Author: Sinéad Cannon

I just realized neither of my PukiPuki’s have names. Tragic really. Piccolo and Beag,(Aggie) had names before they arrived. What’s her name was named soon after she arrived, even if I can’t remember what it is, it was a nice name. Ahh, problem solved for one of them, at least. Rowan is the model for our latest PukiPuki Sewing pattern. –Sinéadn

I just received two books 📚 on sewing for your Blythe dolls from Japan. 🇯🇵 They are awesome! If I could read the text it would only get better. The amount of detail contained within the pictorial descriptions is incredible! I have ordered some dolls and I wanted to be inspired to make patterns and actual clothes to sell. I think I picked the right books for that. I’m also working on my Puki patterns, jeans 👖 are the current project.

I decorated the table for spring. It will be interesting to see how long it stays put.

I’ve been trying to fine tune my pattern for a PukiPuki and RealPuki sweatshirt with limited success. Today I finished testing the latest incarnation and I’m quite happy with it. My sales have steadily improved and I hope 🤞 the trend will continue. I’ve finished developing a crochet pattern for a Chibi Bear 🐻 and gotten it listed for sale. I’ve also done the groundwork for accessories. I hope to get all four new patterns finished in the next week or so.🍭🦄n
Happy spring equinox!! 🌸

I’ve reached a low point with the MCS/Environmental Illness. I shouldn’t go out of my house, not even into my backyard, without some kind of mask. The amount of synthetic fragrance present with the mill and the industrial park in the Port, makes the outdoor air always a problem. Masks don’t filter out everything, they just cut back on the amount you’re taking in. On top of that, the ants have chosen this spring to launch an all out attack from everywhere. There was just one crawling across my monitor, he is dead now. The cedar spray, that we use to keep them at bay, is a little rough on a compromised respiratory system. This canary really needs a break.n

As an anthropomorphic project, this has been quite fun. Liam has named her Yolandie, and I’m ready to photograph the creative process so that I can publish a pattern. n

I’ve finished one leg and come to the conclusion that I don’t have the patience for cables right now. So, in order to get these to a wearable state, I’ll be changing to a different pattern on the second leg. No more cables for now. I used to really like knitting cables and I still like seeing them, which makes this a little sad. Que sera, sera.n
I hope I can get on with getting both planned pairs of leggings done, even though I have to change the pattern some what.n
I have finished two doll crochet patterns and my jeep cap pattern is seeing some action.

The car 🚗 broke down just as Arthur was getting a feel for using the clutch. We’ll be retrieving it from Honda tomorrow. Let’s hope it’s warmish because it wil be an awful ride otherwise. ( our other car is a motorcycle) n
The set back with the car has Arthur a little more motivated to put time in on getting the truck back together. Maybe we’ll have it running again before summer.

In solidarity with all those who appreciate and respect religious freedom, we wore hijab today. In the hopes that our freedom to embrace the religion of our choosing will inherently breed tolerance for the choices of others. We are not Muslim, but wish to support their right to express themselves, just as we express ourselves. I’ve included 3 pics of myself: one in niqab, one with glasses and one without.🙂Self expression 😉n
Joey and Catherine were color coordinated.🤓n

—-Sinéad

I started knitting a pair of leggings in October but I felt crunched for time with the road trip coming up and I set them aside. I’ve been distracted by Yule crafting and baby crocheting for charity and just about anything that allowed me to procrastinate a little longer. Well, I finally picked the project back up and I discovered that I was frustrated by the need to document where I was in the project. Row counters to the rescue. I didn’t want a plastic one so I made a couple of abacus style ones with the beads I had here. I really like how they’ve freed up my mind. And they look cool, too!

I finished up some Easter bonnets for charity and did a lot of research trying to find a geographically closer place to donate them. They’ll be going to Iowa where I’ve found a site that is very organized and specific in their requests. I was going to post pictures but they’re too large and l haven’t located the tool for changing their size, as yet.n

In my ever increasing frustration with being sick and unable to find a place to move, I realized this drive to make things for charity was a way of trying to take control of my life. I will be backing up a bit on that front. Charity is all well and good, but in this situation l believe it simply serves as a distraction and financial drain. I’m also constantly being reminded of the ignorance of my fellow Americans. Fragrance and synthetics are still being used heavily by the average person. Each time we make headway on one front of the education challenge, a new product is introduced to replace the old enemy and the battle must be faught again. As you might expect, I find this depressing. Who wants to be trapped in their home by their neighbors’ choices?n

I’m trying to maintain a more positive outlook, which is going to require I narrow my exposure to public opinion. So, back to the dollies and their faerie world. We only wear natural fibers here and flowers produce the fragrance in the air! 😊n

I had to get a special program on my borrowed iPad to adjust the pics. It seems to have worked.👇n

I managed the fairy wings for my pattern and it is now posted in my Etsy store.n
I wanted to share my first experiment, I decided against using it but you may find it informative anyway.n

I used my first butterfly wing pattern to create mirror image wings that I then added a vein pattern to. I traced this onto tissue paper and used watercolor pencils to add color. After the paint settled a little bit, I added Mod Podge. I added several layers, letting it dry between. In spite of the tissue tearing a little bit with the first layer, it still looked pretty good but it was very fragile. More Mod Podge would have solved that, but with the tears, I though I should begin again with tracing paper.n

I just listed a new RealPuki Pattern for making Soso’s outfit. And I’ve done the ground work for a PukiPuki Faerie outfit. I need to work out the wings.n

I took my photography lights and attached them to the ceiling. It makes me feel like something is really wrong, looking at the photo of the lights. 🙂 This solved the space issue and chance of knocking them over. And, as you can see, they can be adjusted for different levels of shadow but without being grainy. YEAH!!! n

Today, I did the instruction photos for Soso’s outfit pattern and they’re very clear. Not a bad start to the year! —Sinéad

The kids went in together on my gift this year and bought me a Fairyland RealFee, Haru. She’s beautiful and I can’t wait to make her some new clothes. I’ll be doing patterns, as well, but I really need to get caught up on the patterns I’ve already created. I’m working on the lighting issue. Our living room just eats light, so I think I’m going to ad some extra lighting to my work area. Hopefully, I can squeeze in enough room to photograph the “how-to” portion of the patterns as I sew. I already have more light over here, but as you can see from the photo, not quite enough because it’s too grainy for my purposes.
Haru hasn’t got her ears on yet and we’re using her sleep face until I can get her awake face sealed.(probably in the spring/summer as it’s just too humid here) I tried to glue in the magnets for her ears and such and discovered my super glue was too old. 🙁 Anyway, we’ll get new glue and maybe make some horns or antlers for her.n
If you have any ideas for types of clothing that you’d like to see on her or the other Pukies, let me know. I’d love to hear from you.n
–Sinéad

I used the previously posted basic pattern to make this chihuahua by adding ears, a snout, and tail. It took two tries to get the ears and snout right. 🙂

Then I finally made the snowman that I’d been thinking about all season whilst making Yule presents like this vest for Liam.

We do our family gift exchange on Solstice. The kids all received knit or crocheted items from me. 🙂