Sunday, November 29, 2009

I'm a Barbie girl

When I was a kid, I didn't like baby dolls that much. To me they were just things. But my Barbies did stuff. They had adventures, epic battles, and soap operatic stories. They went through kidnappings, imprisonment, slavery, and war. I had my sister's Barbies, which were from the late 50's, often cast as the bad guys. Ken had a particular handicap in that some how his neck got broken so his head stayed on via a yellow Tinkertoy. Old Barbie often was the one in charge with her assistant Midge. My good guys were my Malibu Barbie and Ken along with Skipper. Often Skipper was the victim and Barbie was off to rescue her from evil Barbie.

One of the things that made my Barbies so fun to play with was the extensive wardrobe they had. Ken's wardrobe was pretty puny compared to Barbie's. I think he had just a shirt, a denim jacket, jeans, and swimming shorts. But Barbie had a number of dresses, tops, pants, coats, and shoes. Mom had made clothes for my sister's Barbies so I had a pretty good sized wardrobe when I got them. It expanded when one of my babysitters gave me clothes she had made. My Barbies were fancy dressers.

This year at the office we received the Christmas list for a family that included a couple of girls who wanted Barbies. I snagged one of the tags immediately. I don't have the Barbies anymore so I can't pass on the clothes, but I could make a few things that would be unique to that Barbie's wardrobe. Yesterday I picked up the Barbie and a couple of outfits, then set to knitting up a sweater for her. Her sweater's made of designer yarn (Kaffe Fassett Landscape sock yarn). So that her sister doesn't get jealous because she got a handmade sweater, I'll be making another out of a different yarn for her Barbie. There are also scarves and hats to knit up.

4 comments:

Sharon said...

Handknit Barbie clothes, how awesome! Thinking back to my childhood, I loved her "secretary" outfits (sweaters and skirts) as much as the fancy gowns. The sweater you made looks very classy. Here's one Barbie that won't have to dress like a street walker! :)

pdxknitterati/MicheleLB said...

I still have my Barbie's clothes, or at least half of them. My sister and I divided them up. So cool!

fleegle said...

That's darling! You should try knitting some gloves next :)

And we are trying to work with the museum about a donation button. I am glad you liked the story!

Shelly said...

Ooooh cool sweater. I found my box of Barbie clothes recently and it was so fun, I made my boys play Barbie with me which involved them being a skeptical audience to Barbie's fashion show. She even had gray wool pants my mom or grandma had made for her in the 60s. Those little girls are going to be so happy. Way to go!