Goldie Takes a Peek at the Beach

Goldie Takes a Peek at the Beach, a photo by rhubs knit on Flickr.

after a summer of regaining strength & becoming healthy, I decided to take a break at the beach before summer ended. Little did I know that when I also decided to take a break from my computer & iPhone that the second issue of tinyfeet would be released! (http://tinyfeetmag.tumblr.com/thesecondissue#/) Like the first release, this sweet start-up of a doll magazine holds another interview with a dear friend, this time it is Romina who is interviewed of I Have Wings. (http://ihavewingsatelier.com/) Romina even shares a dress pattern in the magazine!!! The theme of this issue of tinyfeet is of fairytales & contains some incredible images, especially those magical images by Mirella von Churpek of her little yellow Lati Lea! (http://www/flickr.com/photos/vonchrupek/) But don't think that this magazine just covers one or two types of dolls! There are not only beautiful photos of ball joint dolls, there are also blythes, pullips, liccas & other dolls & crafted images in this magazine. Take a peek at tinyfeet, I am sure you will be rewarded with a smile!

Aloha Manu ♥ | Junie Moon - International Online Shop

Aloha Manu ♥ | Junie Moon - International Online Shop
After going to the Junie Moon link above you can pick the junie moon blog & see the photo I am talking about containing a tan blythe called Manuheali'i with a blue ukulele at the beach.
I love this girl & while my same girl, a look alike Manuheali'i, won't be in Hawaii on the beach, she will be visiting a beach near LA called Rodondo. Maybe I will get a blythe Manuheali'i or at least a Mondie beach photo too!!! without the ukulele ... You can check out the Junie Moon Blog to see what is new for Blythe!
The other girl I am taking to the beach is in this photo below the Mondie called Spec.

and here is what Spec, my Mondie blythe, said on flickr:

"I'm Going to Rodondo Beach

to see my former owner - Shawna - effiethedal, yeah!!!!!! with Barbara - rhubsknit and maybe my lati yellow bjd. companion Becky who will want to bring Lamb and I want to bring my twin and Barbara wants to bring her tan girl Manuheali'i so the bag will be filled with all of us rather than Barbara's clothes, lol!!!'

The Tam (or is it a beret) Is Finally Finished for my Blythes!

Yes, I finally finished the blue tam that I was working on and I love it! It can be worn as a regular tam or as a more Rastafarian style tam. The other tams that I have made are not as large as this one, the green or the gray ones that I am almost finished with are also smaller, but I think this blue
one will be my favorite as it has more character. I could see adding a ribbon woven in and out of crochet stitches at the brim, a large button with a feather or feathers coming out of it sewn on... or the inside lined in a blue or black silk! The wool is so soft and the colour of blue is so rich.

All I need to do now is make the shrug for this tam. Maybe I will knit it tonight if I am unable to fall asleep right away. I am also wondering is there a difference between a tam and a beret?

Yarn & Textures Spring Forth

I can't believe all the yarn stores that have popped up where I live over the past 15 years, but really in the last 5 years there has been an explosion. There are two stores within 6 blocks of me. Originally Yarn Garden was the first in my neighborhood here is a link to the Yarn Garden store http://yarngarden.net/ The store regularly posts a blog and yes I read the blog and it appears I just missed a great get together for a pub knitting night. I have met at the Yarn Garden in the past with others in our blythe group when first starting to crochet items for my blythe dolls

However instead I ended up going to a different yarn store just a tad out of my neighborhood but right next to the elementary school my son use to go to and this yarn store though quite small has an incredible personal touch with a machine that combines different fibers that you want together onto a spool for you to knit or crochet anything from your imagination or from ravelry. The store is called Yarnia. I believe the link to Yarnia is http://www.yarniapdx.com/ . A friend and I went and explored their shop on Wednesday night. Not only did I end up purchasing several interesting spools to work on in the future, but I also ended up spending a most intimate evening talking with other knitters and crocheters that night as it just happened to be the once a month knit nights. My friend helped a crocheter begin to knit while I continued to work on a soft blue tam that I am crocheting for my blythes. PHOTOS of the spools I bought and the blythe tam I am crocheting will be posted here in the next few days.
Wish I had taken photos there at the store, as it is much smaller than I imagined; but there were about 10 of us in various chairs crocheting and knitting while talking about our families, our pets and yes of course our various projects both finished and those waiting to be done. All around us on the walls were various sweaters, scarves, hats, jackets and wash clothes all made up from various free patterns found at Ravelry (If you don't know about Ravelry it is a great place where people basically journal and photograph the various projects that they have worked on noting the yarn they have used and often sharing the pattern they have used for free or for a nominal fee. http://www.ravelry.com/ I myself am part of the community but I don't always get everything I am knitting or crocheting on the site. Lol)
Finally the last store that is in my neighborhood is called Happy Knits and is beautifully laid out. I have with several others held various blythe meets there with the emphasis of knitting something for our blythe dolls and in the beginning we were teaching various members of our group how to knit.

Here is a photo of chandelier

and some of our blythe group crocheting or knitting at Happy Knits; the link to Happy Knits is http://happyknits.com/

I think I will go back to each store and take various photos of each store and talk to the owners about why they opened their stores - I could then title my next blog, "Why Did You Open a Yarn Store?" I would love to bring the feeling of each store to my blog through words and photos. It certainly was fun this past year holding knit & crochet blythe meets at the different stores. I could then ask members of our blythe group what qualities they like about each store. I may write about a few other topics here before I finish a blog about each yarn store, but I think it would be an interesting piece to write about here in my blog.

Please Open The Package???

Please Open The Package???
Originally uploaded by rhubs knit

I even have Momo asking me about the package now. Everyone in my Blythe family is curious about who has come from Junie Moon.

The package is actually now open with the help of maddy my little middie girl and vinter arden one of the older blythe girls


"Another box?" asked and stated Maddy all at the same time, a little frustrated...


Let's get this 2nd box opened okay Maddy? asked Arden as she looked at the bottom of the box and then around to the rest of it, trying to figure out best how to open it with Maddy.


"We have to welcome Lily to our house first Maddy!" says Arden


"But we need to get Lily out of this 3rd box first!" exclaims Maddy in a very loud voice for such a small blythe!


No sooner was Lily out than she started telling Maddy how Maddy needed to go shopping with Lily to get a haircut and styled, as well as, a new wardrobe.


All this while Momo looks on wondering how Maddy feels about these comments made by Lily and Lily wants only to know how to get to the shops...not thinking about how Maddy might be feeling. Was Lily trying to act so confident because she wasn't sure how she would fit into the family. Maybe I need to check in with each little middie to see how each of them really feels.

Time is a Funny Thing

I have so much time and so little these days. I now have beautiful Ikea shelves with glass door fronts to move so many of my ball joint dolls - my latis, my blythe and my momoko dolls onto the shelves and yet as I say that I have two shelves up inside and I see just how many miniature pieces of furnishings and dolls I have...! It would have been so much easier to have started with storage space first and to have added dolls and miniatures second, ah, but that is not the way it was to be...! So what will I do? I think I have decided to start going backwards. Does that sound odd to add the newest first to the shelves. What have I just received?, a beautiful momoko called puppy garden and mine has beautiful long flowing blond wavy ponytails on each side. I still a haven't taken a photo of her as she is still safely in the boxing she comes in.
As I play with my blythes more often and take them to blythe meets it does not seem as important to put them on the shelf first and yet they are what creates most of the mess downstairs in our living room and it is for just that reason I should move them onto shelves upstairs first. I also have container of clothes I am trying to sort. My dolls have better clothes than I these days.
As for my Latis, well Becky, Beth and Cherny all travel with me so they must always be ready to be on the go, but the most recent Latis - the unicorns although they have gone to a ball joint meet here in town, they are now ready to find a magical, mystical shelf to share with the magicians, just how I am to create this I do not know.
I know you are probably wondering about all these names if you do not know me especially since I have no photos posted on this page yet and I am just starting this blog, but if you would like to see photos of many of my dolls you can do so by going to flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhubsknit/ there at flickr except for my Momoko mentioned here you can find most of my Lati and my Blythe photographed.
Since this is the start of my blog I should mention that I have at least 3 dollhouses as well as old cardboard Barbie set ups and many other types of folding homes. But two of the doll houses are the types that you build, each is a different style. One is an English Tudor and the other is of course the Standard Victorian/Queen Anne style that gets meshed together somehow. Both are in need of work, but the Tudor already houses some of the German and Swedish doll furniture I collected when I was a child. You will find photos of each dollhouse on my flickr page although not under doll house I am afraid. This I believe is one activity I will do today and that is to create a dollhouse photo set on flickr so that even though the houses may appear in other sets with the dolls someone who goes to my flickr page can easily find my dollhouses. The other dollhouse I have is Madeline's meaning the doll and yes the character in children's books. I also have the dolls, both in cloth and in the size that fits in the doll house which is an 8" size which is a very good size too for some of my Latis. Enough for now have fun looking at some of my photos on flickr as you only have to join (and it's free) to look remember you can find me at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhubsknit/ please note I own the copyright on all photos under my name unless otherwise noted. Thanks!