Plodding Along

The projects are all coming along, although sometimes it's a struggle.

First, the whole-cloth quilt: This is the third corner, and it's almost done. The fourth corner is also almost done. There is still the last strip of cross-hatching between the third and fourth corners to do, but it's a short side. Then on to the borders.

The rugs are going much faster! For the third rug, I decided not to end each fabric selection at the edges. Instead, I'm switching fabrics wherever that strip runs out. It gives it a slightly different look, but the stripes in the warp threads still keep the plaid design.

I've been using cardboard strips between the rugs, so I'll have plenty of fringe and don't have to take out extra weft threads.

The Taina Shawlette doesn't look much different, although it has grown quite a bit.

My sheep collection got a new addition this week. this little Ram came from Mercy Corps. It was made by an artisan named Butina in Kyrgyzkstan. Monthly donors to this organization received these. He's tiny, but cute.

The St. Jude Walk/Run took place on Saturday. I'm participating virtually. I have until the end of the month to reach my goal of $500, which may turn out to have been overly ambitious. If you would like to donate, you can do so here. They sent me this nice wristband, and I have reached a level that will get me a T-shirt. St. Jude is a great organization. Patients at St. Jude never have to pay for treatment, travel, housing or food. All families have to worry about is getting their child well.

We have been using a retractible leash for Dusty. It turns out that it's a good way to keep him from jumping all over the place when he knows he's going for a walk. (He sort of gets excited.) the retractile leash's handle chased Dusty down the hall the first time, so now it's like an anchor. Once it's on, he just watches it and doesn't move. (He still trembles with excitement, however.)

While walking for St. Jude, we're also walking for Walk for a Dog, because both apps will run at the same time.

One thing that kept me busy early in the week was the remake of the cover for the new book. I had to pay for a month of InDesign, which I only used for a few hours. It isn't very easy to use, but it's what I have to do. However, I managed to get it finished. Here's the front. I think it will be better with the darker green background and a photo with more going on.

Here's the back. Since I had to redo the front, I decided to change the group photo on the back to include Pippa, and then I had to change the text to go with the photo. All that's missing is the bar code, which I'll add when I'm sure we're ready to print copies. I'm waiting for my proof copy now.

I also ran our daughter's Fisher Price My Friend Becky doll through the laundry (in a lingerie bag) and then treated her hair with conditioner. The hair was very matted, and she was fairly dirty, but this is definitely an improvement.

One more to go!

For some cuteness, Rocky....

...and Dusty....

We got the news on Wednesday that we will qualify for a Pfizer booster shot. We just need to figure out who can give it to us.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Taina Shawlette.

What's on my loom: Still the trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Its cover.

What's in my hoop: Still the whole cloth quilt.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Questions about petrified wood bring the Kidz outdoors to look at and discuss tree rings in Petrified, this week's story in #TheDollsStorybook.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app. Just starting Wildwood, by Ellis Carson, which is the book behind LAIKA's next film.

What's in my wine glass: Domaine Bisconte 2018. Lovely.

What's my tip of the week: Cheerios make great dog treats. I learned this when I was active in Therapy Animals of Utah. If you need to give your dog a lot of treats, very tiny ones work great. 

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from booksellers worldwide. If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and that's 50% of the price when you buy there. Other bookseller take a much bigger cut. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> 

Making Progress...or Not.

There are not a lot of photos to show this week's activities. However, the shawlette is getting bigger.

I worked a little more on the whole-cloth quilt, but, as usual, it doesn't look very different. I'm at the corner now, ready to finish the last strip of cross-hatching. The trailer rugs are right where they were last week.

The air quality improved quite a bit for most of the week, we we walked almost every day. This was our usual route: Along the Larkspur Trail as far as Bear Creek Rd. and back. Rocky has been walking more than half the distance each time.

I had gotten behind on the stories when we had company, so I took the photos for two more stories this past week. We're scheduled now through October 1st.

It took a couple of days to replace all the photos in our new book, but it's ready to go now. There is only the cover to redo, and then I can order a new proof copy.

I decided since I had to remake the cover of Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, I might as well use a new photo of the crew/cast of characters, as we've added Pippa since the last one was taken. I had one photo I had taken on the stairs, but the lighting wasn't very good, so we all went out to the deck on Thursday to take a new one. It took a lot of photos to get one with all of them looking at the camera. Someone always looks away. (At least I can count on them not to blink!)

Laika, the film studio where our younger son works, revealed the topic of its next film, "Wildwood" with this picture.

The film will use the studio's usual stop-motion technique as their previous films. This one is based on the book Wildwood by Colin Meloy. 

I haven't read it yet, so I had to get it from Audible. If I like it, I'll listen to the others in the series. The character Prue and her friend Curtis enter the Impassible Wilderness, a world of warring creatures and powerful figures, to try to rescue Pru's baby brother, who has been carried off by crows. The Impassible Wilderness is located in Forest Park, located on the edge of Portland, Oregon, although no one goes there and and no one can find it.

For something different, some leftover rice went into this recipe for Nasi Goreng, which was our breakfast Friday morning.

Wednesday was our 56th wedding anniversary. DH pulled out this bottle of wine we have had since 2004. The owners of the vineyard had given it to us for our 39th anniversary, which we spent tasting their wines. We have kept it unopened all this time. It was amazing! The vintners are clearly better at producing wine than they are at spelling!

DH turned 80 on Sunday. I baked a cake Saturday evening. Devil's food with butter cream frosting. Very decadent. We don't usually eat stuff like this.

We had our regular Zoom call Sunday afternoon. DH's brother, who lives three blocks from us, came to participate in person. The three of us who were here in person each had a piece of  cake, and the rest went into the freezer for whoever is with us at Christmas. The Zoom call was very nice. We don't usually have our oldest, but he stayed home from other family activities to be there with us virtually for this special occasion.

The choir sang in person again on Sunday. I missed the rehearsal Wednesday because I decided to get my flu and pneumonia shots on Tuesday after my dermatology check, since I was out anyway. I got both: one shot in each arm. The next afternoon I began to have chills and a temperature about 1/2 of a degree above normal. I decided not to go to choir because I didn't feel well, and I also wasn't sure that it was the vaccines causing it. I called my doctor the next day, although I was fine by then, to see if I should be tested. He said it had to be the vaccines causing it because I hadn't been around anyone without a mask. The choir director wanted me to come on Sunday. There was only one other soprano, and he wasn't worried that I might infect someone, since we would be distanced and masked.

You can find us at 51:30 here:

We need a new roof, so we're scheduled for the middle of October. We knew it was going to need replacing, but a roof inspection revealed that the old roof was just shingles put on top of the old ones, and no flashing in the valleys, and the shingles were in bad condition. It wasn't unexpected, but we had thought we could wait until next year. It will be good to have it done, though, and it would probably have cost more next year.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Taina Shawlette.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Repairs.

What's in my hoop: Whole cloth quilt.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Little Green Greatcoat––A Fairy Tale. You may think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but this story tells what really happened.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app. It's an exciting book, so I want to finish it before starting Wildwood, which I have already added to my library.

What's in my wine glass: Sishaye Consult 2020 from South Africa.

What's my tip of the week: I hate having to count stitches after every row or every other row, so when I have a pattern like this, where there are increases at one edge of each row and a K2tog every other row on the other edge, I figure out how many stitches I will lose from the K2tog by the time I have enough stitches as called for in the pattern and put a stitch marker to indicate the stitches that will be gone. Then I just count to check when I have to remove the stitch marker. 

This pattern has you Kfb at the beginning of the RS row and then K all the sts. Then, on the WS row, you K2tog and then make another Kfb at the end of the row. This means you're adding two stitches and subtracting one for each two rows (one RS and one WS), for a net of one stitch every two rows. Where I have the marker shows I have 8 rows still to knit. I find this easier than counting the rows, too. The stitch marker is a good reminder it's time to stop and count stitches.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from booksellers worldwide. If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and that's 50% of the price when you buy there. Other bookseller take a much bigger cut. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> 

Fixing Mistakes

First an update on the Taina Shawlette:

You may remember this from last week:

I got that far, then turned the page and discovered that I had misunderstood the directions. Then I went and looked at some of the photos of other people's versions of this project and realized what I had done wrong, so I frogged 84 rows. I'm not back to the row number I was on when I found my mistake, but now I understand the instructions. (As I always say, I'm getting to have that fun all over again!)

The second trailer rug is more than halfway done. I put cardboard strips between the two rugs, so with some luck, the borders won't draw in so much. I really need to get a temple.

Bye-bye's eyes arrived, and I sewed them in place. He tells me the world looks very different from 1975, when he lost his eyes. He's a Steiff bear, and these eyes are very close to what he had when he was new.

I cleaned another one of the Fisher Price My Friend dolls. This is Mikey. He was the cleanest of the four dolls, so he was easy to clean up. I used baking soda on a damp washcloth rubbed on his vinyl. Then he went into a lingerie bag and ran through the washer with a load of clothes.

Two more to go!

The proof copy of Emil came. After seeing it printed, I'm thinking of changing the cover. It looks a little plain, when compared with Mariah. I think it's because there's nothing in the background of the photo.

I'm thinking of using this photo of Emil.

I was also disappointed in some of the photos on the inside pages, which came out darker than I expected. I don't know if this is something they can fix when they print the copies or if I need to increase the exposure on the original photos. The printed photo on the left is the same as the photo on my laptop screen, to the right. 

I also discovered that I had accidentally used the wrong font type and size on the credits at the beginning of the book, and one of my chapter titles was a bigger size than I had used elsewhere, including the first book. It will be a lot of work to fix it, but I know I will be happier. I'm really glad I got the proof copy.

Our air quality has been very bad because of the forest fires in our state, but it rained late in the week and Saturday our AQI began to fall.

We were able to go for a walk on Saturday, our first walk in 10 days!

We started out with Rocky in the stroller, but he clearly wanted to get out, and he ended up walking more than half of the way. He has been getting around much better, and he has been off the pain and anti-inflammatory medications for nearly two weeks.

I'm not letting him go out at night without a flashlight and a leash (and someone at the end of the leash), so maybe he won't get injured again.

We finally got a set of matching kitchen chairs. We had two chairs at the table, and they didn't match. These chairs actually fold up, but we think they look nice enough for regular kitchen chairs. Now we won't have to "borrow" chairs from the dining room so more than two can sit in the kitchen.

The choir has been meeting for practice, socially distanced, masked and all vaccinated. Yesterday we sang in person. It's a lot more fun than recording an individual video for someone to put together.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Taina Shawlette.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Mending.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app.

What's in my wine glass: Red Diamond Mysterious, 2016, from Washington State. Another wine with a black label with red trim that I love.

What's my tip of the week: Mask wearing fog up your glasses? A tiny drop of baby shampoo on the inside of the lenses, rubbed around and then wiped off, will help you see clearly.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from booksellers worldwide. If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and that's 50% of the price when you buy there. Other bookseller take a much bigger cut. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> 

Back to Normal?

We couldn't walk on Monday because of the air quality, but we had a pleasant last day with our daughter before she left to go home on Tuesday. While she and her younger brother were here, we had them go through some boxes of their stuff. One item that came out of a box was this Steiff bear from circa 1975 belonging to our daughter.

His name is Bye-bye, and new, he was like this one, only a couple of inches larger. He "growls" when you tip him, but the growl is very short now. Unfortunately, Bye-bye has been blind for many years. Our older son decided to remove the eyes when Bye-bye was young. I've ordered these new eyes, and I hope they will work. I hope to have them installed in time for next week's blog post. 

Also in the boxes were her Madame Alexander "Pumpkin," a life-size doll that was as big as she was when she received it, and her Fisher Price "My Friend" dolls. They are all dirty and need restoration. I'm giving it a try. I started with Mandy. I put her in a lingerie bag and added her to a load of laundry, cold water, and set on "delicate," not that she's really delicate. When she came out, I worked some conditioner into her hair. While that sat in her hair for a while, I gave her a nice rubdown with a damp washcloth dipped in baking soda. I think she's good enough, although I might try to get her body suit a bit cleaner.

She is looking forward to playing with the grands when they come for Christmas. (Fingers crossed!)

I've made progress on the trailer rugs. The first one is almost finished.

I've also made some progress on the Taina Shawl. The "Sea Slug Pink" is growing on me.

I put in some time working on the whole cloth quilt and hope to get more done this week.

Rocky spent his birthday on Tuesday with a walk, some special treats and a new toy. We were not able to get him groomed in time for his birthday, because we postponed his grooming appointment so we could divide it up into two sessions. Thursday was the first "half," the shampoo and brushing out. He seemed tired when we picked him up, but not so exhausted as he was after his last grooming, which was all done one one day, along with Dusty's, which meant he had to spend the entire afternoon there. Dusty had his grooming appointment at the originally scheduled time on August 20th, while Rocky grew an extra serving of shagginess. Here's what he looked like when we brought him home on Thursday.

Friday, he went back for the clip. He seems happy to be rid of all the extra hair, and he seems to be able to see better. I think we probably need to trim the hair from his eyes when it starts to get long again. He isn't totally blind, but the extra hair in his eyes must have hampered him enough that he was bumping into things. He seems to know where he's going now. He's off the pain and anti-inflammatory medications entirely now and doing well for a 17-year-old dog. We treasure every day we have with him. This is his birthday photo, three days late.

I ordered two of this peg rack and put them up on the wall in the fiber studio, end-to-end. This will keep the big Kidz out of the way, when I need the space. The pegs are just under 3" apart, and there are seven pegs on each of the racks. Where the racks come together in the center, the last peg of one and the first peg of the second one are just under 4" apart (so Jolena, in the middle, is a bit lower on the rack. I put them up high, so there should be minimal dust. The racks are white.

I bought a third rack to go in our hall for the children's jackets, although we're already using it now. Buying three racks enabled me to have free shipping, so the third one was almost free. We picked out the wood, rather than the white, for the hallway. While the kids were here, we had Johan (the shortest grandchild) show us how high he could reach to put his coat away. This should help minimize the clutter in the entryway when everyone is here for Christmas.

The proof copy of Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is on its way to me. That means that in a short time, the second book in the series will be available from booksellers.

I'm hoping it won't need any further work, but the proof copy will let us know.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Taina by Eevi Kesäkuu.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Winter clothes repair.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Working Without Pay. The Kidz discuss why dolls and dogs are not slaves, even though they don't get paid for what they do and can be bought and sold.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished to His Lordship's Pleasure by Marion Chesney on the Chirp app. Just started The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app.

What's in my wine glass: Red Blend Portugal by Casa Santos Lima. One of our favorites, and with a pretty label.

What's my tip of the week: Marks can be removed from vinyl doll skin using 10% benzoyl peroxide (acne cream). You can smear it on where "permanent" marker has been used, cover with plastic wrap and leave overnight, all week or for a month, if needed. It can be reapplied until you're satisfied with the doll's skin. It's good to test on a small area (like the bottom of a foot) to be sure you like the effect. Find out more here or here.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from booksellers worldwide. If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and that's 50% of the price when you buy there. Other bookseller take a much bigger cut. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>