Category Archives: little darlings

“Surprise it’s a Snowgirl!”

I finished my new Little Darling ensemble, and guess which of my Little Darlings gets to model it for you!  Is it Gina, Lucy, or Alice?

It’s Gina!  And I must say she is thrilled!  That little snowgirl made all three of them swoon.  But Gina is the oldest, so you know how that goes.

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Gina’s wintry outfit is sure to keep her toasty warm on these chilly cold days.  The drop waist styled dress print features two shades of very pale greyish lavender snowflakes on an ivory ground.  I’ve also embroidered a few snowflakes on the skirt in a random fashion.  A shimmery white organza ribbon ties around the waistline and tiny white pearls decorate the back placket.

Her sweater coat (maybe it’s more like a jacket, but I’m calling it a coat) is longer than a typical sweater, and is hand knit with a heathered wool yarn.  It is a very pretty shade with hints of the palest pink and blue violet mixed in with the “not too bright” lavender.  I REALLY love heathered yarn!  Embroidered snowflakes (embroidered with mohair/silk and baby alpaca/silk yarn) and seed bead (silver lined and palest pink) flakes fall into the patch pockets.  The patch pockets are knit onto the sweater fronts and can really hold little treasures, such as the snowgirl.

The snowgirl is hand felted with yarn scraps, seed beads, needle and thread.  I knit her a tiny cap, in the round on size 000 needles, with very fine baby alpaca/silk lace yarn!  This is my tiniest knit hat ever!  And, probably my tiniest little creature ever.

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The vintage styled headband earwarmer is embroidered to coordinate with the sweater coat.  It ties under her chin off and off to the side.

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A bracelet made with silver lined seed beads, a clear iridescent heart bead, and an ivory enameled snowflake decorate Gina’s wrist.  She also wears ivory cotton Lycra® tights.

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Gina’s “Surprise it’s a Snowgirl!” ensemble will be available tonight (December 15, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

“Catching Snowflakes”

Catching snowflakes was easy peasy this weekend as they fell practically the whole weekend long.  I think we got about 4 inches on Saturday night with another 8 inches or so on Sunday!  It’s a white winter wonderland out there, and I am VERY happy to be warm and cozy inside my house.

I finished up Lucy’s new ensemble yesterday, then we had our photo shoot.  I definitely wanted to use the snowy landscape as a back drop.  I brought out my studio light for front lighting.  It was perfect . . . and quick—my favorite kind of photo shoot.

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Lucy’s eyelet capelet has 7 panels which are perfect for embellishing.  I’ve embroidered different snowflake compositions on each panel using mohair/silk yarn for snowflakes, white pearlized seed beads for tiny flakes, and clear seed beads for ice crystals.

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Lucy’s vintage-styled headband earwarmer uses two strands of lace yarn to give it more thickness.  Each side is embellished with an aqua blue snowflake and matching seed beads.

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The little muff hand warmer is the perfect size for Lucy’s hands, and is also embellished with an aqua snowflake.  The bracelet is incorporated into the muff as a handle.  You can see Lucy’s prized snowflake memento charm.  She will always remember this magical pre Christmas snowfall.

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Lucy’s “Catching Snowflakes” ensemble will be available tonight (December 12, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

Have a great week everyone!

Bye for now!

A New Knitting Pattern

A beret knitting pattern is now available for the Little Darlings!  The pattern will also fit other dolls who wear a size 7-8 wig such as Linda Macario’s Penny and Polly.

This beret is knit in the round on DPNs with fingering weight wool.  If you’re looking to learn how to knit on DPNs here’s a quick project for you.  While you’re learning something new, you can make something cute at the same time.  I include tips that helped me learn this technique.

It took me quite a few tries to finally get comfortable with DPNs, and now that I have, it’s one of my favorite ways of knitting.  There are three reasons for this:  no purling, no seams to sew up, and a nicer looking piece.  The hats especially benefit from being knit in the round.  I don’t like how the seam ruins the patterning of the decreases, and adds stiffness.

Out of all the YouTube videos this one was the one I watched again and again.  I remember watching it for the first time and thinking to myself, “no way was I ever going to be able to knit with all those needles”.  It seems very daunting at first, but once you get it you wonder why it seemed so hard.

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Does your Little Darling need a new beret . . . or two . . . or three?  How about one in every color?

The beret pattern can be purchased on Ravelry.