I have decided to try something new. And no, I don't mean knitting.
Over the last few weeks, I have been working on a doll of my own design. I have tried out many doll patterns by different designers and I learn something through every one of them. I learn what I like and didn't like about each one. Once I got more comfortable, I started combining all the elements that I like into the doll that I am designing!
PS: Please ignore the messy background of the photos. These are extremely raw/unedited photos that I have taken as I was making this doll.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to crocheting, and that's hard, because we all know that handmade is never perfect, which is what makes handmade so unique. But it's also driving me a little nuts. So I have actually been doing a lot of making, frogging, and then remaking after I find a technique I love.
The doll is taking me a long time (much longer than I thought) because I keep finding new things to improve on and making those changes. I don't have it all down yet, but I couldn't wait to show you the progress that I've been making and then share this progress with you.
First of all, finding the right flesh tone has been a challenge. In the past few years, I've almost avoided making dolls because I don't have access to the right shade of skin tone yarn that I thought I needed.
I've been using shades such as off-white, cream, and beige to help satisfy the needs for when I do make dolls, but I find that my dolls often come out looking so pale and ghostly. I'd prefer it to have a little bit more "blood flow" to them if that makes any sense.
Many people have suggested using Caron Simply Soft in Light Country Peach, but it's a bit hard for me to obtain that yarn because they don't sell it at my local Michael's, and I would have to order it in bulk to have it be worthwhile if I order online.
Finally, I came across this Bernat Handicrafter yarn in the color, Chamomile. As you know, I loved my past experience using Bernat Handicrafter for amigurumis, so I was glad to revisit this yarn. This peach colored was exactly what I was looking for.
As you can see in the above photo that the doll on the left looks so pale, that you can barely see its white undies. Whereas the flesh tone of the right looks much more "alive".
Aside from searching for the perfect shade of peach for the skin, I also managed to try a new way to crochet. I have noticed many beautiful photos of amigurumi dolls on Instagram have this "x" looking stitch on them. It looked so neat and perfect and I wanted to achieve that look with my amigurumis!
I finally managed to figure out how to make these x-looking single crochet stitches by using the yarn-under method vs the yarn-over method.
I initially crocheted the whole doll in peach-colored yarn, but then I thought it looked too naked. So I decided to crochet some underwear. Sadly, because the doll was so small, using worsted-weight yarn for the underwear made it look like it was wearing diapers. So again, frogging it and crocheted the underwear using color changes in the rounds instead.
I also learned a new color-changing method that results in cleaner lines. As you can tell by the photo below, I'm going to have to frog the purple one and remake it so that it uses the same color-changing method as the pink one, which is a much cleaner color change.
So that's it for now! I thought I'd show you a sneak peek of what I am working on and how I've been trying to improve my amigurumi game. I also wanted to let you all know that this blog is still alive. And while this post may not necessarily be "pin-able" content, it may be interesting for some people to know what I've been up to and all the new stuff I've been learning.
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