Selling the Twins

The twins are for sale, together or individually. They are both Fairyland Littlefee Leahs.

I'm asking $250 US, plus shipping for the male. For this little fella I had the Leah sleeping faceplate modded to open eyes and then given a custom faceup by Ban Sidhe.

For the female I'm asking $265 US, plus shipping. She has a custom faceup by Ban Sidhe. Ban also blushed her hands, and I've included one extra and a set of "clasped hands" which are not blushed.

More photos are viewable in my Flickr account.

I'll be putting much of their clothing up for sale in the coming days too. Watch my Flickr account if you are interested.

Edited to add: SOLD! And yay! They were sold together to the same person and she intends to keep their characters as is, at least for now.

A Dog of Routine

There was a time when, if it was raining, Shelby had to be forced outside to pee. But for the last couple of months I've been taking her for a walk every morning, rain or shine. She's gotten used to it now and despite today's rather torrential downpour she wasn't just willing, she insisted! 

We did her full route of about 30 minutes and returned looking like drowned rats.

You know, I think we both feel better now that we've gotten a bit of exercise and fresh air. Maybe she's not the only one that is comforted by routine.

Customize Your Crochet

One of the perks to having a long standing blog with a bit of a following is that I am sometimes asked to share new books with you. "Customize Your Crochet", by Margaret Hubert, arrived today. Usually I have a chance to accept or decline such offers, but I only received notice of this one after it had been shipped, ahem! 

Although I'm not a big fan of crocheted cardigans and pullovers (in my opinion such garments usually look and drape better when they are knit rather than crocheted), the "Customize the Fit" section of this book could be of benefit to those who want to adapt existing crochet patterns to better fit their unique figure or to alter the design line of the 'not quite perfect' pattern.

Because I don't have an extensive crochet technique library, and not a lot of experience with crocheted garments, the "Finish Like a Pro" section had some interest. Notable was the explanation of various seaming techniques for crochet.

The final section, "Embellish for Personal Flair" has a number of motifs and edgings that may be of use even if I never crochet a garment. Adding pockets, buttonholes, and zippers are covered as well as crocheting shoulder pads and creating self covered buttons if that should ever interest you.

I noticed a few BLOOPERS in this publication, one of them was quite amusing. Throughout the book 4 images of the standard body types are used. I'm sure you've seen the idea online and in other publications -- the rectangle, triangle, inverted triangle, and hourglass figure types? In this publication the line drawing for the "triangle" figure type is consistently used under the hourglass image and the line drawing for the "hourglass" figure is shown under the triangle image.

The other blooper was also a layout mistake. In the section on pockets two of the three images are upside down, with the opening for the pocket at the bottom.

I hope the patterns are error free, but that is something I'll not be able to comment on. As I said I don't care for the look or drape of most crocheted clothing, so these are patterns I'll never use.

It's About Time!

I've been hanging on to this pattern, in it's final stages before publishing, for over a year now. My original intent was to include several different designs for the same doll size all in one eBook as I had done for Pukipuki and Pukifee sized dolls. For a number of reasons that just wasn't happening. I've decided now to publish the patterns individually, as they are ready. So here, without further ado is:

  Wovenflame's Minifee Pullover. 

It's knit top down in fingering/sock weight yarn on 2.5mm needles at a gauge of 9 stitches and 12 rows to the INCH. Length adjustments are easy to make because the sweater can be tried on while still a work in progress.

To Top it Off

Most of the time I am racing to catch up with all the creative ideas that fill my head and demand expression, but for a couple of weeks now there has been a serious lack of inspiration and motivation -- and that has been across all of my various interests! I haven't felt like weaving, spinning, knitting, crocheting, wire work, or embroidery. Such total lack of inspiration is REALLY unusual for me! I've been reading a few novels, but that's about it!

Well yesterday, finally, I felt a teensy, tiny bit of inspiration and got a new top sewn up for Elfonda. 

I adapted an Adams-Harris pattern for a crop top by lengthening it and doing away with the back opening. I think it turned out quite well. Elfonda may be getting variations of it. Maybe. Still not feeling all that inspired creatively.