All Booked Up

Mr. Truly Me 74 (real name to be determined when he reaches his new home) is almost ready to go.

I bought most of his clothes, because I've been pretty busy, but I did make his sweater, which you saw last week. Now that I've had a look at his clothes, I realize he still needs a warm hat and scarf, and a pair of sneakers. I will try to get the scarf and hat made quickly, so I can send him off to Wisconsin. In his box, he will have a dressy outfit (trousers with suspenders, dress shirt, dress shoes and socks, bow tie), three T-shirts, corduroy cargo pants, pajamas and a warm winter jacket and boots.

I'm still making sourdough bread. This loaf got no extra yeast, only the sourdough starter. I'm still trying to use up my rye flour, but it's mostly all-purpose and whole wheat, with added wheat bran, wheat germ, oat bran and wheat gluten.

I'm working on marketing the book, which has cut into my time. I have had to ship some to people overseas, which required a trip to the post office. Rocky had his annual physical, and I was talked into phone-banking again, to make sure people know where and when to vote, how to get absentee ballots, what they will need to take to the polls, etc. I thought we were done with this, but Georgia has runoff elections in several races. 

I started a sweater for one of Daphne's Dolls for Christmas. The pattern is on Ravelry here. I've made it several times before. I can't remember the color name, and I've lost the label. It's sort of a purplish pink, a color I know she will love.

For mindless knitting, I'm using up scraps of cotton yarn for dishcloths. I don't have enough of any one color to make one, so I've been putting two colors together, knitting the cast-on by alternating the two colors, and then knitting across and back with one color, then across and back with the other. The first one I did like this was two shades of blue, but it's in use.

I've been waking up while it's still dark. Sometimes I'm rewarded with a great sunrise.

This week's story in The Doll's Storybook is about being a good sport when you lose. Sometimes that's the most important part of the game. Jolena knows this from ski competitions, and Veronika has had some challenges with her sewing that help her understand the boys' disappointment.

I think if anyone asks me to do anything else, I should tell them I'm all booked up! 

Well, it's thanksgiving again, so I have to include my quilters' turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving. Stay well!

What's on my needles: Dish cloths and a sweater for Daphne's doll.

What's on my sewing machine: Sitting idle.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Good Sports. Dolls understand that you can't always win. How you behave when you lose says a lot about you.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Elsewhere by Dean Koontz.

What's in my wine glass: Torre de Pias red by JAWs. Not my favorite, but drinkable.

What's my tip of the week: If your glasses fog up when you wear a mask, one trick is to put a little shampoo or dish soap on the lenses, wipe them down but don't rinse. If you think you're likely to get it into your eyes, you can use baby shampoo.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon or Barnes & Noble in the US, and on Amazon in other countries. Other vendors are starting to list the book, too.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.