My Chow Hand Puppet Is on Knitty!

Sometimes, it seems, mouths have minds of their own! In this case, it's true! Chow is knit in the round, then felted in your washing machine. The teeth are I-cord and shaped by dental-floss stitching.
I hope you'll visit Knitty's Deep Fall 2010 issue, now LIVE! and give my free Chow pattern a try and, as always, if you run into any trouble spots, or just want to say, "hi," please email me!

My Walkabout Dolls Are Going to Be PUBLISHED!

I am so excited to finally let it be known: My Walkabout dolls are going to be published by Leisure Arts in April, 2011. It's been hard to keep quiet about this project the last year and a half ... so I can finally breathe a wonderful sigh and let you know what I've been working on!!! You can even pre-order it from Amazon.com! Here is the link: Storybook Dolls to Knit

You can also read more about it here: Midpoint Trade Books

All of the walking dolls are knit with wool yarn on double-pointed needles and then ... yes! You guessed it! Felted in your washing machine! The felted dolls are perfect little canvases for embroidering great details and faces, etc.

The patterns include The Gingerbread Man; Hansel and Gretel and the Witch; The Three Little Pigs (and the Wolf, of course!); Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf; Mary and her Lamb; Humpty Dumpty; and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They were so much fun to design and I hope you'll want to try them! And, as an extra bonus, there's an audio cd of the fairy tales and nursery rhymes included!

Izzy Wellington pattern is up!

Izzy and Old Bear love the koi pond!


Don't fall in!

Wow! It's been a hectic couple of weeks! But my father is all moved into the addition! and I've even had time to put the Izzy Wellington doll pattern up for sale on my website and on Ravelry, too. The 8-page pattern comes with the directions to knit and felt Izzy, her separate dress and her shoes (or dancing slippers, as she likes to call them). I've even detailed how to make her hair using a circle loom as a starting point. And you can have all this in a moment's download for a modest $2.50!!! Plus, don't forget, I'm always here if you have any questions or concerns about any of my patterns.

Another View

Please Meet: Izzy ...

Meet Izzy ...

She stands a full 18" tall

She wears her hair up in a bun.


Her dancing shoes. (She's hoping to attend a ball soon!)

A view of her hips/leg sockets before attaching her legs.

Here she is after felting, stuffing and sewing up.

Here she is next to Samantha, an American Girl doll ... this is to get a better idea of how big Izzy really is!

Well, I worked a lot longer on perfecting Izzy than I had expected I would. She went through many transformations. I tried several faces that looked more like the Izannah Walker dolls, but they just didn't suit her. So, I finally came up with this face, which I think is a little like the face on Bangwell Putt, my favorite doll in a book called The Journey of Bangwell Putt by Mariana.
What do you think of her? I hope you like her. The pattern will be available soon.

Izzy in Progress!

"Izzy," my knitted/felted version of the cloth and wooden 19th-century Izannah Walker doll, is coming along nicely! This is the biggest doll I've ever designed, she measures 18 inches after felting!

Here are Izzy's pieces before felting. (above)

And here are the pieces after felting. They've just been taken from the washer, rinsed, stuffed and shaped.

I used Galway 100 percent wool yarn for the "wooden" parts ... the feet/bottom part of the legs; the hands and bottoms of the arms; the shoulders, neck and head. I used Paton's classic merino in aran for the "muslin" body parts.

Many of the dresses I've seen for the Izannah Walker dolls leave the shoulders bare, as was the style of the day. Of course, that will be my next project ... knitting and felting an appropriate dress for her. Perhaps she should have a string of pearls or beads and some earbobs, as well!

I am planning to make her hair also the style of the day: parted in the middle, pinned up in the back, with ringlets around. She should probably wear some sort of ornament in her hair, also.

After she dries, the fun will really begin! Stay tuned!

Oh ... and for more information on Izannah Walker, try these links: Laurel Leaf Dolls

Izannah Walker Chronicles and the Izannah Walker Journal

Look at the Addition Now!

Move-in date for my dad is on or before September 1!!!