Teacup Alabama Baby Gets a Dress

This is one of my "teacup" Alabama baby dolls. She's a cloth doll made from Deanna Hogan's (Blue Heron Dolls) Viola Ruth pattern, decreased to 50%. She's about 8" tall and was made almost two years ago; all this time, she's been naked and waiting, patiently, for some clothes. I like to make dolls but don't like to make clothes for them!!

However, I sewed this dress for this little doll last night, all by hand even though I collect old sewing machines. Sewing doll clothes by hand takes me back to when I did that as a child; I find it relaxing, whereas sewing small clothes on a sewing machine is NOT relaxing for me.

Check your Bankcard Statements, Folks!!!

Check your bankcard statements EVERY month! We discovered a charge yesterday for $14.95 from a company called UMG MINE that neither of us recognized. On checking our records, I found that this charge had been on our bill every month starting with March of last year.

Both DH and I thought the other had bought something from UMG, but this was not the case. Seems that when we ordered a knife from Chef's Catalog last March, this company included a packet with a $20 gift certificate that automatically signed us up for a "discount buyers club." In order to opt out, you had to send the packet back. This type of marketing is illegal in our state of Washington, so we called the company--we had to talk to four different people before we got the whole story and could tell them that their practice is not legal in this state; they finally agreed to refund the 11 months of charges on our bill.

I hasten to add that we did not receive ANYTHING from this company in exchange for this money; I think it's a scam. It doesn't speak well of our attention to detail that this went unnoticed for such a long time, but you can bet we will scrutinize our bill every month from here on out, and you should, too.

I went on a public site concerned with this company and found others who had been victimized the same way. I also went on Chef's Facebook site and alerted them to what was going on. I can't believe they know what's going on with this company or agreed to be a part of these shady business practices; howver, if they don't fix it, everyone who orders from them is going to get "taken" by UMG.

Green Knitting Project is Finished

And I was only a couple days late mailing it off, too, which is VERY GOOD for me! I worked hard to get it done, too; I am trying to be better at FINISHING things; I am already good at STARTING things. I paid $2.15 for the sweater pictured above, and used most of the yarn to knit the bag at right. Because it was for another knitter, I lined the bag so the knitting needles wouldn't poke through so easily. I designed the bag myself--it actually started to be a scarf and then I decided it was WAY too wide and thick for that. So I changed in midstream and decided it was a bag. The swap was with The Green Knitting Club at SwapBot.com I haven't received my package yet, but I am very much looking forward to getting it. I hope Sara likes the bag and that the USPS delivers it safely to her!

A Night Well Slept

Poki slept down by my feet all night, just where her foster mom said she likes. Grace sleeps up at the top, so they don't conflict. Wiener sleeps in his own bed on the floor until morning, when he climbs in bed on my side--then our 14 yr old big dog Daphne comes in and takes Wiener's place in the floor bed.
LaMont did not put up the bag of food Poki came with and Daphne got into it during the night, so Poki had most of her breakfast off the floor this morning, while I picked up the rest. The food is now in a jar on the counter, safe from marauders like Daphne.
I put the bed stairs down by the dog couch this morning, and Poki learned immediately that she could use them to get up there. She also learned to use the dog door right away, too. I showed her once, and that was that. She's smart.
Grace's nose was seriously out of joint yesterday; she kept glaring at Poki, but Wiener has accepted her and Poki has twice initiated boistrous play with him. Grace will come around; she's just used to being the only girl baby around here and doesn't like sharing the spotlight.

Poki comes home today!

Poki comes home today after four surgeries to fix her badly broken back legs. We are excited to add her to our family of dauchshunds; I know Grace will be glad to have a younger sister to play with, and Wiener will be proud to have another younger dog to watch over.

Green Knitting

I'm making progress on my Green Knitting Club project for Swapbot.com. I think I will be able to mail it on Monday, only one day past the deadline. This is MUCH better than I usually do with swaps. Maybe I really AM getting more organized. My knitting group helps me stay on task, too.
What is green knitting, you ask? It is buying a knitted item at a thrift store, unraveling it to produce several balls of yarn, and reknitting it into something new. Grandmothers in China have been doing this since dirt was invented, unraveling a grandchild's outgrown sweater and reknitting it in a larger size. I swap with Swap-bot!

A Chilly January Day in SW WA State

These are our three dogs, on this cold January day. The two pics above are Wiener in the front window. LaMont is gone, so Wiener is on guard, watching for his return. I couldn't resist photographing Grace's cute little Doxie tush; I love the way her short little back legs stick out straight behind her sometimes.

The picture to the left is Daphne, our 14 year old mix; she is lying not far from the gas fireplace--a good place for an old dog on a cold afternoon.

They are out where it's warm, and I'm in here where it's cold. My knitting is also out there where it's warm and I'm going to join the heat-seekers and knit!!