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.

Happy Thanksgiving

This will be short. First of all, Happy Thanksgiving, to those of you in the US.

(I know I post this image every year, but it's too good not to.)

I've been busy this week getting ready for the big feast. I did manage to get the story out on Friday, and this week's is scheduled. Here's an action shot from "The Surprise."

I had to do a photo shoot "on location" in the wilderness near our home. This week's story will be up on Friday. 

I also made a batch of kimchi, which has become an addiction.

In the meantime, I got a little knitting done while watching the hearings. There is still a lot to do, but the second sock is coming along.

I hope everyone has a nice week, and I'll see you next Monday.

What's on my needles: The Trickle Brick Socks

What's on my sewing machine: Dormant.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: The Surprise. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Music

What's in my wine glass: Red Blend Portugal, Casa Santos Lima, 2017. Very nice, and a pretty label.

What's my tip of the week: When buying milk products, read labels carefully. Whole milk doesn't say it's whole milk. It just doesn't say otherwise. I have accidentally bought "fat-free" half-and-half (half milk and half...what?) by accident. It's full of all kinds of stuff I don't want to consume. I have also bought low-fat Greek yoghurt, because I didn't read the fat content, and "low-fat" wasn't prominent on the label.

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.

Turkey Trot

 It's that time again!

I made it to Park City Quilt Guild, held at Davidene's Thursday evening. Lynn gave a demonstration of how to make pillow cases with enclosed seams. She used this method.

The quilters had some great stuff to show, like this Kaleidoscope quilt.

There was this rail fence quilt top, using fabrics left over from a baby quilt this quilter made, I think for her niece.

There were some fabrics in this she thought she would never use. Here's the back:

There was also this Mickey Mouse quilt, from a panel in the center, but the quilter made it her own.

Common Threads met at Georgette's earlier in the day. Kathleen had finished the scarf she has been working on ever since she started coming to our meetings.

Karan is still working with wool flannel. She had finished this block:

And Margareth was decorating this wreath:

Lynda has taken up Brioche knitting. She says if you make a mistake, don't think you can fix it on the next round. It's fun, but it's complicated.

Mandy came with me to demonstrate steeks. She forgot to bring her own knitting, but she entertained herself with the birds Lynda is working on for Christmas Ornaments.

On Friday, we got our first blizzard of the year.

As often happens, our power went out and was out for 4 1/2 hours. Fortunately, we have a gas stove, so we can cook on the burners if we light them with a match. We also have a wood-burning fireplace on the main level and a Jøtul gas stove downstairs, which can heat the whole house if we leave the door to the downstairs open. We need this so the pipes don't freeze during outages. This was Lotte's first experience with real snow.

Since the power was out, so was the TV and the Internet. Mandy suggested she teach them to knit.

When it got too dark to see to knit, they sat in front of the fire and looked at a quilting book, discussing what kind of quilt they would like to make.

You might have noticed that Mandy is wearing her new steeked Fair Isle sweater.

Lotte wants one, but I'm working on Vroni's turtleneck, so she will have to wait.

You can't tell from the photo, but the color is sort of an aqua. It's a nice match for the pants she will wear with it. This time, I'm making up a pattern that will fit the girls. I'll make it available for free in my Ravelry store, along with the Fair Isle sweater I made for Mandy.

In the meantime, you won't hear from my blog before Thanksgiving, so have a happy one.

Be careful shopping next weekend. Online is safest. My Sibling is having a 20% off sale. Use the code: CYBERWEEKEND2017 at checkout.

What's on my needles: Vroni's turtleneck.

What's on my Featherweight: Getting ready for coats.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Music for Park City Singers Holiday Concert.

What's in my wine glass: Fish Eye Shiraz, 2015 vintage.

What's my tip of the week: If you live in an area prone to power outages, keep your devices charged up, or you can also get an emergency power supply to charge them if the power goes out. Just remember to keep it charged.

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.