Halloween Doll Party

The ghosts and goblins are stirring - the elves and sprites are all about - and it is time for a Halloween party.  Have you got your costumes?  And your treats?  Good - then let the party begin.

 We love to pose for photos at our party - come along - for those of you who are new this year, we'll introduce ourselves.

 I'm Poppy Sunshine, I love clothes that are a bit different and I also like my friends the birds and animals.  I will bring apples for the deer when they stop by. My favorite book is Brambly Hedge Summer Story.  The little mice are so sweet and friendly.

I love to bake and make treats for many of our parties.

And sometimes Donnie plays the piano for us - a gift from Auntie Jamie, all the way from West Virginia.

 We are Donnie and Abigail Clarissa 
Wellington-Jones - my friends call me Abby -

And my friends call me Donnie!!!

I love to dash about on my scooter - and ride my pony, sometimes in my jammies, Auntie Diane made my jammies as a surprise.  Be sure to visit her for some Halloween fun too.  I share the pony with my sisters - they like to ride too.  We got our pony from Auntie Jamie for christmas one year.

My sisters love our pony too.

 I am Candace Diane - but just call me Candy Dee.  I'm the very newest sister and my favorite things are climbing trees and running fast in the woods.  Sometimes I hear an owl talking to me.

 You already know me, I'm Donnie Doll.  I have lots of sisters, but I'm waiting and waiting for a brother.  Maybe I'll get one for christmas.  Then we could think up more adventures.

He could play baseball with me - I love baseball.

And my sisters love baseball too - we wait all winter for spring training. Our mom, JoAnn, made all of our baseball uniforms, even our hats.  And she sewed all of our clothes, except for my jammies from Auntie Diane.

 Happy Halloween - I'm Kyla - Auntie Candy sent me to live with my sisters all the way from Ohio.  She fixed my hair and dressed me up  for the trip.

 I like flowers and whistling - can you hear how well I can whistle?

 And I adore flowers - any season, any kind.  I even like flowers on my dresses.

And my favorite book is The Secret Garden, especially the one that has paintings by Tasha Tudor.

 We are the three happy witches - Candy Corn Witches. We love to walk in the leaves on a bright Autumn afternoon.

 This is a fun party - I'm glad you came.  I am Sally Jo.  I like having tea parties with my sister Abby.

 And cooking Thanksgiving dinner in my favorite Autumn outfit.

 And in the summer I love to relax in the sunshine and think about wonderful things.

 We love Halloween outfits, with matching bags.  We found some pumpkins just our size.  Kyla picked them from her garden.

 I am Samantha Parkington, but my friends just call me Sammie.  My favorite pastime is sailing on my little sailboat, or walking along the beach.

I came to the family as a gift from my Auntie Lori.  She lives on a mountain.

I like to play with my sister Sally Jo with our beach ball in the summer.

  

 We're ready for Trick or Treat.  Candy Dee has our basket for gathering goodies from the neighbors.  Do you have your treats ready?  We'll be stopping by soon - for a treat - or a trick - hee hee hee.

 And now it is full of candy - we'll all share when we get home.

 Ohh Donnie and Candy Dee are back - let's see what they've got

 Wow - lots and lots of candy - enough for everyone - what is your favorite?

 Donnie is getting ready to carve his punkin.

 I prefer my pumpkins to be uncarved - they are perfect straight from the garden.

  

 Two years ago there were just four of us - and Donnie had just joined our family.  And now there are Kyla, and Sammie and Candy Dee.  One big happy family, having fun on Halloween.

If it is cold for trick or treat we can put on our pumpkin hats

  

And don't forget to visit Auntie Candy - she has a halloween fairy garden too.

Happy Halloween everybody!!

More Hats

Every year I am privileged to make hats for those who need them.  I gather yarn from thrift stores, yard sales or donations from friends and family.  Many of Don's co-workers have donated yarn for this project.

 Some of hats get a pretty flower

 Some get pom-poms

 And some are plain - and some have fancy stripes

 I woke up early on Friday morning - was browsing through FaceBook and up popped an ad for "for sale Whatcom County" - the first photo was of yarn, and it had been posted just two hours earlier - someone else was up really early on Friday.

 I contacted the seller and we made arrangements to pick up the yarn - she said there were 23 skeins, and she was asking $25.00 - what a bargain.

 Sorting the yarn - some has a price tag of $1.17 - and some has price tags from Sprouse-Reitz - I don't even know if that store is still in business anymore.

 Stacking the yarn in a huge laundry basket - there are going to be lots of fun variegated hats!

 Good colors - the group that distributes the hats asks for some darker color hats.

 Another layer

 And yet another

 It goes on and on - the huge trash bag of yarn seems to be bottomless

 And more!

The basket is full to overflowing - there were 48 skeins of yarn - barely over 52 cents a skein.  And there should be around 75 hats from this stash of yarn.  It will keep my fingers busy this coming year.

Tablecloth Update

It is now taking me about an hour of nonstop crocheting to complete one round - and you can be sure I check the last round before beginning a new one - for any errors - it is not that much fun to have to rip out a complete round to correct a mistake.

  36 inches across now - and just about ready to add the round that takes it from 36 pineapples in each round to 72 pineapples.

This is my last reported photo - the progress is really noticeable.

Uh oh -  time out from crocheting the tablecloth - to make time for some pretties for our granddaughter - due in May.  Fun fun fun!!!!

Big Brother News!!

Good news - Donnie has news he wants to share with everyone!!!

Such wonderful news!!!

Baby Sister will arrive on May 4th - and her name is Alexandra Joy!

We are so excited - let the projects begin.  Knit sweaters, crochet afghans, make quilts - and find special gifts for Big Brother!!

Yesterday Donnie called Don at work and said, "You can go buy a bonnet now Grampy".

Exciting days in our family - I'll keep you updated.

I've already picked out three sweater patterns, after all, babies grow fast, so I've got to get busy.

Tablecloth Update

I'm starting round 44 

It is now about 22 inches across

 There are 16 pineapples in each round, when it is finished there will be 128 pineapples in each round - so I've got a ways to go.

It is lying flat - so guess that this time I finally got the gauge and crochet hook size correct.  A good project for rainy Autumn and winter evenings.

One More Time

Some of you might remember when I was crocheting a round pineapple tablecloth - way back in November of 2013.

After that blog post I redid what I had taken out - and it still would not lie flat - I  didn't even document the sadness that was me undoing the entire tablecloth and putting it aside forever.

Well - not forever - as I've decided to give it another try.

It started with this pretty table runner last week - I love anything crocheted in the pineapple design, so I thought I'd give it  a try.  At first my gauge wasn't right so I moved up to a bigger sized crochet hook - and the gauge was perfect.

A size 4 steel crochet hook - next to a small mechanical pencil, for size comparison.  It isn't the smallest crochet hook I've ever used, I've crocheted with a size 12 (the higher the number the smaller the crochet hook) using sewing machine thread weight.

 I was enjoying the pattern as I crocheted, but in the back of my mind was always the round tablecloth - after all - we had bought a round table just so I could have my round pineapple tablecloth.

 Then I decided to try the pineapple pattern tablecloth one more time - and using the size 4 crochet hook and size 10 crochet thread - it is working out perfectly. 

 I'll keep you updated as I go along - I am only on round 29 so far, the beginning of of 16 pineapple designs.  When it is the size I want it will have 128 pineapples, so I have a long way to go.  I am really enjoying it now that I've figured out the right size hook and thread.  The original pattern called for size 20 thread (thinner than size 10) and a size 12 crochet hook - but size 20 and a size 4 hook are working out well for me.

Anyone else out there crocheting anything?