Good afternoon, all!
Whew, what a day it’s been! Final, final classes are coming to an end, and after this week summer, aka ‘more free time,’ will officially begin! I have mixed feelings about it, but I’ll hold off on that for now. Crochet-wise, there has been some progress, which I’ll be sharing with you guys very soon.
Before we launch into more crochet endeavors, though, we have some NEWS. MORE new folks have joined the family! This wasn’t exactly expected, but it happened, and we’re all kind of still processing it.
So, to recall what happened after I dropped off Wren….
After Wren’s First Adventure on Sunday, there were still errands to run, and the yarn supply was low, so Mom and I went to the grocery store. Wren was snoozing a little when we got back. I left her and the backpack with supplies and headed out. Target was nearby, and so we stopped in (not the place to get yarn, though–just for a breather). And it was there… oh gosh, yes. It was there that we discovered, hanging on a shelf above the regular OG dolls, a totally new collection of incredibly expressive and beautiful dolls called Lori.
As a disclaimer: To those looking for a review of the dolls, I didn’t get to do one yet because the last couple days have been quite rainy and overcast–not the ideal lighting for a review. However, I’m hoping to do one very soon, once more crochet-related endeavors are completed. 🙂
Mom kind of had a feeling one of them would be coming home. I looked around at the collection–there was a camper, a ballet studio, a model home, and various assortments of pets and outfit sets among the collection. But what stood out to me the most were two ballerina dolls in particular: Adina and Malory.
For comparison, I snapped a photo of them in the store:
The remarkable uniqueness of their eye and hair color is what caught my attention. Adina (on the left) has a gorgeous deep gray eye color, quite close to obsidian, that goes perfectly with her ginger/fiery red hair. Malory, on the other hand, has light gray eyes and smooth honey blonde hair. The differences in hair/eyes/outfit/face paint/etc. enhance the difference in their features. In fact, Mom suggested they were two entirely different face molds. Though I think all Lori dolls are the same–if not having exactly the same mold as Our Generation mini dolls.
Oh, and their outfits are lovely too. Admittedly, I have a tendency to look at the overall doll/outfit value when deciding, but it mostly centers around the quality of the doll, so at times I don’t pay that much attention to the outfit. hehe
It was an impossible decision to make. Eventually, Mom suggested we take both of them home as sisters for Wren. I couldn’t be more delighted with them coming home. As for the rest of the day, it was getting dark by the time we got the groceries and yarn and headed back.
About an hour later, it was time to officially unbox the girls. Wren was still sleeping, so I didn’t wake her up. Instead, I got the two little ones ready for a brief photo shoot, to get an in-depth look at the box opening process.
Here they are inside their boxes, ready to come out:
Malory:
Adina:
The back of the boxes:
I started with Malory’s box first. There were two pieces of circle tape on the top of the box, which was quite easy to get off. Once that was done, the flap opened nicely.
Next came pulling the inner section out of the rest of the box.
Malory looked around curiously as she emerged from the outer box compartment.
It was then a matter of pulling off tape that was holding the plastic strips in place. That part was also pretty easy.
After that, Malory was out of the box! I must have been a little loud opening the box and getting Malory free of all the adhesive, for Wren woke up at that time and was very surprised to see not one, but two new friends around. After a quick introduction, she let Malory lean against her for some photos. (The plastic ballet slippers Malory comes with aren’t very sturdy, and her legs were crossed while in the box, so it was harder for her to stand up.)
Malory turned around so I could take a picture of her very stylish hairdo. I don’t think she’ll be taking it down anytime soon. 😉
The two girls were chatting the whole time, and I asked them to pose for a picture of ‘sisterly bonding.’
We hadn’t forgotten about the other doll, though. Adina was still in her box. She looked more timid and a bit tentative to come out of the box, so this time, I let the other two girls talk to her before she came out to meet them.
A little while later, she underwent the same box-opening process and emerged from the outer layer of the box:
Adina was a little more firmly ‘tied’ to the back of the box. Her wispy hair was tied back in a ponytail that was attached to the cardboard with little white thread:
Once she was out, Wren came over to say hi. Adina also had trouble standing, so Wren kindly lent Adina her boots, and in turn borrowed her new sister’s sparkly golden ballet slippers. As you can see below, Wren’s hair is actually darker than Adina’s, which is of a more coppery tint. I had assumed their hair was relatively the same shade, but Wren’s is more on the auburn side:
Then Malory came over and the three girls had a lovely time chatting and catching up on recent adventures. I didn’t catch much of it, but Wren was telling them what happened earlier in the day, aka her first grand adventure.
It was getting a bit late, so the girls adjourned their conversation. They settled for a family group hug, before going to bed:
It took extra long to decide upon the names of these two new friends, but after talking it through with them, I think we’ve settled with Caoimhe (kee-va) for Adina and Fionnuala (finn-oo-la) for Malory. Their names are based on characters from a short story I wrote as part of a Creative Writing final project. I had an immense amount of fun writing that story, and creating a portfolio. Incidentally, these dolls look 100% like the characters, in my mind. Hence, the ultimate decision to give them those names. (If you’re looking for Irish names for your dolls/characters, this is a great place to find them.)
Also, Wren’s introduction can be found here, for those curious. She is an Our Generation Mini Lana doll. 🙂
Well, that concludes what went on over the weekend! I didn’t expect it all to spread over so many posts, but it turned out really well.
You may be wondering what any of this has to do with crochet. Well, these dolls are going to help Crochet Buddies immensely. They will each be modeling outfits, accessories and other items for sale. (And will do an excellent job of it, to say the least!) They’ll also be blogging about crafts and things; perhaps even crochet, once I teach them how to master the skill. 😉
More crochet developments are in progress, and now I have a couple more items made for the mini dolls, soon-to-be available on the Products For Sale page!
That’s all for now. Watch for more crochet updates coming tomorrow, and the days ahead!~
Orchid
