The Claire Garland Green Frog & Sweater

“Amphibians—the word comes from the Greek meaning ‘double life.”

― Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

It’s that time of year again, Autumn into Winter and it is around this time of year that my urge for knitting awakens.

All year round I’ve been admiring the patterns of Claire Garland, you have probably seen them on social media, the quite realistic knitted frogs that keep popping up on Instagram or Tik-Tok beautifully knitting with little garments and wearing leather miniature Blythe doll shoes. The original patterns called for knitting an icord for the limbs, but recently, Claire updated the pattern to include a wire armature, allowing this version to become fully posable.

I purchased a copy and set to work on making the little guy along with his signature sweater. The pattern was quick and easy to knit, it was the making up which took time. I found using a sharp darning needle made it easier to make up, I also used Paul(a)’s Daylight Company LED magnifying light to sew up the little creature. I recommend purchasing one of these as it made the mattress stitch quick, easy, neat and the finished product seamless.

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Project Stats:

Frog
Pattern: Green Frog by Claire Garland
Yarn: Drops Nord in Lemongrass Mix 50g
Drops Nord in Off White 50g
Armature Wire: Heidi Feathers on Etsy
7.5mm Eyes: Cello Express via Amazon
Needles: Milward 2.0 mm Circular Needles
Toy Filling: Vaessen Creative Fibrefill
Gauge: 11 stitches and 16 rows = 2.5 cm in stockinette stitch

Sweater
Pattern: Froggie’s Sweater by Claire Garland
Yarn: Drops Nord in Off White 50g
Drops Nord in Deep Ocean Mix 50g
Needles: Milward 2.0 mm Circular Needles
Gauge: 11 stitches and 16 rows = 2.5 cm in stockinette stitch

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Project #011: Everything’s Dolly

I haven’t been knitting for a few years now, to be quite honest, I had not intention of starting any projects. However, there have been a few ideas floating around at work, one being charity knitting and the other, to teach a colleague how to knit.

Just before the Easter holidays all this changed when my best friend, Mary, inherited her mother’s childhood baby doll as part of a birthday present from her father.   The doll freaked a lot of people out, but another passion of mine is doll collecting and when I saw this 14 inch doll with the original Pedigree Triangle on the back I thought she is really cute.  The doll, who goes by the name of, “Dolly”,  may have seen better days, she has been loved and came with a few cracks and bumps, but Mary loved her and couldn’t wait to share her doll with me, however, I sort of had an inkling at what would be coming next.

Mary’s mother was a great knitter and she had a bright pink outfit that was knitted in the 1980’s, but as the doll had been in the attic, the garment had become dusty and mildew had developed.  Mary, mentioned that she wanted to get a new set of clothes for Dolly, a set that would be in keeping with the era in which the doll was made, she then mentioned that it would nice to have an layette set, if only she knew of someone who could knit, ‘hint, hint!’

The enthusiasm of the new owner was too much and I found myself agreeing to take up the challenge and help find a pattern for a layette set to knit for the doll, here I have to point out two things that were going through my mind:  “This is going to be a nightmare of a project in 3ply or 2ply yarn” and “Lace work!”

I found a lovely site on the internet call The Vintage Knitting Lady, owned by a lady called Sue, I urge you to take a look if you love vintage patterns as she has one of the best collection of catalogued vintage patterns I have ever seen, you can purchase them online as PDF or you can order a photocopy, there are even some original booklets and pamphlets too.  If truth be told, I have become a bit obsessed with this site and have spent hours in the evening browsing through all the old patterns, they are amazing.

 

 

Mary and I spent a good hour browsing through the site and finally she came across a patter that she liked and I purchased it, the pattern was a booklet called Quickly Knitted Clothes for Dolls,  Penelope booklet N33 and the patten that Mary chose was a sweet set which comprised of jacket dress bonnet and booties.  Sue sent the pattern straight away and I put it on my iPad.  I took a peak at the pattern and to my great relief it was in DK baby yarn, a quick walk down to Hobby craft and I purchased a few balls of Baby Pink yarn in Hayfields Baby Bonus Knit.

I soon went to work on the set and was very surprised to notice that the pattern was correct, these garments really did knit up quickly and the patterns were easy to follow.  I found the shaping a little odd, but when making up I was really impressed with how they turned out.

the whole set was made in less than three evenings, here was the progress:

Here my own childhood Tiny Tears doll modelled the dress so I could send a picture to Mary of the progress.

Finally here is the finished set, complete with ribbons and a smile on their new owner, “Dolly”, I think that the set suits her perfectly and Mary was so pleased with the outfit as she felt Dolly now looked perfectly dressed for a Sunday stroll in the park.

Overall I am really pleased with how this mini project went, I have also got the bug for knitting more doll clothes for some of my 1980’s girls, as I think Tiny Tears was a little put out that she had to give up the dress.

What do you think?

 

 

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