Duke the petite pit bull

Duke is a pit bull I found on ravelry and thought he'd make a great pet for Alberta. If your not a member of ravelry you should join but in the meantime, if you can't access ravelry go to Liz Lindo's website to find the free pattern for this cutie. The things she is creating are specular!! Like the, again free, pattern for a breathtaking top called the Lotus Blossom Cardigan She even shows how she pieced it together. How cool is this!!! She only makes this top in a med size so too bad for me but maybe I can still use her technique and come up with something. First I need to get help making a duct tape mannequin.

But anyway, Duke!!

He's a very happy little guy and he loves his owner, Alberta.

What's next? Robert Earl is coming to keep both Alberta and Duke in line...stay tuned.

Keep stitchin'

Alberta

I found this cute amigurumi doll pattern by Beth Ann Webber on raverly and thought this is too cute to pass up. There is a wonderfu pictorial on her flickr page that helps you design your doll, clothes for her and how to make her hair. The pattern is so easily altered to make little creatures too. Be sure to drop by her blog to see all the wonderful things she makes, including the fabric dolls too.

I took my doll to work to show her off and everybody loves her! They can't wait to see the clothes I make for her.
I have to talk about how I made mine up because I didn't have the supplies called for. I didn't have pipe cleaners so I used floral wire, 22 gauge I think, in the arms and legs with a little poly fill. I didn't have a wooden spool to put in the neck so I had to get creative. I cut a drinking straw into 1/2" pieces and taped four of the pieces together. I used lots of tape and stuffed in the neck but felt it wasn't going to stay in place...hmmmmm what to do? I wrapped a couple of rubber bands around the taped straws to add some traction! This was the perfect way to give the yarn something to grab on to and provide stability in the neck.
Getting the yarn for her lips was quite crafty, if I say so myself. I knew I didn’t want a bright red, nor did I want pink, I wanted a more ‘ethnic' looking shade. Since I don’t wear any make-up, ever…hmmmmmm what to do? <> I still have yarn left over from my Autumn Winds sweater, it has warmer shades of brown and red that I knew would work well. So I stretched out a piece of the yarn and dissected it to get the lovely warm reddish-brown color for her lips.
Now, when her clothes are complete and she has hair accessories, she will be a happy girl.

I'm behind on my blogging but I saved these notes to add everything once she was done. So, as you can see, she has a dress and bloomers now. I didn't follow the pattern to a tee, I just used whatever I already had in the house. Since I didn't have a rubber to fit her waist to make the bloomers I simply did a few chain links and made a belt to tie them on her. I would still like to make her some shoes and those hair accessories...maybe later when I finish some other started projects.

I finally came up with the name, I wanted something rather 'country' so I choice Alberta. Sorry all you Alberta's that are screaming, "I'm not country!". My doll, my name, my reason for choosing it.

Keep stitchin'

Amigurumi

I just finished another top that will be posted when I get pictures under good light. In the meantime, just for my fix, I made my first amigurumi today! I found a pattern on ravelry for this cute little doggie that was fairly easy to make. The instructions were not very clear but together with the symbols I was able to figure it out with very little error. I think the head is too big for the little body but other than that I think I did pretty good.

Awwww, isn't he cute!!! Just think I don't have to feed or work him either.

Keep stitchin'