to give children (and others) quality homemade gifts. I've decided to accept her invitation and make Christmas gifts for my eight nieces and nephews this year. I'm still deciding the details, but my current idea is to make dolls for my four nieces--probably variations of this one. I'm thinking I'd like to knit little cardigans for each doll. The boys might also get some sort of doll, but I'm not sure on that. Maybe pirate dolls. I also found some patterns for knitted tools that might be an option or maybe a knitted robot. Still deciding. Anyway, just thought I'd share my thoughts here and pass on the invitation. Check out Audra's blog. It's a good one.

Simply Finished!

Well, my buttons arrived and I love them. They are fun and interesting without being too in your face. My Plain and Simple Pullover is finished!


I was worried about the fit while knitting, but think that the fit actually turned out really well. I think this will be a great layering piece when it cools down which is probably not anytime soon. Today it was 95 and I was sweating profusely as I took these few quick shots in the backyard. As you can see below, N decided to join me for my photoshoot:).


Pattern: Plain and Simple Pullover by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: 4 (I think) skeins of naturallycaron.com Country in Charcoal (75% Microdenier Acrylic/ 25% Merino Wool/ 3 oz/ 85 g/ 185 yds/ 170 m)
Needles: Size 7 for body, Size 5 for ribbing
Buttons: Six JHB 5/8" Filigree Square buttons (purchased here)
Modifications: Used worsted weight yarn instead of light fingering weight. More details on my Ravelry page.

J's Zoo

J is just loving school this year and one of the reasons is that he loves the art center. Each day the teacher places different items in the art center including paper, markers, scissors, stickers, buttons, etc. J loves to go there and make something fun.

Yesterday, he made this:
It's a zoo. I love how he found all the different animal stickers and then put them in the different cages. Just had to share.

Ready

My next knitting project is chosen, Salina by Kim Hargreaves. The yarn is ready, Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Plum Wine. The needles are gathered, sizes 5 and 3. The pattern is copied and correct numbers are circled. I've made decisions and notes about ways I can make this sweater with the minimum amount of seaming and am ready to go. Will be casting on shortly. So exciting!

Painting :)

Last night in two short hours, I went from this:



To this:It was a little scary, but a lot of fun.

It's not a spectacular work of art, but it looks a little better at this distance:

And maybe even better at this distance:

I went with my friend Kim to Painting with a Twist. It's one of those places where they walk you through a painting step by step and everyone paints it at the same time. Here is Kim and her finished painting:If you look closely, in the background you can see our teacher Alison and her painting.

My painting isn't great, but I had a great time. Everyone was very nice and it was fun to learn a little and see how everyone's paintings turned out differently. I'm definitely tempted to go back and try again.