High Fiber—Jumping the Rails

I had to take time out from the Dogwood Blossoms Cardigan this week to make pajamas for a pair of dolls:

The dolls are the Bitty Twins from American Girl. You can buy them a variety of races, hair/eye color and either or both genders. I decided on one each, boy and girl, Caucasian with brown hair and eyes. A book on sharing is included. They come with matching casual outfits, but I thought they needed pajamas so our granddaughter Daphne could put them to bed. The pattern is Simplicity 4268, which includes, besides the pajamas, a couple of play outfits and a dressy outfit for boy and girl. I haven't made doll clothes since our older granddaughter was little, and she will be 20 next month!

The dolls needed sweaters, too, because they will meet Daphne in the winter, so I have been making these:

The pink sweater is finished. It's for the girl, of course. I used Swish Worsted in "Lotus" and matching grosgrain ribbon to keep the edges from rolling. The boy's sweater is in progress, as you can see. The yarn for his is Swish Worsted in "Serrano." I improvised the pattern. I have decided not to put buttons on the sweaters, as Daphne's baby brother might bite them off!

I'm planning to make one more outfit for the girl. The boy has another play outfit I bought during Cyber Monday.

The remodel is coming along. The newly-enlarged hatch to the attic was finished just in time for our new insulation, which we hope will keep down our utility bills this winter. It was fun watching the insulation go through the tube and through the hatch!

I painted the ceiling in the hallway leading to the bathroom and into the bedroom. If the sun ever comes out, I will be able to see whether I have to paint the entire bedroom ceiling. One more coat, and I can take off the painters' tape.

I still have the ceiling and wall in the main hallway (the hallway pictured in the insulation photo) to paint.

DH has been busy putting the knobs and pulls on the vanity in the master bath. These match the ones we used when we remodeled our kitchen.

The linen cabinet has knobs only on the bins and the big cabinet with shelves. We should be able to unpack those boxes and move stuff into the bathroom now. (It was hard to open the doors and drawers before without breaking a fingernail.)

Another big event this week was the opening of our very own Trader Joe's in Salt Lake City. DH, my friend Ellen and I went on opening day, which was Friday. They don't carry wine or full-strength beer or wine because of state liquor laws (are beer and wine really liquor?), but they have all our favorite grocery items. The place was mobbed, but the checkout was very efficient, so we didn't have to wait in line long. We spent less than $100 because we still have a few things we picked up in Beaverton last summer, and now we can go whenever we want instead of stocking up.

Saturday, Sunny and I attended in Therapy Animals of Utah's annual holiday event. Each year we go to a different nursing home. As many teams as possible participate. This year's location was a nursing home in Draper. Besides the human/dog teams, we had several human/cat teams. They met in a different room with the residents who preferred cats. Sunny gave kisses to people who wanted them. She got lots of petting and scratching, which she loves!

In family news, Zachary can walk holding on. He likes to walk around the house holding on to a car that has a handle made for the purpose. It will be fun to see what kind of mischief he can get into at our house when they come to visit for Christmas!

What's on my needles: Doll Sweater, Dogwood Blossoms, which has the first sleeve pinned in. The second sleeve needs finishing, about 2 1/2 inches.
What's on my wheel: My spinning fingers are getting itchy, but I have to finish Christmas and house things first.
What's on my iPad: Still House of the Deer by D. E. Stevenson from Audible and Odd Interlude by Dean Koontz on iBooks.
What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw (Two-buck Chuck) Shiraz. Still my favorite.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

Tags: Swish, TraderJoe's, Worsted, bathroom, doll, family, knitting, pajamas, remodel, sewing, More…sweater

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Comment by Beverly Roberts on December 11, 2012 at 8:29am: Love, love, and love...the dolls and their clothes, the remodel, and wonderfulness of a therapy dog and its owner person.

Comment by Peggy Stuart on December 8, 2012 at 5:46pm: These are baby dolls, the Bitty Twins. They have one with no hair, and then the Twins with hair. I like the twins because they are all about sharing with a sibling, which Daphne has to do now.
We still have a lot to do, but the contractor is finished except for the sheet metal part of the laundry chute and putting the hinges on. I still have two walls to paint, and DH has the doors to stain and seal, and all the moulding. He's done with the hardware installation and putting the shelves up in the two closets.
It's hard to tell when a dog would be a good therapy dog. They have to really like the "work." It's nice, though. I get therapy all the time right at home! (Sometimes I really need it!)

Comment by KnitWhich? on December 8, 2012 at 9:57am: Love the American Girl dolls and clothing you made. My neice says Olivia is too young for AG dolls, but she's 4. I should think she would love them.

The remodel looks like it's almost complete! Yay! Lookin' good!

I'd love to have a therapy dog. Maybe my next one.

Comment by Peggy Stuart on December 4, 2012 at 6:49am: Buffy, I'll mention your offer to DH, LOL! I will definitely be taking photos when the kids get here! Can't wait to cuddle those boys. I haven't seen them (other than Skype) since they were each a week old! And I have things to teach Miss Daphne, like Cat's Cradle to get her ready for knitting when she's a little older.

Susan, our nearest TJ's used to be Las Vegas, which is where our breeder lives. We can't keep getting a new puppy just to have a reason to go there! Columbus might be worth the trip once in a while if I lived where you do. Of course, you have the KP warehouse in your backyard, which makes up for a lot!

Comment by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on December 3, 2012 at 5:03pm: Wonderful dolls... wonderful clothes for them. Daphne will be delighted.

Wow the remodel is really coming along great.

Closest Trader Joe's to me is in Columbus, OH... one place I hate to go... sigh.

Comment by Buffy Joseph on December 3, 2012 at 1:05pm: Very cute doll clothes. The remodel looks great (want to come do my house?!), and the therapy animals visit looks great.

Can't wait to see all the grandkid pictures when they come to visit!

Comment by Peggy Stuart on December 3, 2012 at 12:45pm: Our liquor laws are made by people who don't consume liquor, wine or beer. The only reason they let us buy it here at all is so they can tax the infidels!

Babyproofing! Definitely, but even more for Zachary than Daphne. She's mature enough that you can tell her to watch out for things, like the stairs, and she'll do it. Zachary can go anywhere and get anything he wants, but he isn't mature enough to understand danger.

Alex had the American Girl dolls, some from us and some from other relatives. She had Bitty Baby and Josefina, and another 18" doll from a different company. I made a bunch of clothes for the other doll.

Comment by angelkarhu on December 3, 2012 at 10:45am: I think Daphne will love the American Girl dolls. My niece really enjoyed them when she was younger. She was lucky enough to visit the American Girl store in NYC with her other grandmother who lives in NYC.

Liquor is a distilled beverage containing ethanol, aka alcohol. The alcohol is a produced by fermentation of grains, fruits or vegetables. It however dos not include beer, wine or cider because they are not distilled. Beer is made from hops but I am unsure if thats a fruit or what part of plant is used. All I know about hops is that its a vine. Ok too much info I know. For more info search wikipedia. Its where I got the definition of liquor.

Comment by Phyllis D. Wright on December 3, 2012 at 10:11am: Looks like you'll be finished with all projects by the holidays. Know Miss Daphne will love the American Girl doll, since I haven't met a girl yet that didn't. As for beer and wine think they got moved over to liquor when our water supply became consistent. ; - ( Even watered wine is considered liquor here, but enjoy them nevertheless.

Comment by cherylbwaters on December 3, 2012 at 9:03am: Hmmm...... do you need to do some childproofing before the grandkids arrive? Looks like Miss Daphne is going to have a very special Christmas.