I've had such a great response to the Granny Organizers I have made, and so many questions about how I make them and what pattern I used that I decided to write a post about it.I first saw these Grannies on Pinterest. This was the specific pin that I just loved and it touted a free pattern! What's not to love about that!? Isn't she adorable? The hair on this one is sooo pretty, but I couldn't figure out what stitch was used for the cap.
When I searched for the pattern, the link led to this site.
Although the first granny pictured in the site was cute, the pattern did not have instructions for the granny I wanted to make. So I realized that I would have to get a bit creative to produce the Granny I really wanted in the pic above. I downloaded the pattern and studied it to determine what changes I would need to make. The pattern is well written and easy to follow, and I saw that the main changes I wanted would be the face and hair. Simple enough, right?
The pattern is crocheted from the head down. And the hair is a separate part of the pattern and attached after the main doll is finished. So my challenge was to make a different hairstyle. The face changes were easy. I simply did not do the sculpting on the face, but left it nice and round. The nose is made with 1 bobble stitch that is sewn to the face.
So I followed the pattern as written for the basic doll and the apron. The first doll took me about 30 hours of work to complete including time spent searching and designing the hairstyle with the curly cues. I ended up making a fairly plain wig cap and attaching multiple curly cues made with sc. This hairstyle was 'OK' but I just couldn't be satisfied with it considering the time it took to make it.
The loopy hairstyle was still time consuming, but I was much more satisfied with it. It gave granny a sweet, familiar look from an old sitcom I used to watch called 'Mamma's Family.' (Anyone remember that show?)
The glasses really make this granny shine! I couldn't find any online or at the craft stores that I liked, so I made my own. I used 18 gauge galvanized steel wire that I shaped into glasses. Then I wrapped the glasses with coordinating color yarn. I suppose you could wrap them with almost any pretty fiber or tape, but I like to use what I have handy. I did try using some craft wire from Walmart, but it proved to be too soft and flexible to hold the shape.
In order to cut down on the amount of time needed to complete this project I tweaked the pattern a bit. I used a hook size a bit larger (4mm rather than a 2mm) and a little heavier yarn (worsted weight rather than sport weight).
I eliminated rounds 9 and 20 on the head and round 50 to 60 on the skirt. This made the work go faster without changing the size of the granny too much.
For the apron, which is made from the bottom up I eliminated 5 rows from rows 2-29. I also decreased the large pocket by 5 rows and adjusted the smaller pockets to fit as well.
And that's how I make my grannies! Hope my little tips and tricks help you as you make them too!
A few people have mentioned that this doll would make a great lamp base. I agree and will add that to my list of projects, but that will be the subject of a future blog episode, so be sure to click here to follow this blog. You won't want to miss anything!
Blessings!
Reny
No comments:
Post a Comment