Knit Marie Antoinette Doll

Image by AmyGaines

Amy Gaines never fails to deliver a pleasant and in this case a royal surprise with her patterns. 

Today she added an amazing new item to her Etsy Shop - a knit Marie Antoinette doll. There's really no way to save the superlatives - the detailing of the dress and the wig is exquisite and the the only question is "Is His Majesty Louis XVI in sight?" 

You can get the pattern in PDF format from Amy's Etsy shop for $6.00 USD.

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Baby Hat - Done!

Couple of weeks ago I finished a pair of baby crossover booties designed by Ceradka and now I finally have a matching hat to go with them.

Image by craftcookie

This time I used a free pattern I found on randomstitches which turned out to be very easy and fast to knit. The whole project took around 4 hours including some time for size adjustment.

Materials: 

- set of 5 size 4.5 double-point needles

- 4.5 hook for the crochet flower

- Impeccable™ worsted yarn by Loops & Threads™

Pattern:

- Leaf Top Hat For Baby by randomstitches (in PDF)

I changed the number of of stitches from 64 to 56 and used different needle size to get a hat for a newborn baby (the original pattern is suitable for an infant). So at the end I got 13 cm (~5 inches) depth and 32 cm (12.6 inches) circumference.

Pattern Review: 

I will definitely put the baby hat pattern by randomstitches in my library of knit basics. It's very clear and it even contains instructions on how to knit an i-cord. It's easily customizable and it gives you endless opportunities when it comes to sizes, knitting stitches, colors and embellishments. In the end it will give you a beautiful, finished project in no time.

  

Top 5 Free Knit Baby Booties

As promised in the post about Ceradka's Etsy shop, the Top 5 list of free knit baby booties patterns is finally ready.

So let's see who made it:

Image by Saartje Knits

1. Saartje's Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn from Saartje Knits - this pattern is without a doubt one of the most popular free patterns on the web and is currently topping the Ravelry chart in the same category with as I write this 9146 projects compared to 1697 projects for the runner up - Christine's Stay-On Baby Booties.

These booties are a great choice, because they look fashionable enough for a little princess or a gentleman and you can customize them any way you want - you could knit with single or multiple colors, you could use different buttons and additional embellishments and you could even experiment with the stitch pattern. If you're looking for insipiration and ideas - check the results from my search on Google Images.

The instructions for the booties come in PDF format and are very detailed and clear. There are even some pictures explaining how to make the left and the right strap, so what more could we possibly do, except of giving Saartjes Bootees a go - even if it means to make a pair in size 6/7 or bigger...

2. Stay-On Booties - Time to cheat (just a bit). What follows are a couple of really nice free patterns for stay-on booties and I really couldn't give a preference to one or another, because all of them have something nice about them. I decided to put them into 2nd place not only because they look good but also for their practicality - you can be almost sure that they stay on and warm your baby's feet - at least for a while longer than usual.

Image by chopped tomatoes            Image by pickinandthrowin              Image by lanaecotone

• Greemy Baby Booties by Chopped Tomatoes - beautifully made with a single seam on the sole
• Seamless Booties Bottom Up and Seamless Booties Top Down by YarnThrower from Pickin' And Throwin' - two variations of the same pattern. Not only nice but also very comfortable for baby feet, as they have no seems at all!
• Scarpine Alessandra by Lana E Cotone. Even though the blog is in Italian, there is an English version of the pattern. What I really like about these booties is the beautiful cable top and the detailed instructions.

Image by sockpixie

3. Magic Slippers by Sockpixie - here's a true classic. You can make these   from any leftover yarn and when it comes to embellishing it - let your imagination run wild - for example why not put a tiny round nose, eyes, whiskers and a pair of tiny ears, to turn them into cute pair of mice or kittens...

You can find the instructions here.

Image by autumnblossomknits

4. Mary Jane Booties by Lucie Sinkler - another very popular pattern. You can find images of this style of booties as knit or crochet projects and they look equally good. Some of the feedback I've seen online is that these are easier to knit compared to Saartije's Booties because the single strap is much easier to knit.

The basic pattern instructions are provided by Lucie Sinkler on howstuffworks.com

Image by Kids Tricot

5. Kiholo Booties by Muriel Agator from Kids Tricot - I chose this pattern because it's quite different. It creates the illusion of a bootie within a bootie and the end result is very nice.

The PDF pattern for Les Chaussons Kiholo (doesn't that sound cute ;) in English can be found here. And for those, who just like me are curious what Kiholo means, apparently it's a bay in Hawaii. Judging by the pictures I've seen Kiholo Bay is pretty stunning...

I hope you found this list helpful and that it made up your mind about selecting your next baby project. If you have any other favorites, feel free to post them as comments and share them with me and your fellow knitters.

Baby Crossover Booties - Done!

The baby crossover booties by Ceradka are finally ready and here's the result compared to the original from the pattern and my short review.

Image by craftcookie                                                      Image by Ceradka

To start with, I would definitely recommend this pattern.

The  instructions by Ceradka are very clear and the booties are easy to knit, once you find the right number of stitches to fit your yarn and the sole size you'd like to get (for example I had to go down from 34 to 26 and from size 3.5 needles to size 3.0 in order to get smaller sized booties).

The assembly and adding the finishing touches takes more time than the knitting, but what you'll have in the end is a pair of very beautiful and I'd say non-traditional booties, so the time investment is totally worth it. You can decorate the booties in any way you like - I tried different buttons and crochet flowers before I chose the ones you're seeing in the pictures.

So, if you would like to go for these booties, here are some more details:

Where to find it: Ceradka's Shop on Etsy
Price: $4.00
Time for the project: Between 4 and 6 hours based on my own experience (it will take you longer if you have to adjust the size)
Difficulty: Medium (beginners might find the re-joining of the yarn in some parts and the assembly a bit too difficult)

Adorable Baby Booties by Ceradka

A friend of ours is expecting a baby girl in the next couple of weeks and we thought why not give her something hand-made - a pair of knit booties and a matching hat to go along with them. So, for the past few days I've been scouring the web for the booties pattern, that would catch my eye - something cute, girly and different. And I found it - in Ceradka's shop on Etsy.

Katy, who is the shop's owner and designer is a stay at home mom from London, who's been designing knit and crochet patterns for the past couple of years. You can find all sorts of masterpiece patterns in her shop - from a sock monkey  to a gorgeous slouch hat and what's my favorite part - a great variety of crochet and knit baby booties.

Images by Ceradka

The baby booties patterns cost just $4 and you can even get a discount - you can buy any 3 patterns for $9, any 4 patterns for $12 and any 5 patterns for $15. Patterns are emailed as a PDF document with detailed instructions and some of them even contain pictures to guide you through the knitting/crocheting and assembly steps.

Images by Ceradka

I just got the Baby Crossover Booties myself and I'll keep you posted on my progress. And of course expect to see Craftcookie's Top 5 of free knit baby booties patterns very soon.

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