Craft Discussion: The Russian Join

Just as a foot note, for all you yarn folk out there, when you get to the end of your yarn, what do you do? Do you know how to do a Russian join?

It's pretty easy and it saves yarn. It's prolly my favorite trick. Check it out at this link:

Russian Join!

National Craft Month

Did you know it was National Craft Month? I had no idea!

Of course, it's sponsored by JoAnns, so far as I can tell, so it's likely a commercial holiday, but I'm not sure I care. It's awesome.

Anyone else Pinterest obsessed? You can check out a National Craft Month pinboard here:

CLICKY CLICKY

... yeah, it's sponsored by JoAnns too. Don't hate, they're where I get all my cloth anyway.

Anyway, crafts are pretty much all I use Pinterest for, so this is awesome!

February Site Of The Month!

This month's site of the month? Give it up for!

Cateskates!

She's getting featured because I really love that she's got hair tutorials on her site. They're very detailed. I never would have thought of it! Hey, Cate, this is for you:

Of course, you should all go check out her blog. There's plenty of pictures and videos to keep you entertained.

(Hey, Lucy, if you'd like to put that award on your blog, go ahead!)

January Site Of The Month!

I am going to be a total narcicist on this one, hope that's cool with everyone.

I discovered that AGLucychan had linked to me on her sidebar by following my traffic. One good turn deserves another! Hey, Lucy, you get to be:

Of course, you should all go check out her blog. There's plenty of pictures and videos to keep you entertained.

(Hey, Lucy, if you'd like to put that award on your blog, go ahead!_

Playthings Black And White Photo Challenge Contest

I've been hungry for a photo challenge, and as such, decided to take advantage of Plaything's current contest. It's a black and white outdoor photo challenge, and on Saturday, we got snow. My entry: I picked it out because it was different. It makes you stick out anyway. You'll all vote for me, right? I kid, vote for who you like. (Don't forget to vote, though!) Here's the other pictures I didn't enter. I was so amused by the snow in Sara's hair that I had to get a photo. That's my coat sleeve in the lower left.

Yarn Along Week 1!

LET US DISCUSS DOLL YARN before we go further into our Yarn Along.

Any time you craft for a doll, you should be working to make something in scale to the doll's world. The doll is small. You're making small things.

Worshed weight yarn, also known as "most of the yarn you own, likely," is too big to make our project, or any piece of doll clothing. I'd let you get away with it for a hat or some scarves, because humans commonly wear chunky yarn scarves (even if they look pretty putzy -- did I just say that?) But clothing? You do not make clothing out of this. Unless you want to look like a putz.

The biggest yarn I'll let you get away with is sport weight. The yarn will actually say "sport weight" on the label, so it's not that tough to find. I like yarn that doesn't seperate so easily when I jab my hook in it -- a lot of that sock yarn is guilty of this, as is that Microspun stuff from Lion Brand. Here's some suggestions that are easy to work with and won't have you tearing your hand out:

Red Heart Sport Yarn is cheap, comes in a bunch of colors, and it's easy to work with. For whatever reason, Red Heart makes crappy worshed weight yarn and really nice sport weight.

Patons Astra is another good one, and easier to find.

Err, I'm allergic to wool, so I can't suggest any brands for you there. (I can't use them!) But, I've heard that Knitpicks yarn is really, REALLY nice. Actually, they stock acryllic, cotton and non-wool blends for people like me. I've just never used them, so I can't reccomend them personally, but I've heard good things.

I'd use either a size H hook or size 6 needles, depending on if you're crocheting or knitting.

Now, everything I've said is the biggest I'll let you go. Can you go smaller? Sure! You can go much smaller. Make the whole thing with a C hook and crochet thread if you're brave. Sock yarn is really easy to find, you can use that too. The smaller you go, the nicer your result, but the more maddening it'll be. At least, it is for me, you might be some kind of whizz with small stuff.

When you get your supplies, tweet or email the results to me!

THE HAMSTER!?

Everyone's crazy over McKenna's hamster! Until AG offers it up as its own item (or at least a replacement part), the only way your dolls are getting a hamster is if you spend some bank on McKenna's bed.

Err, except not.

Follow me back to a magical land called "The Mid 1990s." They haven't made a historical doll about it yet, so you'll just have to use your imagination. During this time, there were toys called Littlest Pet Shops.

"Oh! But Bean! I have some of those," you say! No you don't. You're thinking of the horrifying bobbleheaded genetic abominations they try to claim are Littlest Pet Shop toys today. In the 1990s, Littlest Pet Shop toys:

• Actually looked like animals
• "did something" -- the big hook was that every toy could do an action, like chase a toy or wag their tail or something.

Now, some of these toys are scaled perfectly to AG size. Some aren't, but such is life. But! They actually released several hamster sets that, drumroll please, look strikingly similar to McKenna's.

Don't feel limited. They also had a gerbil set that would stomp McKenna's hamster set into the ground. That cage in the picture is modular. It came with different pipes so that you could come up with a huge variety of configurations, and a magnetic wand so that you could guide the gerbils through the cage.

Actually, both those pictures come from a really good Flickr set if you're interested in seeing more of the old toys. There were literally hundreds of them, way more than pictured there.

If you decide you want to pick up some of the old 90s Littlest Pet Shops, sadly, your only source (that I know of?) is eBay.

Flickr and American Girl

Are you on Flickr? I keep finding American Girl Flickr groups I like. There is, of course, the main Flickr group, but here's a few you probably haven't seen:

American Girls Of The Year -- Says it all, a group for the Limited Edition dolls.

American Girl Mini Dolls -- Eee, so cute and tiny!

American Girl Doll Club -- Some photos you don't see on the regular group.

American Girl Dolls -- Only 19 members? Come on, we can make it bigger!