Knitting Project for Calina

If you follow me on Instagram you have probably seen some of my struggles with knitting. My mom is teaching me, and I selected a not-so-easy project to start with *facepalms*. Anyways, since it is taking me more than I thought to finish it and get nice photos, I though "why not to write about the project and show some WIPs here?". So this is what this post is about!

I'm attempting to do a knitted Totoro-inspired sweater for Calina, my mom's doll. I also wanted to do a full outfit for her, including: a panty, a tank top, a skirt, and some socks. I haven't finished (or even started!) the socks yet.

That is Calina with what I made of clothing for her so far. I also posted a photo on Instagram (see here) where the panty can be seen. Okay, let's talk more about the knitting under the cut!

My idea was to make a cute cowl neck sweater, with the same shape she did for Pullip years ago, but for Calina. I also wanted to make a Totoro pattern, with the face/ears on the front. I found some inspiration for that on Google and now I can't find a link to the photo, dang it!! Anyways, I did not wanted to knit a hood, so I decided for the cowl.

Another thing is that to make it easier to wear, we decided to make the back open, and close it with tiny beads and button loops. I'm still dreading how will I do that... so far, knitting is harder that the work I do for a living xD (I work on a research center! hahaha!).

Jokes aside, here is a photo of how the sweater was looking when I was close to finish the first sleeve:

I also posted a photo of the front part in Instagram, where the ears are more visible than in the above. You can see it here. My original idea was to make Fantasywoods' earguards tutorial and make some for Calina, but since Spring is arriving and she is going to be overclothed with a sweater, I decided that the best option was to make Totoro's leaf as a head adornment! Knitted of course!

...WHAT THE F* WAS I THINKING??? My goodness, the leaf so far has been a hell of a thing, and so far I can only show half of it, because I need my mom to explain me with apples how do I need to make the other -pointy- half. But yeah, the leaf even has a petiole (is that the right word?).

The leaf is looking ugly AF, so I think I will take it down, and ask my mom to teach me to make one in crochet. Oh my, I suck so hard at this thing of knitting!

And finally, I had another idea, because why not? I realized I still have some cold porcelain left, so I decided to make Totoro's friend, so that Calina can be Totoro and have the other two beside her! In case you didn't watch the movie (you really should, Studio Ghibli's movies heal the soul), here is a screencap of the tiny fellas I want to sculpt:

I do hope they turn out decent, because my sculpting skills are almost null. And this is it for this project!

Oh, another thing! Do you remember my bday packages? They are still stuck at customs, in another city. I tried to call the postal office customer service and they didn't pick up the phone. I had to cut the call because they put me on hold and that was charging me ridiculous amounts to my phone account. The website is also almost down during work hours, so I don't know WTF is going on. I do hope I get my packages soon, but there is nothing I can do. I will try to ask on my local customs office when I go to ship a commission my mom is working on.

Anyways, thanks for bearing with me, and have a great weekend!