Another Project Done!!

I've just finished designing a doll dress for a 36" walking doll. My 8yo got this a year and a half ago for her birthday, and after less than a year, we had to move it out of her room, she said it gave her nightmares. My daughters then dubbed her: "Bride of Chucky", or BOC for short.
Their thought was to get rid of her, but I put my foot down, seeing crocheted outfits in the future for this poor unwanted doll.
We did have fun with her last year! Dressing her up, putting her where no one would suspect and would be startled by finding her there. I think the best spot was a joint effort on the "girls" side (we outnumber my husband 3-1). We dressed BOC in jeans, my youngest's coat, and a baseball hat and snuck her out to place her behind the wheel of the car. Wish I could have seen my husband's face when he went out and found her, but he did get a laugh!!

Anyway, this dress gets a thumbs-up from my husband, who says she looks less "Bride of Chucky-ish". Wonder if the girls will think so? Amazing what a new outfit can do for someone.

The finished dress is listed at http://CrochetSal.etsy.com . The pattern will be available March 5th on my sale page: http://www.crochetsal.com/salepage either alone, or as part of the $3.95 membership for the month.

Tamagotchi Fever

Seems like it's spread rapidly, with side effects of greed. How so? Reminiscent of the Tickle Me Elmo dolls that people bought for the sole purpose of selling for twice as much as they paid for it.
The Tamagotchi version 3, just come out, is selling like the proverbial hotcakes. Toys R Us in Windsor got 300 in on Friday, were sold out by Saturday.
Stunned? Not me. Disgusted maybe, knowing that some of those sales were for people who hadn't the remotest interest in the child's toy. Their interest lay in the almighty dollar they could make by paying $16.99 plux tax, then trying to sell it for over $30 on ebay.
One example: check out item # 6039051756 on ebay. Starting bid $34.42 Candian (Buy it now for only $37.65). Plus a meagre $11.99 US shipping within Canada. Includes insurance. Wanna know a secret? Ship expedited, under $7 Canadian for that small of an item, even with stuffing!, and insurance is INCLUDED. So the seller is making a profit if anyone is gullible or desparate enough to buy from him/her.
Can we say SCALPER??? I strongly believe toy scalping should be illegal. Toys are for kids. If you don't have a child, don't know one, won't use the toy and don't need it for a gift, hands off and let some parent buy it for THEIR child. After all, that's what toys are made for. Taking advantage of parents wanting to buy the toy for their child is immoral. Not that the ebay re-sellers give a crap. As long as someone will pay over $50 for a $17 item (maybe $24 with shipping), they're happy.

If you're interested in a Tamagotchi, and don't want to be ripped off, check out legitimate online sites. We found some available at Toys R Us online (Canada) for $16.99 each. I bought one for each daughter (that's two), for less than I could buy item #6039051756 on ebay. Or, wait till they stopped selling out at Wal-Mart and Toys R Us!

Please note, not ALL ebayers are immoral like that! And I'm sure that's not the only online site where you can get ripped off: check out http://www.toywiz.com/tamagotchiboyversion3v3.html. Only $27.99 US. Plus shipping.

February blahs

Well, I've heard of the January blahs, but I seem to have the February blahs. Was unable to come up with ideas for designs for two weeks! I kept getting fuzzy pictures, but it was like trying to adjust an old television set with no cable or satellite!
Fortunately, the 'blahs' seem to have gone, I'm almost done a St. Patrick's Day/spring outfit for Kelly dolls, and have started a doily with a unique shape. Well, I hope it's unique.
The arm warmers previously mentioned (the ones I made for my 10yo who 'demanded' them--she never wore them!) at least did see some sunlight. My 8yo decided SHE liked them, and has worn them twice to school, and received compliments from some of her friends.
I recently purchased two sets of Space Bags from the Shopping Channel, and after trying one out, the only problem I had was that it developed a small tear near the zipper in the plastic. I stuffed a large one with 4 pillows, impressed my husband by compacting them down to the height of about 1 pillow, and tried again. Then my daughter decided to use it for stuffed animals and discovered the tear. I'm thinking the zipper had somehow gotten caught when I tried to seal it.
Next step: trying these bags for yarn storage. If I can compact all my yarn into two bins, that would be great. Specially since then, it would be hard for my husband to see just how much yarn I do have...and how much I don't *really* need. And since he quit smoking over 2 years ago (hurray!), I can't really say my hobby costs a lot less. Don't get me wrong, I really do prefer it this way!