OMG So Cute Crocheted Doll!

I went into my local Jo-Ann's last weekend, and glanced briefly through their selection of crafty books. Little did I know that I would come across this:

Oh so full of cuteness and ideas... even a penguin!

I bought it.

I had a coupon to help out, but I bought it.  Then, I started searching for yarn, and hooks, and trying it out. I mean who wouldn't want one of these?

I know! Right? Want!

Hmmm, a couple of issues. The author is evidently British, and their crochet stitches are named a little differently than ours. The book does have the "translations" though, and I could handle it, but it may not be for everyone. My bigger issue is with gauge.  This author does not use any of the weights for any of her yarns, and the blends are not familiar to me either (OK, I admit it, I do most of my yarn buying at Hobby Lobby, and it is acrylic. But why would I use some fancy, expensive yarn to try out a pattern for the first time? Also, I didn't find any indication of scale in the book. How big - or small - are these dolls?  At any rate, I tried out a regular skein and a very small hook and this happened:

Turned out OK, I think. 

Then I went on to the legs and torso, and finally the arms. She went from here to there

and then finally, I got the arms added. The ruler should give you some idea of the scale.

The doll in one piece

Of course, she still needs hair. The plan is to use the same yarn that I used for her scalp. Good idea to create a hair-colored scalp. The over-all instructions (once the translation is taken into account) were easy.  It says to work in spirals, however, and when one does that, the end of the rows migrate, so that my reducing rows - worked according to the pattern - are in the middle of the chest and back instead of along the sides as I'm sure the author intended. Next time, I'll modify accordingly. I managed to make ankles, if you notice. Since there are socks, shoes and boots in the patterns, I think they will come in handy. I'm really looking forward to stitching up some clothes for this cutie, and the book has quite a few clothing and accessory patterns to try out. Did I mention the penguin? And a teddy bear...