Ow, my achin' thumb

I don't know what happened, but I did something awful to my thumb a couple of weeks ago. Fred said it was all the knitting doll clothes. It started by jamming my thumb a few months ago, but something (maybe the knitting) really did a number on it about 2 weeks ago and I was almost in tears it hurt so much. I ended up buying a thumb brace... I hadn't even known such a thing existed until I went looking for something to help. And resting it for a week or so did the trick. It still hurts if I bump it wrong, but at least I can use my hand. The bad thing was that it was my right thumb and I'm right handed. What a pain in the, well, thumb.

But the good thing is that I'm functioning like a reasonably normal person now, and have a couple of dollies, a number of sweaters and quite a few sets of clothing in various stages of completion. Last night when I was working on doll heads, one slipped off my lap and bounced across the carpet. I boomed in my best doomsday, catastrophic sounding voice, "Heads will roll!!!" Fred burst out laughing... turns out he was just about to say the same thing.

Here are a couple of disembodied heads waiting patiently (well really, what choice do they have) for torsos, arms, and the works.

Sailing away in a shoe box

Have you seen the Priority Mail Shoe boxes? I didn't realize there was such a size. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself. Someone bought Lily! Yippee! You can't see it, but I'm doing a happy dance right now... or more of a happy fanny wiggle, since I'm sitting in an office chair. Today I went to send her to sunny CA where her new family is and wasn't sure what box to put her in. I didn't really want to pay for one of the large Priority boxes, but wasn't going to smash her into one of the boxes that's only 3 1/2 inches deep. Owie nose! I asked the postmaster if I could try various boxes to see what would work best and he showed me this perfect one. Well, it's slightly shorter than she is, so she is hugging her knees a little. But overall, I think she'll be quite comfortable on her trip. She's in a sweet little drawstring bag I made (which happens to match her cute, ruffly pants), so that will keep her cozy, too. I'm sad though, because I meant to take a picture of her bon voyage at the Post Office, but then I totally spaced it. Imagine that.

So just in case you haven't seen these groovy boxes, just perfect for a lovely new dolly, here's a pic. Not nearly as cute as Lily in her darling pink bag but maybe it'll help you out when you're looking for just the right box. Oh, and it was just $7.95 to send (if you don't get insurance and tracking like I did). Bonus!

Lily

Can I introduce you to my newest little Darling? I'm so thrilled with the sweet personality that this newest little one seems to have. She is absolutely charming everyone she meets! She had great fun at her photo shoot with Princess Sydney. Now I must explain that I'm not the greatest photographer in the world, but we did luck into some very pretty sunlight streaming through the trees and I think their photos turned out just lovely.

I've put Lily on Etsy, in case you're interested in welcoming her to your house for tea parties and sleepovers.A couple of closeups...
And her cute dress and pants...
I knit her sweater and crocheted her cloche and shoes of matching wool, and sewed her little cotton dress, pants and undies (not shown, for modesty :) ).

And I love how my new Etsy banner turned out, so I thought I'd show it off, too...