Dolly Mixture baby set on Ravelry

I've decided to see if anyone's willing to pay for my patterns - I'll still be posting freebies too, but this baby set took a lot of working out to get right, so here goes! It's available as a Ravelry download for £2.50. It comes in one size only, hence the relatively low price - 18" chest, or approximate age 3 to 6 months, commonly known (at least in the UK) as "second size".

I made an alternative version suitable for a boy, minus the flower on the hat. The yarn I used is what inspired the name - the lavender colourway reminded me of those sweets we used to get as kids! The variegated yarns are Jarol New Arrival, which is available in lots of colour mixes, brights as well as pastels. The plain yarns are Woolcraft New Fashion, but any 100% DK yarn that knits to the required tension is fine - the most important thing is to match the plain yarn to one of the colours in the print yarn.

There are a couple of techniques used in this pattern that may be unfamiliar, but don't be put off - they are easy to learn.
The first is the I-cord, used for the hat ties - most US knitters will know this already, but UK knitters are more likely to know it as French Knitting or "corkwork". We used to make our own "Knitting Nancy" from a wooden cotton reel and four nails. The lucky ones among us had a manufactured version with staples, which was much easier to use. The I-cord is simply the same thing knitted on two double-pointed needles - see Knitting Daily blog here for instructions. You can use 3, 4 or 5 stitches depending on the thickness of cord required.
The second technique is the Cable cast on used in the hat - a good explanation of this technique can be found on the Knitting Daily blog here. This is a 2-needle cast-on which is more elastic than the normal method.
Happy knitting!

Outfits for 16 inch baby doll - part 3

Well, here we are at the start of yet another new year - where does all the time go? Now that Christmas is over I can post the patterns from my knitted presents - didn't want to give too much away beforehand!
First, the rest of the doll's clothes patterns, started in November. Pattern for a vintage look sweater to follow. 

 
Dress, jacket and bonnet

Materials:

4-ply yarn in white (W) and red (R)

Pair size 3.25 mm (UK 10) needles

Pair size 3 mm (UK 11) needles

2 small buttons

Shirring elastic (to match leggings)

Pair 3.5 mm (UK 10) knitting needles

3 mm crochet hook

Tension:

7 sts to 1 inch over st st

Measurements:

To fit a 15 to 16 in baby doll: chest 11.5 in, waist 12 in, sleeve seam 3 in, head circumference 12 in.

Abbreviations: see vest pattern

Dress

With 3.25 mm needles and W, cast on 120 sts. K 3 rows.

Change to R and work 4 rows in st st, then 2 rows g st in W. Do not break off yarn, but carry up the side of the work.

Continue working 4 rows st st in R, then 2 rows g st in W, until work measures 3.5 in. Cast on 2 sts at start of next 2 rows. Continue to work in patt, working 4 sts in g st at each end of every row until work measures 5 in, ending with a R stripe.

Next row: Using W, K4, (K2 tog, K1) to last 6 sts, K2 tog, K4 (85 sts).

Work 3 more rows in g st using W, making buttonhole 3 sts from end of 3^rd row. To make buttonhole, work y fwd, K2 tog.

Change to R, break off W and work 2 rows st st.

Divide for armholes: K 21, cast off 4, K 35, cast of 4, K 21.

Next row: K 4, P 15, K2 tog, turn. Working on these 20 sts only, dec 1 st at start of next and following alt rows until 18 sts remain. Work 16 rows straight in st st, maintaining g st border and working another buttonhole on 7^th of these rows.

Cast off 6 sts at start of next 2 alt rows (shoulder edge), P 1 row, cast off rem 6 sts.

Rejoin yarn to next st on needle, P2 tog, P 31, P2 tog, turn and work on these 33 sts.

Dec 1 st at each end of next and alt rows until 27 sts remain. Work 7 rows straight in st st.

Divide for neck: K 12, cast off 3, K 12. Working on last 12 sts, dec 1 st at neck edge of next 3 alt rows (9 sts). Work 3 rows straight. Cast off 4 sts at start of next row, work 1 row, cast off rem 5 sts.

Rejoin yarn and work other side of front neck on next 12 sts to match.

Rejoin yarn to rem 21 sts and work left back to match right back above.

With W, pick up 42 sts around armhole, work 4 rows in g st and cast off. Repeat for other armhole.

Neck finishing and ties: Join shoulder seams. With 3 mm crocket hook and W, work 5 in chain, work 1 row double crochet around neck edge, then 5 in chain.

Join back seam, overlapping extensions. Neaten buttonholes and attach buttons to correspond.

Bonnet

Using 3.5 mm needles and W, cast on 70 sts. Work 3 rows g st in W, then work 34 rows in patt as for dress

Cast off. Join back seam.

With 3 mm crochet hook and W, work 6 in chain. Work 1 row double crochet around neck edge, then another 6 in chain. Darn in ends.

Leggings

The pattern for these was taken from Claire’s leggings pattern (Claire at www.babydollhandknitdesigns.co.uk - her patterns are in various sizes and suitable for premature babies too).