Yarn Along - Ninja!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



Okay. Yes. It looks bad (physically *on* my needles are the arms). I should have put the "face" on the back of the head to avoid the split rows. The "face" should also be larger - and not stark white. Aaaand, while I like the way it looks, I shouldn't have tried to "improve" upon a pattern that worked just fine the way it was written. My idea was to form the head as a ball rather than gather the top edge at the end. Well, I think the head is proportionally smaller than it ought to be. I also shaped the legs instead of gathering. The whole thing had to be slightly smaller so that I'd have even numbers that worked with my math. All in all, my "improvements" probably were not worth the trouble. The next doll I make, I'll shape the legs and arms again, but leave the head according to the pattern - maybe there's a compromise to be had. The original pattern is by the amazing folks at Wee Folk Art.

I'm reading a book I got through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. It's called The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan Le Fay and it's by Alex Epstein. I'm not ver far into it, but it's really interesting so far. It helps that I have a soft spot for Arthurian fiction.

She's done!

She's all done and ready for her new home! Yippie! The Imp has decided that he loves this doll - checked her "diaper" and everything. So now I'm off to make clothes for his doll (and yes, I still owe the Elf a ninja doll).

I'm, personally, rather happy with how this turned out.

Here are the Ravelry details for all the pieces:
The doll (using this pattern)
The knickers
The dress (using this pattern)

Knickers!

Ha! I'm going to say that as often as I can get away with - I'm driving my boys nuts.


(Ravelry notes here.)

I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. I put elastic in the waist instead of a drawstring so that little hands could handle dressing the doll.




Now she just needs a full head of hair. And maybe a bracelet?

Yarn Along - knickers!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



Knickers! I love that I get to post about knickers! Today I'm working on a pair of ruffled shorties for the doll I was working on last week. I'm also adding hand dyed wool yarn for her hair. Over the weekend I finished her dress (you can see it here). Soon she'll be ready for her new home - yay!

I'm finishing up Shalador's Lady by Anne Bishop. Next I'll start Little Fur by Isobelle Carmody (suggested to me by the lovely We Bloom Here).

Marie was kind enough to swap with me again. Her work is so amazing, if you've never see it - you should check out her Etsy shop.

Early last week, this is where I was:



Three peg dolls with burned details and watercolors, capes and hats cut out, caves felted and cut, the ground freshly knitted (while waiting with the Elf at the doctor's office).

Here's detail of the doll bodies:



This past weekend, I finished them up. Now they look like this:





I also finished this doll dress as part of a swap I'm doing with Belle + Bee.


(Ravelry notes here)

I'm pretty happy with it. It was my first time knitting a top/dress of any kind. It was also my first time using such thin yarn.



I'm now knitting shorties for the doll. Switching to worsted cotton felt so clumsy after such a delicate yarn. I'm used to it now, though.

Peg dolls by the Elf.

I finally got the pictures off my camera. I don't know if it's the batteries (they're rechargeable), the camera, or the two year old who constantly plays with it.. but I've charged the batteries in my camera three times already this week. ugh.

Here are the peg dolls the Elf made for the wee folk swap hosted by We Bloom Here.



He wrote a little "flower fairy" blurb for the fairies and based his robot on Dav Pilkey's Ricky Ricotta series.

Yarn Along - Doll.

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



I took this picture this morning. On the needles was the second arm for a doll (pattern link here) I'm knitting for Belle + Bee. It's night now, and the doll is knitted, stuffed, and sewn together. It still needs hair and clothes, though. My next knitting projects are ground for some gnome caves and a dress (pattern link here) for said naked, hairless doll.

I'm reading The Lady of Shalador by Anne Bishop. It's book.. er.. six? in the Black Jewels trilogy. I found out that I'm two books behind now. I swear, I used to keep really good track of these things.




Here's the doll pre stuffing/sewing.



And here's a truly terrible picture post-stuffing.

Waffles and peg people.

Last weekend we bought a waffle maker. I'm a waffle addict. This way, at least, I can control what goes into the waffles. That must count for something, right?



That one is the Elf's. He, of course, loves syrup. I prefer mine with just butter.

I joined a peg doll swap hosted by the lovely We Bloom Here. Well, it's taken me the full time alloted, but I'm done!.



This is why I've not been posting. Or answering emails promptly.

I decided that my peg folk needed caves. See, I wrote this little "story" for them. And they *had* to have caves. I tried wet felting some. That failed miserably. I tried a variety of ways to knit them. Finally I settled on this:



Which turned into this:



And needed the addition of this (which I didn't remember to photograph until after I'd already thrown it in the washer):



Combined together, I ended up with this:



So. The people are composed of watercolor paint, tea-dyed wool felt, finger knitted (crocheted?) wool trim, curly roving for hair, and some wood burning detail. The caves (which didn't turn out how I'd planned - but what ever does?) are knitted and then felted (fulled?) wool that have been cut and sewn. Whee!



I hope their new families enjoy them. They'll be off to the post office tomorrow.

The Elf also joined the swap. His are still awaiting some Mama-assisted glueing, so the pictures will have to wait.

Swap request.

I'm still working my way towards a post with some form of substance. Really. I promise.

In the meantime.. would any one out there care for a swap? I'm just finishing up a peg doll swap (yes, I am pushing the deadline to the very last minute) and that leaves me with just one more swap - a knitted doll for a sweet baby loving little girl.

Here's the thing. My youngest, the Beast, will be celebrating his first birthday at the end of April. I have no gifts for him. None. Gah. I know that a one year old doesn't really need gifts. But... I don't know.

I also need to start "stockpiling" for Summer Solstice and a ninth birthday in August as well as a third birthday in September. And and and. Yeah.

Any one want to swap with me? I can knit. I can dye yarn. I can make peg dolls, salves, and balms. Mostly, I knit these days, though. Longies, shorties, dolls, Angry Birds, balls, soap bags, washcloths. And I'm always up for a challenge.

Yarn Along!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



Okay. I'm knitting a large grey ball that I intend to stuff with plastic grocery bags (that have been waiting to be recycled for a long while now). Don't ask, I'll explain later... if it works. Once this killer headache subsides, I'll be starting on an in-the-round doll (pattern here) using a lovely organic cotton by Blue Sky Alpaca.

I'm reading Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison and loving it, of course. I think I may need to go back and reread the series again sometime soon, though. There are details that aren't clear any more.



The rainbow shorties are done. They seem bigger than I expected. But that could be because I've been washing the smaller longies lately. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll keep them for the Imp or list them on Etsy. They're a bit.. er.. bright.

Later, if my head and children cooperate, I may even post something that isn't a weekly thing. Whee!

{this moment} - brothers

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.



(Ignore the hamper of dirty laundry and focus on the cute boys facing off.)

Yarn Along!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



Longies! Or more likely, shorties! It's getting much too warm here in Florida already. Longies are on the way out. I'm not sure about this pair, though. They may end up being too bright/pastel/pink for my little Imp. We'll see. Worst comes to worst, I'll list them in my old Etsy shop and see what happens.

Reading: The Vampire Diaries (though I grabbed the wrong book for this photo - I'm on book four, not three). Next I'll be reading the "new" (to me) Kim Harrison book (how did I get so far behind on all my series?). I've also been browsing Vampire Knits (do you see a theme?). It's amusing, but there isn't much that I'd bother to try.


(Ravelry details)

I finished the shorties using my new Noro yarn. I have to say, I love this yarn. It's so very, very fun to work with. I'm not sure how well it will hold up against my kids, though.



They're kind of big and I suspect I could fit them on the Imp fairly easily. In fact, I intend to try that out tomorrow!