Seasonal Hand Knitted Designs for 18″ Dolls

I recently purchased the “Seasonal Hand Knitted Designs for 18″ Dolls: Spring/Summer Collection” and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. The book is filled with 13 beautifully designed hand knitted patterns that are suitable for both beginner and experienced knitters. The patterns are not only perfect for creating a stylish wardrobe for my 18″ doll, but also as a way to celebrate the art of knitting and honor the memory of the author’s mother, Brenda, who taught her how to knit at a young age.

One of the things I love about this book is that the patterns are designed to coordinate with each other, creating complete ensembles for my doll. From the traditional options offered in the Bria Collection, to the spring cherry blossom inspired set found in the Earth Collection, along with the versatile styles of the Neapolitan Chic Collection, and finishing with trendy nautical essentials from the Sea Collection. Each design is worked with the doll’s ease of dressing in mind, making it easy to dress and undress the doll.

The patterns are designed to fit American Girl Dolls and the comparable 18″ Gotz Dolls, which are very popular among doll enthusiasts. American Girl Dolls are known for their quality and attention to detail, making them a favorite among collectors and children alike. The dolls are designed to have different skin tones, hair textures and eye colors, which allows children to find a doll that looks like them. Additionally, the dolls have a wide range of books, clothing and accessories, making them an ideal companion for children to play and learn with.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves to knit and has an 18″ doll. The patterns are beautifully designed and easy to follow, making it a great way to celebrate the art of knitting and create a stylish wardrobe for your doll.

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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