Kkhymn's Corner

Oh Really? Tuesday Morning?

Some people wonder how dolly collectors can afford all the dolls they collect. Believe me, we all have our sources for getting our dolls at good prices. It is not all about eBay either. There are many  doll forums where people chat about their dolls and sell their gently used and displayed dolls too.

But I am about to share a secret with you. Shhh! It is one of my favorite places to hunt for dolls on a budget. A place where you can get popular and rare dolls at premium discount prices! Where? Well, if you are in the USA, look for a discount store chain called Tuesday Morning. The store has lots of discount household items, furniture, clothes and toys – similar to stores like TJ Maxx and Ross.

But the reason I go there are the toys. Specifically dolls and dolly accessories. Their inventory is constantly changing and limited. You may find an item in one store, but not in the other. So, sometimes, finding the dolls is an adventure and a hunt. I have seen Madame Alexander dolls, Pullip dolls, Toffee dolls, Monster High, Barbie, Littlest Pet Shop, Only Hearts Club and more.  And instead of paying full price for these dolls, you can get them often for 30, 40 or even 50 percent off! Pullip dolls, for example, normally cost $80 to $125 on Ebay and Amazon. But, at Tuesday Morning, you can find them often for $40! It is like finding treasure when you manage to grab just the right doll!

My doll group on Ravelry have all become Tuesday Morning addicts. We share what dolls we find there and their SKU numbers. That way, if any of us want to look for the doll, we can. As long as you have a SKU number, you can call Tuesday Morning at  1-800-901-0881 to see which store the item might be found. What I do is find a potential Tuesday Morning store with the item, call them to confirm that the item is in stock and ask them to hold it. Most stores will hold it for you for the day.

My Toffee Girls

My latest Tuesday Morning find are the Toffee dolls. The Toffee dolls were initially released in 2009. The Toffee line is crafted by Japanese artist Riri Fukuju. world articulated  plush style body, poly glass eyes, plastic resin face and hands. Each doll is articulated with moving joints and a custom outfit that also can be removed and interchanged with other Toffee dolls. My Toffee girls all have adorable bunny ears!

Inside their boxes, you might have passed them over. But, once I removed a Toffee girl out of their box, I fell in love with their design and beautiful, big eyes! I hunted multiple stores for these girls, found one at a great price on eBay, and am on the hunt for just one or two more. They also can be found on Amazon. I am so glad I was late to the game on this doll. Buying them at Tuesday Morning saved my dolly budget. They normally retail for more than $100, but at Tuesday morning they were less than $20!

Even if you don’t have a Tuesday Morning store near you, go look at other discount stores for your dolls. You never know what you may find! And keep sharing the dolly love.

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Truth

The truth is something most people really don’t want to hear. But when you are completely honest with yourself and others, it can scare people. I am going to share the truth with you now but I don’t want you to worry about me or be scared for me. I just want you to understand that living with chronic illness comes with some hard truths.

Yesterday I had a really bad day. Tony had a doctor’s appointment and I had to go with him cause he was not going to be able to drive home. By the time the doctor appointment was finished, I was hurting and tired. I needed to go to the bathroom bad, so we stopped at a Starbucks to get some coffee and use their facilities.

We walked in the door and I could immediately see the open bathroom door at the end of the hallway. I went straight towards it, and let Tony know where I was going. Here I am walking with my cane as best and as fast as I can when behind me a man walks right past me and beats me to the bathroom door. He had to shut the door before he could use it, and he looked straight at me without any remorse or apology in his face.

I was ready to scream. And I lost it. I turned around and yelled at Tony that we are leaving cause a man cut in front of me! I started walking out the door, still upset and looking for another place to go. Tony was upset that I made such a public scene and yelled at him. He did not understand that I was yelling at the situation, and that it was the last straw. I was sooooo angry and Tony just did not get why I was so upset and could not get over it.

Yes, it is a small act of complete rudeness. Yes, it has happened to me before. But no, I could not get over it. I realized that what I was really angry at was my body. It shouldn’t be this hard just to go to the bathroom! People should have manners! My body used to make it to the bathroom without a second thought. I was tired of it. Tired of fighting battles with all the chronic crap. Tired of struggling with the little things, like making it to the bathroom before someone else blatantly beats me to it.

I told Tony that I wanted to die. I wanted a DNR – Do Not Resuscitate form completed. He has known this, but I wanted him to understand. The truth is, if I get a chance to die, I want it.

Living with long term chronic illness is a daily battle, with your doctors, with the medical bills, with the grief of knowing what you used to be able to do, and with your own body. And it sucks. And, the depression that comes along with it as the years go by is not one that is fixed by a pill. It is a depression that you cant get over because the chronic crap doesn’t end. It just keeps going. There is no end date of when things will be ok and fixed and back to normal. If there was, I would not want to die. That is the truth. I don’t need psychological help or anti-depressants. It does not fix things. I know the tools to cope with all the chronic crap. I use them the best I can. Some days I can battle it better than others. But the truth doesn’t change. If I could figure out a way to end the chronic crap, I would. If I get the chance to die, let me. If I get a chance to kick God in the butt and scream at him, let me.

Life is not easy for any of us. Life is not fair. I get that. I am not encouraging anyone to kill themselves either. I know there are people worse than me. I know there are people who are a lot better than me too.  I know I should keep fighting to live my life. But, there are days I pray to God to just let me die.  Let me stop being a burden to my friends and family. Let me not have to struggle for basic health care and figure out how to live off my disability income – something that I still have to prove whenever there is a random review.

You may think, “Normal people don’t talk this way.” You may be freaking out reading this post. Don’t freak out. Just learn. This is normal for people who struggle with long term chronic illness. It is normal for us to want better lives for ourselves and our families. It is normal for us to want to die some days when the battle is just too much to bear. It doesn’t mean we are suicidal or that we will do something to end our lives. It just is the truth. I know it scares you to know this. But wanting to die just means we want the chronic crap to end. It is hard to live every day with pain and a body that has given up and rebelled against you.

The truth is, I will move past yesterday. I will stop crying over my stupid body. I will go back to my days coping with my life with dolly therapy, knitting and random acts of kindness. I will fight on. But it doesn’t change the truth. If I get a chance to die, let me – so I can kick God in the butt and yell to high heaven for all of us who struggle with this chronic crap.

© https://kkhymn.wordpress.com

Happy New Year! I have been busy with new medical appointments and figuring out health stuff still. But I did manage to find some knitting mojo and wrote up a new sweater pattern for your Blythe dolls. My New Year’s gift to you.

Got Sleeves?

This sweater is my Blythe Raglan X-Long Sleeve Sweater, a free pattern download on Ravelry! It’s my own pattern for this popular style of sweater for Blythe dolls.

Update Feb 3: I revised the pattern because I realized I forgot to add the purl rows in between the increase rows in the body of the sweater, immediately following the collar. I have added the extra two purl rows into the pattern (in red) and renumbered the remaining rows. I hope this did not cause folks too much grief. A basic error that should have been caught sooner. My sincere apologies.

This pattern was inspired by the Monster Sweater for Blythe by Jane Pierrepont (aka Polly). I really love monster sweaters for Blythe dolls and Polly’s patterns are often on my favorites list. All of her patterns and knit items can be found on Ravelry here, in her Etsy shop here, or her UK based site here.

Polly’s patterns are always wonderfully written, but her version used DK weight yarn and was not written as a raglan style pattern. I had to figure a way to knit it raglan style with fingering (sock) yarn.

So, my extra-long sleeved sweater for your Blythe dolls is knit with fingering weight yarn and constructed as a top down raglan sweater. This sweater is knit flat in one piece, seamed in the back, with a rolled up collar and bottom edge. The sleeves are knit in the round. The pattern includes different options for the ribbing pattern for the bottom edge of the sweater, as well as different sleeve lengths. You can add a bit of whimsical fun by placing buttons, felt designs and iron on appliques on your finished sweater.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2014 ahead of them. It may not be the perfect year, but hopefully one with more good days than bad and lots of reasons to celebrate with family and friends.

© https://kkhymn.wordpress.com