FO: Topsy Turvy Doll

My best friends' baby turned 1 last week! I've been trying not to tell them about this doll for three months, which is harder when you'd think, especially when your best friends have a spare set of keys for your house. This was such a fun project, though, holy crap! If you have a little boy or girl (or man or woman!) in your life who likes dolls, this is a really fun project, though I would recommend it for a somewhat older child.

The fun thing about this was getting to customize this to match my friends' baby. Mommy is of Irish descent and Daddy is Peruvian, so on the raggedy side I used traditional Irish colours (my own Irish mother would have something to say about combining orange and green), and on the ball gown side I used a deep red with yellow flowers similar to some of the pictures I've seen from my friend's visits home to Peru. I had a lot of fun with the patches on the raggedy side, too - there's a star and a smilie and a J for the recipient's name.

FO: J's Doll
Pattern: "Cinderella Topsy-Turvy Doll" from Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special
Ravelry Link: Here
Yarn: Random scraps from old projects, all 100% cotton. I think they're from Knit Picks? Maybe?
Needles: 3 mm
Cast on date: December 28, 2010
Cast off date: March 17, 2011
Modifications: In the original pattern, one side has a poor, sad brunette, and the other side has a rich, happy blond. I found this a little... Uh... Not OK. I wound up eliminating the faces altogether because I kind of suck at embroidery, and the hair is a natural brown on both sides. Otherwise, apart from the colour notes above, I followed the pattern exactly.

Front of the raggedy side of the dress:



Back:



Creepy photo of the dolls mid switching from one side to the other:



Front of the ball gown:



Close-up of the rosettes:



Naturally, the moment she got the doll, it went straight into her mouth! Ahh, babies...



Overall, though, I think she was happy with it: