Look what I won! I participated in Anneke‘s one year Blog-anniversary and a couple days later, this very sweet set found its way to my house. It is so incredibly tiny and detailed, I love it! And the wolf is definitely my favourite.
Thank you so much Anneke!
If you’d like to have a little set like this for yourself, please pop over to Anneke’s store, the Verwonderwinkel. All’s in Dutch, but I’m quite sure Anneke won’t mind helping you translate some things to English! 
Now available on Etsy at last:
Lavendula! (Or Lula, as she herself prefers to be called.)
I made her a little handbag/purse (what *do* you call it?) filled with dried lavender (harvested this past Summer from my mother’s garden as usual) today, as a final touch to her outfit. She is a lavender fairy after all, she needs something to collect those lavender blossoms in!
I hope she’ll find a happy home. 
I’m currently working on a lot of things at the same time. Still test-knitting my doll’s underwear, as you can see here:
You, being the astute readers that you are, may also notice that I’m in the process of unravelling my first ever provisional cast on! O! I’ll let you know the outcome…
Then there’s Mima, my latest doll, who has a name, but still needs an awful lot of work, because I’m not quite happy with the way her face has turned out
(although once she’s all decked out in her still to be knitted finery, she may turn out be okay anyhow, as that’s how it goes with these dolls):
Furtermore, I’m knitting a pair of bunny overalls, because that’s what I’ve wanted to do for a long time (there’s a lot of that lately isn’t there!), and I’m completely in love with the yarn:
(Which is Katia 100% Merino, in case you were wondering.)
And to top it all off, I’m knitting a bunny in the round for the first time ever, because a new year means new skills to be mastered! Hence my battle with DPNs. In case you were wondering: no, it’s not the first time I’ve been using DPNs, but it’s the start of many more projects using them with ease, or so I hope! Anyway, here’s bunny-to-be:
The yarn I’m using was a gift from a friend; her grandmother spun it. It’s pure sheep wool, rough but ever so lovely – it even still smells of sheep! I love it. And the best thing is: I’ve got lots more!
And that’s not the end of the suspense, by the way, as we’re going to put up our house for sale this week and most probably will be bidding on one as well. Eek! You think that would perhaps explain the frantic knitting and crafting that’s going on here?
This is on mine:
A small Waldorf baby doll, a new pattern I’m trying out. Has been on my list for a long time! At the same time, I’m test-knitting my underwear set as a one-piece for this baby. Including the provisional cast one I’d been wanting to learn! (And which turns out to be ridiculously easy if you use a crochet hook – interested in how it’s done? Take a look at this very clear video: click )
And then we’ve got Lavendula, who’s been waiting forever for her lace shawl to be completed! I just need to cast off and block it, and then she’ll finally be somewhat warmer. After that’s been done, I need to fiddle with her hair a bit, and then she’s off to the store at last…
So. What’s on your table this cold and wint’ry day?
This post is so long overdue, it’s mortifying! Anneke over at Verwonderland very sweetly gave me the ‘I Love Your Blog’-award a couple of weeks (eek!) ago, and I just hadn’t gotten round to writing a post about it until now. *hangs head in utter shame* So, without further ado: Thank you Anneke!! I love your blog too, it greatly inspires me as well!
We’ll now proceed with the rest of the ceremony. My nominees (and winners) are (*drumroll*):
Congrats to all award winners! If you like to, please choose some of your favourite blogs & post their links on your weblog too! Feel free to nab the logo.
Okay, here’s the thing. As most of you know, I’ve got a store on Etsy. I love Etsy. It’s a great community and the things on sale there just make your mouth water! Considering that I’ve only been on there for three months, I am very happy to have made four sales so far. Quite the experience for someone like me, living in a small country, occasionally managing to find time to make things!
The ONE big drawback is the money I make over there. I mean, it’s not like I have to live from what I earn with my dolls and bunnies, but there is just not much left, after converting dollar price to Euro price. To give you an example, let’s look at my pink ballerina doll, Rosalina. It is currently listed for 189 USD, and to be honest, I just don’t think it will ever sell for that amount of money. If all fees etc. have been paid, I would end up with 130 Euros cash. Were I to post this doll on a European site, I would ask at least 149 Euros for her (which is 202 USD), and perhaps even more, say 155 (210 USD), because of all the work that went into creating her. And she could possibly sell much more faster there (or not). Were I to ask that amount in dollars, I’d be signing my own death warrant commercially, I think (if I’m not doing so already).
Which leaves me with the following dilemma: should I pull the plug on Etsy and switch to a European site, like DaWanda, for example? Does anyone have any experience wih this? Etsy of course is much bigger and much more well known, but… Maybe I should just go European? Or perhaps even start my own webshop here on this site? I mean, there is of course a limit to the amount of money people will be willing to fork out for a doll, but I don’t want to sell them too cheaply, because I personally think that if people want quality, they should be inclined to pay a bit more for it.
I just don’t know! This is such a grey area… Any advice welcome!
At long last, Poppie’s done! I finished her last bootie yesterday evening. (I think the consensus is she’s a she – a tomboy she, mind you ) So: I can cross out item number one on my to-do list!Yay!
It’s a miracle how much better her shirt looks after blocking. I guess what they say is true then – always block your finished piece! Anyhow.
Today will be such a busy day – I need to finish a book (deadline’s tomorrow), I need to clean the house, I need to bake cookies and cupcakes for Olivier’s birthday celebration at school tomorrow… I’d better get started!
A New Year, a new to do list!
I need to:
- finish the sweater’s right sleeve and left shoe for Olivier’s doll (who has been named “Poppie”, by the way, which is Dutch for dollie. Poppie goes with him everywhere!)
- finally finish poor Lavendula’s lace shawl (the girl’s been ever so patient!)
- start converting my doll underwear pattern so it can be knit as a one-piece instead of a top and pair of panties (something I’ve been wanting to do for the longest time)
- dye some yarn with Kool Aid (again, something that’s been on my list for ages!) and knit Pieter a scarf, preferably before Summer
- finish my first ever Waldorf doll with a knitted body instead of a fabric one
- make a baby doll (have gotten as far as the legs, which will just not do!)
- learn how to crochet a doll vest (I’ll post a picture later, I saw the sweetest little vest and now I need to be able to make one too)
There’s probably more, but I can’t remember. So I may be editing this list at a later time!