The outfits.

This one is the first time I “got” the appeal of Lolita-style.

And I love, love, love this one. Modest, tasteful, and perfect for a shuffling stroll through the leaves. I know that I can reproduce the skirt and the underskirt. I wish I could buy just the turtleneck; I am intensely curious about that bit of lace at the neck, what type of lace it is, how it is attached, etc., and I want to get my hands on that vest. I might end up buying this outfit, studying it, and reselling it.

Didn’t want those boots until I saw them with this outfit.

Am thinking quite strongly of making a foofy underskirt for the tie skirt. Tulle, some of the sparkly organza from the bridalwear section, and massive quantities of childbirth words.

Not much dolly stuff yesterday

I was up to my ears in Relief Society, pretty much all day [but so worth it!].

I did take the ball of Kureyon sock yarn leftover from Rorek’s entrelac socks and work a swatch on 00 needles. Not sure at this point if I want to do a sweater for Jessica or one for Beyla. I am seeing a kimono-inspired jacket, worked from cuff to neck opening in the round, and grafted in the middle of the back to take advantage of the color shifts. Or I could work it flat, in one piece, with a row of scrap yarn at the center front and maybe steek the neck. Working in the round means no purling.

But first, I need to measure that swatch for gauge.

Mini-meet at Borders last night.

These are for you, Rorek. Momo hiding away behind Nicolai. And three other dolls whose names and owners I don’t remember.



A cute boy with a scarred nose that I thought was clever, and enchanting.



A little pink terror, trouncing the giant elf boy [love his ears!]. She had already thrown her glasses and her wig, more than once.



A very sweet PukiPuki.



Beyla is now half paid for. I handed over the cash at dinner last night. And once I got home, I took another squint at the new monthly doll after Nekokoi said he was a dragon. [With those horns, I’d thought he was a stag.] I’m right there with everybody else on the Photoshopping. Glamour is all very well and good, but I want to see what I’m buying. Or would be buying, if I were buying him, which I am not.

Friday Fabulousness

Camera? check!
Yarn and fabric to mail to Rorek? check!
Cuprit’s skirt and sweater, in case she shows up today? check!
Nicolai all measured and ready to go back to Nekokoi? check!
Lunch packed? check!
Umbrella furled and back into the Ubiquitous Red Bag?
More pieces cut out for the silk necktie skirt? check!
Pieces that I cut out yesterday but for one panicked minute couldn’t find? check!
Emergency knitting supplies? check!

Doll meet tonight! And I’ll hand over my second installment on Beyla to Nekokoi, woohoo!

Wanted: Cuprit

Current status of dolly drama is over on the main blog. Meanwhile, here is Nicolai, helping me transcribe a tape for one of my lawyers. [My friends who saw him, both at work and at Knit Night, thought he was adorable. I have smart friends!]



I am hoping to get him measured tonight. I neglected to take my toolkit in my knitting bag yesterday, so he was at work, and the tape measure was at home.

I might have found my third triplet over on Leekeworld last night. Rorek, thank you for those links. I saved the email for future reference.

Photos from the mini-meet on Friday (link to DOA)

More photos taken by me, on Nekokoi’s camera, hosted on her Photobucket account. Used with permission.



Love, love, love the little pink-haired fairy on the left.



Loving the Elfaba (sp?); also dyed by her owner. She was stunning.



Somebody big, holding somebody little.



A motley bunch if I ever saw one. With cupcakes, no less!



Some of these little characters will no doubt be back with us at Borders on Friday.

I keep seeing new dolls that I like.

One of the women in the local doll group ordered a Shiwoo on Friday night after the mini-meet. Maybe I will add one to my wish list for next year or the year after that. I love that elfin face! I also like those 4” tall PukiPuki’s. But I’m not sure it’s wise for me to spend that much money on a doll so easily buried under an avalanche of stuff.

I’ve begun work on another skirt. I used the centimeter graph paper which I downloaded a few weeks ago to draft the pattern, then traced 14 skirt panel pieces onto freezer paper and also drafted the hem facing. And then I disemboweled two silk neckties. I need to gently press the silk flat and fuse the freezer paper to the wrong side of the fabric, to stabilize those long bias edges.

I plan on stitching the skirt together by hand and possibly stabilizing the seams with crazy-quilt embroidery. I bought the sewing silk on Thursday night and have all that embroidery floss neatly catalogued in my studio. I also have half a card of peach bias tape leftover from Firstborn’s wedding; it will do nicely for the channel to hold the elastic at the waist, and I even have some elastic in my stash! [I hope it is not too old to be useful.]

The yarn with which I began the baby socks for the Bittiest member of the tribe, is mostly blacks and browns and burgundies but has the same rose-tones as the neckties. I won’t have enough for a full sweater, but I can do a cropped vest or tabard, and I think I saw some silk duppioni at JoAnn’s that is the right shade of silver [and not too heavy] for a blouse.

Mini-meet tonight!

I wonder if Cuprit’s sweater and skirt would fit on the paper dress form I bought a few years ago and have still not embellished?

Actually, it’s not bad. Not worth digging out the camera for, but not bad. The torso length is all wrong, and the waist is too full for the waistband, but it’s nothing that a couple of well-placed straight pins couldn’t handle.

I made another trip to JoAnn’s after yesterday’s trip to the Post Office. Picked up the right shade of silk thread to make a tie skirt for Cuprit and/or Jessica. I have the pattern piece drafted; now it’s just a matter of taking the neckties apart and cutting the pieces out. I may trace the template onto freezer paper and press that to the wrong side of the silk. That would certainly make it easier to stitch the seams without stretching them.

Oh rats! I have the hiccups.

She’s in Arlington? At the Post Office?

Cuprit is lurking in the vicinity. She did not make it to Nekokoi’s office yesterday. Probably just as well; I woke up in the wee hours and was seriously short on sleep.

Plus, her skirt wasn’t finished. And I had some church responsibilities to attend to.

Now I’m closer to being ready. The duffel bag is packed. Larxene is back in her own clothing and swaddled within an inch of her life. The cannibalized T-shirt parts that I’m giving to Nekokoi are in there with her, as is her new necklace, and Dolly the Llama, and Cuprit’s sweater and necklace.

Skirt still isn’t finished. Looks like I will be sewing on my breaks at work today. And I think I will bag up and bring all of my watercolor pencils, just in case the weather cooperates for a faceup.

Cuprit’s Sweater? Finito!

There are pictures of Larxene looking as if she had snuck into her big sister’s closet to play dress-up, over on the other blog.

Nekokoi, thank you for tracking Cuprit’s shipping progress and updating me. When she’s here, I’ll take more pictures of the sweater [reminding myself to put Dolly the Llama into the duffel with Larxene and the sweater] and post a link on DoA.

Getting excited!

Shipping notice! Yeehawwww!

Here is my text exchange with Nekokoi yesterday, for your amusement.

Nekokoi: “Cuprit shipped this morning! ♥ I’ll send you the tracking info this afternoon when I get home from work.”
Me: “Woohoo!”
Nekokoi: “I know! Guaranteed delivery by September 17, though she could arrive a little sooner ♥”
Me: “Which means I could take her to Le Peep next Friday. Want to come with? Can we get her faceup and blushing done by then?”
Nekokoi: “Probably yeah ☺ it honestly depends on the weather. You can’t seal if it’s too humid.”
Me: *pouts*
Nekokoi: “☺ Ha ha. If the weather cooperates, we can have her done within an hour or so of the box opening. ♥”
Me: “OK, I’ll start praying. You look around for a demon teddy bear to sacrifice.”
Nekokoi: “☺ Did I tell you about the time we sacrificed that teddy bear?”
Me: “Yes, that’s why I said it. ☺”
Nekokoi: “Well, I didn’t know if it was clairvoyance ☺. It’s been a long morning already.”

Clairvoyance? I can’t even find my feet without my glasses on!

I bound off the neck on Cuprit’s sweater this morning. At this writing, I have picked up the stitches for the left front button band, using the bundle of yarn leftover from the long-tail cast-on at the peplum.

I added another tiny bead at the hem before I started picking up the stitches and will do the same on the other side; I thought it would look a little funny to have beads only delineating the purl parts of the godets and be asymmetrical with the knit parts on the very front of the sweater, where it would be most visible.

I have also threaded eight of the eighteen button-beads I will need, onto carrying thread. Naturally, I only had eight beads, because I had made those two necklaces. Which I am not going to take apart.

So it’s back to the bead store for me; I’ll do that on the way home from visiting the Bittiest member of the tribe and his family, after having lunch with BestFriend and before having dinner with one of the sisters I visit teach.

Pictures on today’s post on the other blog, when I get around to it.

So, those eyes that were discontinued?

Your eyes, or my eyes? Inquiring minds want to know! Sounds like we might be getting closer and closer to shipping.

Once I get the decreases graphed, I think there may be an excellent chance of completing the yoke on her sweater sometime this weekend. Especially once finish-itis sets in.

I love my job and I really, really don’t want to have to go into work today.

Photos are on the main blog, but...

A whole sleeve done on Cuprit’s sweater yesterday, and about an inch done this morning on the second sleeve, after I woke inexplicably just after 3:00. I am hoping that when I go to bed tonight, the second sleeve will be done, and I will be ready to start the raglan decreases.

Her skirt is still pin-basted and draped atop the back of the couch while I try to decide whether I want to clean off the table in my studio so I can set up my sewing machine to do the French seam, or stitch it by hand.

I am a little dismayed by the Marketplace rule changes on DoA. Six months before I can offer custom work! On the other hand, four and a half months from now I will have a better feel for just what it is that I might want to offer.

I had a little flash of possible insight, possible indigestion, this morning. It is possible to buy needlepoint canvas [silk, I think] for miniature projects. I can picture working the fronts of a waistcoat in petitpoint with silk floss at 20-25 stitches per inch. And old-fashioned needlepoint slippers for the bigger dolls.

Heading back to bed, I think. Though my tummy has started growling...

I’m liking this better.

Eyelets for a drawstring at the waist. Not sure at this point if it will be ribbon or I-cord. Then 12 rows of plain stockinette before switching to the next size larger needle to make it big enough to fit over Cuprit’s girlage without having to calculate where increase stitches would go. I geared back down once I passed the fullest part.

This went a whole lot faster than the first version. Though I did have one of those hrmmm moments and stopped to count the number of eyelets. [Odd = bad, even = good; guess what I came up with?] So I ripped back to the eyelet row, hauled out my new 2mm graph paper, and doodled until I came up with something symmetrical and even-numbered.

[Picture would go here, but Blogger is being wonky; you’ll just have to be patient.]

All that sock knitting is paying off, now that I’m knitting the sleeve. Magic Loop is a lovely, versatile technique, but it’s easy to get the tension wrong when switching from one half of the loop to the next, and end up with a visible “seam” on either side. Thus far [knock wood] I am getting a lovely, smooth tube.

My first meet-up + crafting progress

No, I did not remember to take pictures. I was too busy having fun! I met Lissmiss and her hubby and her doll, and I knitted. The venue was too noisy for consistently clear conversation.

Earlier in the day, I frogged about five rows on Cuprit’s sweater until I figured out where I was on my chart. I have since reclaimed that progress and added a few more rows beyond that. Before I went to bed last night, I took a few minutes and typed up the last several rows. I even used the “hide text” feature that I’ve learned at work so that my blocks of canned text for the increases would not show when I printed off a fresh page to take more notes.

Lissmiss told me there is an excellent tutorial on DoA on how to make a dress form for any size doll, using a plastic bag and either cellophane tape or masking tape.

I also found several links for metric graph paper online and will be printing off a page or two; I already have a link for knitter’s graph paper bookmarked so that eventually I will be able to graph out this sweater as well as have the written instructions. I am about halfway between the waist and the armscye and am keeping my focus on the shaping in back while guessing at the increases for the curves in front. I am learning so much on this piece!

I would like to reach the armscye today and cast on for the sleeves. I also need to start thinking about the neck shaping.

And I will probably pick up the clasps for the two necklaces while I am out and about today.

Guilt-free dolly knitting!

Firstborn’s socks are done. I need something quick, with fat yarn, as a palate cleanser; then I’ll be ready to finish Cuprit’s sweater. So I am frogging a scarf that I began some time ago from a yarn that is more appropriate for a pair of boot socks, and I’ll make a pair to wear while sitting on the couch this winter with my knitting or my sewing and my dolls.

I have my map printed for tonight’s mini-meet in Farmers Branch. Thank you, Nekokoi, for giving me permission to take Larxene.

I had an interesting email exchange with my insurance agent a few days ago. I can insure my dolls on a special policy where we agree upon the value [as provided by the invoices], and there is a small annual premium with no deductible. So if the house were hit by a tornado or other covered cause of loss and my dolls were destroyed, I would get a check for what I paid for them, separately from the settlement on my renter’s insurance policy, which would cover the value of the rest of my possessions.

The cost? The minimum policy would cover $2400 worth of dolls and cost about what one pair of shoes for them costs. Let me know if you are interested, and I will put you in touch with my insurance agent. Rorek, I can also look up an agent who would be local to you.

Nekokoi, I will need the original bill of lading when Cuprit arrives. I will scan it at the office and use Acrobat to strike out the portions that do not apply to the parts I am keeping, and then I can give it back to you for your own records.

Not much in the way of dolly news.

Wotan got his Jessica. Rorek sent me the link to the box opening.

I will probably finish Firstborn’s sock sometime today, then it’s back to work on Cuprit’s sweater with a clear conscience.

Must find and acquire some metric graph paper.

Maybe I will get the slopers done on Larxene tonight?