Pixie Doll Auction – Ends tomorrow night!

Posted on March 5, 2014 by vuchickens | 12 Comments

Here’s your chance to get a custom hand-knit Pixie doll made by yours truly, and to also support my kids’ school. I have no desire to sell these myself, but I’ve made 3 of them as gifts (see photos in this post, and you can search my previous posts as well) and now I’ve donated one to our school auction. It didn’t sell at the actual event, so it’s been posted online through tomorrow night. No one has bid on it yet, and the starting price is just a tiny bit more than an American Girl Doll… way less than the actual value. I actually don’t care how much it sells for, I just want it to sell for our school, so I’d be happy with the opening bid! I’ll be donating all of the time and material costs myself… and I’ll also ship it to you for free!

Here’s the link to bid: https://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/item.action?id=210573275

And a full description of the outfits from this PDF: pixie-auction-description

ps. If you choose the outfit with the ballet leotard… I will throw in a crochet tu-tu as well, which I just figured out how to make. 🙂

More Pixie Magic

Posted on June 2, 2013 by vuchickens | 17 Comments

And now, back to something much cuter and more fun than insects: Chloe’s Pixie doll’s wardrobe is DONE and ready for her birthday next weekend! Once again, I am super in love with Claire Garland’s knitted toy patterns, especially this zig zaggy sweater! I want one in my size! It’s from Claire’s Pixie’s Fun Day Clothes pattern collection, and the stripy pants are as well.

Pixie Moon knitted doll clothes by Claire Garland

also cute unbuttoned

and from the back

And the original Pixie outfit, plus a simple elastic hand-sewn skirt. I love the way her eyes are catching the light in this photo. Suncatcher Eyes, handpainted by Michelle in Maine, are amazing!!!

She also gets a poodle for a pet… in pink of course… Chloe’s favorite color. I got this pattern from the book “Knit Your Own Dog”, which I borrowed from the library. Lot’s of cute, realistic dog breeds in there.

And these sweet pajamas are from Claire’s Bumper Pattern Package, the alternate version of the “Love my Playsuit” without the straps, sewn up in flannel.

I’m so excited to see her face when she opens everything! I’ll try to capture the moment photographically. 🙂

I’ve come to a decision about sewing, though. As much as I’m glad that it doesn’t completely scare me anymore, I still like knitting much better. Even though things take much longer to make, the process is so much more relaxing, more tactile, and MUCH less dangerous than sewing. I’m tired of pricking my fingers and ironing my hands!

Pixie’s Cousin

Posted on May 20, 2013 by vuchickens | 26 Comments

… or I should say “Original Pixie”, since she is a blondie like Claire Garland’s original pattern, for my tow-headed niece. I was more than a little obsessed with the hair for this doll. I started with the same Drops Lima that I used on Mae’s Pixie, but in beige. However, I didn’t order enough, and I decided that I wanted to try a different yarn, something softer, but still with alpaca content. So I bought a different, alpaca/bamboo yarn at my local yarn store. It was much thinner, which I thought might be nice as well, to make the head less heavy, but it ended up looking too lacy. I tried doubling it, which worked pretty well, but then I realized I would have to buy more… yet again. I finally found this gorgeous yarn, Cascade Eco Highland Duo (70% Undyed Baby Alpaca / 30% Undyed Merino Wool) which is very soft and has a beautiful variegated undyed color to it. It’s also single-ply, which I’ve never worked with before, so that was a fun experience. I’m IN LOVE with it. It’s so incredibly soft, I just want to bury my face in it whenever I’m working with Pixie.

I also had fun creating some of Claire Garland’s other Pixie clothes from her Bumper Pixie Wardrobe Package. The tank dress with the embroidered hearts was my absolute favorite. And it was super easy to make, so I would recommend it for any newbie knitter who wants to try making Pixie. With this Pixie’s lighter skin and hair color, and her bright turquoise eyes, she really needed a different color palette than Mae’s Pixie. So I used lot’s of pinks, greys, & blues that seemed to suit her well.

I can’t wait to give her to my niece next month!!! She seemed pretty interested in Mae’s doll at her birthday party, so I think she’ll like it. Mae’s friend Erica, on the right, is also getting a Pixie made for her by her Mom:

For now, she’s having fun hanging out with her Pixie cousin:

Mae is having fun playing with both dolls:

And so is Jonah:

But their favorite is still Mae’s Pixie (also because I’m not REALLY letting them play with Chloe’s):

Jonah would prefer that this picture doesn’t get widespread exposure among his peers… note sure why… boys shouldn’t get guff for playing with dolls too, methinks! 😉

Pixie Doll Pattern is on Sale this Week – Join the Fun!

Posted on May 17, 2013 by vuchickens | 10 Comments

PIXIE EVENT SPECIAL OFFER FOR THIS WEEK ONLY – 17th to 24th MAY 25% OFF

Anyone interested in knitting Pixie? Claire Garland’s pattern is 25% off this week on Etsy (only $4.20)! I’ve been helping my friend start knitting her, and she’s been surprised at how easy it is. I’ve just finished my second doll for my niece, and will be posting about her as soon as I finish some of her gorgeous clothes!

Pixie – a New Knitted Doll

sewing!!!

Posted on April 30, 2013 by vuchickens | 12 Comments

Pixie’s birthday wardrobe is done!

I even did a little sewing, which I was very scared about, and had been putting off because of that. My last real sewing project was in high school home-ec when I made an apron. I learned to use a sewing machine then, although I don’t have one now, but I figured: “How hard can it be to sew these little outfits by hand?” I started with a simple skirt to go with her original outfit, and I had a bit of a rough go at first trying to sew in a straight line, but then I realized out I could draw the line first with a washable marker, and that helped a lot. It’s not perfect, but it looks like a real skirt! With real seams and hems! I’m so excited!

Then, I used these patterns from Claire Garland:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pixies-day-clothes-collection

I made the sundress and the shoes from the patterns, but the capri pants are just a lengthened version of the original shorts pattern. I used Drops merino held double with a kid silk that Mae HAD to get at the yarn store because it was SO soft. It was very thin, I knew there was no way she would be able to work with it on her own, and I was right, so I took it over to work with on this project. But she was right also, it makes the pants SO much softer. And when I turned them inside out to sew in the ends, I liked the purl side a lot better. It looks a bit like “jeggings” this way. After finishing the dress and pants, I realized we had way too much purple going on, so she needed something very different for the shoes… green was the winner!

I really wanted to make the cardigan too, and I will for my niece’s doll, but Mae refuses to wear sweaters, so in the spirit of mini-me, I made her a poncho instead, with the same yarn I used on Mae’s Christmas poncho. I LOVE how the stripes turned out so perfectly! I didn’t plan it that way, I swear, except to start with the purple, since her poncho has a purple collar.

And then I made a simple flannel nightgown. I’m not sure it’s my best work, but it’ll do for now, and maybe I’ll make her something more sophisticated for Christmas (perhaps with a robe and slippers?)

I recruited Jonah to try out dressing her. He had a lot of fun, and reported that he thought Mae would love her. He was also inspired to introduce Pixie and her cat to the Hobbes tiger I made for him 2 Christmases ago. It looks like they are all going to be great friends!

pixie’s knitted heidi dress and cat

Posted on April 23, 2013 by vuchickens | 9 Comments

Mae’s surprise knitted birthday doll’s wardrobe is expanding. I absolutely LOVE this pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pixies-favourite-heidi-dress-and-little-red-winter-hood

Claire Garland is a knitting genius, even if she does have quite a few small errors in her patterns, I don’t care, geniuses are like that sometimes… they can’t be bothered with the details.

And now Pixie has a friend as well… modeled after our sweet Lola cat. This pattern can be found in this book (I borrowed it from the library) : Knit and Purl Pets

The cats love her too, and the white pillow they are sitting against in the photos was made by Mae. 🙂

In chicken land (was that what this blog was supposed to be all about?) we are all loving the warmer weather and longer days. It still surprises me how much the hens enjoy sitting with us on the hammock. They really can’t stand more than a quick pet when they’re running around the yard, but on the hammock they let us pet and hug them to the contentment of all. Cleo almost fell asleep the other evening while Mae was rocking us, cuddled up against my side. I wonder why the difference? Is it perhaps because we are at eye level, instead of descending from above… like a potential predator? And maybe because it feels like we are roosting with them, fellow chickens swaying together in the branches of a tree?