From bad to worse

I told you last post about the double up on the Worst Colds I've Ever Had, right? Well, apparently I should have kept my fool mouth shut. On Monday night, our whole household came down with a stomach flu the likes of which we have never seen before.

This is problematic because our house has only one bathroom.

Around 1 am, we found creative new uses for garbage cans.

On Tuesday morning, when the puke had cleared, and Sweet Pea was ready to get up, I learned that I was unable to care for her. Mr. Wonderful, also in terrible shape, wouldn't be able to care for her either. I could hardly even lift the little soul out of her crib, I was so weak. It would be impossible for me to entertain her, never mind change her diapers, or get her breakfast. In desperation (and tears) I picked up the phone and called my mom.
Realistically, I expected that Wonderful and I would be on our own for a few hours, and then my mom would drop by for a few hours, she'd sit on the couch and watch Sweet Pea play, and then she'd be on her way. I did not expect that she would arrive with my dad at her side, clean my house, do my puke-covered laundry, and bring me ginger ale in bed all the while showing Sweet Pea The Best Time Ever!
I didn't expect that I would appreciate it so much, either.

So mom (and dad) I know you read the blog . . . thank you. Thank you so much! You didn't have to do that, but I'm so glad that you did. I love that I can count on you to be there for me - and that you exceed my expectations. I am still aghast, and I think I will always be grateful for your help yesterday.

Sigh.

I have tonnes of shit to share with you, and so little time/energy to do it.

We've been sick here for three weeks now. First a head cold, that became a chest cold with a wicked cough. It is/was a mean, nasty, disgusting cold. One of the nastiest colds I've ever gone through. Now a new head cold, complete with eye-watering sinus pain. Awesome. The first round had Mr. Wonderful in bed for 3 days. This round has me wishing I could hide in bed for three days.

Coming up:

• Doll clothes
• Argyle mittens
• Christmas baking
• Christmas re-cap

Let us start with Argyle mittens.

I decided that I wanted to knit myself a pair of awesome mittens. You may recall my plea for decisive assistance here. I neglected to list as an option the pattern that I eventually settled on, Vespergyle Mitts. So I cast on, and made this much progress the first day.

Stirring, isn't it?

By the end of day 2, I had this much done:

After a week, my mitten looked like this:

It didn't stay like that though. The thumb is too small, so I had to rip it back. Right now it's in time out. Eventually, I'll get back at it. For now, I'm angry with it and refuse to speak to it.

The mitten fits beautifully, and the yarns (STR Silky, and Koigu KPM) are a dream on my hands. I really look forward to burying the hatchet with my mitten, and making it a mate.

More posting later. For now, tired. Must sleep.

How inadvertently festive of me!

There I was, clearing up the scraps from some little knits I've just finished up, when I noticed the colours . . . .

Happy Holidays!

Picking your brains. OR get out your thinking caps. OR another plea for help

I need assistance!

As you all know, I make dolls. As some of you know, I've been toying (ha! Toying!) with the idea of launching a business - making these dolls for sale. I need me a good name for this potential business. I've been mulling it over for weeks now . . . no ideas.

I want the name to invoke certain things, which makes it difficult, since I can't really put into words what those certain things are. It's more a feeling really. In an attempt to put it into words, I'm hoping for ethereal, funky, lovable, all-natural, handmade . . . or any combination thereof.

Ideas?

Notes from the change table

Me: What does a kitty say?
Sweet Pea: Meow
Me: What does a puppy say?
Sweet Pea: Woof, woof
Me: What does . . . a mommy say?
Sweet Pea: BOOBIES!
Me: What does a daddy say?
Sweet Pea: Shh, shh, shh (little index finger up to her lips and everything)
Me: What does a Sweet Pea say?
Sweet Pea: . . . . (deep in thought) . . . NANA!

3 points

1) Re: last post's request.
I decided to go for the gloves. The dream gloves . . . and I wound the yarn into cakes, and I cast on, and worked about 10 rows . . . . and it looked like utter shit. So I frogged. Now I'm back at square one.

2) Doll #4
I finished dressing doll #4 in the car today, on the way to a play date. Don't worry -- I wasn't driving.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the way he turned out. There were some harrowing moments, and he fought being made all the way . . . but I think he's looking rather dapper.
Beebie (Sweet Pea's doll - she named it herself) and this little fellow are made from the same pattern -- look at the difference.



I think the practice is paying off.

3) The Zoo
Today we went to the Zoo with another little family that we're pretty tight with. The above doll is for their youngest family member, Lovey.
We had a great time checking out the animals! Sweet Pea was really excited about all the puppies and ducks - apparently if she's not sure what it is, and it has 4 limbs, it's a puppy. If there are only 2 limbs, it must be a duck.
Here are some of her favourite puppies:


It's hard to teach a toddler to say 'Arctic Wolf'. That bottom pic? Polar bear. Dirty, dirty polar bear.

Sweet Pea rode a hippo

She and Lovey adored the wall of fish

And admired the crocodile together.

Big, full day for us!

help me, Help Me, HELP ME!

So, I have this problem - and I suppose it's not an uncommon, or even terrible problem to have. But I need some nudging, convincing, or otherwise helping with this problem.

I need mittens. Possibly gloves.
I want them to be made from fingering weight yarn.

Here are my possible yarns.


These are my possible patterns.
Heather's mittens
Citrus mittens (for which I already own the pattern)
Fiesta mittens - feeling a little lukewarm on this one, but I think it would showcase my yarns nicely
Kingdom - really lovely . . . just not sure if I would wear them.
And my dream gloves. They are gorgeous, but the pattern is intimidating as all hell. Not only do I not know anything about making gloves, I don't speak/read Japanese.

So help me out here - which pattern, and which yarn(s) should I use? Every time I think I've made a decision, I get as far as the swift and winder before I freak out and start thinking again.

Sweet Pea's first cognitive snow experience

You can just see it on her little face, can't you?

W. T. F?

Sweet Pea's first trick-or-treat.

Even though Sweet Pea is only 15 months old, we thought this year we would take her out for her very first trick-or-treat, just to the houses on our block. Only to the 4 doors on our street that know her, and would be friendly and non-threatening.

At about 6pm, we put our girl in her costume.


She was, in a word, unconvinced. She didn't seem to mind the costume so much, she just really didn't understand why we were doing this to her!

"Mother, are you quite certain this is entirely necessary?"


I'm sure in years to come, things will go differently . . . but this year, Sweet Pea was more interested in raiding the diaper bag for snacks and messing about in the leaves than in going to stranger's homes and asking for treats.



But once she got it, man did she ever get it! There was excitement on every walkway, anticipation at every door, and appreciation of every treat. She even loved putting the treats into her bag.

At the end of the night, when all was said and done, she was happy enough to get home.


Her loot bag looked like this:



Not bad for 4 doors, eh?

In which I make a second and third Waldorf doll

It's been doll-making Grand Central Station around here lately. A few weeks ago, a number of boxes, envelopes and bags made their way to our home, all looking suspiciously alike. Inside the packages, variants of this:The anatomy of a Waldorf doll. A volume of fleece, a square of cotton, some string, mohair. And it was my responsibility to make this bag of nondescript stuff into something really magical. And I think I pulled it off. Twice.

D's baby:


I positively adore this face! I couldn't have planned it better, and I hope my future dolls are as charming.
She waited for a while to have her hair and arms attached . . .

. . . and I do believe it was worth the wait!

After another wait, I got her outfit complete.


Now all that remains to be done is a decent photo shoot, and she may go to her new home. I hear she will be a Christmas gift for little D.

Mac's baby-
Definitely not as many photos, I'm not in love with Mac's baby. Her momma coughed up for a pre-made head and pre-sewn body. This gave me considerably less control over the creative process. I'm a little hesitant to even put my name on this one, but she came out reasonably well.


And I admit to being completely blown away by her amazing hair!!

Now she needs some clothes, a photo shoot and then she may go home as well!

Omg, I suck.

I've been so ridiculously busy. If I can't do it in front of the tv, with my hands full . . . . it's not getting done. And that means blogging. AND reading blogs! I just did 2 weeks worth of catching up.

On the go:

Two Waldorf dolls. One is done, but needs clothes. One has a head, stuffed arms and legs, and needs the rest done.

Another kit is (I suspect) waiting at the post office for pick up.
Another kit is waiting at my mom's house for pick up. It will queue up behind the other dolls who all have little people waiting for them.
I hope to get some pics and share them soon. Sadly, it's always dark when I'm home - doesn't make for great photos.

2 Wee girl knits. This one:

is killing me. It's been ongoing for far too long. I started sleeves today. It had better be done soon. Otherwise, she will never fit it.

The blue dress is definitely parked for the time being. I seriously have no time, and it's for summers yet to come anyway.

It's definitely here.

Sweater weather!

I've discovered something, though . . . wearing a number of sweaters for the first time in months and months . . . lots of them have holes in them. I don't suspect moths. I suspect my careless treatment. I'll have to fix a few of them before they will be deemed worthy of wearing again.

Some random things I've been meaning to share:
1) The charm of living in a small town/farming community:


I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. This giant tractor was going faster than I was. The only time it slowed down was when it had to pass a horse and buggy. It was, however, driving right through town. Interesting choice.

2) Sweet Pea's Kryptonite - the car seat. A few instances.
a) Sometimes, you just have to bite a duck.

b) Some moments are just too precious to miss.


3) Upcoming:
a)All 5 Waldorf doll spots are filled, plus one. I'm really looking forward to getting the kits and getting started! Photos are sure to be posted, and I'm really really considering getting into selling the dolls if I'm not sick of them after making 7.
b) Knitting content!
I have 3 WIPs right now. One could be finished in the space of about 30 minutes, if I would just pick it up and work on it.
All it really needs is a thumb, and it's a baby mitten . . . so why don't I finish it already??!! Because I lost the other mitten. Sigh. If you see a lost dark brown mitten wandering the streets, send it home.

Next WIP:It will be a dress for Sweet Pea when it grows up. Hopefully it will fit her next summer. I'm really not in a rush to get it done right away. Amazing colour though, right? It's a new one. The yarn is Hempathy, which I have used before and am enjoying working with. Sadly, I have poked the pointy bit of my needle through the side of my finger one time too many this week, so the dress is on a small time out until I'm ready to go at it again.

And finally, This one is a bit of a rush as the top size is slated to fit Sweet Pea, and she is a growing monkey. Definitely had a bit of a bumpy start here. First, I picked up the wrong needle size, but didn't realize until most of the yoke was done since I didn't have a tape measure on hand. Then I went back to the LYS (not a short trip) and got the recommended needle size. I swatched. The needle was too big. So I cast on with a (very) short needle I already had - gauge is close enough, but making a sweater on a short needle is a little irritating, to say the least.

In which I make my first Waldorf doll.

Recently, Sweet Pea's awesome aunt bought her adorable cousin a Waldorf doll. Before she shelled out for the doll, Aunt Awesome asked me if I had any connections in the Waldorf world, or if any crafters I knew made these dolls. Sadly, the answer was no. It did, however, lead me to a lot of reading and research. Then it lead me to a lot of wanting for my own little girl to have a special doll of her own.
Unfortunately, because each doll is hand crafted (which takes HOURS) of purely natural materials (which are expensive!) the price was prohibitive for us. So, I bought a kit, and $30 US later, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bits and pieces of Sweet Pea's very own special baby.
Well, on Thursday the kit arrived. 6 oz of wool batt, a very little bit of cotton interlock, some threads, tubular stockinette, and a crocheted mohair wig. Oh, and the pattern, of course. I was so excited to get things going, that I neglected to take a lot of photos.
Thursday night I fashioned the head for Sweet Pea's baby. It took a bit of time, and I was really glad that I know what I know about the properties of unspun wool fibres. Otherwise, the process would have been maddening.
When I was done, I had this:


Btw, in case you're wondering, tubular stockinette is actually tubular ribbing.
I made the body up on Friday night, and gave her a little face. I stitched her hair on this morning, and gave her to Sweet Pea.

Sweet Pea thought she was nice, but she was a little more interested in playing peek-a-boo under her quilt.


Nonetheless, I was/am rather pleased with my first attempt. I think she's cute as a button!


This was definitely a learning experience - there are things I would do differently in the future. What I'm hoping to do is to learn via the use of a few kits. Make some different sized dolls, use some different techniques, and maybe eventually get really good at making these wonderful babies.

A model child

So the vest is done . . . and we set out to photograph it.


Sadly, Sweet Pea was distracted - there was a ball.


But then things got better. And while she sat on the porch and watched the cars go by . . . I got some great photos.



And someday, when Blogger decides I can upload photos again, I'll be sure and let you see it too. >:(

Breaking Radio Silence.

Seriously, there has been a fair bit of knitting going on around here. And a massive amount of sewing too. It's been bananas this past week or so.

To catch you up:
Knitting:

In-vest-ed

Crap photo, but this is the teaser I left you with when last we talked knitting. I need to finish it up still - needs buttons sewn on, and a little gap sewn shut, and then it's ready for wearing! I bet the modeled photos are way cuter than the couch photo.

Hangin' around:

Tabbed towel. Again, not quite done. Needs the ends sewn in, and a button . . .

Made Sweet Pea's Sally a sweater of her very own:


There was a chicken:

With the cutest little butt:
There is yet another Twinkle Vintage Cardi in the works:


Old photo - just needs button tabs now!

I made an Earth Baby hat for my doula


And these adorable fingerless mittens for Sweet Pea:


It's been rather busy around here . . . there are also 2 pairs of mittens I've started that I don't have pics of yet.