etui doll | The Contented Crafter

Oh, lookit me go! It’s still June and here is my second post for the month 🙂

I celebrated the winter solstice by finishing two handcraft projects and thought I’d share them before the newest projects take over my attention fully.

First here, please admire the gorgeous Persian Tiles blanket being pressed for the last time by the equally gorgeous Orlando – still convinced I’m trying to steal his soul with that damned camera….. dav The colours are pretty accurate in the above photo – aren’t they fabulous! The yarn is wonderful it’s Corriedale Wool purchased from The Wool Company which is based in Taihape New Zealand, but has a global reach. My friend Jan from The Snail of Happiness arranged a wonderful surprise for me back in February and it has all gone wonderfully smoothly – all I had to do was choose the colours and follow the pattern. dav The colours are a little washed out in the second photo, but you can see the texture and the pattern. The edging needs to be blocked to finish the thing properly, but that won’t happen until the weather warms up a little.

And now, let me introduce you to Miss Petui Buttonbottom sdr Her name grew organically as I read your various comments and proposals and suggestions in the previous post. Karen said she needed to be a Miss and I agreed; Val said Petunia and Norah mentioned the same name, but was more connected to the ‘P’ for Pauline and et tu (you too) which she had jumped to from ‘etui’ I liked the idea, but in the end decided to stay with ‘etui’. So you can pronounce it Pet-you-ee or Petwee as you please. Her last name grew from Geoff’s suggestion of ‘Leadbottom’ which made me laugh, but you will see soon why I changed it a little. (Sometimes it’s obvious even to me that I have way too many hours to wonder around in LaLaLand!)

Miss Petui stands just on 50 cm (15″) tall and her many pockets hold all kinds of tools dav Here I can find pen, pencil, awl, ruler, thimble, measuring tape, needles of various sizes and sharpnesses, two pairs of scissors, quick-unpick, long vision specs and cleaning cloth, a variety of stitch markers, a reel of thread, a row counter and a small magnifying glass. dav Her head scarf holds pins and unseen is a large amount of blocking pins hidden in her hair. She wears my reading specs, always ready to do a bit of stitching, hooking or sewing repairs.

Have you wondered yet how she stands up so steadily? Miss Petui has, hidden beneath her long dress and busy apron, a container of buttons. I found a bottle of the right height very early in her creation and worked to its specifications. The bottle is now filled with a selection of small buttons which keeps them to hand and gives her stability and weight. I tried to get a photo but found it almost impossible now she is finished – not to mention somewhat invasive of her privacy! You will just have to believe me, she really is ‘Miss Buttonbottom’.

You’d think that would be it wouldn’t you – after creating my very own etui doll from scratch with no pattern and only stashed materials. But the minute she was pronounced ‘done’ I found myself with a tiny hook and some chocolate brown yarn making another lot of rounds, growing another head – much smaller, much neater – but definitely a head…… I have no clue what this will be, but I’ll keep you posted…… Maybe…..

Here’s a cute shot of Siddy, just so he’s not left out Ready to go home March 9

Thanks for coming by today, I’m so happy that you did!

While I think and muse and potter and walk and create and just be, time keeps on flowing by and my mind turns to the fact that soon – soon – we will be at the mid winter mark of the longest night and the light will begin to return my way.

I always miss the light the most when I am in winter. I don’t mind the cold, the wet, the sleet even. I mind the shortness of the days at both ends and I miss the feel of sunlight on my face. I don’t miss the heat. I quite like not having the energy sapping, robust glint of hot summer days. But I miss the hours the sun stays in the sky. Soon I tell myself, the season will peak, the world will turn and the sun will start to move back towards my hemisphere. I walked in mist this morning thinking these thoughts of waiting. And, as we exited the park and looked up to the hill ahead, the sun glinted off the windows of houses through the mist and made me a most delightful fairy tale castle of sparkling light to guide me on and make my waiting happy. Later, at home, I realised that only in this season can such a wonderfully serendipitous meeting of mist and light occur at 9 am. I appreciate the reminder to be okay with where I’m at!

But still I wait, and while I wait I hook. My Persian Squares blanket is close to being finished. Orlando has helped, oh such a lot!

dav He pretty much ensured every component of the blanket was pressed, whether I desired it to be or not.

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As I write this one half of the blanket is draped over the back of a dining chair

btr It ought to be finished but I got sidetracked.

I made this

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Now, here’s the story that goes with ‘this’. Do you want to hear it? (Err, come back – that was a rhetorical question folks!)

Back in the days when I was still intermittently going onto Facebook, I logged in and the first thing I saw was a picture of a crochet etui doll. At the same moment that I was falling in love with it, facebook did that thing it does and updated my feed in a tumbling rush of alternate posts and I lost her. I searched, wasted an hour of my life and didn’t ever see her again. Maybe that was the moment when I decided to quit social media (except for blogging). Any how, I searched around and had myriad conversations, but never found another etui doll. Maybe they aren’t called that any way – but I don’t know what else to call them. Then, one day, when searching through my stash of yarns for something else I found a bit of brown that said to me ‘I make doll!’ “Okay!” said I and gathered it up and off we went to Happy Hooking Land.

Now I have never made a crochet doll before, I have no clue how to make one. But undaunted I set to with hook and yarn and made a head, the rest just followed along. I also kept no notes of what I was doing, so now have no clue how I got from the first stitch to the last. But I do know what I’d do differently.

I also took no photos until I got to the final stage of face features placement. As you can see from that photo I used pearl headed pins to get an idea of placement and size – and grabbed the camera. I had my reading glasses on and when looking for a place to put them down, realised she was, among her many other talents, the perfect specs holder!

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I’m just the teeniest bit in love with her

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As you can see from the pockets close-ups she holds all things sewing and hooking related. There is more to come and her face to be finished – and a name to be given of course – any ideas? But this has to be the most fun thing I have made in forever!

So that is why the blanket hasn’t yet been finished. Nor this – which insists on photographing brighter and lighter than reality, but gives you an idea that at least some progress has been made…….

dav Finally, here’s Siddy in his posh winter gear to say “Hello!” or “Grrrrruff!” to you all, just in case you need that kind of puppy cheerfulness in your life…..