Haven't Done That in a While

As anyone who is a regular reader of this blog knows, I have a LOT of different hobbies. Lately it's been mostly about the dolls and sewing and knitting for them. But recently I've been feeling a renewed desire to do some of my older hobbies as well, some of the ones that I haven't done for a bit. Here's a little taste of what's been going on over the past week or so. First, I've been weaving. We bought a lovely new bedroom suite and it arrived on Thursday. I'm now weaving runners for the tops of the dressers and night tables. My floor loom is crowded against one wall at the moment so these are being done on my rigid heddle loom, a 24" Beka.


 


I've got it warped for 16 feet! I'll have extra woven yardage left over after I'm finished cutting and hemming the finished weaving, but it was easier to set up the direct warping procedure for the full length of two banquet tables, hence the 16 feet. I had plenty of the warp and weft to work with so "waste" was is not an issue. I'm sure I'll figure out something I can do with the leftover bit. Who knows, maybe it will show up as some finished object on Etsy?

The other thing I hadn't done in a while is crochet. I think Ravelry might be responsible for renewing that interest. I saw some really neat crocheted lace covered rocks, but .... yeah .... need to go hunting for appropriately sized and shaped rocks for that one. So in the meantime I decided to crochet a bowl and a couple of small doilies.


 


They may, or may not, end up on the new bedroom furniture. We'll see. Depends on how they look when the blocking/starching is finished.





This was definitely a case of being more into the process rather than the finished object. I just wanted to crochet and didn't really care whether or not I was producing something useful.

Peanut Visits Minter Gardens

All bundled up and ready to go.



"Is it dangerous there, Wovenflame? I'm a little scared!"



Peanut's favourite spot in Minter Gardens is a little, open air building that houses the Japanese miniatures. She absolutely loved what she called the "My Size" trees.



The first day of Summer also happens to be our first real day of SUNshine!



Peanut wasn't too fond of the Creepy Stone Lady.



But she really loved the teeny, tiny, purple flowers.



And we found a whole patch of flowers that matched her dress!



A short rest by a bubbling fountain.



Not too happy about being in the arms of the Scary Leaf Lady.



Spending a quiet moment by the water curtain.



Some of the other photographers wished they had a cutie as the focal point of their pictures too.



Peek-a-Boo



If you listen really carefully you can hear the birdies (over the roar of the freeway traffic....*sigh*).



Peanut raced ahead but then waited for me at the next corner.


Peanut asked me to show this particular picture to the new Elf Lady, Panalaya. She thinks Pan should come here for a photo shoot after she gets her new wig and a faceup.

Juri '08 Arrival

Yesterday, early in the morning, we got an "out for delivery" notice. The headless, pale, new elf-girl hurried and got into the pretty dress I had sewn just for the occasion. She was very excited about the imminent arrival of her rare, limited edition head.



She sat so nicely, waiting patiently for the doorbell to ring.



She didn't have to wait long! The box from Denver Doll Emporium arrived before 9am. The first little bundle we opened contained her new hands. Her original set had been far too masculine!




 This new pair is much more appropriate for a lovely, feminine elf-girl.



Next was the item she was most excited about, all wrapped up and so nicely protected....



....the beautiful, much coveted, Juri '08 head!



It even has a lovely profile.

 

Unable to decide right away which set of eyes she preferred, she opted for one of each for the time being.

 

Then she spent a pleasant hour or so trying on every wig I was able to get my hands on.




With some of them it was obviously just for fun!




Although she did like this one,




.......and this one too,

 

....she's holding out for a wavy, pink, TinyBear wig. I did let her know she might be in for a long wait. A custom made wig will take a while! She says she doesn't mind, it's worth it.

*sigh*

Well, at least she went for the blue eyes I had on hand.

Now she needs a name. Something Elven apparently.



Kaylen figures her name should be Panalaya, ....  or was that Panaleah?



Kenzie loves the long, pink hair.

Disappointing Box Opening

"Um....Shannon? Come take a look at "your" body. I think there's been some kind of mistake!"

There's a bit of a story here to tell. Sorry that this gets rather wordy, but bear with me and I'll explain what that odd picture is all about.

Those who are regular readers of my blog are aware that Shannon and Candace have been sharing a body. Sometimes that has been a bit annoying. They are both beautiful (heads!) but I could never have them appear together, and one was always put away in storage while the other was out on display. When my knitting pattern sales finally added up to more than enough I thought about ordering Shannon her own body.

After doing a bit of  research I realized that it was only $30 more to get another head along with the body even though on the Marketplace (used doll thread) such heads can resell for $75 - $150. I kind of liked the idea of having a fantasy character that I could design and make princess, fairy, forest elf, and science fiction types of costumes for. You know, the kinds of things that the established characters of Candace and Shannon could never really wear. I figured if I ordered Karsh, an elf style head (with awesome elfishly pointy ears), it could mainly be stored away, but would come out occasionally to model the unusual, more fantasy type of clothing.

So anyway on June 1st I ordered a full doll. It was the body I needed for Shannon along with a Karsh head to be the occasional fantasy-wear model. The wait would be several months as these dolls are ordered in advance and must be made in Korea. In between the time of my order and the time I was actually invoiced for the doll I discovered an IN STOCK,"body only", advertised at the same retailer. Well! I figured here was a chance to get that in stock body in my hot little hands in only a week rather than the months I was looking at for the full Karsh doll. I could do without the elf, just give me the in stock body!

I quickly emailed and then phoned the retailer and had them change the order. Normally they can't do that, but the order hadn't yet been submitted to Fairyland for processing so they agreed. And then the wait began for the doll to ship, go through customs, and arrive at my door. All of that went smoothly and she arrived safely on the 11th of June.

Let me tell ya, waiting for, and opening, a box that you know only contains the body for an existing doll character isn't nearly so exciting as taking possession of a whole new doll. Still, I was glad the box had arrived and was looking forward to being able to make Shannon complete. That hope was dashed to the ground when I opened the box and looked inside.  *sigh*



WHITE!!?

Yeah, the body was not "natural skin" as the listing had shown, as the invoice had stated, as the shipping label had listed, and as the actual doll box was labeled. It was WHITE! And white skin would not work for Shannon no matter how much I wished it to. It looked like I would not only have to send the body back, but I would have to start the very long wait for a normal skin body to be made in Korea. Rats! So I called the retailer and asked them how I should handle the return. They had a different suggestion.

Yes, they said I could return the body. They were very apologetic about the mix up and would not only refund all my shipping costs, but also the taxes and postal collection fees I had incurred. But they also had another suggestion, if I was willing. They asked if I would rather have a FREE head from their collection of in stock, white, "gift heads" to then make this white skin doll complete. Well......I really had to think about that one. Oh sure, fine and great to have a full doll, but ...... what about Shannon? A free doll head did not get Shannon any closer to having her own body.

So I thought about it for a full day, meanwhile asking the opinions of other doll owners with more experience than I have. Some said keep it, get the head, and then sell the whole doll on the Marketplace for a profit. Others said to send the body back and recoup my money so I could then order the body I really needed. I must admit, realizing some sort of profit was tempting, but what if I got stuck with a white skin doll I didn't really want? What if it didn't sell or took a long, long time to sell which would then delay my ordering the natural skin body?

In the end I decided that I'd try a "toss of the dice" so to speak. I'd take the gift head IF, and only IF, they could somehow provide the much coveted "Juri '08" head, a very limited edition head that was only produced as a special buying incentive for the winter 08/09 sales. I LOVE that head! They are nearly impossible to get on the Marketplace and were only made, in limited numbers, for that one winter sale.

Everyone who was following my dilemma pretty much laughed at my request. They knew how rare the head is and how "impossible" it was that the retailer would actually have one, and even if they somehow still had one, that they would give it to me for free. After all, that rare '08 head has been known to sell on the Marketplace for as much as $350 mind boggling dollars!!....for JUST the head.

Those laughing friends were wrong! I was notified that YES the retailer had a Juri '08 in white and would ship it out to me!

So we come to the end of a very, very long story to say that I am now waiting for a limited edition head for my unplanned white skin Minifee body. And I am once again saving up for that normal skin body for Shannon.  ~~~ urgh! ~~~

A Skirt for Candace

I made a new skirt for Candace. She immediately invoked the “body rule” and took the shared body away from Shannon.



The house rule is; whenever a new outfit is made the owner of said outfit gets to have “the body” at least for a few days.



Shannon complained because she only got her new jacket yesterday and already Candace has taken the body….you know, whatever happened to the “few days” part?



I had to remind her that she had already been in possession of “the body” for nearly a week because she also had the new dress.



She continued to grumble until I whispered in her ear, “Shannon, your brand new body will be here some time in the coming week. It has larger ….. ahem …. “assets”, and it will be all yours. Shhhhh.”

A Jacket for Shannon

When Shannon saw Pumpkin's wool coat she just had to have one for herself. She even rummaged around in my husband's sock drawer until she found one that she insisted was way too far gone for him to ever wear again.



Later in the evening she had a nice, hooded, wool jacket to wear!



She likes it with the hood down too.

Sock Rehab

What to do when a good sock goes bad?



You know the ol' saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade"?



Well, despite the fact that I only knit socks with "Superwash" yarn,



And I do what I can to make sure they never end up in the dryer,



Sometimes accidents happen,



And a pair ends up in the dryer.



A trip through a dryer cycle often spells the end for a favorite pair of hand knit socks.



There is no sense crying over felted socks (though I hear wool is very absorbent!),



So you're better off making the best of things.



And in this case, the "best of things" happens to be a sweet little wool coat.



And Pumpkin, my Fairyland LittleFee Leah, is the lucky recipient.