I managed to get some knitting in this week, this dress for our new doll family member.
Our new character, Pam, needs clothes. One of my Ravelry/MDBF Forum friends designed this pattern for the larger Happy Kidz dolls, using thicker yarn and larger needles. Recently, she made the pattern for one of the smaller Little Kidz dolls using my formula for reducing the size of a knitting pattern designed for Happy Kidz. She sent me photos of one of the dolls wearing the smaller version. The pattern for the larger version used to be available on Ravelry as a free download, but it disappeared when she left Ravelry. Since my friend is no longer on the knitting website, I offered to put it into my Ravelry store. She agreed, so I created a PDF from her Word document of the original, and while I was at it, I made another version calling for the smaller needles and thinner yarn and using the photos from her doll.
We in the Goetz Doll Lovers group on Ravelry decided to have a KAL (Knit Along) for this pattern. I took the new version of the pattern and cast on for Pam.
I discovered that I had forgotten to change the length measurements, so I had to put out a revision. The next day, I found out that I had a typo that changed the needle size to something most people don't have, so Rev. 3 went out. Now several people have used the pattern and more projects are in process.
I think the Götz doll company makes amazing dolls, but I have a pet peeve: They usually come without underpants. If they're wearing a dress, they usually have tights instead. If they're wearing pants or a jumpsuit, they are naked under their clothes. I have made underwear from girls' socks, but when Pam came, I decided to get her some nice undies. I found some at this Etsy store: DollyGodivaDressUp. They came this week.
I got her two pairs, because your mother always tells you to be sure you're wearing clean underwear every day, because you never know when you might be hit by a truck.
We had another Madroña Pop-up meeting. (Basically, it's an online wine party.) I prepared an easy tuna casserole for us to have with a nice Madroña Riesling.
Here's the recipe I use for this.
There's a story behind the recipe, which is mine, but probably pretty typical. When we moved from Massachusetts to San Diego in 1956, my father and brother drove across the country in the car. My mother and I flew on a DC-3 from Boston's Logan Airport to Mussel Shoals, Alabama. We stopped at every airport all the way down the coast. I still remember the cute steward, Render Smith. He treated me like a lady, which had rarely happened before or since. We stayed in Sheffield for a week (I think) with my aunt and uncle. I wasn't allowed to cook at home, perhaps because my mother needed solitude in the kitchen, or maybe she just felt guilty if someone else cooked or helped. My aunt, however, was happy to let me help. I remember getting this cookbook.
I think I made the tuna casserole the way it was written once, after I moved away from home. Then I started changing things, like using noodles or pasta, eliminating the potato chips and milk, and topping with cheese. Sometimes I use a different vegetable, and recently I switched out half of the peas for chopped mushrooms. We like the version with mushrooms best.
The Pop-up meeting on Tuesday with our online friends who are all fans of Madroña Vineyards was fun. I hope we can get down to Madroña sometime this year or meet up with some of these friends in person.
Tuesday was a busy day! Monday night we noticed that Sandy was licking one of his hind feet. When I looked at it, I discovered that it was bleeding. We called the vet, but they were closing, so they gave us an appointment for the next day and recommended that we wash it, put some antibiotic on it and bandage it up as well as we could. We dug through our supply of bandages and tape and found a gauze pad, an Ace bandage and some paper tape. We had to cut the bandage lengthwise, because it was too wide. It wouldn't hold well, and the tape wouldn't stick. We finally ended up with something with a lot of duct tape.
At the vet's office, we learned that he had a cut between the toes. They treated it again and wrapped it up with a new bandage. They gave us an IV bag to use as a boot when he went outside, and we came home with antibiotic liquid and an anti-inflammatory tablet to take every 12 hours. The bandage was supposed to stay on 2-3 days. Sandy got it off the next day. Duct tape to the rescue! When he got it off again the following day, we figured it was good enough.
He's still on the medication. I have the timer set for 9:00 AM and PM. When it goes off, he hears it and runs into the kitchen to get his meds. (I've been giving him a treat each time.) He doesn't favor the foot, so I assume it's healing well.
If you read my blog last week, you'll remember that I found my cousin through Ancestry, and we've been sharing information. Since most of our old family photos burned up in the fire that destroyed the home of my brother's Mother-in-law while he had his things stored in the basement, I don't have much from before I left home in 1961. I remember seeing this photo, but not for a long time. I'm the one in the middle. My brother is on the far left. The cousin I'm in touch with is the one between the two of us, the only one wearing a top. I think the rest of us had no bathing suits, so underpants to the rescue! (See how important they are?) The other two children are the cousins we were visiting and belong to the aunt who later let me help her cook. The boy was a few months older than me, and the little girl was about three years younger. I think this photo was taken about 1948. It was the only time all five cousins were together. Someone should have told a joke or at least told us to smile. I remember having a good time at the lake cabin except for the mosquitos.
I never met my cousins on my father's side.
I promised a photo of Zachary's quilt, so here it is. He has a twin-sized bed, so this should fit better on it.
Besides dealing with Sandy's toe, there were a lot of other things going on. I went to the dentist on Monday. Tuesday (after the visit to the vet) I had my hearing retested. Wednesday I had to pick up a prescription for a UTI for which I had no symptoms, but samples of two cultures showed I had. Then I had choir practice that night. Thursday I had an appointment with the ENT specialist. He looked at the hearing test, looked in my ears and said I didn't need the fluid drained because it was gone. He said I should get new hearing aids.
Thanks to anyone who left a review of any of my books on Amazon or elsewhere!
What's in The Doll's Storybook: In this reedited rerun from June, 2019, Mandy takes Mariah and Billy on a hike, where they see a turtle. Mandy knows a lot about turtles, so she shares what she knows while the dolls share a picnic lunch.
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