New Dolly Design!

Sorry for the silence..we've had a very busy last week or so with lots of exciting news that I will be blogging about in the next little while.

But for today I wanted to introduce a new Blythe doll design that I just finished:

I'm calling it "Pretty Party Cardi" and it is sized to fit perfectly over a Blythe party dress with a minimum of fuss. It also looks pretty good over the Mod A-line dress too. I'm hoping to get some of these knitted up in pretty colours and listed on my Etsy shop in the next week or so. I think its really cute so hopefully other people will too :)

Its amazing what a little insomnia can get you, lol.

FO: Bella Botanica Shawl

Here she is, all blocked out and ready to play!

We decided to go to Fort Langley this morning and came across the bronze statue of Sir James Douglas, first governor of British Columbia and founder of Fort Langley. We pressed him into service and I think he secretly enjoyed it, lol.

Doesn't he look so stately and sophisticated?!? This project was a lot of fun. The beading was not nearly so hard as I expected and I only ended up using one tube of beads so that means I still have two more for future shawls! I was a bit concerned about the brightness of the greens as it did not go with my usual colour choices so I ended up putting a couple of black tea bags in the soaking water before pinning it out for blocking. Not only did it tone down the brighter shades but it made the shawl smell delicious..win-win!

While we were walking around we discovered that the local quilt shop is closing down due to the owner's retirement and that they were having a 50% off sale. So we picked up this neat bundle of themed fat quarters:

I can definitely see some new Blythe dresses in my future!

Look Who Arrived Today!

I picked up a parcel at the post office today and look who was inside:

She's a customized fake Blythe doll that I bought on Blythe Kingdom from the talented Moofers. She's very pretty but I'm not quite sure how I feel about her yet. While I appreciate the work done (Moofers is very good at what she does) I don't know that customized girls are for me. Maybe its just that she's a Taobao "factory" fake (TBL) and not a "real" Blythe that's the problem. I'm sure that the girls will love her though so I'm going to reserve final judgement until they come home on Sunday.

Green Shawl Finished!

I finished all the knitting and beading on my Olympic shawl last night!

Now to block it out properly today and have the photo shoot tomorrow. I can't wait to see how big it actually stretches out to be. I'll talk more about the project when I post the finished photos.

Other news this week...JAA is a complete bust. No weight lost, no magical fountain of energy, nothing. Other than the cravings finally diminishing I have had absolutely no progress at all. I actually manned up and went to see the doctor this week for blood tests to check for thyroid, hormone, vitamin deficiencies, etc. and they found nothing. I'm healthy as a horse, apparently. So I guess my problems with weight, mood swings, hair loss, etc. are all in my head..big surprise. Now its off to the drawing board to think about my next plan of action. I'll keep you posted.

The girls are still away until Sunday so it has been very quiet here. K. and I did have a mini road trip to another city, Kelowna, for a job interview for him. If he got the job it would have meant uprooting everything here and moving to another city but, alas, it didn't work out so our excitement was short lived. He's still applying for jobs outside of the greater Vancouver area so perhaps something else will turn up. Not that there's anything wrong with his existing job..its just that we've been trying to escape the city and our current suburban lifestyle for a while now in favor of raising the girls in a more small town environment. But with property values at an all time low perhaps it is better that we don't try to move right now anyways.

Etsy Sale

Summer is long and boring so I'm having a sale at my Etsy shop! Enter the code SUMMER2012 at the checkout to receive 20% off all items.

Come and get it!

Shawl Progress

Thanks to no kids being around I got to spend a lot of time this weekend on my Olympic shawl project. I motored through the first chart repeats and was quite pleased with myself until I hit chart #2. Ugh..beads and nupps make for verrrry slow knitting. I did all the usual rookie things like spilling the beads all over the place (twice) and dropping stitches but I think I'm getting the hang of it finally.

It may look like a rumply green blob now but hopefully it will turn into a pretty shawl in a week or so.

Meanwhile, Chubs says "I see you pretty birdies...won't you come play with me?"

Summer Games Challenge

The Summer Olympics officially starts today in London. Most people in the knitting community know that this also means the start of the unofficial Ravelry games. I don't usually pay much attention to the olympics or sports in general but this year I decided that I need a little distraction and challenge in my life so I joined up with a group hosted by my local yarn store, 88 Stitches. The main idea is that you pick a project that will be personally challenging for you and try to complete it by the time that the closing ceremonies air in 17 days. There are even some prizes but for me it is more about pushing myself and getting my knitting back on track.

I chose the Bella Botanica Shawl to be knit out of Sweet Fiber Merino Silk Lace which has been dyed a beautiful mix of rich greens. I have never made a full sized shawl out of lace weight nor have I ever added beads to my knitting so this should be interesting.

Wish me luck!