Maya

Maya is the second doll that I knitted from Arne and Carlos ..... I made this doll to gift my husband's advisor and I really had lots of fun. So what did maya do today? Let's see...

Maya was playing with her little doll Macy and was eating strawberry and was enjoying some apple juice.....

Then she was bored of playing so she decided to read a fairy tale to her little doll Macy 

Meanwhile a little bunny sneaked out from the doll closet to eat the strawberry since she was bored of eating carrots. Then Rascal the dog started peeping out from the closet...and he got some ideas as well....

After the dog a little mouse followed the dog.

After this all other animals came out as well and everybody wanted to enjoy the strawberry and the apple juice and so they started fighting amongst themselves . Bunny and the little mice started fighting for the fruit, Rascal started sipping from the glass and the pigs started fighting for the remaining juice and the mama mouse and the papa mouse was trying to stop the fight , and the third pig was trying to escape after stealing the packet of apple juice....

 Meanwhile Maya heard the noises and came to see what's happening 

Then she got angry and put all the little rascals in a basket and little Macy helped her with this task.... They will go straight into the doll closet.

Now finally Maya can peacefully get back to her reading :) 

I really had fun playing with these dolls .i hope those who read this post will enjoy as well. Thanks for stopping by ....

Little Red Riding Hood...

Little Red Riding Hood is wrapped up tightly in her brand new , knitted wool coat, now she is ready to go over the river and through the woods with the basket of food to her ailing grandmother.....Grandmother enjoys her life in her little home in the woods. And about the wolf I have already written in my previous Blog " The three little pigs " . He may be knitted in a gorgeous gray yarn , but this wolf is one tricky and deceitful creature. Even though the wood cutter is not there in the book I made changes to one of the male dolls Fiona Goble has created in her book and gave him some Personality by giving him a leather hat and a crocheted shovel , I did not have an ax so I tried to show this shovel as an Ax for the effect. I also made glasses for the grandmother , to just give that old age effect.... The house is crocheted which I made long time back and of course i added some extra little things like chair, and some furnitures to give a home feeling.... I really had a wonderful time making these dolls and I really felt like I was a director and these dolls were my actors .....it was really fun to enact all the scenes with these dolls from Fiona Gobles fairy tale knits.....

Three little pigs ....

Some stories are here today and gone tomorrow, but fairy tales have been adored and remembered by generation after generation of children and grown-ups ,too .why do fairy tales continue to be so popular ? It's not just we all love a handsome hero, beautiful princess and a happy ending but sometimes it's also packed with hardship, cruelty, and danger and fairy tales teach us how they can be overcome..
This post is about three little pigs, I made these beautiful dolls from the book " Fairy tale knits " by 'Fiona Goble' ... When ever I work from the patterns from different designers I get to learn different techniques , and learn something new... Since I want to be a designer myself one day I want to learn by working different patterns designed by different designers ... Fiona gobles patterns are very easy and simple to follow and quick to knit .....she is a designer from UK.....

Everyone knows the story of three little pigs but I would love to write the story in my blog again...

The Story of the Three Little Pigs

England

Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme
And monkeys chewed tobacco,
And hens took snuff to make them tough,
And ducks went quack, quack, quack, O!

There was an old sow with three little pigs, and as she had not enough to keep them, she sent them out to seek their fortune. The first that went off met a man with a bundle of straw, and said to him, "Please, man, give me that straw to build me a house." Which the man did, and the little pig built a house with it.

Presently came along a wolf, and knocked at the door, and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

To which the pig answered, "No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin."

The wolf then answered to that, "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed, and he puffed, and he blew his house in, and ate up the little pig.

The second little pig met a man with a bundle of furze [sticks], and said, "Please, man, give me that furze to build a house." Which the man did, and the pig built his house.

Then along came the wolf, and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin."

"Then I'll puff, and I'll huff, and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed, and he puffed, and he puffed, and he huffed, and at last he blew the house down, and he ate up the little pig.

The third little pig met a man with a load of bricks, and said, "Please, man, give me those bricks to build a house with." So the man gave him the bricks, and he built his house with them.

So the wolf came, as he did to the other little pigs, and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin."

"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in."

Well, he huffed, and he puffed, and he huffed and he puffed, and he puffed and huffed; but he could not get the house down. When he found that he could not, with all his huffing and puffing, blow the house down, he said, "Little pig, I know where there is a nice field of turnips."

"Where?" said the little pig.

"Oh, in Mr. Smith's home field, and if you will be ready tomorrow morning I will call for you, and we will go together and get some for dinner."

"Very well," said the little pig, "I will be ready. What time do you mean to go?"

"Oh, at six o'clock."

Well, the little pig got up at five, and got the turnips before the wolf came (which he did about six) and who said, "Little pig, are you ready?"

The little pig said, "Ready! I have been and come back again, and got a nice potful for dinner."

The wolf felt very angry at this, but thought that he would be up to the little pig somehow or other, so he said, "Little pig, I know where there is a nice apple tree."

"Where?" said the pig.

"Down at Merry Garden," replied the wolf, "and if you will not deceive me I will come for you, at five o'clock tomorrow and get some apples."

Well, the little pig bustled up the next morning at four o'clock, and went off for the apples, hoping to get back before the wolf came; but he had further to go, and had to climb the tree, so that just as he was coming down from it, he saw the wolf coming, which, as you may suppose, frightened him very much.

When the wolf came up he said, "Little pig, what! Are you here before me? Are they nice apples?"

"Yes, very," said the little pig. "I will throw you down one." And he threw it so far, that, while the wolf was gone to pick it up, the little pig jumped down and ran home.

The next day the wolf came again, and said to the little pig, "Little pig, there is a fair at Shanklin this afternoon. Will you go?"

"Oh yes," said the pig, "I will go. What time shall you be ready?"

"At three," said the wolf. So the little pig went off before the time as usual, and got to the fair, and bought a butter churn, which he was going home with, when he saw the wolf coming. Then he could not tell what to do. So he got into the churn to hide, and by so doing turned it around, and it rolled down the hill with the pig in it, which frightened the wolf so much, that he ran home without going to the fair. He went to the pig's house, and told him how frightened he had been by a great round thing which came down the hill past him.

Then the little pig said, "Ha, I frightened you, then. I had been to the fair and bought a butter churn, and when I saw you, I got into it, and rolled down the hill."

Then the wolf was very angry indeed, and declared he would eat up the little pig, and that he would get down the chimney after him. When the little pig saw what he was about, he hung on the pot full of water, and made up a blazing fire, and, just as the wolf was coming down, took off the cover, and in fell the wolf; so the little pig put on the cover again in an instant, boiled him up, and ate him for supper, and lived happily ever afterwards.

Source: Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales (London: David Nutt, 1890), no. 14, pp. 68-72.
Jacobs' source: An earlier edition of James Orchard Halliwell, The Nursery Rhymes of England (London and New York: Frederick Warne and Company, 1886), pp. 37-41. This author is also known by the name James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps.

I love all the three Little pigs, I made each pig in different color just to give them a different personality ... I just love the wolf, he may be knitted in a gorgeous dark gray yarn, but this wolf is one tricky and deceitful creature. With his sly smile , he's friendly and sweet- talking one minute ,but baring his teeth and determined to grab himself a decent meal the next minute. I just love his mouth .....
These dolls really help to narrate a story to small children , I just had fun making these dolls.....

Picnic day @ Uc Davis....

The 99th annual Picnic Day will take place on Saturday, April 20, 2013. This family friendly event is free for all to come and experience the richness of diversity and achievement at UC Davis and the surrounding community in the areas of research, teaching, service and campus life.

As UC Davis’ annual open house event, Picnic Day has been prominently featured in the press. Now in its 99th year, this traditional event has been voted “Best Davis Event” by the California Aggie for the past four years.

Picnic Day has an expected attendance of 125,000 visitors and is believed to be the largest student-run event in the nation. In 2007–2008 an estimated 100,000 people attended and reports for the UC Davis Centennial (2008–2009) place attendance anywhere between 125,000 and 150,000. Current and prospective students, alumni, staff, faculty, and people from everywhere are invited to attend this festive day that showcases the talents, achievements and history of the university. With more than 150 free events throughout campus, Picnic Day provides fun and education for all ages.

The above information is as per the Davis wiki and the university website. I have been living in Davis from past 5 years, every year I visit the UC Davis campus for picnic day. Main thing I like about this event is dogs. I have seen most beautiful breeds on this day , I should not forget cats. If people are interested they can adopt dogs and cats. In the morning there will be a parade , people from different countries walk in the parade carrying their country's flags followed by number of other activities like music, dog shows where dogs will participate in some competitions it's really fun to watch those dogs and many other activities.

Davis is a very small town with a population of 75,000 people but this is one time of the year where I see many people thronging this place. All the restaurants will be full , you will only see crowd every where....since this might be my last picnic day at UC Davis since my husband will be graduating soon I thought I should write a blog about picnic day... On this occasion why not some fun for my dolls, let the girls have some fun :)

It's me time........

I think finally I knitted a doll to which I can relate myself with. My favorite pastime is working with yarn either knitting or crocheting. Here is my friend Siv who loves to knit ....

This doll is designed by Arne and Carlos . Arne Nerjordet and Carlos Zachrison , Norwegian and Swedish , respectively, established Arne and Carlos a clothing deign company in 2002. They create original and visually striking traditional Scandinavian knitwear and accessories. They are the authors of the international bestseller 55 Christmas balls to knit....
Now they aspired to bring a little fun to people who love to knit dolls by designing a fantastic collection of knitted dolls as well as instructions for creating a charming knitted wardrobe for them. Based on the dolls they used during their career in the fashion design industries ( they would design clothing in miniatures before transforming it into " human " sizes ) .

When ever I find male designers in field of knitting or crocheting I feel very happy and glad that males are taking interest and enjoying knitting and crocheting . I am from india and i have not seen men knitting or crocheting , even though I have seen male tailors who are very popular in India.

Anyway I had great fun knitting this doll. Every time i work from different designers patterns I get to learn different techniques. Here I learnt to use double pointed knitting needles. This entire doll is knitted using a set of double pointed needles ( a set includes five needles ) . When ever some thing small or something is knitted in rounds we use double pointed needles. for eg, socks, hat etc....It was hard for me in the beginning but I got hang of it soon and then I was quite comfortable. Even though the designers have used double pointed needles for the shoes I used regular needles to make the doll's shoes....

The best thing is I learnt how to make knitted eyes and nose, also to make hair in a different way....

If you are someone like me who has played with dolls as a kid and enjoyed dressing your doll this book is perfect since this book also contains instructions about making different and beautiful outfits for different seasons and I love the Scandinavian designs in this book.

You can see her dress in close up when she is standing I love the way the dress fits her.i have done some flower embroidery for the bottom edge of her dress. I have embellished her shoes with buttons. I have made earring for her. I made the beads with polymer clay and I added the ear wires to the beads.
Back side I have added buttons for the opening.....I also like the slim look of this doll.
Lastly I knitted an underwear this pattern is not in the book. I found the underwear pattern online, I altered the 18 inches American doll underwear to fit this doll. And finally I made my handmade label to the dolls dress and the doll to personalize this doll since this will go to one of my friends as gift. I feel the chair that is is sitting on is perfect for her, I bought the chair from target. I was looking for a wooden rocking chair but unfortunately could not find any where....

I really had fun knitting and make over of this doll and also learnt many new techniques.
Lastly who ever stops by to visit by blog thanks a lot and I hope you find my blog interesting...I apologize since the photos are not in order I wanted to place the pictures below the appropriate paragraphs but somehow my iPad is not allowing that even though I could do this with some of my previous posts... That's frustrating grr.....

Sidney slap stick ....

Here comes one of the character from THE RED NOSE GANG - the most comical chuckle of colorful clowns you will ever meet. Sidney splash stick is a dedicated tradesman, dedicated that is , to messing up just about anything and everything in sight ! In fact sometimes there seems to be more paint on his overalls than on-the-walls. Watch out for that glue pot Sidney !

Sidney is my next creation from Jeangreenhowe.I just love her idea of the clowns and the details of the clown.sidney is 21 inches tall and a free standing doll. I love the bright and vibrant colors she has used to make this clown. I was really amazed when I saw this pattern , the paint splashes on his overalls, his glue pot on his head that has tilted and almost falling, the glue itself is so amusing. The pencil looks so real. I am really surprised to see how real her creations look.

Next I was taken a back when I saw the painting and the paint in the tin which has over spilt a bit and the paint Brush with a paint drop. If somebody looks at this doll from far every thing looks real...

I am really bad at embroidery, I am not sure how the word 'paint' is looking on the tin.
I don't know if anybody would have thought of making a ladder. I was really surprised to see the height of the ladder. It is very appropriate to his height and measures about 16 inches. The paste bucket and the paste that has over spilt and the brush that is immersed in side the bucket all are excellent ideas and the best part about jean is she has an ability to make everything look real.

Overall I just had a great time knitting Sidney. It took me almost a month but it is really worth it. Every time I make a doll from Jean's book, I learn a new thing, new technique. I also love the fingers , hair , his nose everything. Anybody who sees him will smile that's the best part about this knitted clown.

I enjoyed making him, I don't know if he can paint well but he surely can amuse people...

My first knitted doll

I got an urge to knit after I received four sweaters as gifts from my husbands grandmother. She is an expert knitter and she knitted four beautiful sweaters for me. When ever I wear them people notice my sweater and complement. I wanted to knit but I did not know how to go about. Luckily my neighbor In my old apartment taught me how to knit. It was a quick crash course since she was moving to Chicago and I had less than a week to learn to cast on, knit, purl and cast off . She did what ever she could and I am very grateful for that... After practicing for sometime I bought a basic knitting book from border's . I always wanted to make vests and sweaters so there was an easy sleeveless vest pattern in the book, I started making the vest. Even though the knitting was good , the armhole shaping and the neck shaping was a disaster :( , even the size became too big, I then realized that the yarn that I used was not appropriate. I also realized that armhole shaping and the neck shaping is not a walk in the park ....so my first vest was a big disaster :)

I did not give up started a new project which was a shrug . This time was I successful ? Nay, was not :( . This time the shrug became too small :) may be it could have fitted a doll, but I don't know what happened to that shrug I was too disappointed and I got rid of that shrug if I knew I was going to make dolls in future may be I would have retained that shrug ....

Anyway my third project began and it was a shrug again :) I did not give up on cardigans, vests and sweaters yet ;) . This time I wanted to make this shrug to gift one of my friends who taught me to sew. She was leaving to India for good and I wanted to give her a thank you gift ,which was also a parting gift ,so started this shrug I was too ambitious and made with two colors black and white :) , I completed the shrug I wanted to add a flower I didn't know how to crochet I asked my friend to crochet a flower so that I can embellish on the shrug everything was ready I gave the shrug to my friend and I thought she will be thrilled but she was kind of disappointed :( . I can say that it was not very good but it was not bad either, since it was handmade with love I thought she would accept but she returned the shrug back to me :( I cannot blame her everyone likes to receive a good gift. I then gifted her a three strand bracelet and a black necklace that I made and she loved them...

After this incident I was slightly upset about my failure ,then my husband gave a very good suggestion that I should first make small projects and then move on to big projects, then I was looking for small knitting projects and I came across this easy doll pattern and then I decided that I should make dolls. I took a long time to make but I was happy with the end result.

I called her pinku .then I made a slightly bigger doll called Rinku. I showed that doll to one of my friends who use to work In a women's center library and she loved it and wanted to buy this doll for her mom for Mother's Day. So I was only left with pinku.. ...
So this is how my doll making thing started. Which I am enjoying. I went on to make few more vests . They came well, not excellent but not bad,I still get complements when I wear them. Even though I want to make dolls, I want to try making other things as well.
Lastly I want to dedicate this picture to one of my childhood friends. I love her and she is my best friend. I wanted to give Rinku to her but I can always make another doll for her :) .