Recent FOs

I've just about had it with all of the doll stuff, but I still have some unfinished shoes, and unfinished dress, and lots of felt left. And a doll knitting pattern open on my computer. And a barely started stocking that I just decided to start. Nevermind the socks, lace scarf and Owls sweater I've still been working on. Kind of.

But I've had a few FOs recently, a little drawstring bag to put a perfume oil into (a gift for a cousin, we'll see how it's received). Open:

 and closed:

 The still-unnamed doll's skirt, which is larger than the last one and will need a drawstring:

 Doll stockings:

 That match the Bamboletta cardigan I made last year:

You can see one of her pairs of unfinished shoes in the picture. I've had it with the shoes. I've made half a dozen pairs of shoes and you know what? They don't fit doll feet. Because doll feet are squishy and have no heels. It seems so pointless. Maybe I should just focus on clothes. From what I remember, shoes never stayed on my Cabbage Patch or Barbie dolls either, they were always in danger of getting lost.

This doll pullover is next in my queue, but I haven't decided which yarn I want to use. I have a lone skein of Cascade Paints in a red/berry mix, but I haven't decided whether it would be better used as a pullover or this cape. And would the doll (or my daughter) even wear the cape? Or would it be a welcome addition of variety to the doll's wardrobe?

Eureka! (The Hair Diaries, revived)

When we last left off with my hair saga, I'd given up and went back to traditional shampoo and conditioner. I started trying new (more expensive) shampoos and conditioners, but I found them lacking. One shampoo that had no SLS left my hair still feeling dirty, and one high-end conditioner I tried gave me lots of build-up. I wasn't sure what to do. Quitting shampoo and conditioner cold turkey hadn't worked, and the baking soda and vinegar rinses I'd tried lacked success as well.

Then, I came across this post and for whatever reason, I tried it (Recipe #2, that is). And I think I've got it down. I'm not sure how much of it is the proportion of baking soda to water, or vinegar to water, or if it's that I've changed my method, but it works now and my hair has never felt cleaner or softer.

For me, the trick is to put the baking soda mixture into dry hair, massaging it in thoroughly. The other thing I do differently is to not just put the vinegar mixture into the ends of my hair, but directly on the scalp, letting it run down to the rest of the hair.  Like I said, my hair has never felt cleaner or softer.

But there was a problem: the smell. More to the point, my husband kept complaining that I smelled of pickles! I'd been adding lavender essential oil, but it apparently wasn't enough to counteract the sourness of the vinegar. And I knew it was really bothering him, because he mentioned it maybe five times in one night. I ended up shoving a cinnamon stick into the bottle and Hubby is much happier. He says he doesn't smell the vinegar at all anymore, and I'm contemplating running out and buying vanilla essential oil as well, but for now the lavender and cinnamon seem to work.

Success! I haven't broken down the cost compared to store-brand shampoo and conditioner, but I'm so ridiculously happy with with how my hair feels that even if this option were more expensive, I'd say it's worth it. Because I've tried a lot of different brands of shampoos and conditioners through the years, and my hair has never felt better.

No sewing skills? Doesn't matter!

 I've been on a Waldorf doll accessories-making binge this past week. Aside from making so many doll shoes that I feel like a one-woman sweat shop, I've also found a coat pattern for 16" (40cm) Waldorf dolls. Now, I can't read French, but I was able to figure out most of it. What would have been really handy though, would have been to know ahead of time that the pattern didn't include allowances. But, I didn't know that ahead of time, so the coat is a little tighter than I'd like. As in, I can't button up the coat. Also, my local stores don't offer felt sheets large enough for the hood to be made in one piece, so I cut out two pieces (with an allowance, since it was nearly the last thing I did and I knew at that point) and stitched them together, one at a time to the collar and then up the middle.

But now, back to shoes. Bub is trying his hand at making doll shoes too, the light blue pair is his:

 What I've been doing is facing them inside out, then sewing around the edge, folding down and sewing the tabs as well:

 Of course, this is only after I've pinned the two pieces in place and I have no huge gaps.

I have plans to make boots too, in brown and perhaps yellow (like rain boots, even though they're felt and not rubber or vinyl), but I have to come up with a boot pattern first.

FO-doll clothes

This weekend I took a break from "regular" knitting and knit up a little doll skirt and top. The skirt is Mini Me's Three Tiered Doll skirt pattern, and the top is modified from Mini Me's Striped Doll Dress. And by modified, I mean it was supposed to be a dress knit in fingering weight, and I knit a top in worsted weight.

The skirt was knit in KnitPicks Shamrock (the blue), Shine worsted (the orchid color) and Cascade Eco Wool, bound off with the Shine worsted. Originally, I thought that by adding the Eco Wool, it would match the grey Little Leaves doll sweater I'd knit the doll, but I don't know. All it did for sure was to ensure I had enough yarn to finish the top (I have about one yard of Shine leftover). Basically, all the skirt did was let me use up some odds and ends, but I don't think it's very good looking.

Of course, the doll isn't going to complain. Maybe I'll knit it another skirt someday.

So the Little Leaves sweater still has nothing to match it. I have this one orphan skein of Cascade 220 Paints in a red mix, I'm thinking of knitting the doll a dress with that now. And now I totally know where all of my little leftover balls of yarn will go, when they're bright colored at least. No idea what to do with all of the grey leftovers.

My next doll endeavor is stockings. I don't find this particularly fun though, so they may end up being the doll's only pair of stockings. I finally found patterns for doll shoes too, but now I can't find the felt I'd bought. This is so much fun I almost want to make myself a Waldorf doll, but then my family members would laugh at me.

Itty Bitty hasn't seen any of the clothes yet. I'm thinking of saving them for Christmas and handing them all over to her, en masse. But I'm not sure about how to package it. What kind of presentation would shock and awe?

Butterflies!

Princess had an early birthday party last month, and one of her gifts was a butterfly kit from InsectLore.  I think Bub (who's school-aged) actually appreciated it more, but I can't say for sure. Here are some pictures of the caterpillars as they turned into chrysalides:

 And after a couple hatched, we tried to feed them, but apparently orange was too sour for them (although it made a good picture):

 What the empty cocoons look like:

 Painted lady butterflies sipping sugar water on wadded up tissues:

I might order the butterflies again someday, when I think the kids are able to pay more attention. Overall it was a positive experience for the kids.

FO-Gigantic socks

Pssst, can you keep a secret? I knit my brother a pair of socks for Christmas!

He's a size 11, EEE width, which is why I have ribbing across the widest part of the foot. The socks have a standard toe, with Cat Bordhi's Coriolis architecture and reinforced heel. I didn't make the socks very high, but I barely have any yarn left so it's just as well I didn't try to make the legs taller. My brother has never had a pair of hand-knit socks, so I'm curious as to what his reaction will be. He appreciates wool socks though, so he should appreciate that at least. The yarn is Regia Stretch. I used the same yarn for my Baudelaires, which I thought were quite soft, so I thought he'd like that. And the stretchiness could be useful too, what with his super-wide feet.

I started these puppies in July, so it took me about four months to complete. Normally if I've got a fire under me I can finish one sock within a month, but I'm only a size six.

It's so nice to have finally finished a project. A few weeks ago I finished my Gaptastic Cowl, and I'm still working on my second Owls sweater, which I've knit a bit too big, but with the assumption that it will start to shrink and then be perfect. The yoke was knit 11" long, which is a reasonable length for a women's sweater, but the armpits feel a bit low and I'm hoping it doesn't stay feeling funny like that.

But back to the socks. The next step is a cute way to package them. But I have all of this time before Christmas, which means I'll probably forget about it until right before when it's too late. We'll see.