The Adventures of Columbine Duskywing

On the trail of Giant Rainbow Snails is Columbine Duskywing, fearless freelance Malacologist for Hanover College, along the banks of the Ohio river.

Columbine is the daughter of Professor Horace S. Duskywing, head of the department of Invertebrate Studies at Hanover, an eminent Lepidopterist, and in 1869 elected chairman of the Society of Kentucky Lepidopterists.

Columbine's mother is the Lady Acadia Hairstreak, a woman of wealth and a notorious social butterfly of the lower Ohio river.  A longstanding question among the society of the Ohio river is how the dusty Professor Duskywing ever managed to beguile the lovely  Lady Acadia to be his bride.  Maybe Columbine being a seven month child had something to do with it...

Not having strong maternal instincts,  Lady Acadia left most of the childrearing to her husband;  a gentle academic with a vague fondness for this unexpected daughter.  He provided few rules of behavior, a shocking oversight in Victorian society.  He expected obedience, respect, and curiosity; he gave affection, and unlimited use of the university libraries.

From an early age, Columbine could be found sitting, crosslegged as often as not, on the dusty floor of the library, nose buried in some book of natural history or exploration.  Marco Polo! Amerigo Vespucci!  James Cook! Charles Darwin! Great stories of discovery, but no women.

Dust motes shimmered in the pale light of the one window in the library, but Columbine did not see them dancing.  No women.  Couldn't women discover a continent, or a new species, or sail around the world?  There was Ida Laura Pfeiffer, the Austrian woman who had traveled (twice!) around the world, documenting plants, minerals, and mollusks as she traveled, but no other woman on these library shelves.

What might she discover, Columbine mused.  The Giant Rat of Sumatra, Kraken of the Arctic ocean, Blue Mountains Panthers in the Australian Blue mountains?  Maybe the famed Rainbow Snails of Yellowwood Forest...

Quite unexpectedly, Columbine's mother realized that at 18, Columbine was quite a lovely girl, in spite of her shockingly unconventional behavior.  The only interest that Lady Acadia ever bestowed on her offspring was to plan her coming out season and ball, much to Columbine's dismay.  Columbine simply could not bear to be squeezed into a corset, and paraded to polite society like a prize broodmare.  Ugh!

So quietly, on a clear but moonless night, Columbine packed a small rucksack with her precious books on invertebrate zoology, journal, magnifiers, a spare shirt and a bar of soap, and some jewelry she would never wear.  Dressed as a laborer, she climbed out her bedroom window with the false dawn, and headed North.  Looking for Rainbow Snails and Adventure!

Looks like she found them!

Check out the links throughout the post :-)

Marguerite Rose and her Rabbits

Marguerite Rose loves her rabbits!  She is a Lalylala mod based on Rita the Rabbit and my own Petite Paul.  I found her lovely rose embroidery on Pinterest, and the rabbit pattern on Ravelry:

Hops the Bunny Rabbit

Marguerite Rose is crocheted with Knit Picks Palette and Stroll fingering weight yarn and a size 1 steel hook.  Her rose motif is cross-stitch embroidered using the same yarns.  Her rabbits are also crocheted, holding one strand of Palette and one strand of Pirouette lace weight mohair together, with a size C crochet hook.

Miranda, the Owl Whisperer

Midnight on silent wings

Through snowy forests cold

Sudden fear the night owl brings

Hunting field and fold.

Whispering above the trees

Against the moon she flies,

Silent as the fading breeze

As twilight darkness dies.

Miranda is an owl whisperer, someone who can commune with these hunters of the night.  She is based on Lalylala's Paul the Toadstool pattern, modified to be smaller, and with a sweet owl motif cross-stitched to her torso (the cross stitch pattern is a free chart from from LucyKateCrafts)

Miranda's owl minions are Ariel, a Collared Scops owl; Basil, a Northern Saw-whet owl; and Cassandra, a Snowy owl.  I am happy to share the pattern for these three owls:

Miranda's Owls

When it is chilly in the woods, Miranda wears a knit cardigan sweater duplicate stitched with grape hyacinth flowers.  The sweet embroidery is a free chart available on Ravelry:  Hexipuff Spring Flowers, and the sweater pattern is another pattern I am happy to share with you:

Miranda's Knit Cardigan

And finally, no owl whisperer would be without her owl hat, which conveys special powers to understand owl-speak :-)

Miranda's Owl Hat

Miranda, her minions, and her clothing were all crochet or knit with Knit Picks Palette, a lovely wool fingering weight yarn.  Miranda, the owls, and the cap were crocheted using a size 1 steel hook (close to a B hook, or 2.25mm).  The cardigan sweater was knit, using both single point needles (for the body) and double point needles (for the sleeves) with  2.75mm knitting needles.

Petite Paul, a Lalylala mini modification

I have fallen under the spell of Lydia Tresselt's, aka Lalylala's, patterns.  However, I like smaller dolls, so I took Paul the Toadstool and modified the pattern to create Petite Paul :-)  If you purchase Paul the Toadstool, you can easily make Petite Paul; the modification pattern is not a stand-alone.

Petite Paul Modifications

Petite Paul has the same sweet body shape, with a move-able head.

From this basic modification, I made Poppy, Paul's partner in mischief and best friend :-)

Poppy wears a removable pinafore, which is quite easy to make.  The bodice is worked side-to-side with fingering weight yarn and a size D crochet hook.  Chain 11, sc in the second chain from the hook and each chain across.  Work for 34 rows.   The bodice follows the same basic design as all of my crochet camisoles, so with this basic information, you can make your own for Petite Poppy.

For the skirt, I used a pattern from the Harmony Guide for Crochet.  You can use any pattern you like to make the skirt.  I crocheted some flowers to adorn the pinafore, and her simple hat, which is from on of the other Lalylala patterns.

Lydia's patterns are a wonderful platform for your own creativity.  I highly recommend them as they are well written, and have given me hours and hours of enjoyable crochet :-)

Adelaide and Little Alice

I know the Lalylala patterns by Lydia Tresselt have been around for a while, but in the last week they have completely captivated me.  Adelaide, from Lalylala's Kira pattern, is my first doll.   The pattern is extremely well written, and the doll has such an endearing quality.

I crocheted Adelaide and little Alice from Knit Picks Palette yarn with a size 1 steel hook (close to a B hook, 2.25mm).  Adelaide is 10 inches tall, and Alice is 2 1/2 inches.  I gave Adelaide some soft brown braids with worsted mohair yarn, and had fun with colors; the perfect antidote for grey winter days!

Adelaide also has a move-able head; something that is easy to do with any crochet doll that has the head made separately from the torso.  Any doll can be done this way.  Below is a quickie picture tutorial of the process:

Just modify the torso to create a neck stub, and when stuffing the head leave a cavity for this neck stub to fit up into.  It is as simple as that, and creates a charming movement to the doll, and preserves the nice round shape of the head.

I think Adelaide needs some friends!