I don't remember where I got this link the other day -- it could have been any number of places. At any rate, here they are:
Gourmet Magazine's Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008 includes a recipe for the "best cookie" of each year. There's a wide variety, from savory cookies meant to be dipped in coffee, to tart-like creations, to stained glass window cookies, to basic gingerbread men. One of my particular favorites is listed for 1965: Ginger Sugar Cookies (here's another take on this recipe).
(Creative Commons photo of Dried Cranberry Shortbread Cookies by Flickr user Belochkavita.)
Every time I've tried to post to Vox since my last post, that Firefox 3 bug has eaten everything I've written... hence radio silence on this end.
However, I come bringing seasonal goodies!
I love the Japanese site Paper Museum. It's probably best-known for its printable room boxes, but what I wanted to bring to everyone's attention is actually a few pages of free pop-up cards that you can download and make.
- Christmas cards
- New Year's cards
- Letter sets
- Many more possible craft projects (vehicles, insects, boxes, etc.)
- If you check out the room boxes link, there are some winter and Christmas rooms there.
These are meant for A4 paper, which is a bit longer than American letter-size paper. I'd print on legal-size stock, I guess. You'll need the supplies you'd need for any other papercraft project -- craft knife, cutting mat, straight edge, gluestick or glue pen or both, etc. Skip any purple link buttons, which are just supply shopping links, but download the materials under the pink buttons (all in PDF form).
It's helpful to have the Perapera-kun (or Rikai-chan) Firefox extension for Japanese text translation installed -- hover over a word or phrase on a web page, and you'll get a popup with its meaning. To use Perapera-kun, you need to install Rikai-chan's dictionaries. This is useful for all Japanese sites, in my experience, though sometimes it can be a struggle to hash through to anything cohesive... it just depends on the site and how things are phrased there. For example, hovering over the room box links with Perapera-kun enabled will give you the name of each room.
There are different sites that I read for different reasons, but three of them are a mood-lifting pleasure any time I drop by:
- iCiNG - Happy blog by Gala Darling. The focus is on the girly, sparkly style side, cheerful and uplifting without being simpy... sort of like having a really awesome friend. Difficult to describe, so just give it a visit.
- Posie Gets Cozy - One of the most popular crafty-ish blogs out there. Something about Alicia, the way she writes, and the things she says just makes me feel good.
- LA CARMINA - The newest on the list; I just discovered this one about two weeks ago. Carmen focuses on Gothic Lolita fashion, but has lots of posts that cover tangential interests: DIY versions of clothes by designers like h.Naoto, a Lolita of the week, related historical fashion, makeup, designers. Working my way through the archives!
Now, to address those rumors --
Yes, as those of you who read Valleywag (does anyone who reads this blog also read Valleywag?) might already know, DIY Life will be on hiatus, perhaps permanently, starting on August 1. As far as I know, there are some extrapolated "reports" linking back to that which are inaccurate.
We're all super-bummed, but, you know, it happens. You'll see that we're still publishing, but those are posts we wrote and edited last week, doled out through the week... my work is almost done except for a few loose ends. The bright side is that my to-do list just got a lot shorter, which in itself is a relief!
This post about making a cute decorated jar full of felt strawberries is actually my last; however, I'm rescuing some research and written material that never got published, which may hit the web in some form sooner or later (here or somewhere else). I had a number of half-written articles in draft.
What have I been doing since the news came in Wednesday night? (Aside from apparently coming down with a sinus infection.)
Watching:
Reading:
Back in January, I wrote a monster post about some dolls I have and some dolls I wanted and some other things; now I can write a follow-up, since I've been expanding my doll collection lately. (This will have to do as a post topic; I haven't been making much lately, really.)
I finally did get Pullip Veritas in May, for my birthday. She came from Hobby Link Japan, a great shop -- I totally recommend them. Much less expensive than on eBay, and because it was Golden Week and they were low on stock, I was able to joke about getting "the last Veritas in Japan!" (This is not actually the case; they restocked a few weeks later.) She's much prettier in person.
(HLJ is a perfect place to buy any of the kinds of things you'll see in this post -- including Re-Ment miniatures by the case box!)
I had some personal issues in May, and to cheer myself up, I wound up buying this:
I believe Light and Misa come with their respective notebooks (of doom), but L just comes with some extra hands (which, as the photos show, allow him to examine things and pose in some of his characteristic positions). The dolls are capable of assuming almost any pose that a real human might be able to. Here's a detail version of one of those shots....
It turns out that I have some old (bought in 2005) Re-Ment miniatures that are exactly the same type of cake that L is depicted eating. Serendipity! If I ever take him out of the box, there will be cake photos.
At any rate, two dolls in one month! Who can live at that speed? My next acquisition just arrived the other day, though I found her on eBay when I had a 10%-off coupon, and she came with free Pullip shoes, too... a really good bargain. She's another one you may recognize from January's big doll post:
She also has special eye chips, nicer (IMO) than the standard ones that my original Blythe had (I didn't care for the pink or amber-brown). I think these are special shades of blue, violet, green, and brown.
The trouble -- concern at the prospect of becoming a creepy old lady doll collector. I try to keep it cool. ;)
I did this, and people like it, and I'm doing more, but I need to skip November and December (these take forever to write, I haven't had time to tackle them, and last year is kind of too long ago now). However, I already went through a week or two of November info, so here it is. Knitting patterns only, and it doesn't cover the whole month.
All of this stuff was posted to Knitting Pattern Central in November 2007; then I went through it, weeded out patterns I thought were on the cheesy or incomprehensible side, and wrote descriptions for what was left.
Sweaters
Easy Stripes Knit Jacket: Please ignore the absolutely blinding self-striping yarn (unless you like it, I guess -- it is cheerful) and concentrate on the shape of the jacket. You can make this in any plain wool yarn that knits up at 5.5 stitches per inch at its recommended needle sizes. (Though, keep in mind that the sweater itself is actually knit at 19 stitches per 4 inches; it's the yarn that has a recommended gauge of 22 stitches per 4 inches.)
Fitted Knit Jacket: Knit in a bulky weight yarn, this jacket continues the trend of large, deconstructed collars that were so popular in knitting patterns this past year.
Leaves Jacket: Really more of a cardigan. This pattern, with its leafy, trailing vines, is only available in one size. Unlike some similar freebies, the size is a relatively generous one (about an XL).
Red Summer Top: Light, lacy cables. I am not ordinarily a fan of this kind of square short tunic top, but it has been in fashion this past year.
Saddle Shoulder Pullover: From Unicorn Books. I think almost every man I know owns some version of this sweater. The ribbing on the side helps with the fit.
Seamless Baby Kimono: Available in versions for both regular and bulky yarns! Cute. Australian terms, but in this case that mostly just means metric.
Shawl Collar Short Sleeve Pullover: Something like a vest alternative, a very textured piece that's a bit more refined than the "Red Summer Top" above, though they are similar in shape.
Snowflower Cardie: Cardigan in two possible lengths with Norwegian motifs.
Southwestern Ornament Jacket: Again, more of a cardigan, with colorful panels on a solid ground. Fair Isle and some interesting cables.
White Cable Knit Sweater: A classic and feminine high-necked Aran design.
Headwear
Horseshoe Hat: Cables decrease in size as they climb this classic cap. (Ordinarily, I like to see cables that flow out of ribbing if the two are combined, but I cannot tell if that's the case in this hat without making it... the photos don't show enough.)
Jingle Bell Taos Hat: For babies, kids, and brave or carefree adults. A loose cap made with this stripey yarn becomes a jingling crown when judiciously stitched and embellished.
Oregon Rose Cloche: Picot edging and an interesting embellishment idea make this one extra-cute. Try different colors for spring!
R2-D2 Beanie: Should this be under "Whimsies"? Maybe. It's a beanie that looks like the dome of R2-D2's head, for all your favorite Star Wars fans (and for a very lazy costume, when necessary). Complete with protruding spokes. You need this.
Scarves and Shawls
Criss Cross: Basic scarf with interlaced panels, a motif that's been popular for the last couple of years.
Dragon Scales Shawl: Simple diamond lace. Try this after you've done a lace scarf.
Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks Scarf: "Simple and sweet, like holding hands and feeding ducks." Easy star-stitch scarf in a mottled yarn. Don't knit this one too tightly or use a yarn that's intensely colorful: you wouldn't want to distract from its quiet beauty.
Osiris Scarf: Lovely and intricate cabled scarf with a very high-end look.
Pink Ribbon Hat: Features the "pink ribbon" design related to breast cancer awareness. The designer, Carissa, suggests that you could represent many causes by changing the color. (And I suggest that, if you're adept at stranded knitting, you could change the colors of just the ribbons, or the ribbons and the small cables between the panels, for a two-color look. If not trying it in two colors, you might want to skip the suggestion that you use a rainbow variegated yarn: the cable design will not show up well in a variegated yarn with intense colors.)
Bags
Ballonnett: French for "Little Balloon" (I assume), this is a small, round, drawstring handbag with a ton of vintage charm and many possible uses.
Candy Striper: Glittery, stripey, happy candy-cane goodness, by Vickie Howell. Not just for winter, if you like to wear red and white like I do.
Socks
Pulsations Socks: Lacy ankle socks. The recommended yarn adds a fashionable jolt of color.
Sideways Socks: This design uses self-striping yarn and a provisional cast-on to create stripes that run up and down the leg. After the body has been knit, the sock is grafted into a tube and a toe is added to one end.
Whimsies
Baby Santa Suit: UK terms. This is terribly kitschy, but also cute, and I can imagine that some people will want one for their wee moppet.
Baked With Love washcloth: A shadow pattern of baking supplies. Make this one in light colors, so the motif will stand out.
Knitted Baby Set: A hat, blanket, and sweater. Hearts and dots and multiple pom-poms, for maximum adorability.
Loom-Knit Snowflakes: Well, why not? You can use these in ornaments, embellishments, jewelry, etc.
Poison Coffee Cozy: Yarr! Don't be stealin' me brew, ya scurvy dog! It's a skull-and-crossbone motif drink cozy knit with a stranded technique. That might mean poison, or it might mean pirates: you decide.
Ribbon of Hope Washcloth: In the same theme as the Pink Ribbon Hat above, this washcloth has a heart-shaped two-color Pink Ribbon motif.
Squiddy: This felted squid is not as small as you might think, but he is kind of cute.
Stewie Griffin Doll: As suggested in one comment, Stewie's dreams of world domination have finally come to fruition as he joins a select group of recognizable cartoon characters rendered into knit amigurumi form. Now, practice your best Sheridan Whiteside voice to go along with him.
I also chose a couple of mitten patterns, but I have no idea where to put them.
http://knitwithkt.blogspot.com:80/2007/11/basic-mens-mittens.html
Lady Moss Mittens: Thrummed mittens are extra-warm.
I need to stop drafting posts and then not actually posting them.
I haven't been posting much lately because I'm super-duper busy as heck. Both the lead bloggers at DIY Life (one is darkmatt3r) stepped down at the beginning of March, and a couple of other ladies and I replaced them (the fact that it took three people to replace two harried ones, and the fact that all three of us are still very busy, might give you an idea of how much work we're talking about).
I wrote two long things in March, too. My article about Hinamatsuri, a holiday I think is really nifty because it involves super-fancy dolls, didn't get a ton of hits (but maybe people will discover it over time). There are some craft patterns at the end... a paper diorama, little cloth dolls, etc.
I also did a free knit/crochet pattern round-up for Easter: bunnies and lambs (or, if you prefer, rabbits and baby sheep). More cuteness per column inch than I knew what to do with. I want to make just about everything I listed, but I can't justify doing so. Anyway: Bunnies and Lambs to Knit, Bunnies and Lambs to Crochet.
I'm getting back on those "best free patterns of the month" columns, but skipping a few months. I have notes for a month that I'm not going to cover, so I will post them here. Later today, probably.
W/r/t my last post, I haven't yet bought any dolls. I did find that my local Japanese market is selling a few basic Re-Ment sets, so I bought one (single, not case) box of "Kawaii Kitchen" and one box of some food-based set. I don't think these are the new Americanized versions. Most of their other candy toy sets are based on, like, Power Rangers or some kind of mecha.
I banged my finger up pretty good last week, and in doing so, learned something: if you have a choice between Hello Kitty Band-Aids and non-Hello Kitty Band-Aids, get the Hello Kitty ones. They're bigger than the WaterBlock style anyway, and they will make you smile (at least, they will if you are me). I've been covering my bandaids in porous clear tape, then wearing a rubber finger cot every time I have to wash my hands.
I have managed to get a friend totally obsessed with Death Note. Now we are having long philosophical debates about A) whether or not we would use the Death Note, and how, and B) our deep, abiding love for L. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you clearly spend your leisure time more wisely than I do. (To be fair, though, everyone I know who sees the show becomes mildly obsessed with it. This includes my previously-animation-hating mother, who has also fallen hard for Ratatouille and anything from Studio Ghibli.)
(I'm also giggling at the moment, because Law & Order: Criminal Intent is on, and the suspect's last name is Morrissey, so they're saying things like, "I DON'T THINK MORRISSEY COULD HAVE PLANNED THIS ON HIS OWN," and I'm like, NO, HE WAS TOO MISERABLE, HE WILL BE CAUGHT WHEN JOHNNY MARR TURNS HIM IN....)
I wrote a post here the other day, but I haven't posted it yet, because I have been working (by which I mean, "not working") on some images for it. Here is an entirely different, inappropriately long post for you. Which took hours to write.
The following is Full of Win:
It's a collection of punch-out cards, all of which have red flocking on them (that's velvety stuff). Every single one looks like it was produced at some point between about 1950 and 1965. There are envelopes in the middle, which are printed and themed to go with the cards, but you have to assemble the envelopes. At only $5, I think it's a really good addition to my ephemera collection. (My mom is in her early 50s. When she saw the book, she exclaimed that it was just like the Valentines that were given out among her classmates in elementary school in the early 1950s, so it definitely gets the retro seal of approval.)
Through a combination of circumstances that would be wearisome to describe, I have wound up thinking of buying myself some dolls. I used to collect dolls and some action figures in a casual manner. I bought a blonde 1972 Blythe before they became popular again (or, rather, at the cutting edge of that trend), but my girl needed some work and I wound up selling her to a Japanese collector a few years later because I didn't feel like doing things like rerooting her and finding a new leg for her and etc, and I figured that being paid $1200 for the pleasure of letting someone else do it would be ideal.
Anyway, when I sold my original Blythe, I also had a doll from the first issue of Rosie Red, who is very pretty. (I still have her, but a lot of my stuff is packed willy-nilly in boxes, and I have no idea where she is.) That doll is now worth upwards of $400, and I've considered selling her and buying Rosie Red Encore/Again, basically the same doll for a lot less money. However, I can't remember if I ever opened the box, and I have no idea what her condition will be when I find her. (The Rosie Red photo is taken from this Flickr page.)
I quit following Blythe for a while, because my heart was won over by a similar, slightly less-expensive doll named Pullip. I think it had something to do with a few of the earlier releases of Pullip having stars in their eyes! So, I got my first (so far only) Pullip about two years ago: Greggia. (The photo below is from this Flickr page.)
There have been a few dolls in the interim that I would have purchased (like Papin and Assa and Paja and Savon and a couple of the related Dal dolls, like Sooni and Fiori), but recently I fell hard for another Pullip that I wanted to add to my collection: Veritas. She's supposed to be "a Venetian explorer," but really she looks like Pirate Pullip Mark II, or perhaps more accurately Restoration Pullip; the first pirate Pullip was Rovam, who was more fantasy and less historical-looking.
Now, of course, since Pullip Veritas was the thing at the top of my Christmas list, with little stars and hearts around it and a note that said, "Everything else is optional but this is the thing I really want; I don't even need anything else!" -- of course, that being the case, Veritas was the one thing on my Christmas list that I didn't get. I got a promise to purchase it in January, but I'm pretty sure the person who made the promise (who was overly generous to me at Xmas anyway) can't actually afford to blow $100 on a doll right now.
The problem is that I've spent so much time plotting my purchase and sending telepathic "please arrive early" signals to my paycheck that I've had ample opportunity to look at other doll stuff, and found myself falling back in love with a few of the newest Blythes. So now I could quite easily spend my entire next paycheck on dolls (I didn't say I would, just that I could).
The specific doll that has caught my eye is Welcome Winter; she just came out very recently. I realize that she looks a lot like Pullip Greggia, actually: essentially neutral country print dress, pale jacket and head scarf, light brown hair. Her hair is ashier than Greggia's. I love that she wears a rabbit pendant, and then the same rabbit charm is at the end of the string that you pull to change her eyes (usually it's just a ring or, maybe, a tab... 72 Blythe had a ring but I think some of the newer ones might not). She has special, non-standard eye chips: two different shades of brown instead of a pink and an orangy golden brown. Before someone who has actually seen a photo of me gets around to saying it: yeah, when you display her blue eyes, she looks as much like me as a Blythe is likely to ever look. Maybe my hair isn't that dark. (The photo below is from this Flickr page.)
I have been looking around, though; I also love the following, and could be happy with any of them... in spite of their lack of a rabbit pull-string charm:
- Dainty Biscuit is very Victorian Princess (and not particularly hime-loli, I think), with long, wavy, light pink hair. To match her dress -- like you do. (Well, when I had pink hair -- darker pink than that -- I tended to have to match my clothes and lipstick to it!) She also has special eye colors, like purple! (Dainty Biscuit Flickr Pool.)
- Enchanted Petal has a dress that actually looks like it could have been decorated with candy sprinkles, and has light aqua-colored hair. She also has special eye colors. (Enchanted Petal Flickr Pool.)
- Pullip Prunella is one of the very newest Pullips; she is a special collaboration with h.Naoto, a Japanese street fashion brand (IE, very "alternative") and comes with a small human-size h.Naoto tote bag. Dal Hangry is also part of this line. These were hard-to-get in pre-order but for the moment people seem to be selling them for reasonable prices (more like a Neo-Blythe than a Pullip, but not too high).
- Pullip Blanche -- I don't like her outfit, but I do like her face paint and wig, and the wigs are interchangeable, so it seems like this might be one to buy naked on eBay at some point.
- There's a whole line of inexpensive re-releases of 1972 Blythe by Ashton-Drake, and there are several I'd like from that line (Medieval Mood, Lounging Lovely, etc).
- I could go on forever.
The worst thing is that I want a BJD really badly, have for around 5 years, probably an Elfdoll Lishe (here's a brunette Lishe and a blonde Lishe), and I was going to save up for that because it's like $600 and I really shouldn't buy it to begin with, and my plans are in ruins! I also need bookshelves! Egad!
I've left the role of Alice Cherry Blossom: Ballerina out of all of this; basically, I was going to buy her, instead of the Pullip doll, until I realized she's only five inches tall. Yeah, for $300, which was a stretch for me to begin with... when I thought she was more like 9 inches. She's cute but she's not that cute (that's like $60/inch!). Deciding not to buy her was what made me start to think about picking up Welcome Winter or one of the others.
Of course, the crafty application of all this is that I can customize them practically infinitely, and if you don't believe me, look around the Flickr groups I linked. When I had my 72 Blythe I didn't make clothes for her, but I did dress her in Skipper clothes and tote her around with me for a while. Now I've upped my game with some Re-Ment miniatures and so forth, and am working on getting or making or customizing some tiny furniture.
(The other doll thing I am super-bad at: I tend not to give them individual names. My Pullip Greggia is Greggia, which I pronounce "GREH-jee-ah", my Blythe was always Blythe, Rosie Red Blythe is Rosie Red, etc. Everyone else's dolls seem to be named things like Molly and Wren. If I ever got that BJD I'd probably just call it Lishe.)
All that aside: we are getting the sub-zero temps that have been sweeping across the Midwest this week. I just got a weather advisory in my browser that suggests that I cover any exposed skin before going outside. I tried to put the dog's sweater on her before I took her out this morning, and she was having none of it, trust me.
Finally, a few interesting (totally girly and appropriate for this post) art links:
Macoto Takahashi: Ultra-shoujo manga style, and I mean retro-shoujo. In 2001 I bought a little cardboard sliding-drawer organizer box at a NYC shop called Air Market that sold imported Japanese stuff; it had one of her illustrations printed on it. I also got some rub-on transfers of her art there at the same time (I gave one packet to a friend). I had no idea what the artist's name was until now.
Annika Wester: Sort of a cross between Jeffrey Fulvimari and Edward Gorey. Her official portfolio doesn't have a ton of stuff, so also check out this Annika Wester page and this Annika Wester interview (where they also bring up Edward Gorey; glad it's not just me).
