Sasha Doll Style

31 August 2010

Continuation of the Mini Mochi sweater is coming along... slowly...

The first sleeve is finished...  As I like my sleeves to match and the colour variation in the ball of yarn were not going to allow me to get a repeat without a lot of wastage if at all...

I carefully unravelled the yarn and cut it at the end of each colour repeat (tricky as the colours blend through each other beautifully) and then divided each of these exactly in half so that I get the movment of the colours on the sleeves to match each other as perfectly as possible.  I just like them to match and if they don't I am not as happy with them. 

It is turning out to be a very pretty sweater.

30 August 2010

A lovely new free knitting pattern for Sasha and Gregor dolls.

I have created a page for the knitting patterns so they will be easy to find. 

I hope you will enjoy knitting it.

The Sasha in the photographs is Sarah the first Sasha doll I ever bought for myself and the second Sasha doll I have ever owned.  She is a pretty brunette girl from the mid 70's.  When I bought her I had never even heard of falling hair.  I was incredibly lucky that her hair is perfect.  Probably because she had been played with and not stored in an attic.  She has beautiful eyes and her fringe likes to flick over to the side.  Her other main attribute is that one leg is quite a bit shorter than the other so she stands rather nicely. 

When she arrived in time for Christmas, I brought her down to show my mum and we placed her on the mantel piece beside Jane and just sat looking at the two of them together... 

This pattern is for the 3 colour version. 

I used a similar pattern knitted using 2 colours for the sweater that is photographed with the other free pattern on the blog for the scarf and hat.

29 August 2010

My apologies that I have not been in touch with anyone over the past week by email.

I lost my beautiful black and white cat called Beryl (aged 8) unexpectedly and did not achieve much through the week.  I did write a list of everyone I needed to contact on Friday 20th but didn't turn the computer on.  I have taken to writing a few blogs on a weekend and then I schedule them through the week.

I was in shock on Monday and needed something to keep my hands busy.  Brain was not in gear at all.

So I started knitting myself a pair of socks...  I have knit many tiny Sasha sized socks with the turned heel and grafted toes but never actually knit a human sized pair...

I was not in a pink/purple or even a blue mood... So I lifted out the Jitterbug in Salted Caper...  When this colourway arrived in the post a couple of months ago, I knew it was not right for the Sasha dolls and vaguely wondered what on earth to do with it.  Not really a colourway I liked... actually... I have no idea what possessed me to choose it... I think... I thought it would work with a forthcoming Sasha collection...

I cast on and started work...  watched a couple of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies... ended up surrounded by tissues... and knitted... and knitted...

By Wednesday I was able to wear them.  On Thursday I cast on for a new pair of socks but this one is a more complicated pattern and unfortunately my brain still is not quite in gear so I am only 2/3rds of the way down the leg in the first sock in the new pair... knitting them in Noro sock wool...

Thank fully...

My brain doesn't feel all clogged up with damp cotton wool anymore and I am re-entering civilisation again...

20 August 2010

I know I should be working on the duffle coat... and I have been working on it...

but Murder She Wrote was starting on BBC1...

and this ball of Mini Mochi by Crystal Palace Yarns was just calling to me...

it arrived before I went away and it has been sitting waiting for me to come home...

sitting on top of my stash, I hadn't even put it away in the appropriate storage box... (yes I have 26 storage boxes full of gorgeous wool all wound into balls and sorted into colour families awaiting use)

but the colours in this ball are just so beautiful that my resistance melted away...

the yarn is unusual... very little twist in it but incredibly soft to the touch...

15 August 2010

I knitted this cute hoodie for my nieces while I was in Kent...  The main colour is a lovely multi coloured hand dyed Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock wool...

The contrast colour is a rich mauve colour... that matched the trousers I had made them previously...

I don't usually use such a wide wale a corduroy for the Sasha dolls but it does look nice in this colour... and is perfect for the children to play with...

This hoodie is based on the pattern by Suzanne Lewis...  I can never knit anything without changing it and I have changed a number of things in this garment...  can't help myself... the tweaking designers bug just takes over...

14 August 2010

The coloured wool I have used for this fairisle pattern is one of the beautiful Colinette Jitterbug colour range...  This snap was taken by my sister Pip when she was visiting Kent from Wales... 

Pip loves work in progress photos... I took a quick snap to see how the hat was turning out to go with the sweater...  Love using the fairisle rib... always shows the colours up rather beautifully as an edging...

Sasha looks very pretty wearing the sweater that features a pretty multi coloured fairisle zig zag edging...

  I love the ivory setting off the pretty colours... It works really nicely...

This is one of my favourite Sasha dolls... She was an ebay purchase a couple of years ago... She was wearing an early Sasha outfit that I really wanted although Sasha herself dates to 1970 according to her string colour, neck bar and shade of vinyl as well as her height...  When she arrived one of her eyes was very faded and barely visible... The other eye had very heavy eyelid painting which didn't suit her but the eye paint was similar in style to the other Sasha I had from the same year.   So I took out my acrylic paints and cleaned off the eyes and spent a couple of days painting eyes on a paper pad until I had the look I wanted.  I wanted her to look like her eyes had never been damaged and used a grayish blue colour...

Eek its Friday 13 August 2010...

In June I had one of those crazy weeks when I splurged big time on hand painted wools.  There was the Colinette Jitterbug in several colours... Artist's Palette wools in such a range of colours it was hard to choose... (kid in an old fashioned sweet shop sprang to mind)... Claudia's hand painted sock wool... Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock wool... Fyberspates... and the Natural Dye Studio... I have probable forgotten another...  They duly arrived and I spent much time putting the skeins onto my swift and turning them into lovely little balls on the yarn winder... I wind them quite loosely so that the wool can rest and not be stretched...

Natalie's sweater is a new pattern that I created using one of these balls of hand painted wool...  I started knitting this sweater before I left to visit my mum and while I was away the label got thrown out by Neil while he was tidying up... so I cannot remember which wool this is... It is beautiful though.  Very subtle colours in dusky pink, lilac and light tuquoise...

The collar fastens off centre with one button to allow the sweater to slip over her head...  I love the combination of the textural double moss stitch with the smooth stocking stitch.  I liked the idea of the wide welt at the bottom edge of the sweater with the double moss stitch continuing up the centre front and centre back into the collar...  I knew as soon as the body was finished that the sleeves would be in the double moss stitch too... I had thought it would look nicest this way when I was planning the sweater but I usually keep my option open until I see the sweater on Sasha...

I finished the sweater last night as I want Natalie to wear the new outfit while I am photographing the Baby's Room/Nursery today... I have finally finished the room setting and planned the story (roughly) so it is time to take the hundreds and hundreds of photographs...  

When I came home from Kent... Neil had taken a surprise week off work... so we have gardened... walked... and I have taken the opportunity to do complete a few Sasha related things I just never seemed to have time for...

Back to work on Monday morning...

12 August 2010

This fabulous hand-dyed wool is called Black Purl from Lorna's Laces...

Gorgeous shades of purple, lavender and mauve...  Love the colours in this dress...

Sasha of course grumbled about having bare legs... Haven't decided what to put with the outfit yet... probably leggings and planning a earflap style hat...

The colours are very dark, deep and rich...

The dress has long sleeves, polo neck, and a little pocket at the front...

Modern and fun...

11 August 2010

I took these wonderful photographs in July a couple of years ago when my mum and I visited friends in Dundrum.  I have been intending to create the Sasha story using the photographs for such a long time...

Finally... it is finished and on my website Murlough Bay...

For once I actually went prepared... Sasha's and Gregor, all their accessories and beach toys... camera... water and a rug for me to lie on (plus one for mum and her friend who preferred to sit a little further up the beach from me... but who also answered loads of questions from walkers who were interested in what I was busy doing... which was really helpful...)

The view of the Mourne Mountains sweeping down to the sea are (I think) the very best from the beach here... it is amazing and really stunning.

It was very funny doing this setting... I am not really one for photographing the Sasha dolls in public (or at least where people walking past can see me...) 

Anyway, mum and her friend and I had walked down to the beach and I chose the perfect place to set up... near to the sea... everything ready to photograph... when I realised the tide was coming in (very quickly) and I and my Sasha dolls were quickly sinking into a sand bank. 

While I had been busy... I hadn't noticed the sea surround me...  Mum and her friend had to paddle out to help me move everything further up the shore...  It was funny afterwards!!!

Mum said wistfully that she wished she had taken a photograph... but there wasn't the time...

11 August 2010

Beautiful short sleeve cardigan... k2 p2 rib used for a deep cuff and also for the edging. 

Beautiful multi coloured hand dyed wool made by Artist's Palette...

After I had finished knitting the cardigan I washed it and let it dry flat...

Now I need to choose buttons that will suit the cardigan and look pretty...

Haven't decided what this cardigan will go with for the outfit... possibly a dress?

The colours are warm and summery... like a rose garden...

I thought the colour of this cardigan looked beautiful on Tara's pretty redhead Sasha...

10 August 2010

This was the first garment I created while I was in Kent...  I used a variation on a slip stitch pattern I read about in a knitting magazine a few months ago... The cardigan will have a few buttons at the top front...

The yarn used is a beautiful wool rich sock yarn in a variation of colours... Loved these colours together...

Sasha travelled to Kent with me... She loved modelling in the warm weather in the garden...  The garden is large and beautiful... the quintessential cottage garden... the border in the background has only just been created in early June after the removal of a heavy evergreen hedge...

The picket fence made a gorgeous backdrop... A very pretty cardigan... just need to choose buttons now...

10 August 2010

I have had such a lovely visit with my mum in Kent...  Along with reading... relaxation... and walking... which I have started blogging about on my other blog Nicolette's Notebook with photographs of the garden...

I have found inspiration in the beautiful new art yarns... hand painted... hand dyed... sock weight or 4 ply... in beautiful fibre combinations...  I so love knitting...

Mark... the first Gregor I ever bought... is featured as my favourite Gregor...

I love the Gregor dolls... they are so cute... huge fun to dress... and buy toys and props for...

8 August 2010

Neil and I spent a wonderful day on the North Coast... We drove to Limavady and then followed the Scenic A2 route along the coast... Stopped for a walk at Benone  Beach...

Then we travelled on to Portrush... where we ate fish and chips... and went for a long walk along the East Strand... We sat on the edge of the sand dunes and relaxed looking out to sea...