Steampunk Addie and the Vortex of Time Parasol

I am sooo excited.

Look at what my Dear Friend Ginny Weasley just posted on my Facebook page!

Addie? Are you here today or wandering the world on some great adventure?

Mum set us to ridding the curtains of doxies again at Grimmauld Place, dusty old museum of a place if you ask me. Anyway, behind the spot where the portrait of Phineas Nigellus was hanging... well apparently this has been hiding there the whole time. I'm not sure if it belonged to his wife Ursula Flint or his sister Elladora Black but either way I wondered if you might want to have a look at it and investigate?

It let off the strangest sparks when I first picked it up, but now it just looks like an old umbrella. *sigh* You never know what sort of magic is hiding within The Noble House of Black!

Thanks Jen and Ginny! It's even better than Hagrid's Pink Umbrella!

The Best Blogger Award

Aww, my dear friend Reese over at Reese's Pieces of Life just nominated me for The Best Blogger Award.

As I told her, I am (deservedly) humbled and grateful. 

For the first part of the award, I shall answer these five questions:

1. What is your favorite post that you've ever created? So many to choose from (729!), but I think my all-time favorite is Bring Out Yer Dead.
2. What is your favorite photostory that you have ever taken part in? Hmm, again so many choices but I think it was my series of adventures with Sam, Ruth, Josefina Ester at the St. Louis World Fair. Or (finally!) meeting Super Inky! It showed me how much I like to share my adventures with other dolls.
3. Why do you blog? I guess it's in my blood stuffing. Momma's family has been writers, printers, and journalists since at least 1883.
4. How many followers do you have? Not enough (of course) but I know of 57, and counting....
5. Do you like being nominated for awards? Who doesn't?!

I now get to nominate five other blogs which haven't been nominated yet - darn it! So I, Steampunk Addie, hereby nominate:

1. Just for Fun: Momma's friend Jenn can crochet anything and have fun doing it.
2. Pippaloo: I hope she hasn't been nominated yet because Teresa provides the tastiest doll food, ever! 
3. Angry Words from Angry Jess: Who doesn't like a doll with an attitude?
4. Doll Diaries: The latest scoop on anything doll related, and Char likes me.
5. Dolls Behaving Badly: Charlie's dolls aren't as badly behaved as she thinks, but there's always room for improvement. 

I shall now ceremoniously add My latest Major Award to my cyber awards shelf.

 

Captain hook

Today I want to show off the two lovely birthday presents that I received yesterday from Darling Dolly.

For my birthday she sent me a lovely crocheted snood made with copper yarn and a metallic copper thread crocheted together. She even made it big enough for my hose clamp to fit through the openings!

Crochet (from the French word crochet, meaning hook) is a process of creating fabric from yarn, thread, or other material strands using a crochet hook.

Crocheting first became popular in the 19th century when machine-spun cotton thread became widely available and inexpensive in Europe and North America after the invention of the cotton gin. Crocheting consumes more thread and cotton is well suited to crochet.


Darling Dolly also sent me a fully-lined reticule!A reticule (French réticule, from Latin reticulum meaning net) was a small handbag that could be hung from the wrist. It might also be called an indispensable.

Reticules became an indispensable accessory in the early 19th century because the line of the newly fashionable high-waisted Empire gowns would be ruined by a pocket. A reticule might contain a scented handkerchief, a calling card case, a small leather coin purse, smelling salts, and paper and pencil.

Knitting, netting, tatting, crocheting, et cetera were considered suitable pastimes for young ladies.

I guess that means you won't find me with a hook in hand.

At least not a crochet hook.

(Thanks Mama Lisa!)

Pardon, your slip is showing

I have to admit I laughed when I saw this Etsy listing by Darling Dolly for a "LOVELY IN LACE - Crinoline and Pantalettes with Vintage Style Hand Crochet Accents."

Proper dressing for young ladies and girls in the 1950s included hoops and pantalettes. 

1950s???

Ruffled, stiffened petticoats were extremely popular during the 1950s, especially with teenage girls. However, most of the petticoats were netlike crinoline, nylon chiffon, taffeta, and organdy, and sometimes made of horsehair.

Typically, at least three single petticoats were worn until manufacturers began making double and triple layer petticoats. A narrow slip was usually worn under the petticoats, especially the crinoline type, because they tended to be "scratchy."

Momma has heard Grandmomma talk about about washing the crinoline that she wore under her poodle skirt in the 1950s, and rinsing it in sugar water before placing it over an open umbrella in the backyard to dry. After inquiry we were assured that she NEVER saw a crinoline like that in her '50s.

Maybe time travel was not the fiction they thought it was in the 1950s.

All kidding aside, I have to admit my admiration for the two-plus yards of hand-crocheted lace that Darling Dolly made herself.

Feeling snooty about snoods

photo by Darling Dolly

A Darling Dolly friend of Momma's has offered to make me some snoods after I told her how much I admired hers.

Historically a small bag—netted, tatted, knitted, crocheted, or knotted — of fine thread or yarn, enclosed the long hair on the back of the head and held it close to the nape.

A tighter band (in my case a hose clamp!) will cover the forehead or crown, then run behind the ears and under the nape of the neck, holding the bag in place.

Just the thing for keeping my hair out of my face while working on a steam engine.

But what color should I get? Silver, bronze, black, brown, red, or green?

Or one of each....

All I ask is a tall ship

I am now firmly convinced that Momma's friend Jen can crochet anything. Take a look at this beauty, which puts me in mind of the poem Sea-Fever.

http://justforfun2291.blogspot.com/

Sea-Fever is a poem by 20th century English Poet Laureate John Masefield which includes the line "all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by."

Captain James T. Kirk first quoted from Sea-Fever in TOS: The Ultimate Computer to Leonard McCoy.

Kirk quoted from the poem again in ST: The Final Frontier while aboard a shuttlecraft approaching the Enterprise-A in one of the best scenes from Star Trek movies: 

Kirk: All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer by. 
McCoy: Melville... 
Spock: ...John Masefield. 
McCoy: Are you sure about that?
Spock: I am well versed in the classics, Doctor. 
McCoy: Then how come you don't know "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"?

And finally, Quark paraphrased it in DS9: Little Green Men while aboard his ship Quark's Treasure, saying "all I ask is a tall ship...and a load of contraband to fill her with."

I agree with Quark and Jen's ship needs a tiny pirate flag.

Sea-Fever

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

http://craftyiscool.blogspot.com

Jokingly, I asked if she could crochet me a zeppelin. Then I found this.

Oh Jen....

Just can't get enough

Purple and Black Sailor Suit

Momma and I are in Prescott with my Big Sister visiting Momma's friend Jennifer. (Jennifer first met me at Comicon and now just can't seem to Get Enough of me.)  

Red, Black and White Whimsy

This morning we had my First Fitting of Three New Outfits!  


Jennifer's never made anything for anyone Quite Like Me so she's had to Experiment. What do you think so far?

Red, White and Blue Bathing Dress

(The crocheted clothes are a Bit Warm now but will Feel Wonderful once we return to Chilly Philadelphia.)

Momma and my Big Sister leave for Ankle Biters Camp this afternoon, but I shall be chilling with Jennifer while she Completes my new Wardrobe.

And see What Else we can get into while Momma's away....

The crux of the matter is about Me

I was going to write about fires since Arizona (where Momma now lives) is Burning Badly when I found out I got some publicity on Another Blog.

It's About Time others started Noticing Me!

Momma's friend Jennifer is an Incredibly Talented Crocheter who has produced Many Fine doll items (Weasley sweaters for Harry and Ginny and dirigible plum accessories for Luna) but Nothing for Me. Until now!

My Horcrux Adventure with Steampunk Addie

I've been friends with Steampunk Addie's Momma for more than 30 years. So, when the HPKCHC assignment for Muggle Studies was to make a doll or something for a doll... I knew just who to ask for help.

 I should think so!

These horcruxes sound like Evil of the Worst Kind so I shall take Great Pleasure destroying them with my new aether pistol. (I've discovered that while it only Stuns people it destroys Evil objects!)

Hmm, I wonder if He Who Must Not be Named is behind the Arizona fires? It seems like the Dastardly kind of thing He would do....

On the Net: http://justforfun2291.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-horcrux-adventure-with-steampunk.html