Christmas Teaser - the answer ...

The teasers from the previous post - are all finished and listed on my BlytheStar Etsy shop.

 Yes, cute Christmas outfits - dresses & hats in Bright Red and Emerald Green

I think they are gossiping about Santa here!

The felt fabric makes the circle+ skirts sit out really cutely and the organza ribbon trim has a nice little twinkle ... my girls had heaps of fun modelling these outfits

3 Little Girls from Santa's Workshop?

 Following the success of last year's Christmas Gnome hat (it sold within a few days!) I thought I might start a tradition and knit one every year ... here is the 2013 edition

 A darker red this year and a little mohair at the head band for that cozy softness - the fair-isle or jacquard patterns include my favourite snowflakes, some delicate daisy flowers and sweet love-hearts.

My Gnome hats are really long and can be worn flopping over or standing straight up in the air!

And I'll leave you with another photo of my darling dollies in those Christmas costumes ...

The count-down to Christmas has started !!!

Let them eat Cakes

My darling grandson recently turned 7 (heavens - seven!  where did those years go!!) his current fad is Star Wars ... so I said I would make him a Star Wars cake for his birthday.  Now this was one of those spur-of-the-moment things that instantly caused me some consternation as I am NOT into cake decorating ... not into fancy food making at all really.

But I hit the Googly-Web and found lots of photos and some instructions for an R2D2 cake - it seemed possible and looked the part so a bit of shopping later and into the kitchen ...


R2D2 is tall with a domed 'head' so obviously the cake would be in tiers - this is a basic butter cake recipe made in double quantities and divided into 3 parts.  Plain vanilla for the bottom layer is just out of the oven & still in the 6" tin, pink (because my grandson has a sister!) is flavoured with rose flovouring and will be the middle part and the chocolate flavour will be the 'head' and there is less of that.

I had found pair of cake tins designed to make a giant cupcake ... used the top half tin for the 'head' of R2D2 but it was too conical.

Joined the 3 cakes with strawberry jam and added R2D2's 'arms' on the side - these were a commercial brownie cake sliced in half as I really didn't feel like baking another cake!  One tip I picked up from my www research was to do a 'crumb coat'.  A layer of thinned out icing to even out the shapes (such as those swirly ridges from the giant cup-cake tin) and to stop the crumbs getting into the final coating of icing.

Really wish I'd known about crumb coats years ago!!

Once that was set I slathered the top coat of icing on.  Icing is really unhealthy stuff, being basically just butter + icing sugar!!!  On the shopping trip I had bought some black food colouring, it was very strong and the grey for R2D2's head was perhaps a little dark. 

Then I needed a 'fondant' or 'royal icing' for all the decorations - one that could be rolled and cut out in shapes.  Didn't want to use a commercial one as those often taste very strong (like marzipan) and children don't like that.   The same www site as above has a recipe for fondant icing that started with marshmallows ... Ok - that seemed possible and my hubby could eat all the pink ones but the recipes said to zap the marshmallows in a microwave oven and I don't have one of those.  So, I chopped up the 'mallows put them in a little saucepan with a very small amount of hot water, put the pan over gentle heat and lots of stirring until the 'mallows melted and kinda frothed up.  Then added the icing sugar and stirred like crazy ... it worked !! :-)  I had a fondant icing that I could roll out & cut into shapes - though you do need to oil or grease all the surfaces or it will stick.

Here is the finished R2D2 cake - I was very proud of it even though it has plenty of flaws and the children loved it.

 The children helped with the decorations, the red dot is a Smartie, the black details are that food colouring applied with a clean small paint-brush, the 'cameras' are a sour licorice lolly cut to size.

Back view - very plain there

from the top - not very accurate but fun!

Well - then I had lots of grey coloured icing left over and with Halloween coming up I decided to make some suitably Icky cup-cakes ...

Put lots of Banana Flavouring and Orange Colouring in the mixture  

Once cooked, I put some strawberry jam 'blood & guts' in the middle





Then grey icing and some choc sprinkles ... the decoration wasn't very imaginative but I was running out of time ...

Meanwhile, the Blythe Dolls were meant to be helping me by filling the lolly-bags for visiting Trick-or-Treaters.   Ruby & Lillian were working hard - but Audrey was up to tricks of her own!

Ruby is my new girl - she is a Rosie Red BL and came to me with a wonky hair-do - I've given her a partial re-root (more in my next post) ... Ruby can do a marvelous Morticia Addams impersonation (imdollation?) now. 

Why Orchids are both Fascinating and Confusing

Spring is Sprung and the garden smells delightfully of a mix of the jasmine (now finishing) the wisteria (just starting to bloom) and the citrus & burnt honey scent of the Dendrobium speciosum.

A native Australian orchid - common names are King Orchid and Rock Lily - and those common names are confusing because the Dendrobium kingianum (now Thelchiton kingianum) gets called Pink Rock Lily but the speciosum is the King!!!    We also have some kingianums - pretty things.

There is confusion not only with the common names - the botanists have been renaming many of our orchids and I'm not sure if I should call our "King orchids"  Dendrobium speciosum or Thelychiton speciosus.

While we are on names - the Royal Botanical Gardens site gives the Eora peoples names for the D or T speciosum/sus and says that:

"The starchy stems of the rock Lily (Dendrobium speciosum) are edible. The stems from a variety of other species of Dendrobium are crushed and applied to sores, wounds and burns..."

Also confusing is the variability inherent to orchids - we've two plants currently flowering - the one in the top photo and this one -
with flowers that are quite cream / lemon in colour, more sparse on the stem and much larger.

The cream King Orchid flowers are about 1.5" almost 4cm tall

The almost white King Orchid flowers are 3/4" or 2cm tall

The whiter varient is quite spectacular this year.

Naturally the Blythe dolls love all the spring flowers too :-)

And here I am introducing my latest darling - Ruby Beatrice Rose.  Ruby is a Rosie Red BL

Hmmm smelly!

Such a cutie - she often looks like she is about to burst into giggles.  Ruby is in really good shape for a 12yr old dolly - the RR BL was the 4th Neo Blythe to be released by Takara.  The only thing is that a previous owner gave her a wonky hair-cut and fringe (bangs).  However, I think I can restore her original hair style with a partial re-root ... more later.

Meanwhile - another Blythe & orchid photo and thanks to Beatrix Potter for the quote I'm about to mangle. 

Imogen found the effect of so many orchid flowers is soporific

Christmas Time

Well, I did have grand plans to knit lots of cute red & white, fair-isle (jacquard) patterned Blythe-sized clothes this year and have them in my Etsy shop BytheStar in time for Christmas Shoppers.

Sigh - I have managed to knit one, 1, singular, extremely limited edition, OOAK, hat.

It is quite cute and can be worn flopping over or standing up ...

My little model here has not yet been properly introduced.  But, you see Bunny isn't really mine and I'm trying very hard not to bond with her too much.

One of my ongoing, long-term projects is for my Granddaughter - the plan is that when my GD is old enough to look after a "good" dolly properly I will give her a Blythe doll and a collection of outfits.  There will be 2 outfits for every year of my GD's life - a Spring/Summer outfit and an Autumn/Winter one - to reflect the fashion of the time.

I did have an ADG Blythe doll set aside but was a little dissatisfied with that option and thought a doll that was released the same year as my Granddaughter was born would be better.  Then this lovely "Welcome Winter" came available and ... WW was the first doll Takara released in 2008.  Perfect.

Only trouble is that she is so sweet I don't have the heart to put her back in the box!

Bunny and Audrey have become great friends - two little girls together!   After the photo-shoot for the hat, they decided the Christmas tree needed more decorations.
  

I think I'll have to get a larger tree next year!

Snowmen - in Australia?

Audrey :  Our mummy has been busy knitting - let's see what she has been making ...

... hmmm, looks like a lot of white peanuts and coloured worms!

Imogen :  I think this is the prototype - they are tiny little snowmen.

 Audrey : Looks cute, but what is a snowman?



Every year I knit little Chrissy decorations as small Christmas gifts for family & friends - last year I made lots of Santas (see this post)   this year it is to be Snowmen.


Both Santas and Snowmen are MochiMochi Land patterns.   






As I've started quite late this year I am glad that the snowmen are rather faster to make than the Santas were :-)

And I love the way they sometimes turn out a bit different - this one has quite a 'personality'.





Do you know the collective noun for a collection of Snowmen? 
Some say a "dusting of snowmen"
Others say a "melt of snowmen"
I live in Australia - so I'll go with the melt!

A Melt of Snowmen!

And here is a little bit of Snowmen Spam.

Halloween - with Blythe Dolls

Group Photo - everyone is dressed up and ready for Halloween -

even the little ones ...

Bunny, Audrey and Violetta are going to go Trick-or-Treat-ing

Violetta:  Audrey, where are you going with the suitcases?

Audrey:  I'm going on the trick-or-treat ... the cases are for all the chocolates and lollies that people are going to give me.

Here, you had best take this bag.

Lillian:  Oh dear, Audrey that does look a little bit greedy you know.

A batch of Finishing

I've been "clearing the decks" and scrambling to finish some knitting projects so I'll have time for the next commission (another cardigan for the current production of "Mousetrap" - there is a change of cast coming up).

So - quite fresh off the needles are this vintage style vest for a very good friend. 



I've dubbed this Zep's Zig Zags :-)

I adapted this from a vintage pattern - circa 1930s or 40s.
The original pattern is called "Forbes" from "Patons Knitting Book No. 338" it was a jumper for a man, in a 3ply yarn (that's Light Fingering) which is far too much work for a commission - even for a very good friend!    I adapted up to 5ply which still took absolutely ages - the yarn I used is Bendigo Woollen Mills 5ply "Classic" in "Mayfair".
The vertical lines and horizontal zig zags are on the back too.

The original pattern also had the Zig Zags just above the hip basque - we thought that was a little TOO fussy.

and a close up of the front













I've also been knitting up samples for Sydney's main craft store Morris & Sons.


One Ball Samples - to show what the yarn looks and feels like when knitted and how much knitted fabric you get from one ball of it.

    

These are all Morris & Sons' "home brand" of 100% baby alpaca called Maya - in 3 weights / thicknesses.  It is a lovely soft Alpaca yarn.


The brick colour is Maya 14ply / Super Bulky - colour 3420 “warm spices” dyelot 215446, the needles 7mm - sample is 29sts wide.

The green is Maya 8ply / DK - colour 3823 “grass” dyelot 215879, needles 4mm / US 6 - sample is 45 sts wide.

Then - unfinished (and it'll take forever to knit through that 1 x 50gr ball) pumpkin colour is Maya Laceweight / 2ply - colour 3218 “sunset” dyelot 215472, needles 2.75mm US 2 - sample is 73sts wide

Isn't it interesting how much more knitting you get from a really thin yarn!   Probably why those vintage knitting patterns are nearly always for thin yarn is that it is so much more economical - all except it terms of the time spent doing the knitting!

This self-striping Mohair sample is Schoppel Wolle “Mohair Lady” colour

376 1874ombre - I used 5mm US 8 needles and the sample is 45sts wide. 

 

Love the fire-like colours of this self-striping yarn - it is a nice whiskery mohair too.

And, because no post on the blog can be completely without photographs of Blythe dolls these days!   Here are Lillian and Imogen modelling new knitted Ombre Skirts.

Imogen :  Do you think they'll notice our tiaras?

 These are in Noro "Sekku" a Laceweight yarn with lots & lots of variegation.  Not sure that I'd like this yarn knitted into a human sized garment but it is perfect for Blythe Doll clothing (Imogen's lace blouse is also from the same ball of this yarn!)  

Mummy planted all these purple flowers just for me.

Lillian's skirt is purple & pink - perfect with her new purple top and lace-top sockings (from Cool Cat)

Imogen :  "My new skirt looks better without the shirt tucked in - this makes my hips look enormous!"

Me:  "Possibly, but I do want to show everyone the whole of the skirt."

Imogen :  "hmmm OK but I'm going to pout!"

Parcels - it's all about parcels

Getting a parcel is wonderful fun.  These days I don't get parcels from my grandmother so I find other ways to ensure that nice little boxes with lots of sticky tape all over them, keep arriving on the door-step. 

One way is to participate in (or organise) swaps of Blythe Doll goodies - which I do through Ravelry.   Violetta got to open the latest parcel ...  




 And she called Bird and Julia over because ...

Another one of US !!!

De-boxing a LPS Blythe can be arduous ...  there are lots of knots and things

Here are last - little Heidi the Hiker.  Julia likes her pantaloons and Bird approves of her ponytails. 

 Heidi offered everyone a 'lick' of her lollypop and then she showed off her
"'tremely cool sunglasses"   but Bird got the giggles ...

Those sunnies are really quite funny

 Meanwhile - Violetta had found more things in the parcel - all in pretty pink paper ...







 








"Well - this certainly IS a lovely dress and beautifully made but somehow I think it is more Audrey's style ... "

and here is Audrey wearing the completely wonderful Audrey Hepburn outfit ... dress, gloves, pearls and tiara!   thank you "Squishy10"   from Ravelry for a great swap outfit. 

I must show you the outfits I made for this swap - in a future post.

The other way to make sure you get parcels is to buy things on the www.  When people discuss the decline of "bricks & mortar" shops & shopping this factor is never mentioned - but surely one of the best parts of on-line shopping is the arrival of the parcel - and by the time it arrives you've almost forgotten what you bought and you get that wonderful 'parcel opening' thrill ...

One of the doll's house / miniatures companies had a special on some kits that you have to put-together yourself ... I couldn't resist getting some natty little tables - very useful bits of furniture for problem corners.

Not sure when I'll get the time to put the kits together ...
Of course I'd bought some other things too ... a jardinière on a pedestal (I'll plant a fake aspidistra in it) a very nice ham with garnish and 3 little mice.   


All very Beatrix Potter's "Two Bad Mice"   (only there are 3!) 
Now to get the "two red lobsters ... a fish, a pudding, and some pears and oranges." 

Tom Thumb doesn't even need to carve this ham - it is already sliced

And the LPS Blythes had a very nice dinner to welcome Heidi ...