HighFiber: February 2025

Monday, February 24, 2025

Wrapping Things Up

The Sunday Morning Wrap is finally making some progress.

I've been taking it along when I go for doctor's visits or whenever I go somewhere where I will be sitting for a while. My Ravelry project for the shawl is here, if you want info on the yarn and needle size I'm using.

The Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along is finished. As you may remember from last week, here it was, blocking. It took a long time to dry because it's a tube with the ends joined together, so it's four layers.

Here it is after blocking.

And the other side.

Olivia's winter jacket and boots arrived from Maplelea in Canada this week. The package was held up at the border in Niagara Falls for several days while U. S. Customs officials tried to sort through whether a tariff was required on doll clothes. (No tariff was required, but there may be one on my next order, whenever that is.) Then it went through two other delivery services before it was handed over to USPS. After making it through severe weather across the country it arrived in Bend late on Saturday, after delivery hours, and with the Presidents' Day holiday coming up, so it finally came into my hands on Tuesday. I've been waiting for the jacket to arrive before taking the photos for the story that introduces Olivia.

The jacket and boots are a good fit. I haven't tried the snow pants yet, but they look about right. The mittens, if I need them, will take something to keep the fingers from snagging on the elastic. They're big enough, but the Happy Kidz's fingers must be spread out more than the Maplelea dolls' fingers, and MY fingers are too stiff to hold the elastic open and manage the little finger and the thumb at the same time. I think I could wrap them in paper or plastic wrap, and it would work. Maplelea clothes and accessories are very well made and fit the Götz Happy Kidz pretty well.

The T-shirt quilt was ready to pick up on Friday. I think the backing looks like water, so I chose a quilting pattern that looks like waves and bubbles. I have lots of the backing left, so I'm going to use it for the binding.

I still have the two rows of footprints to appliqué onto the back. I have figured out that I will need to sew the binding on the right side, do the appliqué and then sew the binding down on the back by hand after that. We'll see how that goes.

On Saturday we went to the concert put on by Central Oregon Symphony. (You can watch/listen by clicking on the link.)

Three amazing young people, ages 15-17 performed. The youngest, Emily Liu, played the solo part in a selection from Edvard Grieg's Concerto for Piano in A Minor.

Lily Sullivan, the oldest, played the violin solo in a selection from Johannes Brahms' Concerto for Violin in D Major. Then Jesse Krenz played the cello solo in a selection from Edward Elgar's Concerto for Cello in E Minor. All three were amazing! After intermission, we heard more from Elgar in his Enigma Variations.

On Sunday, the Bishop came to our church. We had some special music, and it was fun. Here are Jo (violin) and Suzanne (piano) practicing before the service.

We had an unexpected event during the Bishop's sermon. A little boy came and sat under the altar. It took his mother, our priest and another parishioner to get him to leave. The Bishop said, "All are welcome," which was the subject of his sermon.

I made more carob brownies during the week. Since I'm forbidden chocolate for the time being, I find I have a real craving for it. I made some Spotted Angel (a casserole with silken tofu, yoghurt, eggs, rice, onion, zucchini, black beans and cheese) and some stir fry using soy curls, which are actually pretty good. One batch of brown rice made enough for the Spotted Angel and to go with the stir-fry.

It's time to make bread again. I will do that today.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

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

What's on my needles: Still working on the Sunday Morning Wrap and finishing up the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.

What's on my sewing machine: The binding for the T-shirt quilt.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Since it’s Black History Month, I thought it would be good to rerun Being

Colorblind. I originally published it in 2020, and the dolls were wearing masks until they got home. I didn't want to have the masks distract from the story, so I took new photos. The story has also been edited slightly. I always find things I want to change when I rerun a story.

What's my tip of the week: Our recycling service doesn't take the plastic jar lids from things like peanut butter and mayonnaise, and I hate to throw them out, so I wash them and use them for coasters under oil, vinegar, salad dressing and other things that sometimes drip and make a mess in the cabinets or on the counter.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut.

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.

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Monday, February 17, 2025

Wrapping Up, Stuffing and Unwrapping

On Saturday I finished the final clue for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along. There was a section of Latvian Braid followed by a section of "honeycomb" and another section of Latvian Braid.

When I got there, I knew we were going to be grafting the whole thing together, so I went ahead and did that. I found it easier to remove the provisional cast on after picking up a section of stitches, rather than one-by-one.

Here it is, all grafted and ready for blocking.

But oops! I looked at the instructions, and I was supposed to block it before grafting. Well, I wasn't going to take out the grafting stitches, so I went ahead and blocked it then. Fortunately, it's very dry in our house right now, so I was sure all four layers will dry fairly quickly.

This morning I took out the pins, turned the cowl over and then readjusted the position of the cowl on the blocking wires, so I won’t have creases where they were. It should be dry later today.

We had a Madroña Vineyards pop-up "meeting" on Tuesday. (It's actually a wine-drinking party.) I was having an endoscopy the next day, so I needed to be finished eating by 6:30, so we ate during the party: crustless quiche with roasted vegetables and salad, accompanied by a nice viognier.

I was able to drink liquids up until midnight, but I was going to bed long before that. The prep for an upper endoscopy is much easier than for a colonoscopy, which I had just over a year ago. We were looking for the cause of my reflux. It turned out I have a hiatal hernia. I'll see my regular doctor this week to find out what we need to do.

The pups and I usually start each day with a nice brekkie. I feed them in the doorway to the kitchen, so I can watch and make sure Sandy doesn't eat both servings. I could feed them right in the kitchen, but Dusty's feet slide on the floor when he bends over.

It snowed a few times during the week, but we had enough breaks in the weather that we were able to take the pups for walks. Both dogs were intrigued by the smells on the top of this mound.

They did a lot of running around, chasing each other and checking on the smells along the trail.

Sandy's Lamb Chop toy, which is almost as big as he is, finally got disemboweled. I decided she needed a repair.

On Saturday I got out some quilting thread and a needle. I restuffed her first, using the stuffing I had picked up from the floor. Then I sewed her up. She had another hole that needed repair as well, so I fixed that.

Now she's almost as good as new and should last for a while, since I didn't replace the squeaker. (When they discover the squeaker, they can't contain themselves until they have it out.)

Remember this doll that arrived in December? Her name is Olivia.

I finally managed to wash her hair and change her clothes. I have a new story written, and she's in it. I'll take the photos this week and schedule the story for the 28th.

We finished the crustless quiche Saturday night.

We almost always have leftovers, since there's just the two of us. I made some Easy Black Bean soup this week, too, and some cornbread to go with it. We still have some of each.

I also made cookies (which are all gone now) and a batch of carob brownies.

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

What's on my needles: Still working on the Sunday Morning Wrap and finishing up the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along.

What's on my iPhone: Still listening to How We Learn To Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budde. Excellent book! I'm using the AudiobooksNow app.

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready to make binding for the T-shirt quilt, which should be back from the quilter soon.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Since Valentine's Day was on Friday, I had to republish the Valentines Day poem from Our Favorite Verses.

What's my tip of the week: Don’t you hate it when you pour your boiling water into your cup and the tag on the tea bag slips into the cup? I do. That’s why I wrap the tag and string around the handle before I pour. The tag stays dry.