Crafty Sheep

Leave it to me to spend a couple of hours stitching doll’s shoes… only to discover I’ve accidentally made two right shoes, instead of a left and a right one… AND I’m out of wool felt to quickly make a new one! Ugh!

What’s even worse – I’d been warned:

Don’t forget to make both a left and right.

Sigh.

Anyway, if you ever find yourself looking for Mary Jane types shoes for your Waldorf doll, look no further. There’s a pattern right here: Dancing Rain Dolls Shoe pattern & tutorial.

Just remember – dolls usually have two different feet!

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She’s done at last! My Carolina. I’ve been knitting like crazy the last few days. But it’s not the knitting itself that took the longest – it’s the finishing, the details. It has to be just so, you know. It all has to fit together, or I’m not satisfied. But… I’m happy now.

Even though Pieter didn’t get the job he’d applied for, which means we’re still stuck here in this noisy place. Sigh. Will it ever work out? I’m seriously starting to doubt it all…

I think I’d better concentrate on my next doll. Think happy thoughts. Cuddle Carolina. Because that’s what these dolls are for – cuddling, making people happy.

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I love painkillers. I had to have some minor surgery done to my foot (or more specifically, to the toe that had been troubling me lately) this morning, and I’m now living in my comfy chair with my feet on the coffee table. Had to go to the bathroom a little while ago (sometimes, you just gotta go), and whoa, not fun. Am safely ensconced again, gobbled up a nice painkiller, and now all is (almost) well again in Meike-land.

Of course, I need something to keep my mind away from the hurting regions down below, so I’m knitting away like mad, making a Sandra Polley teddy bear. Laptop’s acting all funny, so I’m going to have to include links later! (Fingers crossed that I get this post into cyberspace!)

ETA: link to Christopher and Rosie on Ravelry

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Things I would like to do:

• sand & paint the doll’s bed we picked up at Pieter’s sister’s a few months ago
• make a new blankie & pillow to go with it
• finish *all* the dolls I’ve got lying around here. This includes making them clothes & shoes – knitted or sewn – and hair
• crochet a doll’s hammock
• knit more bunnies
• finish the teddie bear I’m knitting
• finish knitting Nynke’s Hickory Dickory Dot before she’s outgrown it
• knit my children some play food
• make a pin cushion
• learn how to sew
• learn how to spin
• dye some more yarn

I mean, do I need more hours in a day, or what? *hangs head* Right. Need to get off the computer now!

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Instead of trying out my new machine, I was needlefelting last night. Shame on me!

This is a project I found in Living Crafts (the latest issue, Autumn), my copy of which I received yesterday. I just couldn’t resist! It’s a pumpkin home for little hedgehogs. Wouldn’t you want to live there if you were a hedgehog?

Yes, definitely getting ready for Autumn here. Who cares if August is  still only halfway…

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Will you look at that? It’s my new sewing machine! I’m like a kid in a candy store, so happy! An early birthday present from my husband.

We were just taking a look, feeling the water, but the owner of the shop was so very enthusiastic, he lured us in. Even got a 100 Euro discount for trading in my rickety old machine. And I got the telephone number of a lady who offers sewing lessons. I’m in heaven!

O yes, and before I forget – it’s a Janome Decor Excel II 5024.

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So. Still no conclusive results in my quest for very thin yet strong hair yarn. But then, quests are supposed to take forever, right? Consequently, here I am, still on my horse, rambling through forests and countryside, ever looking, ever searching, stopping only to eat and rest.

I may have found a new lead! I just recently rediscovered Andie Luijk’s natural dyeing site.

Renaissance Dyeing is a small family concern dedicated to naturally dyed embroidery thread. Our main product is a range of over 110 naturally dyed shades of fine crewel wool. Since 2001 this unique venture has been run by Andie Luijk. The dye-house and winding machinery are now housed in a converted barn in an ancient hilltop village in the foothills of the Pyrénées in France. In this traditional textile area amid wild dye plants and newly cultivated woad fields, Andie and her Dutch husband Adriaan have settled, enabling Andie to indulge her life long passion for hand dyed embroidery thread, dye plants, natural vegetable dyeing and colour!

Through my Waldorf dolls group on Ravelry, Andie has kindly offered to send me some sample yarn. I’m so excited!! Her yarn is exquisite; the colours are so, so beautiful.

You can find her website here: Renaissance Dyeing
(Picture taken from Andie’s Flickr photostream)

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Just so you won’t think I’m doing nothing but making dolls (which is almost true, because my toe is hurting bad (I’ll spare you the details) and I can’t really move around all that much. I even had to buy some Birki’s just to protect my poor toe from being stepped on by four year olds ), I bookmarked myself a little dyeing tutorial. I bought a good heap of undyed yarn a few weeks ago, so plenty of opportunity to experiment! Once I get home, because at the moment I’m enjoying the good weather at my parents’ place. And making dolls* a lot.

Anyhow: Kathryn Ivy’s tutorial for dyeing yarn with Easter egg dye

* my Japanese doll is almost finished. I would show you the pictures to prove it, but I can’t get this rambling old laptop to accept my memory stick… I can give you her (that would be the doll’s, not the laptop’s…) name though: Keiko.

P.S. Something occurred to me just now – when I get home  again, maybe there’ll be a few goodies waiting for me? Fabric, buttons, art, perhaps? O, the suspense!

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Another work in progress! I’m like a person obsessed.

This is actually a collaboration between myself and my lovely German friend Stefanie. She sewed the doll’s body and the jumpsuit, sent them to me ( with lots of other goodies included – she’s a doll!), I made the head and am working on stuffing and finishing the body. A truly international endeavour!

I think this may well turn out to be one of my favourite patterns ever. It’s so well thought out, with so much attention to detail, and it looks so great, even half finished as it is now! I’ll post more pictures soon, promise!

Such a shame there’s work work to be done… I’d have loved nothing better than to stuff and sew all day… Down, girl, down.

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