Long Time, No See!

Hi Jill! Wow, been a while since I was active on here - I'm so sorry for being away so long, but I'm back now *thumbs up!* So, how have your dolly dealings been going? I'm still collecting like mad - I think I now have about 27 girls?! I think it's become an addiction lol! I still have my Etsy shop, Eriko's Emporium, and am still selling the usual Punky Monkey Hats and Baby Fangsters too. I also sell a few new hats and jumpers too - the jumpers I make with my Mum :P

Actually, at the moment I'm having a Baby Fangster sale you might be interested in - all Neo Blythe BF hats are £5 each, for a limited time! The reason behind the sale is I recently had a yarn buying binge in Great Yarmouth and got WAY to much yarn, so have been making little hats from all the new pretty skeins :P

Also today I got a delivery of TBL girls, ready for customising! I am lucky enough to have a stall again at this years BCUK in London, and hope to have a few custom girlies available for sale there, along with hats, of course hehe! I wish you could come over to London for the 'con!! Would be so much fun! Anyways, I think that's all for now. Keep me posted on all your dolly activity!! And I promise to blog more often!

BlytheCon UK 2012

Dear Jill,

I am loving the new girls, especially Ayanami Rei Meets Blythe! I think she’s gonna be a must for my collection! And I loled at the article - ‘Too scary for children’ XD

Please forgive me for being so behind with blog related stuff! My mind has been elsewhere these past few weeks. But better late than never, here is the BlytheCon UK 2012 post!

We were lucky enough to be staying at the venue, which was the lovely Double Tree by Hilton…

We started our day early - we had breakfast nearby and made our way back to the hotel for 10am, where we found the event was being held on the 1st floor. It was decked out with the BCUK colour themed balloons

My Mum and I were 4th in the queue! Upon registration we received our goodie bags and made our way to the raffle prize table - there were so many great prizes there!

 

Here are the EssHippo items we contributed…

First things first - the stalls! There were some great stalls this year, here are just a handful of them:

 

Whilst walking round I bumped into Princess MuffinCheeks (Lauren), her boyfriend Jamie and her friends! It was so nice to meet them at last after talking on Flickr! Lauren was kind enough to bring us gifts - bunny hair clips and a cute handmade dress, seen here modelled by Zoe!

Thank you Lauren!

I also bumped into mydollies4 and the charming April Dori! Both ladies were so nice and friendly, and I feel honoured to have got to hold April Dori!

At about 11:30am we were told the Customisation Workshop was going to be happening across the hall, so I made my way there. The workshop was hosted by the fab Fifilatrixabel

We learnt a lot of handy information about customising, including tips on carving, lip painting and eyemech removal. I also picked up some tips about which craving tools are suitable to use, which was great!

After the workshop I made my way to the competition room and handed in my entry for the Party Dress Comp…

I also used this opportunity to vote in this and the photo comp, and made my way back to the vendors room.

On the way out I bumped into the lovely Amy Carney and Jodie from Flickr! They were so nice and friendly - I love their girls and I think Amy was taken with Evelyn :P I received a fab headband from Amy too - modelled here by Evelyn!

Thank you Amy!

I had a look round the vendors room again and picked up some more goodies, and got some more pics…

By this time it was about 1pm, and I was hungry so I made my way back up to my room for a snack. By doing this I missed the Kenner Restoration workshop, which I’m angry at myself about as I really wanted to see it : (

I made my way back to the event about 30mins later, and mingled abit. I talked to BaD_JuJu and BaconLovesBlythe - both lovely ladies!

I thought I’d have a final look round the vendors room, and I’m glad I did! Over on Pipparrots table amongst the beautiful scalps were some of Fifilatrixabels amazing customs - including a sweet little demon girl. She caught my eye as she was so different and I loved her hair! I talked to Fiflatrixabel and found the demon girl was for sale, and at a very reasonable price too. I was so excited! I was about to buy her when we got the call for the Kenner Line Up in the photo room, so I dashed off to that, got my pic of all the lovely Kenners (including Evelyn!)…

… and made my way back to get my demon girl. Luckily she was still there, so I handed over my money and she was mine! Here she is, back in the hotel room…

I later found out that Jodie, who I had met earlier was also after her. I felt kind of bad for Jodie as she had seen her first, but she assured me she was ok with me getting her, so that was a relief : )

I met back up with Lauren and we made our way down to the All Blythe Line Up, which was taking place in the foyer. It was so busy that unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of all the girls :(

As we were goingy back to the event we found a vacant trolley and took advantage of a good photo opportunity!

I love Laurens girls - they are so much fun! Mini Lauren has a really unique personality and Panda is so cute! We went back upstairs to view the video messages.

It was getting towards the end of the messages and we decided to go and get a good spot for the raffle draw. 

We stood patiently, but unfortunately neither of us won anything. I did see the EssHippo items be won though - I hope their new owners are happy with them! And big congrats to everyone that did win - everybody looked so happy to receive a prize!

As the raffle was ending we bumped into IssabellaTheCat who I have talked to on Flickr - she was so nice! I think she won something at the raffle which is fab!

That was effectively the end of the convention, so Lauren and her friends went to get ready for the after party and I went and picked up our cakes - I hope you don’t mind, Jill, but I let my Dad have your cake as it would have been difficult to send to you! He said it was very nice, Thank you!

So that was it - BlytheCon over for another year. It was such a great day and I met so many nice people there. I think I talked to everyone I had hoped to, which is great. Blythe people are so nice and welcoming - although I was there on my own I felt at home amongst everyone, which was really nice.

I would just like to say a massive Thank You to all the organisers, vendors, workshop hosts and basically everyone who made BlytheCon a success. It was my first BlytheCon and hopefully it won’t be my last!

I look forward to Glasgow next year - I’m even thinking we can have an EssHippo table!

Basic Blythe Earflap Hat - Free Crochet Pattern!

Dear Jill,

I am loving the new Blythe releases! And the descriptions are hilarious!

Today I thought I'd share with you my Basic Earflap Hat pattern! In the pics below I have jazzed it up with a badge and a button, but you can do what you like with it. I don't even mind if you sell them on, as long as you don't pass the pattern on as your own work :)

I hope you enjoy!

Basic Blythe Earflap Hat

You Will Need:

. DK yarn (2 colours)
. 4.5mm hook
. Approx. 1m of lace
. Button Badge
. Buttons
. Yarn needle

Abbreviations

· St/Sts – Stitch/Stitches
· Ch - Chain Stitch
· Sc - Single Crochet
· Slst - Slip Stitch
· Inc (Increase) - 2 Sc into 1 St
· ** - Marks a group of stitches to be repeated until the round is completed


Gauge

No gauge, just keep your stitches nice and tight to avoid gaps in your work. Also try the hat on your doll as you are making the hat to see if it is fitting


Finished Size

Made to fit all Blythes and Blythe Clones


Other Info

· Work in continuous rounds; in a spiral, unless otherwise stated. Don’t join at the end of a row; just keep going
· Use stitch markers or a piece of scrap yarn to mark the start of every round. Replace at the start of the next round as you go along. This will help you keep track of where you started, and saves a lot of time if things go wrong!
· I write my patterns in American terms, so Sc means Single Crochet; Dc means Double Crochet etc
. The number at the end of each round is the number of stitches you should now have
. Using a thicker yarn than DK/bigger hook than 4.5mm will result in the hat being a considerably different size to that shown.

Pattern

1. Ch 2, Sc 6 into 2nd Ch from hook, or Magic Ring 6 (6)
2. Inc around (12)
3. *Sc, Inc* around (18)
4. *Sc 2, Inc* around (24)
5. *Sc 3, Inc* around (30)
6. *Sc, Inc* around (36)
7. *Sc, Inc* around (42)
8-10. Sc around (42)
11. *Sc 20, Inc* around (44)
12-13. Sc around (44)
14. *Sc 21, Inc* around (46)
15-16. Sc around (46)
17. *Sc 22, Inc* around (48)
18-19. Sc around (48). Ch 1, turn.
20. Sc 30 (30) Ch 1, turn.
21. *Sc 2, Dec* across, plus 2 Sc (23) Ch1, turn.

Start Of Right Earflap

22. Sc 6 (6) Ch 1, Turn.
23. Sc, Dec, Dec, Sc (4) Ch 1, Turn.
24. Sc 4 (4) Ch 1, Turn.
25. Dec, Dec (2) Ch 1 Turn.
*Finish off and sew in end*

Start of Left Earflap

Count forward 12 and insert hook. You should be 6 stitches way from the edge of the back of the hat

Continue from Row 22

*Finish off and sew in end*


Edging

Attach contrasting yarn at the back of the hat, and Sc around the entire edge


Tassles

Cut 12, 12'' long pieces of yarn in the contrasting colour

Thread though the yarn needle and pull half of it through the bottom of the earflap

Continue with 6 pieces of yarn on each earflap

Plait together

Finished!

I hope you enjoyed the pattern! Any question just comment below and I will get back to you asap :)

Sarah
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Kooky Clones!

Dear Jill,

I love what you have done with your new clone! How exciting! I can’t believe you got that mouth shape from just using a scalpel – you are a natural! And you're right - I MUST have a Pickle Winkle! Though what a strange name! XD

Better late than never – I am here to introduce these new ‘Mystery Clones’ or 'Kooky Clones' as we have taken to calling them! We know next to nothing about them!

For this post I have enlisted the help of the lovely MuffinCheeks on Flickr who was kind enough to loan us some of her great reference pictures :D

I first stumbled upon these girls on Ebay about 2 months ago, from the seller Madjare. I was intrigued by them as they are obviously clones, but look nothing like a Basaak/Blybe or CCE. I wondered if they were TaoBao girls, but found them not to be when I looked a little more into them. So what are they?!

I bought one, with red hair, and she arrived a couple of days later...

She arrived naked, wrapped in bubble wrap, complete with a long wig of the same colour and a clover stand. I immediately went about examining her, and found she had Blythe CWC written on the back of her head. Was she really a Blythe?!

She comes with her eyelids painted pink with a little red heart, and 4 sets of nicely coloured eyechips...

I didn't even attempt to remove the chips because I liked them so much!

As you can see, the face has had some work done to it. The lips seem to have been carved slightly, then there's all the paint work. I took the make up off my girl, and she looks very much like a Blythe without it...

I went about taking her apart, and found the scalp screw on the back of the head VERY hard to get loose. It seemed to have lost it's thread. I managed to carve a new tread in the screw head and got her open. This is her eyemech...

It seems to be made of one whole piece of plastic - ie the eyeballs don't come off the axel. She also has a screw in the top of her neck...

I've seen this done with Kenners before to make the neck more sturdy. I'm not sure if that's what's going on here or not though. The body itself seems very well made, though it doesn't bend at the knees.

Her scalp and dome are very much like a Blythe's. The scalp has flanges around the bottow edge that are stuck into the dome. I heard from the seller that you can easily remove the scalp after giving it a good soaking in hot water, to loosen the glue.

And her neck hole seems to be extra large! Look!

It gaps against the faceplates when the head is on. Hmm...

I was very curious about these dolls and went online to try and find out what they were, or at least who they were made by. All I managed to find out from the seller was that they were from China, and that’s all I could find out. So I posted a few pics on Flickr and waited for a response. It seems no one knows what they are – they are a whole new Blythe clone!

Over the weeks I have found some more owners of these dolls on Flickr - Jill made the Mysterious Blythe Clone group, and together we have been trying to figure them out. We have had a few leads, but nothing has come of them.

And that’s a far as we’ve got! Aren’t they interesting?! If you have any clues as to these girls identities please let us know! And feel free to join the Flickr Group!!

Thank you once again for letting us use your wonderful photos, MuffinCheeks! This post wouldn't have been possible without you!

Sarah
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Treasury Feature!

Dear Jill,

A lovely suprise today! Our Blue and Black Stripped Sweater has been featured in Leanna's fab Treasury Yesterday!

Thank you so much Leanna! It is a wonderful Treasury, and we are honoured to be included!

Sarah
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More New Hats!

Dear Jill,

I have some more hats to show you! I have been soooo busy crocheting them all and at last they are up in the shop :) First there is the Raspberry Ripple Mesh Slouchy Hat...

I've had this yarn about 5 years and never knew what to do with it. I know have a purpose for it! I think it makes a lovely hat :)
Secondly is a monster collection of 19 different coloured hats!

Once again, it's my fav mesh slouchy hat, but this time you can choose to have it make in any of these 19 colours...

Just let me know which colour you would like at checkout! You can even have a mixture of colours if you like, for no extra cost :)

I hope you like!

Sarah
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New Hats In Store

Dear Jill,

What a palava with Quinns eye mech! I can see now where it was put together wrong. I'm glad you got her sorted out, and that she can now look down! It adds so much character to them, doesn't it!

This weekend I have listed 3 new hats for the EssHippo Blythe Etsy shop!

Autumnal Colours Mesh Slouchy Hat

I used some more of Wilkinsons lovely variegated yarn to make this hat - it's such nice stuff and the size of the hat make the colours repeat nicely :)

I Heart UK Pixie Hat

Inspired by all the London Olympics drama happening over here at the moment! I am tempted to keep this one...

Rainbow Mesh Slouchy Hat
A brighter ROYGBIV hat! It was lots of fun to make, picking and changing the colours

All hats are now available in the EssHippo Blythe Etsy Shop now!

Sarah -x-

Operation:Vampire Five

Dear Jill,

For a long time now I have wanted a vampire girl, and since seeing Coraline I know I DEFINITELY want one! She is so cute!!

My problem is I am too scared to buy a Blythe and customise it! Plus I don't have the money to spare if I get it wrong. But I also wanted to try something different from a Blybe/CCE, so I decided to customise a Jecci Five!

This is the girl I got from Ebay...


I chose her for her dress! Isn't it cute?! I want my vampire to have black hair, but again wanted to try something different from yarn. So I opted for mohair wefts, which I bought from Coolcat.

They all arrived in really good time, so I started straight away. My first big problem was trying to get the scalp off the dome - the scalp has flanges like a Blythe scalp and it was glued in...


After much forcing and prying, I got it free with minimal damage...


I removed all the hair, which was really well rooted...


...and prepared the mohair weft. This is what it looks like out of the pack...


I have never used either wefts nor mohair before, so this was a totally new experience for me. I figured it would be best to start at the outside edge of the scalp, and sew it in quite tight with extra strength cotton and a thick needle...


I got about half the scalp done in the first sitting, but had to stop when my thumb just couldn't take it any more! So I left it, and returned the next day.

I got it finished in the second sitting, and all in all it only took about 3 hours to complete the whole thing!


I would definitely use wefts again! It was so easy! At the moment it just looks like a big mass of black fluff...


Lol! I will style it when I put her all together again. I aim to pull it into little bunches!

I then moved on to the face up, which I will tell you about a little later on :)

Sarah
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