Splitting Hairs: Making the Hair for a Special Memory/Comfort Doll
I am making a doll for my beloved mother-in-law.
It’s a ‘memory’ doll, and I am making it in the hope of bringing comfort to Mum as she struggles with the death of her beloved daughter, Patty.
I knew from the first moment that I started sketching the doll, that I wanted to use spoolknitting for the hair. Patty was born with curly red hair, so I wanted to celebrate that.
I wanted lots of spoolknitted cord, so I decided to use my Embellish knit spoolknitting machine.
I did a test swatch and decided that it was too stiff. I really wanted to use Caron’s Simply Soft in Mango, so I figured, what the heck…. I’d just split it and zip it up………
I am lucky enough to have 2 yarn winders. I bought the first one when I was 15 years old. I bought the other one second hand. It’s really handy having 2 of them!
I clamped them both to a little table, rolled the yarn and test swatch of spoolknitting into a ball:
When splitting yarn, I have found that it’s best to work in short lengths, with the ball secured with a darning needle.
That way, the ball can spin freely.
After I split the yarn (picky picky! when you have 3 dogs and a cat and indulge in a very fiberlicious lifestyle, the yarn picks up all kinds of little blubbitses that make the splitting process quite ~questionable~ as in what the heck was I thinking?)
Um……. it’s not a speedy process, but, I am pleased with the results:
It’s quite gratifying to whir up a heap of cord right off the yarn winder:
And the Patty Memory Comfort doll has her hair….
Her heart and wings will be spoolknitted, too….
On a larger spoolie………
later………
Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)
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POSTED IN: doll and dolls and dollmaking, spool knitter & spoolknitter, spool knitting and spoolknitting
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