New Patterns Blythe in December

I have been working on some new patterns to sell.  Hopefully after finals I will have time to do the production of them.

Just a teaser-

They will be angora, felting, and butterlies! And, maybe some little animals....

Christmas

Elf in the Shelf, I don't really get it. Is it just a fun tradition or are parents trusting the elf will alter their kids' behaviors?

Somehow I got lucky. An elf is not in our house. I have a suspicion the elf would cause all kinds of mayhem with the Blythe girls and Ken the nudist could feel replaced.

This year, since I'm in school, I've gotten lazy on presents. I'm roasting coffee for everyone who drinks it. R is getting a pair of ankle socks that I've knitted up. Joe is getting a beard shirt from Etsy.

I'm super excited about what Santa will deliver this year! R is getting a real Blythe. I've been buying supplies to customize the little gal. A package will have: a blonde scalp, 2 eye chips, eyelashes, and pull chord supplies. Plus a white chihuahua friend, boots, tights, a Woody doll, dress, and a headband.

She's getting a Hujoo Freya BJD cat too.

That's it for now. Hopefully I will survive until Christmas.

Hello there, it's me again

I'm a terrible blogger. Enough said.

Reading a ton of journal articles, like 100 pages a week (give or take).

Soccer is winding down for R. The coach has been great!

I did a commission on one of my Blythe patterns:

and made buttons for others to purchase with the pattern:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/112687499/seed-like-buttons-black

and went to ArLA conference, and went on tour at Crystal Bridges!

cropped "Kindred Spirit":

I had 3 seconds to take this pic on my ipod. It's crappy but anywho.

Busy, busy, busy.

About to write 2 papers and I am ready for Christmas.

It's been awhile

It's been awhile since I posted anything! Things are going quickly these days.  I just realized Monday that this coming Tuesday is R's birthday. Gah. I don't know what we're doing yet. I thought we would have friend stay the night, but it will be all on me since Joe will be floating on the river.  Just me against two little girls....yikes.

School is going okay from R and me.

Still knitting socks, although, I'm burning out a bit.

Decided to sell some dolls to buy some new rugs.  So far, I have one rug paid for and hope to have a dresser paid for also.

Anyways, that's about it.  Hopefully, I will have something fun and exciting to report soon.

School year begins

R started 1st grade yesterday.  She seems to have had an excellent day.  The mornings are almost already troublesome. She waited until 2 seconds before going out the door to tell me her shorts were too tight. Ugh.

She now eats breakfast at school which helped our morning fights tremendously! But, we still have issues.  Poor thing toss and turned last night.  I think she was really amped up.  Hopefully tonight she will be dead tired and sleep well.

Whirlwind

My goodness, my last couple of week have flow by in a whirlwind.  I took off to Dallas for a weekend to attend BlytheCon.  That Saturday morning I found out via email (and the letter later) that I was accepted in to graduate school for Library Science!

I will be attending Clarion University of Pennsylvania via online classes.  I start August 27th!  I've been trying to read my text book the past week.

I'm nervous about my time management. But, I'm hopeful all will go well!

Finished socks

Socks have been all I have been knitting lately.

I took some photos of the most recently FOs (finished objects).

Potion Bubbles, AKA Circle Socks 

in Vice Yarns in  Hightlighter Pen colorway

Oops, I ran out.

Hermione's Everyday Socks

in Vice Sockalicious in Serendipity colorway.

I just started these:

Love Potion- Ron AKA Petunia Dursley's Double Eyelet Socks

in Vice Paparazzi in Pixie Dust colorway.

Can you guess my favorite sock yarn? Vice! My LYS hosted Yarnluvinlizzy's trunk show Friday evening.  I purchased Pixie Dust and Hyena (project coming soon hopefully).  

Halter Top for Bltyhe

Halter Top for Blythe

By Natalie Scrimshire

Supplies:

US 2 needle
Sock weight yarn
darning needle
scrap yarn

CO 20 stitches, knit flat
St. st. for 12 rows

**K2, SSK K to the last 4 sts., K2tog, K2

Purl**

Repeat from ** to ** 2 more times.

Wrong side- Knit (will be a purl ridge on the front)

Right side of top-

SSK, K3, K2tog, turn (no wrapping)

Purl

SSK, K4

Purl

Knit

Purl

SSK, K2

Purl

Knit

Purl

SSK, K1

Tie-

St. st. until desired length.  Last row, K2tog and pull yarn through.

Left side of top-

SSK, K3, K2tog

Purl

K4, K2tog

Purl

Knit

Purl

K2, K2tog

Purl

Knit

Purl

K1, K2otg

Tie-

St. st. until desired length.  Last row, K2tog and pull yarn through.

Back-

Pick up 11 stitches on the back right side (you will be knitting sides ways on the garment)

St. st. for 15 rows

BO and sew to the opposite side.  Weave in ends.

Happy knitting! If you have any questions leave a comment or email me at blytheknits@gmail.com

Copyright by Natalie Scrimshire, 2012

Life after Disney

I have yet to upload any Disney photos (other than a few of my doll, Gatsby).  Hopefully this will happen soon.  I took so many it is hard to decide which need to go onto Flickr.

Lately socks have been on my knitting agenda. I have made or have in progress: Circle Sock pattern, Shelves upon Shelves, Hermione's Everyday Socks, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons.

Durmstrang are intense, but a lot of fun.

Hopefully, I will be set up for winter. :)

This is the first year I have not start on my Christmas knitting.  I think I am roast coffee instead, except from my brother, he doesn't drink coffee.  I may knit coffee mug covers or something.  I'm feeling really low budget.

It's been forever...

It's been forever since I posted anything here.

Little update, R's finished up kindergarten last week.  She is going to miss her teacher a lot.

Last week, I finally upgraded to a DSLR.  I bought myself a Canon Rebel T2i.  So far, I am loving it.

Next week, the family is heading to Walt Disney World! I have already started packing. :) I plan to take socks to knit on the plane.

In August, I am going to BlytheCon in Dallas!  I'm getting excited.  I don't know which Blythe doll to take yet.

So until next time....

Today we are holding a funeral

Today we are holding a funeral procession.  I regret to inform my readers that my Baby Bird died. My little runt of a sparrow (turns out they are sparrows not Eastern Phoebes) passed away today between 8-10:15 am.

His siblings started picking on him and I tried to intervene without success.

R.I.P. Baby Bird, April 11, 2012

Birds!

A nest full of 4 baby birds was removed from my elderly neighbor's roof eave.  I felt bad for them.  So, I am now hand raising them.

I am pretty proud to say all 4 (even my runt) have made it through 4 nights with me!

I found a good web resource saying not to touch baby birds they probably aren't orphaned so on and so forth. No option for these babies.  The website did have great feeding instructions and recipe.

Their diet is:

canned dog food
hard boiled egg
lean ground beef
and a
teaspoon of dirt or sand
all mashed up together

I use surgical clamps to stick it in their gaping mouths.

My babies are developing quickly! Since Saturday they have all developed tail feathers (my runt a little slower) and my 3 big birds are starting to get feathers everywhere!

My little runt didn't even have his eyes open.  Now they are open and bright.

I swear they looked different every hour.

Girl Scout Cookies Lessons

1. Order all the cookies you want in the pre-sale.
2. Set goal before goal setting meeting.
3. Keep smiling and remember it is only once a year.

Shark Hat for Blythe, pattern updated!

I purchased a fancy new MacBook Air and also, purchased Pages.  I started re-designing my page layouts for my older patterns.

I stared working on the Shark Hat for Blythe.  I found a lot of errors in my pattern writing skills.

It has been rewritten and tested by another individual!

Here is the new pattern:

download now

Happy Knitting!

Wicked

I have to say I hate the Wizard of Oz.  I don't know if it was the flying monkeys or the stupid songs that made me dislike it as a kid.  I think my daughter is probably the only kindergartner that has never seen it.  In fact, someone made an "Oz" reference and I had to explain she has no idea what they were talking about.

With that said, I love Wicked.  Crazy, I know.

I love the "adult" version of Wizard of Oz.  It is just so magical and raw.  I read Wicked when I was expecting my daughter (6 years ago), but I stopped there.

Before Christmas I started listening to Son of a Witch.  I was a bit lost.  Now, I am playing catch up and listening to Wicked.

I get inspiration to name my dolls based on what I am reading at the time.  For example, Arvella is name for someone in the 1950s Henderson Board of Trustees minutes.

Elphie

Now, I have an Elphie and a Nessa.  One maybe named Gilly, I am not sure yet.

Anyways, a little knitting update.

I have been struggling on my knitting lately.  I just can't think of anything I want to make.  I have been making some middie Blythe sized sweaters and mohair dresses for my shop, but that is about it.

Something about my shop-  I am planning to open up and additional Etsy shop in May.  I would do it now, but I just renewed a bunch of my craft listings.  It would really add up if I did not see them to the end.  The new shop will be strictly fabric, yarn, vintage sewing patterns, and vintage buttons.  I think mixing Blythe and Crafts is too junky.  I wish I would have thought of it last week when I was doing the renewing.

I am also hoping to develop some packaging ideas for my Blythe clothing.  Eventually, I plan to post some shop goals because I do have some.  Like, I use recycled packaging envelopes from my workplace to reduce landfill waste.

Stay tuned for other exciting statements like the one today.