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.

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All Warped and Ready to Weave

We finally got the warp wound onto the warp beam and warp roller, so I was able to thread the heddles and sley the reed. (That means it's all set up to weave.) 

I threw a few picks with a dark green after weaving the border with grey. The pink warp is stretchier than the other colors, so it makes a wave in the pattern. That may go away when it's taken off the loom, but if not, it will just be a design feature. These will be rugs for the trailer anyway, so I doubt anyone is going to be that picky. The "decor" in our trailer is in dark and light shades of blueish green with touches of pink/magenta and a little beige, so I think these colors will work well (if anyone cares about a color scheme when they're camping). The fabrics I'm using are black (lots), turquoise, magenta, grey, green and beige.

The doll clothes I sent the grandkids arrived on Tuesday, when Daphne was already out of quarantine and Zachary just had two days to go. Daphne sent me a photo of each outfit being worn by a doll. I'll just show you two. This was our daughter's Baby Ann wearing a hat and overalls I made many years ago:

Here's Rebekah wearing a hat and dress that came with one of the Fisher Price My Friend dolls that belonged to our daughter.

Their mother will arrive here on Wednesday. It will be great to see her again. The last time was Christmas, 2018. We were supposed to have Christmas here in 2020, but you can probably guess what happened. Maybe this year.

As you remember from last week, Rocky had been having a difficult time. He is doing better, as you can see from this photo of Rocky cleaning the oatmeal pot for me.

He'll never be a young again, but he's back to enjoying his life again. We've enjoyed some walks this past week with Rocky mostly riding in his stroller.

Church was supposed to be in-person this week, but the Delta Variant has become rampant in our area, so we're back to using masks and vaccinated people, only those people necessary. However, the choir planned to sing, and sing we did! 

Here we are singing "All Praise to God." I'm on the far left, in black. It went well, and we plan to sing it again with the whole choir when we can get everyone together safely.

The video is here. Go to 49:50 for the beginning of the music, if you like.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook will go to the publisher today.

Coincidentally, we got this photo of our grandson Johan reading in his bed.

Everyone please stay safe, and get vaccinated if you are able to.

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

What's on my needles: Coasters

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Resewing Velcro onto Pippa's shirts.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In "Life on Wheels," Emil and Charlotte learn about a special program for children to learn what it's like to use a wheelchair to get around all the time in a letter from Holly about Come Roll With Me.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to His Lordship's Pleasure by Marion Chesney on the Chirp app. I've really only just started. I had the music for Sunday's service running most of the time I had a chance to listen, but I always enjoy her novels.

What's in my wine glass: Apothic Dark 2014. O.M.G.! I love this wine!

What's my tip of the week: Maybe this is the second time around for this tip, but you might have missed it. Need some "emergency meals?" It's easy to put aside some TV dinners. This one is all frozen food except for the "gravy," broccoli, corn, hash browns and faux chicken cutlet with some mushroom gravy. You can also use any leftovers, like lasagna, enchiladas, burritos, mac and cheese, etc. To heat up, set oven for 300ºF and cook for 50 minutes to an hour. (It takes an hour at our elevation.) Great for camping, too!

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.

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Whew!

It has been a crazy week! The first rug has moved along quickly. This was Tuesday:

By Friday the first rug was done, except for cutting from the warp and finishing the edges. I needed to leave some space between the edge of the first rug and that of the second to allow for a short fringe, so I wove in a few inches of the warp yarn before weaving the edge of the second rug. (You can fill this space with a strip of cardboard or some lease sticks, but I'm using waste yarn, which can be recycled into a dishrag if I choose.)

Here's where I was as of Sunday (yesterday, if you're reading this the day it posts). The arrow points to the place in the cloth where the first rug stopped. You can see it winding around the cloth roller. The little colored bows are my 10" markers. I already have another 10" on the second rug. I'll tie a string around the edge threads of the warp to mark 10"

I plan to make some rugs for the trailer, too. I just need to measure how big they can be. I think this warp is too wide.

You may remember I was finishing up my Brioche Shawl Feathers shawl last week. Monday I finished the bind off and weaving in the ends. I gave her a nice bath and set up the blocking mats on the dining room table. (I had thought that my work table would be big enough, but she "grew" some with washing, as superwash yarn sometimes does.) I found it convenient to use the parts of the edge where the stitches increase to make points, rather than having to bend over the blocking mats all day putting in an infinitesimal number of pins for a smooth curve. I rather like the effect.

This photo reminded someone of Ruth Bader Ginsberg's "dissent" collars. I should have knit it in black and white! However, I find the colors pleasing and the yarn soft and warm. The I-cord upper edge ended up about the right length, but the depth from center to edge was more than the pattern indicated, which means my gauge was probably off. Not really any surprise, as I tend to knit loosely, and I didn't do a gauge swatch (for a shawl, which doesn't have to fit). I'm pretty sure this is why I ran out of yarn.

I decided to cast on for a dress for Pippa (although it will probably go to Daphne for her Rebekah). I wanted to participate in a KAL on Ravelry featuring patterns by this designer. We're using the first six designs currently shown on the website.

It turned out a little long. I think it's because I knit loosely and I didn't bother to do a gauge swatch. (A doll dress makes a great gauge swatch, I think.) I didn't have enough green buttons for the dress, so I decided to use pink and make it a design feature.

I added the extra button at the bottom in the 75th row, worked one more row of border/hem and then BO in purl. Details for the project are here.

I had a box of our daughter's doll clothes I need to go through. I had planned for us to do it last Christmas, but, as you know, our Christmas visit didn't happen. I have been going through them and I noticed that some of them (the ones made for her Fisher Price My Friend dolls) seemed to be close to Pippa's size. Sure enough, some of the items fit. The hat is big enough for the larger Happy Kidz, but the hoodie was a perfect fit.

I found this pattern and this one for the dolls among my sewing patterns. The hoodie wasn't included, but I think I may have used a blouse or shirt pattern with the hood from the cape, and improvised the pocket. This dress, which I think was in the McCall's pattern, was almost perfect. (It needs pressing, but I wanted to be sure it would fit before going to the trouble.)

The bodice front is a perfect fit. The only issue is the back, which is too big. That means I would only have one pattern piece to modify.

It's amazing the dress fits as well as it does, considering that this is the doll it was designed for. (Photo from here.)

As you can see, the Fisher Price Mandy doll has almost no shoulders, and the head is quite large, which makes the shoulders appear even smaller. Pippa and the other Little Kidz dolls are bigger in the shoulders than other dolls currently being produced in their size range. The hats fit the larger Happy Kidz dolls quite well, as you can see from this photo I took for this Friday's story.

Some of the shoes fit, too, and I've been using them for Pippa. 

What's the plan for all these doll clothes, you might ask? I plan to go through them and see what fits a doll Daphne has, wash and/or iron anything that needs it and send them all to her, although I might keep the brown "straw" hat for now. Maybe she can wheedle it out of me when she's here at Christmas, but I think I have some temporary use for it. There were also duplicate pairs of shoes that fit. I may be able to use some of the patterns with some minor modifications. Some of the clothes may not be worth rehabilitating. We will decide that when our daughter is here.

When this "care package" goes off, I will have to tuck in something for Zachary's dolls, too.

Yes, boys do play with dolls, especially when a car just the right size shows up. 

These are Lukas and Matthias (sp?) in a car belonging to our honorary granddaughter, Elsie. Johan thought it was fun to let the two dolls drive/ride. Today is his birthday!

Rocky needed some attention this week. The pups went to the groomer on Wednesday, and when I picked them up, Rocky was so tired he had trouble walking. That evening, he got hung up in the dog door and injured himself. The next day his hind end kept giving out. We were afraid he might have dislocated his hip again or perhaps had nerve damage, so we took him to the emergency vet. The diagnosis was that it was either arthritis combined with some soft-tissue damage or a mild slipped disc. Because of his advanced age, the emergency vet didn't recommend doing X-rays or an MRI, the only way to be sure. He said that if it was a slipped disc, it wasn't too severe and, a dog as old as Rocky was not a good candidate for major surgery. The treatment is the same: pain and anti-inflammatory medications, and restricted activity. As I write this, he seems much steadier on his feet, but I now have two more medications to give him, in addition to his thyroid and blood-pressure pills and his eye drops. He still sleeps a lot.

Rocky also has a growth on his lip that needs to be removed, and it's scheduled for Thursday. The pre-op blood work showed his liver and kidneys are working well. The vet said Rocky had good genes. This is minor surgery, and they will clean his teeth again while he's sedated. I always worry when he has to be sedated, but he should come through this fine. Rocky will be 17 years old on August 31st.

We're going to have to work out something else for grooming. Perhaps the groomer can do the process in stages, rather than all at once, or maybe I'll need to replace the clippers I gave away when we left Park City and do Rocky at home.

Where's my blog: If you have been following my blog and want to continue following, I recommend you go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Um...I haven't decided yet.

What's on my loom: Still two rag rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Its cover, but I plan to make another doll bathing suit or two.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Lightning." Pippa is disappointed that she can't go to the beach. Mandy explains the danger of lightning, and the dolls make a pretend visit to the beach instead.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to Florence Grace by Tracy Rees. I enjoyed her Amy Snow, but this is entirely different. It's also very interesting.

What's in my wine glass: Tuscana Sauvignon Blanc, 2020. Very nice. I'm enjoying the white wines in the warmer weather.

What's my tip of the week: I knead my bread on the counter above my dishwasher with the door slightly ajar. Any bits of flour that fall of the edge of the counter fall into the dishwasher. When I'm done with the kneading, I can open the dishwasher a little more and scrape the leftover flour into it. When it runs again, it will clean it all up. (It's so much easier than wiping it off the floor, although that might give one motivation to wash the floor.)

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. (If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy directly from Book Baby. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and Book Baby doesn't take an additional cut. That means that half of the cost of the book goes to our chosen charity. 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.

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