BJD Knitting (and Crochet!) Resource Thread

Knitting for dolls isn't always easy. You can't just wander down to your local craft store and expect to find 0.7mm needles and cobweb-weight yarn. So here's a thread to compile recommendations for stores (especially online) where we can find doll-scale needles, yarn, and notions.

I'll start with some sources for tiny needles:

If you like circular needles, you might check out the HiyaHiya shopping centre, which will search all retailers of HiyaHiya brand needles to send you steel circulars in sizes starting from 0.7mm (000-000 US) and with prices starting around $9.

Addi is another company well known for their lace needles, which are available at many knitting stores on and off the web. Addis are more expensive (more like $20-30 per circular needle) but many people swear by their quality.

 

Yarn Sources

The #1 most recommended site is
http://www.knitpicks.com
Unfortunately, Knitpicks do not ship worldwide, only within North America.

An alternative that ships worldwide is
www.theknitter.com
They have many different types of lace and sock weight yarn that would be great for doll clothes, a sale section, and basic shipping within North America is free.

http://www.yarn.com/
Ann in CT says, "If their knitting yarn doesn't go fine enough for your tiny knitting pleasure, check the Weaving supplies. You can search through the yarn by Weight."

 

Knitting patterns and sites

Doll patterns online

Several members of the knitting community right here have pattern shops!

Dollswest Designs
Great patterns specifically designed for ABJDs, particularly common large, mini/slim mini, and YO-size tinies, by Dollswest, a frequent contributor to this forum. Some free patterns; some for sale.

Wovenflame
Lots of designs for tinies, including a great e-book of patterns for Pukipuki. Great basics with a cute flair. Some free patterns; some for sale.

Soudane Creations
Soudane's designs have a gorgeous European feel, and are designed for large, mini, and YO-sized tiny dolls. No free patterns; some patterns are only available in French.

Daniel Bingham

Salamander says: both Daniel Bingham and Scotty Maloney patterns, which are designed for Barbie and Tyler dolls, have been successfully adapted for BJD by many members.

Scotty Maloney

Tutorials

Knitting Help dot com
A great basic site with info & video tutorials for everything from how to knit, to advanced techniques. Sadly, I have yet to find a site similarly dedicated to crochet, although there is crochet info available at knitting help as well.
Youtube
Many how-to videos for different techniques; just search for the one you’re looking for and you’re bound to find it!
Domiknitrix
“Whip your knitting into shape!” A sassy knitter with a good understanding of the craft and easy to follow tutorials.

General resources
authors and books to buy or borrow from the local library, sources of tutorials, etc.

anything by Elizabeth Zimmerman, best known for Knitting without tears
Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee (a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot), recommended by Kattermole. Stephanie writes that swatches lie, but you have to do one anyway.
Nicky Epstein, recommended by Dollswest, best known for her books on creative edgings such as Knitting on the Edge.
Stephanie Japel is very popular among this forum’s knitters for her book Fitted Knits, which outlines a top-down, few-seams approach to sweaters. Her knits are fun and have been adapted for dolls easily by a few forum members.

Magazines
knitty – free patterns by forward-thinking designers, as well as discussions of technique; there is a sister-zine, knittyspin, for other fibre arts.
Vogue Knitting – classic and fresh knitting designs from a long-standing source

Networking sites

Sites:
Ravelry
This site is an amazing knitting and crochet resource, with a huge, searchable database of patterns (including dozens for BJD) as well as forums for socializing. Come find us in the ABJD Knits group!

Yahoo groups:
K4FD
Lots of patterns; recommended by kattermole.

 

FAQs
How can I resize a human pattern for my doll?
There are two methods:

1. Divide everything in the pattern by 3 or 4, depending on the size of your doll (3=60cm; 4=45cm). Remember to divide the number of stitches and also the number of rows!

2. Size your needles and yarn down until you can get 3 or 4 times the pattern’s recommended gauge, and follow the pattern as written. This sounds backwards, but as Serafim explains, “you have to remember that it's a scale of 1:3 so you need to have 1/3 of the measurements, to make that fit you need to adjust the tension so it fits over 1/3 of the gauge on the pattern
ie if it's 12cmx12cm and 15st x 12rows, you need 15st and 12 rows over 4cmx4cm, so over the same size it's three times as much.”
This technique can also be used to adapt children’s patterns for larger tinies, but it will take more measuring on your part, and possibly scarier numbers. To figure out what fraction of scale your tiny is compared to the measurements (i.e. 1/5? 1/6?), divide the pattern’s measurement by your doll’s measurement. Then use that number just as you did the 3 or 4 from 1/3 or 1/4.
Here's KCurry's explanation as well, just to get multiple voices in here:

How can I resize a barbie pattern for my doll?

 

Thanks, Ann and Cynthia! The links are now updated. And I'm off to look at this "yarn dot com" place... *pats wallet reassuringly*

 

Bump for the addition of FAQ #1. ^_^

 

Polyhymnia, one thing that may help is that 1/4 scale dolls may fit patterns designed for children a little better than those designed for adults - especially when they are not "mature minis" like Unoa or MiniFee. But even if you are using adult patterns, the measurement given may be larger (or smaller) than the chest it's meant to fit - for example, in this season's Knitty magazine, I see that Lia, a sweater meant to fit quite closely, starts with a 28-inch circumference in the smallest size, while Mothed, which is meant to be more roomy & drape a little, has a smallest size of 32 inches which would probably fit an actual chest anywhere from 28-30". Depending on the sweater, I've seen them with as much as 10" of positive ease (positive ease=larger than actual measurement; negative ease=smaller than actual so it clings). So if you have a particular pattern in mind that starts larger than 30", have a look at how it's fitted before you worry that it's the wrong size.

That said, some patterns are just too big for super-skinny ABJDs (super skinny humans have the same problem too). In that case, you'll need to cast on fewer stitches. I've written up a walk through of how I do this for a simple-ish sweater, bottom up, without shaping...if you're interested in the process for a sweater with shaping or different construction I can do that too, but the theory is still basically the same.

1. Divide the number of stitches to cast on by the gauge to get the actual measurement of the garment. You should use your doll-scale gauge, not the pattern's gauge.
For example, my DT mini with a chest that's 7.25" around wants the aforementioned Lia. The yarn & needles I'm using give me 10 sts/inch. I take the number of stitches to cast on for the smallest size and divide by my gauge to get the actual measurement of the garment as written: 70sts ÷ 10 sts/inch = 7"

2. Figure out the difference between the actual size and the size you want the garment to be, taking into account ease: subtract your desired measurement from the actual one. We'll call this number "The Difference."
Because Lia should fit tightly, I want the measurement to be more like 6.5", giving me 3/4" of negative ease - I got this number by dividing the pattern's suggestion (0-3") by my doll's scale (4) to get 3/4, but you can go by feel a bit as well. I subtract my measurement from the pattern's: 7-6.5"=0.5"

3. Multiply The Difference by your gauge. This is the number of stitches you must remove in order to make the garment fit your doll. If the sweater is plain, it's as easy as just casting on fewer stitches, but if there are cables, lace patterns, etc. you may have to subtract a couple more or fewer stitches to make everything work out nicely.
For me, I start by calculating: 0.5" x 10 sts/inch = 5 sts that I have to make the sweater smaller by. In this case, I am starting with a 5-stitch pattern (P2, K3), so it seems like this will be an easy adjustment...I look ahead in the pattern and notice that I must take this 5-stitch chunk out of the back, or else I'll un-centre the cable pattern on the front. So if I was using markers to show the front & back of my work, the front would have 35 sts and the back would have 30.

4. Remember the adjustment you've made! Write it down if you can. As you work through the pattern, remember that any stitch counts written on the page will be different from yours because of the change you made!
When I get to the point of dividing for the armholes & neckline, I must remember that the back of my sweater is 5 sts smaller than the written pattern. I will (changes in bold):

Whoops, that ended up being very long! Hope it helps!