Happy New Year!

Hope it's more fun than this.....

New Dolls

After a whole page of inking, it's time for some new dolls. Snaps I took just before putting them up at the market on Saturday; they both found new homes before Christmas so I wasn't able to take better pictures.

First page of Red Juice: the gateway drug? is inked!

Juice getting ugly now....

More red juice

Frame 3. Hope I'm not tempting fate - there are Christmas parties to go to soon....

Red Juice 2

Second frame from Red Juice.

Red Juice

I've started inking The Comic, because working on a comic for months and months without inking is like cooking food and not eating it. And come February it will be too hot; the ink will dry on my pen before it even touches the paper.

So: a frame a day, unlettered for now.

This is a comic called "Red Juice - the gateway drug?"

Liesel Trautman ceramics

I stalked Liesel Trautman's new studio/shop in Observatory for weeks, waiting for it to open so I could get inside for a closer look. This is just a very small sample of what's on display. She has beautiful bowls with cross-stitch designs that remind me of old soup tureens, and beakers with dandelion shapes picked out in subtle blues.

The shop is at 114 Lower Main Road in Observatory (Cape Town), on the corner of Lower Main and Collingwood Roads. There's no website yet, but she can be contacted on +27 73 275 9494.

Doll update

Some more new dolls - two of them made it to the market, the other one went to Cupcake in Stellenbosch.

I added the spots to the red and blue one to distract from the slightly uneven knitting. This is one of the first batch of dolls knitted for me by someone else. It's taken a very long time to get to this point; sourcing knitters was difficult, and once found they needed a few practice runs before getting the dolls right. But I think we're getting there!

Night market Neighbourgoods

Our stall at the Neighbourgoods night market with Hannah and Carla deep in discussion.

Doily Brooches

Continuing the thought process! After crocheting solid covers for badges, this seemed to be the logical next step. The backing cards were drawn in black and white and then printed in a rush to be ready for the market this weekend; next time I'll see what I can do with colour.


The earlier version of the brooches also looked good on backing cards; popped in plastic packets they're safe from display dirt.

What recipe?

This was a sample comic I did for the publisher when we first started discussing The Comic.

The Ears

Variations on the ears for my doll pattern....

In each case, work until the head is the length you want, then work each ear individually.

I-cord ears
At the top of the head, cast off so that you have 4 stitches left at each corner. Knit the middle 2 together, then knit i-cord on the remaining 3 stitches .

Bunny ears
At the top of the head, cast off so that you have between 8 and 12 stitches left at each corner, depending on how thick you would like the ears to be. Knit back and forth on these stitches until the ear is as long as you want. On a right side row: ssk, knit to last 2 stitches, knit these 2 together. Purl wrong side rows. Continue decreases, either every right side row or every second right side row, depending on how slanted you'd like the tip to be, until there are only a few stitches left. 6 or 4 is usually good. Cast off. Fold ear in half lengthwise and sew up.

Blocked!

Finally done! Knitty's Trellis (by Britta Stolfus Rueschhoff) made for a 6-month old. I started this in what I thought was good time, but it's taken ages. I'm hoping it will still fit.

The wool was bought for another pattern, but when I got it home it seemed too scratchy for something that would be worn close to the skin, so I switched to this, thinking it could be worn over other things. Then I wet it for blocking - green dye ran out of it, a strange stinky vegetable smell rose from the basin, and now it's soft and fluffy.

Live and learn....

Toys look nervous....

... Emile's sneaking up on them. Knitted things seem to be the natural prey of schnauzers.