Amelia

She's finally presentable (just ignore her poorly hand-sewn dress). This is Amelia.

It took a while, but she finally transitioned from creepy to cute. I didn't think she was ever creepy, of course, and John thinks she is super creepy even now, lol. :) I haven't yet found the perfect spot to keep her where he doesn't have to see her all the time.

I had so much fun painting her face! I don't think I did too badly, either. Granted, she looked like this the first time I tried (on the left) and I had to redo it (on the right):

I got a little heavy-handed and her head ended up much darker than the rest of her body, so I had to lighten her up a bit second time around. That gave me the opportunity to try to paint her freckles in a different way. I like them much better now.

There are things I would (and will) do differently next time, but I'm very happy with the more permanent aspects of her. 

The fun comes in the temporary stuff, anyway! For instance, I think this wig washes her out a bit too much, so I'm waiting for a couple of new ones: one brownish red, with the same gorgeous mohair fluff and curl, and the other darker red, longer, and straighter. I also want to get her lighter green eyes. These I bought because they were on a spectacular sale (and I felt a little silly buying just eyelashes for a couple bucks) and I wanted to see if the size and color would work. They aren't too bad, but I can do better.

I can't wait to start knitting and sewing for her. :)

Shiny New Project

Hey guys! I'm knitting a million projects shiny green cardigan!!! It's so cool!

"But don't you have, like, five sweaters on the needles?"

Nine-ish, actually, but LOOK! SHINY AND GREEN!!!

Preeeeeeeeetty sweet, eh? ;) It's Grace, by the ever-so-talented Jane Richmond. My gauge is a bit iffy, but a violent blocking should fix it if my first measurement was more correct than my second (which was right on).

I've been in destash-mode rather than finish-everything mode. That'll change as December looms. That's when finish-all-the-things-itis hits me. Right now, I'm enjoying knitting lots of cute little things (this is the biggest project I've started for a while) and watching them fly off the needles as quickly as I had the urge to cast them on. I'll try to share some on Friday. I have a serious backlog of FOs piling up.

Working on anything fun? You should always have something fun on the needles!

Crafting Crafts

I'm determined not to fall off the face of the blogging world this week, so late or not, short or long, I'm posting!

Check out what I did this weekend!

I sewed a couple of bags! And it was fun! And I did it all on my new (to me) sewing machine! Woohoo! I hate cutting things out. That's the worst. Does someone want to do that bit for me? I bought a kit for these bags. There are four left. As much as I want to sew them all up at once, I'm pacing myself. I don't want to get too good at sewing bags too fast. ;) I'm a master at zippers now, though.

What did you do this weekend?

Works-in-a-Pile

Thank you so much for your comments on all my posts. I sometimes get busy/distracted/forgetful and don't reply to them very quickly, but I'm caught up now and I hope you'll keep commenting. :)

I have loads of knitting planned for the evening, lots of Grey's Anatomy to catch up on in the next 12 days (when it will magically disappear from Hulu), and some soup to make (it's soup weather?! Crazy!), so I have to keep this short, but I'll give you a shot the pile of stuff I'm making and a list of what's in the pile and you can see if you can discern what's what, haha.

A shawl, a sock, my Ginny's Cardigan, a little stuffed bunny (that hasn't been stuffed yet), and a baby sweater I am going to try to finish before tomorrow evening. I'm focusing on smaller projects this fall to give myself room to finish up a huge pile of unfinished sweaters and to use up a stash I'd like to get a bit more under control. I kind of like it, really. It's refreshing to need only a few days or a week to knit up something cute or useful or gift-worthy.

What do you prefer to knit? Does a sweater or blanket or other large project give you greater satisfaction in the finishing than a smaller one or is it the other way around for you?

A Big Face Post

As promised, a post about the new hobby. I had some doll fun this weekend! I started to paint her face and hands. Here is what she looked like when I got her:

I bought gouache watercolors, pastels, and a few more watercolor pencils to supplement the very small collection I already have and went to work giving her a face. I think this was my third take on the freckles:

They finally looked the way I wanted, but I was aiming for something a bit more subtle.

So I left them just as they were, just lightened the darker ones with a touch of water and a small dab of a Q-tip. Ah, the joys of watercolor. :) The freckles took all day, so I was happy to spend Sunday on less difficult stuff and make progress in greater leaps.

This was only my first layer of "pinking" so it's fairly subtle, but maybe you can tell how she's already coming to life a bit with color on her cheeks and lips. All of my photos in inconsistent lighting and different areas of the house at different times of the day certainly don't help, do they? She looks a little sweeter and a little less creepy, eh? :)

And this is as much work as I finished on her yesterday. I probably should have left her alone after the last layer. She looks a little overworked now, but that's okay. It's a learning experience. :) If I hate it, I'll just redo it! All that's left is her eyebrows, another layer of drawn eyelashes, then some gloss and real eyelashes. I've been working on her hands at the same time. I really like how they are turning out.

The best part about the whole thing is that I was productive with school stuff in between steps! I have to wait an hour between layers for the sealant to dry, which means I absolutely cannot work on it for an hour. An hour for school work is pretty much the limit of my attention span for intellectual work, so everything is working precisely as I planned, muahaha! School is hard, guys. That's why I knit so much. ;)

Knitting is Work, Right?

The three day weekend did nothing to inspire my work ethic. I'm just glad I have one less day I have to work this week. :) I'm knitting like a fiend, though. Or trying to, anyway. Lots of other stuff I have to do. :P

I'm almost finished with Ginny's Cardigan. I'm hoping to put the finishing touches on it this weekend. That means I should find some buttons!

I also cast on some slippers for my great-grandma. I feel like they should take no time at all, but it hasn't gone quite that quickly, haha. They are perfect for bus- or mindless-knitting, so I won't notice how long they take. I have to get them done soon! Her birthday is coming up!

What are you working on? Are you super excited for fall (or spring, as the case may be)? :D