Blue Goals

My favorite color is blue.  It has been even since I was little.  I have a few blue toys still left over from my childhood (or, were inspired to purchase from my childhood) and I decided to add a few more.

I recently purchase some of the cutest new blue toys.  Two blue hair Lala Loopsy dolls and one that is blue skinned.

And, then a Blue Novi Star, named Uni Verse or something.

Then, I bought a blue Care Bear, Grumpy.  I have two of these from childhood, but they were green and pink.

Also in my little collection is Susie Sad Eyes with her new blue hair and Monster High dolls: Abbey Abominable, Ghoulia Yelps, and Lagoona Blue.

I have a special My Little Pony also.  I don't know her name. She is blue with pink hair and translucent butterfly wings.  I plan to get her positioned into my collection soon.

Coming soon my new vintage dolls clothing for Blythe!  I have been in a vintage buying spree.

Meet Olive the Librarian!

  Meet Olive the Librarian! She is a RBL Prima Dolly Saffy (Encore?).  This girl traveled from Canada.  Her alterations were made by Kitty Bee and I did some repairs on her pull chord.  She had a make shift tbar that I replace with a Cool Cat one.

Olive has all new eye chips-  light brown, light olive, light blue, and dark blue all of unknown origins.  Her favorite colors are brown and cream.

Olive's clothing and accessories

Life before Blythe

Do you ever ponder what you did before Blythe?

I find it amazing how integrated she is into my life now. I think about her constantly- well, other things slip in as well, but you know what I mean!

I've been working on pull chords lately.  I've been so busy with school (yuck, 2 papers that require lots of research) that I haven't had a good time to take photos.  My husband (sweet boy) purchase majority of the supplies for my birthday which was Saturday, November 3rd.  Hooray! Most things were 1/2 off so I got bunches of stuff.

I've started Claudia's pull chord.  I need additional beads to make it look complete.  It is really exciting I can't wait to share it!


I bought a Susie Sad Eyes months ago because I got a commission to make some items for a local Susie.  I borrowed the person's Susie but shortly found my own.

This poor little girl has a pitiful reroot in mint green.  Her scalp has been ripped at some point so I carefully removed the mint and put in blue ice! I bought the hair from Dolly Hair.com half snowflake and half water nixie.  The mix was perfect!  I wanted to use my rerooting tool but couldn't find it in my jungle of crafting and art supplies.

Susie hanging out at my work.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a spectacularly spooky day!

Weekend Endeavors

Holy Batman!

I started rooting a mohair scalp sometime forever ago. It was to go on my Mona.  The color was all wrong for her even before her current face-up.  For one thing I was disappointed with the mohair.  I thought I was getting baby blue and it was turquoisey mint.

I finally got up the nerve to finish it and dye it on Wednesday night (I was off Thursday from work so I felt creative).  It turned out really pretty!  I stuck it on Claudia (I vow to never remove that girl's scalp again- it is a bitch) and it just wasn't her.  So, my pretty little mohair scalp went to Etsy which sold over night!!!

Isn't it gorgeous?

Even prettier on the inside!

I had enough mohair leftover to make 2 Monster High wigs.  I dyed one green to go onto my absinthe fairy.

Claudia received some spooky chips which I hand painted.  She also got new lashes since I ruined the others by accident.

Updating

The Sally redo isn't going too well.  The paint did not want to come off of the face.  So, I'm face (no pun intended) with the choice of buying another head or calling it quits on her. Part of me wants to give it another try and other part wants to give it up.

I broke my Blythe-only rules. I bought a Hujoo Freya.  Mostly out of curiosity and her affordability. I went ahead an purchase one for R's Christmas present too.

I wish she was this color of blue- this is just the Instagram filter. Instead she is a medium grey.  Her name is Mrs. Norris.

I made Mona a new dress:

The print I received in a swap through Ravelry.  It is really cool:

Sally redo number 3

Sally the Ragdoll is getting another make over.  The paint is just not sticking to the Pure Neemo body.  I'm painstakingly scraping, and scrubbing the paint off, again.

This time I will not be painting her.  My direction will be more towards flesh tone with blue overtone using chalk pastels.  If I had time I would re-do the hair also.  A person on Flickr rerooted Licca heads in different types of hair and wrote quick little comparison of what she used.  I thought I could use her write ups to choose some different hair.  I'm not particularly fond of the nylon hair I used.  I wish I would have bought mohair from Cool Cat instead.

Question is- should I buy a new head or try to salvage the current one?

As posted before there has been a major purge at my house.

Rabbit has gone back to Australia to live, Coraline now is hanging out in Cali, and Nymph is going to Pennsylvania!  George is still looking for a new home.

Now, two petite girls are wanting to see the world!

Binge and Purge

No, I don't have an eating disorder.

Lately, I have been admiring people's small collection of Blythe dolls.  It is beyond me how people have enough self control to keep their collections down to 5 but you know, different strokes for different folks.

I am attempting to purge some of my Blythe dolls, since I think it was on a binge- 2 new middies, a Hujoo Freya cat and 2 or 3 (maybe even 4) new Neo size Bltyhes in the last few months.  See what I mean? I can't even keep count!

Coraline, my ADG custom, has already found a new home, as has my Rabbit, factory doll and George, my Friendly Freckles is searching out a new owner too.  A few others are on the list too, but until I get George packing, I don't want to list anymore.

A new doll list will be coming soon!

Meet Mint Julep

Meet Mint Julep [renamed to Julian]. She is precious!

(Yes, very corny name but it was the first thing that popped into my noggin'.)

Here she is in her odd little kitty outfit:  

I do wish the stock clothing was different. She comes with no shoes and the dress can only be worn over the kitty jumpsuit.

I now have all of the Middie releases except for the anniversary one.  I love seeing the progression in the bodies and details.  I have mentioned this before about doing a comparison of the middies that I own.  This one has even different details than my others. For example, Julep had a slight dimple in her chin and her fingers has more definition.

I wonder if the Middies will one day have face mold names like the Neos.

My little Susie Hysteric arrived in her black undies (I bought her nude, the only way she was with in my budget).  Oh my gosh, I love her too!  Looking at them make me squee on the inside.

With the arrival of 2 new middies just make my daughter want on even more. One day, but I want to see how she takes care of her Simply Chocolate first.  I think Santa will write her a letter about dolly care to leave under the tree too.

Soon I will post pics of Susie Hysteric.

Storm...maybe

This is Storm.

She has eye lashes now. New photo coming soon.

This is my new custom doll, Storm...maybe.  I'm not sold on the name Storm- it could change.

Storm is a Simply Vanilla.  I created her to be a model for my Etsy shop. When I started sanding her lips and nose, I was surprised how little detail was to them. It forced me to carve.  I never really got the lips smoothed out.  

I probably felt rushed.  Since I am starting grad school in a week I have been stocking up my Etsy store and finishing up all of my doll projects.

Storm's hair became a bob because her stock hair cut was just one corner before a mullet! Before shot below: 

YUCK!

Like I said, I felt rushed so I gave up trying to get a smooth pastel coat on her eye lids and used fabric. This was my first time to try this technique. 

Overall, I'm pleased with the outcome.

P.S. The dress is an adapted Barbie pattern.

Mona Mayfair

Sexy little temptress, Mona Mayfair and mini Tico

Here is my recent creation, Mona Mayfair.  

She is a factory RBL head (or fake, not sure which) with a real RBL body.  The flaming hair is from a SBL Groovy Groove.

If anyone has read Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour" and the others in the series,  you will know that Mona Mayfair became many men's little Lolita. Mona had her own agenda, too.

Mona is wearing an outfit I bought at Blythe Con last weekend.  It is a Mab Graves' up-cycle.  The little cameo is also painted by Mab, Jack- the pumpkin king.

Changes

Right now in my life tons of things are happening.

I found out Saturday, while I was in Dallas for BlytheCon, that I got accepted into Clarion University of Pennsylvania in the Library Science master's program!  Everything is happening FAST. I'm enrolled into two classes and start on August 27th via online.

The dolly changes has been out with old in with the new.  I sold two of my SBL girls- Pinafore Purple and Mademoiselle Rosebud.  In their place will be middies- Melomelomew that I blogged about a while back and a Suzy Hysteric!

Not my pic.

I can't believe I found a Suzy Hysteric within my price range.  She is arriving to me in her nudey pants. I hope to have sometime to enjoy these two girls before August 27th, but if not they are their for Christmas break.

A few other girls maybe looking to move also, like Coraline and Sally.  I have to work some bugs out on both before that happens.

Another change maybe on the horizon, but it is still in limbo. Hopefully, it works out!

Monster High Zombie Beauty Queen

I've been hoping to try my hand at customizing a Monster High doll for awhile. 

This is a CAM Ghost head, CAM werewolf body, and a wool felted wig made by me.

In addition she has a CAM green witch arm (not pictured). My little dog chewed it up so I upcyled it to a bloody stump.

It's hard to tell in the photo but her eyes are glittery voids.

Blythe Knits

I purchased a domain name finally. It is www.blytheknits.com.  I have my shop, 2 blogs and a page of my dolls.  There is another blog attached to it also....yeah, I know 3 blogs, what am I thinking?  That one is primarily shop announcements.

Another fun thing that I'm working on is Blythe Pattern Central, blythepatterncentral.weebly.com (link coming soon, having issues).

I'm accepting submissions for all 3 sizes of Blythe patterns in knitting, crochet, and sewing.  Right now I want only free patterns.  When submitting make sure that the designer name and original posting site is included.

Check it out! I will do my best to get the patterns up soon after submission.

Cousin Olivia

Olivia

My Cousin Olivia arrived Friday.  Her skin tone is really different from any of my other Bltyhes. She is different from Can Can Cat even.

Olivia's stock clothing is adorable!

LOVE the red boots.

I feel very lucky to find her completely intact.

Halter Top for Blythe

Halter Top for Blythe

By Natalie Scrimshire

Supplies:

US 2 needle

Sock weight yarn

darning needle

scrap yarn

CO 20 stitches, knit flat

St. st. for 12 rows

**K2, SSK K to the last 4 sts., K2tog, K2

Purl**

Repeat from ** to ** 2 more times.

Wrong side- Knit (will be a purl ridge on the front)

Right side of top-

SSK, K3, K2tog, turn (no wrapping)

Purl

SSK, K4

Purl

Knit

Purl

SSK, K2

Purl

Knit

Purl

SSK, K1

Tie-

St. st. until desired length.  Last row, K2tog and pull yarn through.

Left side of top-

SSK, K3, K2tog

Purl

K4, K2tog

Purl

Knit

Purl

K2, K2tog

Purl

Knit

Purl

K1, K2otg

Tie-

St. st. until desired length.  Last row, K2tog and pull yarn through.

Back-

Pick up 11 stitches on the back right side (you will be knitting sides ways on the garment)

St. st. for 15 rows

BO and sew to the opposite side.  Weave in ends.

Happy knitting! If you have any questions leave a comment or email me at blytheknits@gmail.com

Copyright by Natalie Scrimshire, 2012

Yes, I think I need....

A Melomelomew!

Wild name to remember, but cute. She is the new Middie being released in August.  Yes, I need...

I have been cleaning out some dolly clothes and have finally decided to sell my custom clones.

Angelina left yesterday to head to her new home.  Nicki is next.  Sally may stay and become my daughter's doll.  But, I really would rather her leave too.

One day I believe Takara will make a brown(er) Blythe than Heather Sky and I will get her to replace my black girls.

A new girl should be arriving today!

Mickey Hat

Gatsby's Mickey Hat 

I should add a band all the way around to make it fit better.  Maybe that can be done tonight....

Nymph and Middies

Wow, I need to do a follow up post on several things from earlier in the year.  Like a comparison post on my Middies.  This is something I still want to do with Milk and Honey and one of the others.

Something else I mention was changing my Simply Guava Nymph's scalp to Cappuccino Chat scalp.  Well, I did it! It is amazing to see how different a doll can look with new hairs.  Here she is:

Nymph's new hair with Brain Worm light grey eye chips

Brain Worm ocean eye chips

Gatsby is packing!

I mentioned in a previous post about taking Gatsby to Disney World.  This week we both have been packing! I'm packed up (mostly) and she started last night.

I purchased Snowflake Sonata stock outfit just for the trip! Oh the crown is adorable.  I can't wait to get a photo of her standing in front of Cinderella's Castle wearing it!!
    -Side note, the family invested in "Park Hopper" passes so we can come and go as we please. Hopefully, I will get some pics without tons of people in it.

The Snow White dress was a success.  I made some mistakes but overall it worked out.

Sorry for the blurry photo.  I think something is wrong with my older camera lens.

I didn't catch it until I already uploaded photos.

Simply Twins!

I like to Christmas shop long before December.  I typically have everything made/purchased before November.

My daughter, who I call R on my blogs, wants a Middie Blythe.  Gah, I couldn't do it.  I just couldn't spend the money (they went up in price since last week), especially when I found the Simply Vanilla and Simply Chocolate for so cheap when purchased together and free shipping.

Hopefully this year will be the same as the last 2 years with Santa.  R wanted Santa to decide her Christmas present.  I think she will love getting one of these dolls.  I have given her a doll nearly every Christmas.

This will be R's first real Blythe.  I have customized 3 clones for her.  This one will stay in the box until Christmas morning.  I know the first thing that will change is orange eye chips.  R likes purple!

Who is going to Disney World?

 Gatsby with her toy giraffe that I got her from the zoo.

I dislike posting without pics!

My family and I are going to Disney World! I just can't go without a Blythe.  Now the question is who should go and what clothing should she have?

Gatsby has been my travel girl recently. I like that her hair is so easy to fix.  Long hair is a nightmare.

Or,

Should I take one of my Middie girls?  The are a bit smaller.  Better fit for my carry on.

I want to make whoever goes a princess dress.  Snow White stuck in my head, no sure why.... I hope to make it this weekend. I have the yellow material for the skirt and some of the details I plan to used wool felt (like the red details in Snow White's sleeves).

I already made a Micky Ears hat a couple weeks ago.  Thanks to Jam Fancy, she provided the pattern online for free.  Very sweet. Oops, no photo yet.  I didn't upload it to Flickr.

I know for sure that I will pack Nicky Lad boots and Takara black and purple boots.  It seems with boots there is risk of them falling off.

More on this soon.  I will get some photos of the dress and hat.

Sunshine Holiday!

I have Sunshine Holiday! 

The biggest thing that has hit the Blythe World recently is Alexis Emerald. AE suggested retail is about 180 USD.  I thought, "Oh wow, I can afford her."  Yeah, not so much.  AE is so highly sought after she is going anywhere from 299-450 USD! 

I realized that her cost was way above me in April when I found some pre-orders on Ebay for 399 USD.  

Since AE is out of my reach, I got Sunshine Holiday instead! She fits in my family better anyways.

This girl is golden brown with pretty honey blonde hair. 

Once again, this poor girl doesn't have a name.  I will take my time like I did with Gatsby.

I do want to give a newly update list on what girls I have:

RBL Prairie Prose- In Transit

RBL Sunshine Holiday

RBL Factory Franken-Blythe

SBL Can Can Cat

RBL Cassiopeia Spice

SBL Silver Snow

SBL Skate Date

SBL Pinafore Purple

SBL Mademoiselle Rosebud

RBL Simply Guava

RBL Friendly Freckles

RBL Angelica Eve

RBL Factory

FBL Very Vicky

SBL Prima Dolly Ginger

ADG Roaring Red

RBL Simply Mango

Petite Blythes- Jeremy Macintosh, Hollywood Hills Party, Kitchen Queen, Apple Sweet Angel, Sweet Scarlet Spell, Miss Retro Mama

Plus several LPS Petites and LPS Hybrids

Middie Blythes- Macaroon Q-Tea Party, Milk and Honey, Little Lilly Brown

Plus 3 clones- Sally, Nicki, Angelina

Meet Gatsby!

This is Gatsby.  She and her little kitty (who is very secretive about her name) are always up to mischief.  Just the other day I found a wubber chicken in Gatsby's boot.  How did that get there?  I think I heard the two cohorts snickering.

Sneaky. Kitty has the "Puss n' Boots" look so I knew something was up.

Gatsby likes to hide things in her pocket.

Gatsby started this life as a Takara RBL Cassiopeia Spice Blythe.  Only alteration, so far, has been a bobbed hair cut.  I trimmed her bangs up pretty short too.

In the future I may change out some eyechips.

Updating

I am a serial negligent blog owner.  I have had a few things going on since my Silver Snow post, whom by the way is know as Snow.

I sold my Icy doll and a few other items that allowed me to purchase a Cassiopeia Spice Blythe.  Poor girl has been a bit neglected along with my blog.  Just about immediately after receiving her I got really sick with an ear infection.

The ear infection has knocked me for a loop for about 2 weeks.  I am still struggling with it and fear that my hearing is damaged.  

Any who. 

Very few dolly related things have been happening.  I find when I do not feel knitting or sewing for them, that I should not force it.  I just get frustrated.

I am attempting spring cleaning though.  I went through the clothing that I have made and posted them for sale on my Etsy shop, BlytheKnits. 

Plus, a new Etsy store is in the works. I am splitting up my shop items.  Once craft and other miscellaneous items listings expire they will be added to a new shop strictly for craft and vintage items.  BlytheKnits will remain Blythe related items. 

I expect my sales will still be hit or miss, but this way it is more organized!

 

Silver Snow

This little lady has been boxed up since her production.  I am glad I could release her.  

Not sure of her name- maybe Chenault?  What do you think? 

Silver's hair will be soon going through treatments.  In her box, it seemed to nearly felted together.  

Already I am removing those orange eye chips!

Middies and more

I seem to have lost touch with my blog.  Not sure where the time has gone.

As a previous post said, I am working on re-designing some patterns.  I am also creating new ones! I have 3 new Middie patterns and 1 Petite pattern that are close to immediate release.

After those are ready I have another that I need to be tested.

Just a few updated things-

I am expecting Fleur home sometime in the next 2 or 3 weeks.  I was notified by China-Lilly yesterday that she was ready to fly back to the US.

My two new Middies made it to me last Friday!  Little Lily Brown has been named Lydia.  Milk and Honey is still nameless.  I will soon write a comparison between the Macaroon Q Tea Party and Little Lily Brown versus Milk and Honey.  Some things don't seem to be equal.

I have my Coraline (formerly known as Snowden) complete.  Now I am working on clothing and gathering toy items for her. Plus, I am planning a toy chest!

After much thought, I am removing Nymph's (Simply Guava) pink hair.  I am not a fan of pink. I purchased a Cappuccino Chat scalp for her!

I have started a face up on my Icy.  I feel bad that she does not have a name.  I like her red hair, but something is just not working for me. I hope to sell the Guava scalp to pay for some lemony yellow mohair.

Something else that has been going on Hybrids! I have Cat-ladies and a Deer-lady.

Shark Hat for Blythe, pattern update!

I purchased a fancy new MacBook Air and also, purchased Pages.  I started re-designing my page layouts for my older patterns.

I stared working on the Shark Hat for Blythe.  I found a lot of errors in my pattern writing skills.

It has been rewritten and tested by another individual!

Here is the new pattern:

 <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/dls/natalie-scrimshire-designs/90806?filename=SharkHatforBlythe.pdf">download now</a>

Happy Knitting!

Meet Rooka

Meet Rooka!

Rooka is a Takara SBL Pinafore Purple.  She is my second Blythe custom (non-clone).

It all started with an eye chip change in my Ginger. I lost my head and pull her chord without gluing in her new eye chips. I had to pry her open a bit to get the eye chip out and it got me thinking...

The thinking led to opening Rooka and making her pretty!

Rooka's make over consisted of:

Sandmatting
Lip carving
Lip color
Upper lip carving
Some nose carving
2 new eye chips, dark blue and taupe
Eye color with powdered eye shadow
New eye lashes
Sleepy eyes
Ribbon pull chords with charms- glass enclosure charm (no image yet) and locket

One day way off in the future Rooka may get white mohair.  I really love white mohair dolls and I think her coloring would be perfect.

Up next, my ADG, formly know as Snowden, is getting a 3rd make over.  This time she is emerging as Coraline.

Another middie is on the way to me from Singapore!