Martian Lovie

Some friends of mine are having a baby in March. Both of them were a huge help when I was on bed rest for 10 weeks while pregnant with my daughter so I wanted to make something really special for them. This is what I came up with...a martian lovie!

He's only half original pattern. The head was made using the head of this Zozo doll pattern which is available here through knitty.com. If you'd like to make this lovie just copy the head for the Zozo. The only thing I did different from that pattern is add 4 rows of stockinette stitch in with rows 12-15 to make the head a bit bigger. For the blanket part I used size 15 straight needles and cast on 42 stitches with two strands of yarn. The gray is a worsted acrylic and the green is a very soft baby yarn (sorry I didn't the type). Then I did 46 rows doing k2, p2 and cast off. You may have to adjust this but that is easily done since you are aiming to make a perfect square. The martian head should be sewn to the center of the small blanket. The blanket is very soft, stretchy and has a great texture which babies LOVE! This lovie got passed around the baby shower and people were asking where to buy him! Here's the pattern...have at it!

I have a confession. Even though this lovie came out fantastic, I secretly had higher hopes for him but was restricted by time constraints. With ideas to make this martian 5 times more awesome, I vow to make it again, 5 times better! Stay tuned....

Hello Dolly!

My daughter, Ada, is going to be turning 1 at the end of the month. Since it was because of her that I really got into knitting, I wanted to make her something special. Initially I thought of making her a dress but then I thought of how quickly she grew out of her ear flap hat and the dress seemed like it wouldn't be worth the work until she can wear a size for more than 2 months. So I decided it would be best to make her some sort of stuffed animal that she'd be able to love forever and forever. I really wanted to make a doll so I started the search for the perfect doll. It was only after about an hour of digging through Google images when I saw her. She really was the most amazing hand made doll I've ever seen and I instantly knew I was going to make her. I pulled up the pattern and realized that she was a crocheted amigurumi doll. Crap. I don't know how to crochet. The only thing I ever crocheted was a flower and I had to restart the video a million times. I went back and forth. Should I take it on? Can I get it done before her birthday? I decided to do it and I am so glad I did. While it was definitely a lot of work, the actual crochet part was not very difficult. I finished it in plenty of time and she absolutely loves it. It is a great pattern and I will make more dolls based on this pattern. The pattern is available here for free from Stitch.