Travel Logged…

Noodling about on Ravelry, looking for a finished project a Yahoo group member shared, I stumbled upon the coolest thing! She had a map of the world marked with the countries she’d visited. I’ve kept a color-it-in chart of the states to which I’ve traveled for many years, but to find an online log – wow! I wrote to her instantly to find out where I could get my own, and not only do they offer a world map, but also a U.S. map, and even better, there is a count and percentage visited. My maps are now happily filled in and residing on a page link in my side bar – or just click here: Travel Logged. Happiness is!

Now for my next trick, I still need to figure out how I’m going to color in a new state or country before the end of the year…

There Wasn’t A Parade…

So, it rained where I was on Independence Day, but at least there wasn’t a parade scheduled. I guess it could have been worse, right? The traditional picnic moved indoors and bore a distinctly different flavor, but the silver lining was that there weren’t any flies or mosquitos to swat, and the food was as good as ever, if not better. However, one tradition that was upheld would make me just as  happy to not continue. Even though my order was taken for a hamburger on the grill, by the time I got through the foodline, there wasn’t a single burger left, and only two hotdogs. I seriously dislike hotdogs, and there were two people behind me of a different opinion, so after I made a few bitter complaints, I resignedly grabbed a burger bun (there were LOTS of those left…) and heaped it with sauteed onions and pickle relish. I’d never had an onion sandwich before, but it actually wasn’t half bad so long as I didn’t think a lot about the burger I’d been eagerly anticipating. Besides, not wanting to risk a further shut out, I went through the dessert line without waiting to politely eat first, so I was looking at a double helping of Aunt Joyce’s Black Raspberry Cobbler. That little delicacy made it tough to keep pouting.

My sister and I both have June birthdays, and we live far enough apart now that we’ve begun waiting to exchange gifts on the Fourth. I’ve been bothered in recent years by the fact that no matter what I get her, it seems as if I end up with the better present. This year I was sure I’d done well – until I saw what she’d found for me!

Is this special or what?! I was nearly speechless! I don’t know how she finds things like this – or lets me have them instead of keeping them for herself – but she’s good at it! I was so overwhelmed, though, that I was suddenly very much afraid that she wouldn’t like her own gift. All that assurance blew right out the door!

So what did I get for her?

I’ve gone from avid ebayer investing hours searching for special deals to checking in once a week or so for literally a couple of minutes. They’ve so managed to ruin everything that was good about that site… but that’s beside the point. A couple months ago, I DID check in for a minute, and someone had listed this little doll for sale on a BIN just minutes earlier. Now my sister collects Victorian and Edwardian wedding memorabilia and has a definite soft spot for dolls. This is the first time I’d ever seen one of the older German all-bisques dressed as a bride, and I didn’t even hesitate. That doll was bought and paid for in moments. Never mind the fact she came bald… or rather, never mind that fact until I was faced with the fact that she still needed hair the day before she was to go to her new home. I’d just not been sure how I was going to managed such a delicate operation. She’s only about 3.5″ tall (forgot to measure!), and her veil and crepe paper gown are most definitely fragile – not to mention her headpiece was still firmly glued in place. Finally, my spinning experience proved the solution. After I cleaned her (which was also not so easy to do without damaging her finery),  I took a tiny tuft of merino that  matched her eyebrows to perfection… and stopped dead. I couldn’t just glue a hunk of merino on her head. She needed some sort of a part or something to create a tiny bit of style, but I had no matching thread. Hmmm… go knit for a while… VOILA! Thread! It’s a spun substance! I fingerspun enough of the merino to tie around the tuft, and I was back in business! I found my sewing up needle to be far better than a toothpick for placing the hair, as it didn’t stick and pull, so all in all, it was my spinning and knitting that were the basis for restoring this little sweetie. I loved the irony of that!

And – if you are actually holding your breath in suspense, my sister absolutely loved her doll, and like me, despite the many hours she’s perused the antique wedding stuff, she’d also never seen a doll of her type, so as the saying goes, I done good! We were both very happy people. I’m trying hard not to worry about what I’m going to find for next year, though…

One other happening of note on the Fourth… My little niece had eyed my knitting on several occasions, but she also lives at a distance from me, so I’d not had the opportunity to sneak knitting needles into her hands yet. Having seen the weather forecast, though, I’d slyly slipped my beginner kits into my basket when I was packing Saturday morning. Sure enough, the weather cooperated with me, and shortly after supper, I had a six-year-old on my lap, intently wrangling knitting needles and lavender wool, cheerfully announcing and displaying every single completed stitch. Now THAT is what I call fun – and a super end to the evening!

Oh… and she dropped some very  strong hints that perhaps someday I might make her something… GRIN!

The Thanks That Made Me Cry

Whew! The week before this past week was wild and wooly – SO much happening that I could have posted a good entry twice a day if I’d had time to breathe… and this week has been all about trying to do some catching up. Woke up Monday in an odd sort of mood, and the entire week has been very productive for me. Actually, I’ve invented a new game for myself, and since it’s still working, I’m hanging onto it. I pulled out my slightly dusty chore box and one die.

Rules are roll the die, count back the number of cards matching the roll, and do the job without grumbling. Extra large jobs (like finishing the sewing room) require 15 minutes of concerted effort. I also have cards for reading, knitting, spinning, etc., which means every so often I get a very nice surprise. ) Among other things, this week has seen me writing my last Christmas thank you note and sending two goody packages to friends – stuff that was meant to go out last year sometime! Feels really great to have the weight of so many old tasks off my shoulders and to see so many other things progressing after languishing for such a long time, and the approach is great for an ADD brain. But this wasn’t what I set off to post today, so I guess I better get back to the topic intended…

My wild and wooly week was actually 8-9 days long, and most of what happened was good stuff – enough to last me for months instead of days! I’m just going to share the first thing tonight so this doesn’t take me two hours to write. Besides, it was so special to me that it deserves its own post.

Remember the Cyber Fiber Retreat I mentioned a while back? Well, unbeknownst to me, the fun wasn’t entirely over. I received a mysterious package in the mail two Saturdays ago, return address being that of one of the participants. What was inside absolutely knocked my socks off! The retreaters got together off group and gathered up the most incredible bundle of fiber for me as a thank you surprise… I was doing the guppy thing – totally speechless! I’ve done a lot of stuff like this retreat – organized activities online and off, taught classes gratis for years, given away patterns and designs, and in all that time I’ve learned that a few people will remember to say thanks, and once in a great while, someone goes so far as to drop a handwritten note in the mail. This fantastic bunch of gals, none of whom I’ve ever met in person or even spoken with on the phone, went all out go put together a gift that reduced me to tears! My most “intangible” friends gave me the most tangible thank you I’ve ever received.  It looked like someone had secretly followed me around at a fiberfest and bought everything I fondled! Even more incredible to me is that I now own the world’s coolest knitting bag. ) What’s so fantastic about it? Well, it was custom made just for me! It has the names of all the women at the retreat embroidered on the back of it, and when I sit with it beside me while knitting, I feel like they are all close by. I love it!

And check out Granny on the front; is she something or what?

Besides my wonderful bag, the contents of my box included:

• a big ball of targhee/mohair roving from one of the retreaters’ flock
• a ball of Tofutsies sock yarn in a lively green print – too fun!
• a skein of Heritage HandPaint Oxford 2 Sock Yarn in the Wood Violets colorway – and wild violets are one of my very favorite flowers
• a generously fat skein of hand painted sock yarn in wonderfully earthy shades from Wendy, the Yarn Fairy
• a ball of sock yarn suspected to be from Interlacements in delicious peacock shades
• a cone of Colourmart’s always marvelous cashmere laceweight yarn in caramel
• a skein of DyeForMe baby alpaca lace yarn so the next time I’m dying to dye, I won’t have to sacrifice Kidsilk Haze
• 2 ounces of tussah silk roving, handpainted in luscious shades of pink, purple, and blue
• a sweet little nosegay which will be wonderful adorning a shelf in my new sewing room
• and all sorts of sweet cards and notes of appreciation

Now, do I have a great bunch of friends, or what? All I can say is that if you ever have the opportunity to bless someone the way I was blessed by these incredible ladies, please do so! And if someone has done something nice for you recently, please take a moment to say thank you in a meaningful way. It’s too easy to take people for granted and realize too late that we have. ‘Nuff said…

Thanks again, my dear friends!

Potato Chip Knitting

Surely I have discovered the potato chips of the knitting world!

Last weekend I was facing a graduation – not mine, but that of my nephew. He received no special recognition or anything, so I was sentenced looking forward to 3 hours in a hot auditorium 90 minutes from home, during which, precisely 26 seconds were going to be meaningful. Ugh! No way was I going to face that without some knitting in my hands, but looking over my existing projects, everything was either too mindless to knit for 3 hours without external stimulation, or it was too involved for me to be able to feign interest in the ceremonies while knitting. Maybe this is all totally true – or maybe I was just looking for a good excuse to cast on a new shawl. Either way, it worked.

I didn’t have to look terribly far for the perfect project. I’ve wanted to make Autumn by Lijuan Jing with Jojoland Rhythm since about 5 seconds after I saw the store model at Fiberworks last year. I walked out of the store with the yarn that day, and I was relatively sure it was well enough aged by now to knit perfectly. Besides, entrelac is on my goal list for 2009, and it’s become apparent that this isn’t going to become a KAL in the yahoo group I’m in which votes for a favorite to knit each quarter.

I cast on 200 stitches Friday a week ago, figuring I could quickly knit the triangle row then enough of the first row of squares to be comfortable working sans pattern at the graduation. Biggest mistake here was underestimating just how much time it would take to knit those 25 little triangles. I did manage to get 2 hours of sleep before we left the next morning. However, the payback was great! I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that all those people who were looking at me sitting there knitting were doing so out of overwhelming jealousy. I was the only person there who didn’t spend at least half the time fighting a strong urge to scream from total boredom. )

Anyway, about the potato chip business… If you don’t know, entrelac is knit one little square at a time and with decidedly short rows. Just scoop up a few stitches from the side of the next square below, knit a few rows of stockinette stitch while joining the last stitch of every other row with a live stitch from an earlier square, and poof! Instant gratification! It’s almost too easy. My needles get to the end of a square and without asking permission, they dive through the next row of stitches to pick up, then sit begging with puppy dog eyes, pleading, “Just one more square? It will only take a few minutes after all…” I’m almost ashamed to admit how often I cave into their merciless pleading, even though this shawl was cast on “just for the purpose of having something to knit in certain situations.” Do you suppose it would help at all if I didn’t let it sit here beside me watching me work at the computer?

If you are brave enough to let entrelac knitting have a place in your life, do take a moment to figure out how to knit backwards. It’s ridiculously easy! I’d practiced repeatedly working from tutorials, but every time I sat down to try, I had to look them up again. Finally one day I stopped looking at the process and focused instead on the purpose and promptly had a eureka moment. The concept is the same no matter which way one is knitting; fish a new loop through the old loop. I didn’t need to follow this and that step on this or that tutorial. I just needed to stick my needle in the next loop and pull a bit of yarn through! I have to confess that I still feel a bit like a new knitter when I’m doing it, but it’s becoming smoother and more comfortable for me all the time. I’ve gained a new appreciation for how well my knitting students have progressed in the last year, too! Most of all, though, I just love having learned a new and useful trick as well as a new knitting technique.

Oh, and did I mention how much I love what my yarn is becoming?

Cinderella Yarn, or The End of the Ugly Mohair…

So… I have about 10 blog posts written in my head, for all the good that does… This one is getting out today, though.

Last weekend, I hostessed a four day knitting retreat – a retreat with a twist, as it was an online venture for one of my Yahoo groups. I honestly can’t believe it would have been any more work to have done this in person somewhere, and I came out of the experience totally wiped, but sky high with the excitement of having produced a wonderful, four day event for friends who weren’t able to attend any sort of in person event this spring. We had a blast! The Cyber Fiber Retreat included four workshops and two game nights with loads of laughter and prizes, and despite my total exhaustion, I hope we do it again next year. )

So, I’ve really been itching to show you what I did in our first workshop, as I’m extremely proud of the results – and besides, I actually finished it! Oh… and it was a first for me, too. ;o) On Thursday night, we handpainted yarn with Kool-Aid – something I’d been so tempted to do, but just needed a little shove to actually get brave, risk perfectly good yarn, and make what I assumed would be a dreadful mess. (Wrong!) I rounded up some unsweetened  Kool-Aid packets, a jug of vinegar, plastic wrap, and a couple skeins of white yarn to be my victims, and hopefully my projects for the second and third retreat workshops, and with a bit of trepidation, plunged into the project Thursday along with everyone else. Here’s how the spa treatment went for my two little skeins.

First a nice, long soak in some warm vinegar water…

Then relaxing on some plastic wrap while I dribbled a mixture of warm water, Kool-Aid, and vinegar liberally and erratically. I found that for this skein, the dye discharged instantly into the yarn, so any excess fluid was clear. It also meant I had to turn the yarn over to get the back saturated. I used Grape, Pink Lemonade, and Berry Blue (discontinued) on this skein.

Next came a wrap in plastic and a trip to the sauna – or in this case, the microwave – for one minute on each side. Then after a cooling period, a swim in tepid water to be sure excess dye was removed. (There was none.) I’m not sure how the yarn was feeling at this point, but I was definitely getting pretty excited!

It was hung to dry while I turned to the second skein…

This skein I coiled and dipped for a totally different effect. Colors are Great Value (Walmart brand) Tropical Punch and Grape.

I don’t know if it was the brand or the color, but the red ran and ran and ran and ran… I must have been rinsing for over a half hour total, with a break in the middle for another vinegar soak and nuking. I was getting worried that the red would fade so badly that it would look nasty, but in the end, it came out looking lighter, but still quite satisfactory.

My two skeins were hanging to dry, so it was time to clean up… well… should have been time to clean up. However, I kept looking at my five mugs still holding lots of Kool-Aid dye, and it seemed such a waste to throw it down the drain. However, I did only have the two skeins I’d bought, and short of handpainting cats, I couldn’t think what would be satisfactory to color. I finally found myself pacing through my stashed yarn on Ravelry, wondering if there was something there I could sacrifice – not an easy task, since I tend to purchase yarn I like. ;o) Then I spotted it! I’d bought a KidSilk Haze destash last year – my first of this yarn – and when it arrived, I was totally disgusted by the color. It had turned out to be a very beige-y pink, not only a color I couldn’t wear under any circumstances, but one I disliked so intensely that I didn’t even think I could bear to knit it for someone else. I’d actually been intending to put it back up for trade or sale. Dare I experiment with pricier yarn?

Yes! The call of the dye won out! (Or was it the thought that no matter what happened, the yarn would no longer be this color?) It took me 3 podcasts to get it all out of ball state and into skeins,  but after that, it was and almost instant miracle!

I dyed and nuked one color at a time, starting with the Pink Lemonade, genteely jamming a third of the two skeins, which I was holding together, down into the mug of the remaining pink brew. WOW! I was so tickled with the improvement that I actually remembered to take a photo to show the comparison! Now this is a color I can live with! )

The other two sections went into the Berry Blue and Grape in turn, each color nuked as I did it. I tried to keep a bit of lighter color between each section, so it would fade in and out more gently. Here it is prepped for the second trip  into the microwave. Couldn’t believe the only plastic wrap in the house was green…

When it was done and rinsed, hanging to dry, I had a difficult time going back to the kitchen to clean up. I just kept wanting to stare at it. What an awesome transformation!

I thought it was interesting to see the difference in the way the two different yarns took the color – especially the blue. The fiber content was different, as was the base color, but I was still surprised to see such a variance.

Here’s the evening’s work skeined. The pink/blue/purple wool blend I’m calling Good Friends; the red/purple is Apple Grape in honor of my friend, Joy’s, adorable 3-year-old daughter, and the KidSilk Haze absolutely demanded to be called Cotton Candy.

Tempting as it was to keep my pretty skeins to just admire, there were classes coming the next couple of days, so I went ahead and wound my two smaller skeins into balls. Love them!

My Cinderella skeins of KidSilk Haze are still prettily twisted, regularly petted, paraded in front of anyone who gets near me, and tormenting me terribly, as they really want me to knit them into something wonderful… NOW! Maybe a Laminaria or Leaf in a Leaf or Flowers and Frills…

If only I didn’t have absolutely no choice but to knit these white socks first…  Hmmm… maybe…

More Cyber Fiber Retreat stuff later…

Today’s Guest Blogger

I’d like to introduce you to today’s guest blogger, a charming gal I just found out about a couple of weeks ago. She was born in Hong Kong and has just recently moved to the United States, and I’m very happy to say that this young lady is going to be living here in our home for the foreseeable future. I’ll add a few words in closing, but for now, I’d like to turn the computer over to Miss Melodie Pascaline.

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Hello, Everybody!

Wow! This is really exciting! I never dreamed I’d be blogging, especially so soon after my arrival here in the States. It’s been a very exciting day for me, and I hardly know where to begin! I guess the best thing is for me to just tell you about myself.

As Maman just told you, I was born in Hong Kong, and my first memories are from Ruby Red Galleria, where I lived temporarily with quite a few of my sisters. We were told that we were very special girls, as we are the first ever resin Bleuettes, and we would have the important job of being ambassadors to everyone we met, so they could see just how special we are. About two weeks ago, I learned that I had been assigned a forever home in Ohio, so I snuggled down into my satin travel blanket for the 2 week long trip halfway around the world, and arrived safe and sound Monday morning, the day after Easter. (That’s why my middle name is Pascaline.) At the same time she adopted me, my wise maman also bought several pairs of shoes, some undies and a sailor dress for me, and a couple of extra wigs, which I understood I was taking to America for some of my new sisters.

I really think Maman likes me very much! She keeps saying that I’m much cuter than my photographs, and she loves my silky smooth skin. She’s also impressed with what she calls my range of movement, a term which I don’t quite understand, but I do know she asked me to do all sorts of things while she took lots of pictures. I don’t want to talk too much (Everyone says I do that all the time.), so I’m going to let you see the pictures instead, if you don’t mind too much.

See my pretty little ears? Maman says that if I write a very nice post, she will get me some earrings, too!

I really impressed her with the way I sit so prettily, and she was amazed that I can hold my hands so neatly in front of me.

I can rub my belly and pat my head perfectly! Can you?

Holding items in my hands is very easy for me, which is good, because I don’t want to let go of my Ruby Red Galleria shoes. They fit absolutely perfectly over the pretty hand knit socks Maman found in the accessory tub here, and I think some of the other girls are a little bit jealous, as they say their shoes pinch their toes and some even have to go entirely without socks. Not me! I get to wear the special socks and really pretty shoes both!

This is my  sailor suit from Ruby Red Galleria. It’s really nice! The jacket is fully lined with slippery fabric that just glides right on and feels great against my skin. The trims are fine and just right for my size, and it fits perfectly – even the hat! See how well I can salute? And I can stand all by myself quite easily, even in my shoes!

And I’m the best one here for playing peekaboo with the babies!

You should have heard Jean-Paul giggling!

Now I ask you this: what is there not to love?

Maman, did I do well? When do I get the earrings???

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Oh dear… What an interesting little gal! You can see by that determined jaw of hers that she’s got character. ;o) And she talks a bleue streak!

There were a few things I wanted to add to her comments, coming from an adult, human perspective. I was slightly hesitant about the thought of a resin “Bleuette,” but I honestly couldn’t pass up the price, and I have to admit the photos on the site stole my heart. I must have looked at them three dozen times or more in the space of two days before I decided I absolutely had to arrange an adoption. I have no regrets!

One thing I would like to address is the concept of a Bleuette in resin, which might seem rather strange. No, she can’t “really” be called a Bleuette, but then the truth is that none of our reproduction girls can legitimately bear that title either; we just call them Bleuettes and love them dearly, even though most of them aren’t antique originals, but rather Bleuettes in heart. It amazes me to see this little girl carrying so much of the Bleuette feeling, while having a look of her very own, and she blends in beautifully sitting with all her new sisters. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Bleuette was always cutting edge in fashion and style of doll, changing from bisque to compo and then finally to hard plastic, and I believe that it’s very likely that if G-L was still manufacturing Bleuette today, 50 years later, she would have an extremely good chance of being very much like this little lady, resin and all. I think it’s fun to see what might have been entirely possible come true.

Melodie is beautifully made. She’s a little startling at first touch, as her skin is flawlessly smooth, and she’s much heavier than a bisque or compo doll of the same size. She’s also much better balanced than a bisque doll, since her body is resin, too, meaning she isn’t top heavy. The body is beautifully engineered. Although it looks very much like the popular bodies we see on our reproduction dolls, it is far more posable, not only achieving more positions more easily and showing more flexibility, but also in that it holds those positions, which are tweakable even in very fine degree. And there is no “restless leg syndrome” here. If you aren’t a dyed in the wool traditionalist, and you love playing with and staging your Bleuettes, but the legs and other posing problems drive you nuts, this just may be the perfect answer for you.

Other things to note: The pate is a removable resin dome that is held in place with an integral resin hook and a strong magnet. I believe this is similar to BJD’s, but might be new to many Bleuette people. The eyes are accessible and are puttied in with some sort of flexible compound that allows them to be readjusted or even changed. I chose to tweak the alignment on Melodie’s, knowing that even the tiniest change can greatly affect the overall appearance of a doll’s expression. I’m not quite sure I’m done tweaking. ;o)

Because of the slickness of the resin, gluing a wig in place isn’t very feasable, but the company recommends attaching the wig with Velcro. I know a lot of people choose to do that on their bisque dolls anyway. Looking inside the wig, I see that all I need do is add the burr side of some Velcro to her head, as there are receiving pads already in place inside the wig. Until I get some thin Velcro, we are using double-sided tape.

I also bought 3 pairs of shoes and three wigs from Ruby Red Galleria, and I’m very impressed with them all. The wigs are an especial pleasure – probably the nicest doll wigs I have ever purchased – and I could not be happier with them! I’ve bought from every single one of the major wig companies and some individuals, from budget models to budget buster, but these stand alone! There is no wig cap showing through skimpy hair, requiring a brush over or constant hat wearing. Instead, there is full, generous coverage of soft and lovely hair. The wigs are scaled perfectly for the doll, and they are trimmed nicely and curled tightly and evenly. The three I bought were ready to go on dolls straight out of the package, which is, in my experience, nearly unheard of. This is really important to me, as I’m severely hair handicapped. If a wig doesn’t start out great, it’s not going to work for me, and I have a pet peeve with paying money for an expensive wig that has to be styled before it can even be worn by a doll. These wigs are quite simply perfect. The only thing I will be changing is that they use the little silicone bands to secure braids and pull backs. Experience has shown me that those bands are fairly short lived, so I will be swapping them out for secure thread wraps, which will stand the test of time, while not doing any damage to the hair. That is one thing I can actually do to hair. ;o)

One last glowing comment about Ruby Red Galleria… Their customer service is fantastic! Communication is prompt and sufficient to let you know you have been well tended. My parcel arrived in just two weeks, which is really not bad at all for the distance it came. My order had one small error in it, which they told me about before it even arrived, and in correcting it, they have gone far above and beyond any company with which I’ve ever dealt. To be quite blunt, I’m absolutely amazed, and it would be wonderful if more companies handled their business in such an honorable and service oriented manner. I’m an extremely happy customer, and I’m looking forward to placing my next order with these great people. Three cheers for Ruby Red Galleria!!!

Looking Forward; Looking Back

I think I’m officially the last person in the entire blogging world to do this, but it’s been percolating so long that I can’t quite bring myself to not do it. Besides, I feel like I need to, if only for myself, so here goes – my New Year’s Day post!

I never was real keen on making New Year’s resolutions, as it just seems like the perfect way to start off the year with a resounding dose of failure. Sometime around the end of January you eat that piece of turtle cheesecake, miss 3 consecutive days of exercising, or realize you are already a week behind in your read the Bible in a year program, and you promptly brand yourself a loser, throw hopeless hands up into the air, and say, “Maybe next year…” I just don’t need that sort of thing in my life. I’ve fought hard to get where I am emotionally, so I have no intent to shoot myself in the foot by setting myself up to 334 days of each year thinking uncharitably about myself. However, like most of the people I know, I do feel that fresh start excitement that comes with the scent of a January calendar page, and a couple years back, I came up with an idea that is working much better for me – New Year’s Goals.

New Year’s Goals have very few rules, though last year they did need a few more than they had. They have to actually be possible. I’m not allowed to beat myself up if I don’t accomplish them. They have to be well defined. Two of those three rules were added this year. Having goals instead of resolutions gives me an entire year to succeed, and they help focus my ecclectic brain on a little bit narrower range of possibilities. Another benefit is that it sets some things before me that I have heard myself say, “I always wanted to” so many times I’m sick of hearing it, but without a steady reminder, I find drifting out of my mind when I have the time.

Last year’s goals were not too many:

• Knit a Pair of Socks – This one was accomplished with my Coriolis Socks, which I absolutely adore!
• Master Lace Knitting – This goal would show you just how little I knew about lace knitting December a year ago. It’s also totally undefinable in reality. Just how does one know they’ve “mastered” lace knitting? Should have been “Become Very Comfortable Knitting Lace.” That I definitely accomplished.
• Go Somewhere New – I didn’t think I was going to get this, but when I ended up with a nearly last minute trip to Honduras, which included a side trip through Guatemala into Belize, I found I’d accomplished it well beyond my original dream.
• Read 100 Books – Somewhere around June, I added this, which has now been classed as an illegal move on New Year’s Goals. I didn’t succeed, but I might well have made it had I not read th e entire Outlander series. Books with 48 CD’s take a good bit longer to read than your run of the mill 6-10 CD offering.
• Make a Gail Wilson Kit – Considering the collection I have of the kits, I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth is – or my hands where my money is, or some such thing. Thinking is as far as I got with this one. Oops!
• Finish the Laundry Room Remodeling – Well… Perhaps this would have happened if my dear daughter hadn’t offered to help get the sewing room started, then hubby hadn’t suddenly revived his nook project and added allowing me a studio door. I was spread too thin with those four projects to complete even one of them, though I don’t regret the progress that was made on all.
• Be out of Debt by the End of the Year – Total flop. ‘Nough said?

My list for 2009 is much longer and definitely more ambitious, but I’m doing some things differently, and I’m feeling quite positive about a lot of them. The biggest change is that this year, I’m not settling back in January and thinking that I have a whole year to do this stuff after all, so why rush? There have been a fair number of serendipitous occurrences to help me move in the right direction, too, so I’m off to a great start! I don’t really think I’ll be able to get them all done, but I’d sure like to surprise myself, and I’m not going to aim low!

• Be Debt Free by the End of the Year – I hate having to have this goal. This also includes non-financial IOU’s. I’m going to have to have a miracle to pull this one off. I need to sell an awful lot of books if this is going to happen – and my knitting pattern needs to be a smashing success! I also have several projects, including a quilt to finish for this.
• Get My Email Under Control – This is another one in the miracle category, but who knows?
• Make a Gail Wilson Kit – Sound familiar? Serendipity is that Gail is currently running a Hitty class, I have the kit, and the fee wasn’t very high. I’m far behind the front runners, but I HAVE actually started my girl.
• Finish Reba – The most attainable of the miracle class of goals. There is little to do for her to be complete, but it involves a kiln, learning to fire bisque, renewing my acquaintance with bisque painting, and getting up the nerve to put my beautiful, nearly done head in for a last firing.
• Complete Sewing Room – Mid-range in terms of difficulty. I’ve done an awful lot in there, but I still have oodles of sorting and organizing, along with quite a bit of trim painting to do – like the bookcase and two casement windows. This isn’t a gimme!
• Complete Laundry Room – Another mid-range sort of project. As much as is done in there, the floor tile is a bothersome, time consuming project, and I have some trim painting to do. Really challenging would be that I have to stop knitting long enough to crochet the curtains!
• Lose 25 Pounds – This is going to be easier than I thought. I’m already half the way there!
• Learn to Do Entrelac and Knit Backwards – I’m really looking forward to this one. I have the pattern and yarn to do Autumn, and a week or so back, I finally found a tutorial that made knitting backwards suddenly easy. I’m still slightly awkward at it, but a little bit of practice and it’s going to be second nature. Biggest challenge here is just to actually break away from the temptation of so many interesting KAL’s and do this piece.
• Go Somewhere New – Looking very challenging at this point in time. I had two cruises planned for this year, both to new places,  both depending on other people, and both fell through already. So much for this goal being a gimme. All the states within decent driving distance I already have, and I don’t currently have any good set up for a low cost visit in a new state or country – and there ’s that “out of debt” business… Stay tuned!
• Become Comfortable Spinning – Easy? Well… First I have to finish building my wheel. Then all that remains is finding time!
• Read 100 Books – I’m really cooking on this one already! I think I just listed book 15 – or was it 16?
• Knit Another Pair of Socks - This is more desperation than goal. I adore my socks and I hate it when I have to take them off to wash them! I need more hand knit socks!!! This is a “just do it!” sort of project, and I’m sort of hoping that the SHP KAL is enough to jumpstart the process.
• Stash All My Downstairs Yarn on Ravelry – This would be much easier if the stash would quit multiplying! That said, I’ve already been working hard on this. I’m currently at 244 in my regular stash, so ignoring minor fluctuations due to usage, it will be interesting to see where I am on Dec. 31.
• Do a “Difficult” Lace Pattern – Challenge here is just focusing on doing it – ignoring some of the other rabbits dashing across my path constantly. It’s tough to do that with something like 7 shawls on my  needles and two KAL’s imminent…
• Do Something/Anything with my CSM – I’m not even aiming so high as a pair of socks at this point. I just want to sit down with someone and find out for sure my machine actually works! Socks would be a nice side benefit to the process, though. ;o) A circular sock machine is too valuable to just hold down the floor, in my opinion, and that’s all my lazy contraption has done for about 3 years now.

Now that I type this all out, I’m thinking it’s a very good thing I have a solid start on so much of it. This is quite a list!!! I think I’m going to make a separate page listing the goals in the sidebar here on the blog, then update as things happen…

The Loot!

At last! As of midnight it was finally time to open the Stash Swap packages! (Click here if you didn’t see the original post a few days ago.) The boys had been guarding the pile all week, armed with pea shooters. They were just sure the girls wouldn’t be able to stay out of trouble – or so they said. I think they just wanted the opportunity to be obnoxious… Anyway, when the clock struck twelve, the party was on!

There were many excited exclamations, more than a few shouts of “MINE!” and lots of planning and page turning in the pattern books, to be sure. Our loot included:

• Fat quarter of plaid silk
• Fat quarter of crimped organdy type fabric in white
• Two pieces of lace – one antique netting and the other a narrow white cotton
• Vintage ecru rickrack
• Tiny gold and red buttons
• Faux rabbit trim and daisy chain trim with beaded centers
• Blue seedbead assortment, blue ombre ribbon bows, Eiffel Tower and letter “B” appliques
• Handspun wool yarn (What more could an avid knitter wish to get?!), which was wrapped in a piece of white on white cotton fabric
• Pattern for stuffed bunny
• Two special thank you gifts from participants – a completed stuffed bunny and a delicate embroidered hankie with crocheted trim

The next part of the Stash Swap is the BIG BONUS ROUND, in which participants receive a prize if they use three of their items to make something for Bleuette or her immediate family by the first day of spring. I don’t exactly end up with a prize, as I run the show, but I still like to try to get at least one thing made from my new treasures. Some years I’ve been able to use three items on one project, but this year looks like that won’t happen. Although we have some really lovely things here, none of it really seems to go together well – at least at first blush. I think we should sleep on it, though – or perhaps look at it somewhere that the girls aren’t. It’s tough to hear myself think with them all chattering away about what each of them thinks I should make for her.

And this is what we sent out in our packages:

I loved how it all went together and couldn’t resist taking a photo before I sent it umpteen different directions, from the east coast to the west. The fabrics are vintage, as is the pink-edged lace, along with most of the buttons. The mystery items are hat straw and very soft and supple leather, both items from my doll store. I can’t wait to see if the recipients like what I sent as much as I do – and to see if someone uses it in their challenge project. Digging around in my own stash made me want to drop everything and make some things for the girls from the items I settled on sharing, each of which still resides here in usable quantities. With everything going on over the next 6 weeks, though, I’m going to have to settle for vicarious pleasures. Oh for more hours in each day!

And on a totally different note, after fighting to get decent pix again tonight, I gave up and bought a new camera. I went with fewer bells and whistles than my old one, as I just don’t have the money to put into what I really want, but what I ordered has really good reviews, so hopefully it will do until I’m in a better financial situation. It would have to be a pretty lousy camera to not be better than my poor, hurt Canon A620. I’m still miserable to have had it wounded so soon. Sigh…

Of Fibers and Brushfires

Just a short post tonight, but an important one, I think. I’m guessing that most everyone who reads this is very aware of the terrible brushfires currently decimating sections of Australia, leaving scores of dead, injured, and homeless in their wake. Perhaps you, like I, feel the urge to do something helpful, but didn’t know what it might be. Perhaps you might consider the option I found last night.

In the tradition of raffles, telethons, bake sales, and such, a caring Melbourne woman is rallying the knitting community to support the Australian Red Cross with a fiber fundraiser. She’s been in contact with  numerous knitters and yarn stores around the world, lining up some wonderful and generous prize donations. Your ticket into the drawing is a donation of $10 or more to the Australian Red Cross. Make your donation directly to the Australian Red Cross online, then email your receipt to her in order to be added to the drawing. Details are HERE on her blog, along with more info about the fires and pix of some of the prizes. As I’m typing this post, there has already been over $1100 donated by the fiber community, and we can undoubtedly make it much more. Let Australia know we care!

Many Hands Make Light Work

We are in the midst of one of the big events of the year around here, and I thought you might like to have a peek into how things are actually run.

This is the fourth year I’ve hostessed the annual Bleuette Stash Swap, an activity I developed in order to help cope with the post-holiday, cabin fever doldrums. The Swap was born on one of the Yahoo groups to which I belong, but this year I decided to open it up to a wider audience, so I created a new group specifically for the Swap. My plans are to have a few other activities for the members sprinkled throughout the year, in addition to this grand kick off event. The basic premise for the Swap is that all of us end up with leftover “stuff” from our projects for our dolls. Minimum purchase might be one yard on a fabric, but we need only half that amount, or we stumble upon a gorgeous bolt of delicate lace on markdown, a box of vintage rickrack at a yard sale, etc. This stuff is wonderful, but our girls don’t want every outfit they own to have the exact same buttons or whatever. The solution is to swap our stash! To that end, each player sends me the items from the list I provide at the start of the event – two fat quarters, 2 yards of lace, 2 yards of other trim, 6-12 buttons, and optionally 2 mystery items and some yarn or thread for crochet or knitting.  These items are to be of an appropriate scale, style, and fiber for our Bleuettes, and not stuff we ourselves wouldn’t use. Each offering is wrapped and labeled, and arrives here with a $5 entry fee (which helps defray the cost of postage and prizes) and a mailing label (which makes the shipping easier and more accurate). We scramble the individual offerings and send them back out, no one getting more than one item from any other player. On Valentine’s Day, everyone opens their loot, grins… laughs… cries… and then phase two begins – the BIG BONUS ROUND. The goal is to use any three of the new treasures to create something for Bleuette or her immediate family – the thought being that a person hasn’t done any stash busting if they just stick the new stuff back on the shelf. Anyone who succeeds in using three items by the first day of spring wins a special prize – no competition among members, only with one’s self. In past years, prizes have been:

• Year 1 – Bleuette scaled Eiffel Tower purchased beneath the real McCoy, and vintage French lace obtained in a flea market in Saintes (France).
• Year 2 – A lovely goodie bag from Farmhouse fabric, jammed with vintage fabric, laces, and buttons
• Year 3 – Fabrics and embroidery yarn brought home from a trip to Honduras

It’s always loads of fun for everyone – even me, once the shipping phase is over. ;o)  And now that I’ve explained the basics, here’s a peek into how the shipping process actually works around here…

There is never a shortage of volunteer workers, as you will see. This year, the boys took over the job of unpacking. Some of the stuff arrived in boxes, so Remy had to climb in and hand stuff down to the littler boys.

Of course, no one was watching Mikkey and Mariette for all of 30 seconds, so we didn’t realize what was going on until Mariette shrieked when she lost her grip on her twin’s foot. Those two…

Packages were toted over to Mariko and Claire who inventoried everything on the master list. This is an important step because of the optional items. We want to be careful to make sure everyone gets back in kind.

Not entirely trusting the little boys for some reason, Flora gathered the money and delivered it to Rikki, who was our acting banker this year.

Once items are checked in, they go to the “mountain,” as the crew was calling it. Memo to self for future years: Don’t leave the room when inventory is nearly finished…

At least this stuff isn’t breakable!

And not to be a tattletale or anything, but yes, I caught Mariette trying to figure out what was in this enticingly curious mystery package. Can’t say as I blame her. The mystery packages about drive me crazy! However, my arm doesn’t fit. ;o)

Next step is to sort all the little packages by type – fat quarters to one stack, lace to another, and so on. The girls were surprised to realize that there was more than 10 yards of fabric in the tower!

While the kids do the sorting, I’m busy creating a second chart designed to make sure that no one gets two items from the same swapper, none of their own, and everyone gets what they should. This also solves mysteries like “Uh-oh! There’s a package of buttons left over!” I can just check the chart to see where they belong instead of opening every single packed envelope and box. When everything is sorted and the chart is ready, we chase the little ones out of the way and get down to the serious work. Each of the older volunteers has his or her own station, and I must say they make an excellent team! I was very proud of their efforts this year. We only had two small mistakes, and it was the biggest Swap we’ve ever packed!

The last step is mine – taking the mountain of parcels off to the post office. I’m glad I live in a small town at times like this, and even more glad that we have such a wonderful and friendly postmistress. It took nearly 45 minutes to get everything finished up and paid, and I came home ready for a nap. Even with the help of my crew, the project took me 6 hours longer than I’d set aside, and I was tired! I went to tell the kids I was going to lay down for a while, and was very glad I did. I’d made another error in judgment, it seems…

In response to my calm and evenly tempered query into what was going on, Mikkey explained, “We is getting us a be-cation! Gonna see Tante Nancy!” Memo two to self: Stop saying, “I need to get myself packed for the trip…” Sigh…