Barbie/Ken Crochet Canoe FINISHED!

Back on March 14, 2016, at this post, I mentioned I was beginning a project for a friend/neighbor. Two of us in our senior mobile home community discovered that our friend had a granddaughter (now 10) who loves Barbies, but family folks who bought them for her wanted her to shelter them as "investments" and keep them as collectibles.

Now, I love this woman and I would never say this was cruel, and it isn't, but the little girl that still lurks inside of me yearns to play with Barbies. They weren't alive when I was growing up. The best I had was a Betsy Wetsy (remember them?).

Anyhow, the two of us decided this little girl needed at least one to play with. My conspirator neighbor gets to many places that have great prices and she picked up both a black Ken and a black Barbie. For some odd reason, we decided on the canoe.

This has been an upward battle. It is not the hardest crochet project I've tackled but it is the hardest one for me to work on - I keep finding ways to stall. A few weeks ago, I finished all the pieces.

Yesterday, I finally sawed a 12" 1/4-inch dowel down to 9" for the oar. Today, I sewed the cover around the oar handle and the paddle cover and loop-handles so she or he could hold the oar. 

The part that frightened me was stuffing the seats and attaching them. I had no fiberfill. I tried 2 large pom-poms in each seat but they were too bulky. This morning, Eureka! I must have 50 skillion old wimpy washcloths in here and I grabbed one and cut it in half and then those pieces in half again, length-wise. I folded 3 times and the pieces fit just right inside the seat covers. Not only that, they are nice and firm. Sewing the seats to the inside of the canoe also frightened me. They had to go onto the 5th row down, and 2 inches apart so two sets of legs could fit in there and go under the seats. But - I did it!

Photos here, of course.

NOW, I will never, NEVER make another one of these. Well, I would have to charge a lot for the emotional wear and tear.

Lessons learned on this pattern: 

- crochet more tightly (this one is a bit floppy) 

- pay very strict attention to gauge (this one is just a tad bigger than expected) 

- that's about it.

With all my stalling, it took me about 3 months. It would be a lot quicker next time. Whoa. I didn't just see me type that, did I? Delete - delete...

I truly hope the little girl loves this.

So, when we present it to my friend, the canoe is on me, the Ken and Barbie is on my friend.

I am thinking of making a ballet tutu, leggings and slippers, too - in purple (her current favorite colors) because a little girl who now has a Barbie to play with also needs something to dress her in. This little girl is currently taking ballet classes.

I'm in trouble - I feel a fashion doll crochet obsession developing...