Hello Sophie fans!

It’s a miserable Wednesday around here these days. I think you’ve all been introduced to some of my sisters before.  I’m not talking about the old broods that have been talked about over and over again, I’m talking about my younger sisters. Most notably Eden Mouse. She’s young, she’s immature, she’s territorial with her clothing and shoes. Plus, Michelle got in a cute pair of boots and then she stole them from me because “Ohhh, it’s pink! Everything pink is mine!” like that means something. I don’t know where she gets off doing things like that all the time. Little sisters are difficult to live with – so I’ve decided to share some ways that I deal with my younger sisters.

• Be the ‘bigger person’ – figuratively. Michelle is more likely to let me have the new clothes first (which she should anyways…) if I’m nice the others. I don’t know why being nice is a necessity, but it gets me new clothes and she’s more likely to make things for me if I ask (nicely).
• Hide all their toys. I hide away Eden’s toys so she can’t ask me (or the others) to play dolls with her. I don’t understand why she thinks that I would play with dolls. I’m a model and an occasional blogger – I don’t have time to play with dolls!
• Send them off on a wild goose chase. Best thing ever. I tell Eden I can’t find something random (that I don’t own) and then get her to help me find it. It keeps her occupied for hours on end and gives me peace of mind and a quiet place to hang around because she’s not yammering on and on about how “great” the colour pink is. There’s only so much one can stand listening to how great pink is and how she’s got another pair of pink boots.

Sophie is a mostly stock Cappuccino Chat that came to live with me in June 2009. She loves shoes, new clothes, playing with her hair, fashion, magazines full of fluff and shopping. She aspires to be a model and would like to model for some of the ‘great’ dolly fashion houses one day.

From time to time, I get asked why I decided to do a blog about Blythe. There was a simple reason really: because I could. I’ve been blogging in some form or fashion since about 2003. Back then, the blogging platform that a lot of people used was Greymatter (I blogged from 2003-2006, then took a break and in 2007 I started blogging again in WordPress!). So with my years of knowledge, I’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks for (dolly) bloggers and hopefully you’ll learn a little something!

Get organized, stay organized
I utilize WordPress plugins when I can. I use self-hosted WordPress (so your mileage may vary if you’re using WordPress.com to host your WP blog) so I’ve installed many plugins to keep my blog running smoothly. The most handy of the WP plugins that I use has to be WordPress Editorial Calendar. I use it to have a quick glance to make sure that my posts for the week are in fact scheduled and not in draft status, and to easily scroll through and see what I have upcoming for BlytheLife in terms of posts, giveaways and other excitement.

Photo editing can be done without fancy programs
When I suffered some computer malfunctions, I had to turn to internet-based photo editing programs while I was still working on installing my much-used programs yet again. My favourite alternative to Adobe Photoshop has got to be Pixlr. Pixlr is also available as an app as Pixlr Express and Pixlr-o-matic for both Android and Apple products. I use the online version a lot (but I also use Pixlr-o-matic on my phone and you can create some fun effects!) to do some quick editing. If I just want to do a little colour boost and add a white border, I tend to turn to Pixlr now just for the efficiency. However, for more detailed work, I still use the program that I’ve always loved – Photoshop, but that’s not free! It’s really easy to resize, crop and add text to photos with Pixlr – I’ve even used it for images that have ended up on the blog! Here’s an example of a photo that I edited using Pixlr (left is before, right is after).

Give yourself a schedule, any kind of schedule
If it’s one thing that I think bloggers should do – and I’ve been guilty of not doing it (not here) – it’s to stay consistent. Nobody wants to start following a blog and then have the blogger fall off the face of the earth. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but sometimes it is! Not everyone can blog every single day (I know that I can’t!), but you can blog once a week, twice a week, twice a month – whatever your schedule is, try to keep it regular. That way your readers can anticipate when to come back to visit you and you can give yourself a goal to meet. For me, I tend to have posts go up three times a week. However, I don’t necessarily write three posts per week. Scheduling the posts in advance helps me to keep to my schedule, and it also helps me get content up while I’m in school. For instance this post was written on December 29th, 2012 and I’ve scheduled it for the day that it published (January 9th). Technology sure is marvelous!

Make it easy for people to follow your blog
The great thing about the internet, and pretty much all web browsers, is that it’s really easy for people to follow your blog. They can book mark it or add it to whatever RSS feed that they happen to be using to keep up to date on the latest blog posts. However, you should at least make it easy for them to do so! BlytheLife uses FeedBurner, now owned by Google, which allows an easy way for people to add this blog to their lists of blogs that they read. When added, they will find out when new posts are up. The easier it is for people to follow your blog and to find out when new posts are up, the more likely they are to read it!

On the internet, 365 is known as being the daily photography challenge. You can do a 365 project of just about anything: self portraits, your kids, your pets, or your Blythe dolls (just to name a few things).

I started my first 365 project on February 23, 2010 with a little doll that you may be familiar with: Sophie. I decided on Sophie because she was the one I was the most familiar with, personality wise, and plus she looks good in a lot of things. I may have also been playing favourites at the time and decided that it was tag, you’re it! 365 is not for the faint of heart. I’m not saying that because it’s really, really hard (which it is) but because it’s just a long, long time to be doing something.

A year can seem both really long and really short at the same time. It’s a year of remembering to take a photo, maybe make up something witty for the commentary, maybe remember that a doll’s been in the same outfit (in photos!) for the last three weeks. Maybe I’ll remember that (but I probably won’t).

The idea seems simple – take a photo of something once a day. What can be difficult about that? And now that I have a smartphone, I can just snap a quick little shot and upload it to Instagram or Flickr while I’m on the bus or during a study break – I don’t even need to use a ‘real’ camera or pull out any camera cables! But it’s more than just taking any photo, but one that you’re willing to share. And I took a lot of really bad photos during my 365 with Sophie. I had photos taken in poor lighting, I’m pretty sure that most of my photos were taken in my room rather than in more interesting locations like other people take their 365 Blythes. But that’s okay, because that’s what worked for me in that time (I was a full-time student taking a full course load… I’m still a full-time student taking a full course load…).

I wanted to challenge myself again. Even if half of the photos that I take in the next year end up being mostly from Instagram (and I’m sure a lot of them will be), at least I will have done it again. And this time, I’ve decided to not put myself (and Sophie) through the hassle of making her my 365 girl again (she’s far too busy these days with spending my money and writing her Love, Sophie column!). I decided to choose someone else, someone a little bit ‘younger’ in terms of personality and someone who may appear a little… pinkish at first.

BlytheLife readers, may I introduce you to Eden Mouse? She’s a mostly stock Punkaholic People who loves pink, almost always keeps her pink mouse helmet on, adores cotton candy and playing with dolls. She’s ‘younger’ than my other dolls and has the same hair cut that I did when I was very young.

The last Friday of every month is part of a feature on BlytheLife.com, Friday Five. Welcome everyone to this month’s installment! I mention 5 things I love every month.

For the month of December I wanted to share several doll related blogs that I love, that I read and that I recommend. Some of these blogs have been featured before – but they’re just that good.

1. My Plastic Fantasy – by Alice
2. 222.org – by Katie
3. Makie Couture – by Dr Duckie
4. CraftyGirl* – by Emily
5. Smidge House – by Carmen

December’s Friday Five will be the last of the regular monthly installments of the column. I will have sporadic Friday Five installments in the future, so it’ll still be around – just not every month. 2013 marks a new year and I have many new  things to showcase on the blog! I hope you’ve enjoyed the Friday Five series.

Supplies Needed

• 4.00mm/US G-6 crochet hook
• Small amount of sock yarn (good project for remnants!)
• Yarn/darning needle
• Scissors

Gauge
2 st per 1 cm

Pattern Notes
Total number of stitches that you should have at the end of each round is mentioned in the parentheses at the end of each round.

Abbreviations
sc = single crochet
st = stitch
sl st = slip stitch

Toque Directions
Round 1: Crochet 6 sc in a magic ring (6).
Round 2: *2 sc in next st* repeat 6 (12).
Round 3: *sc 1, 2 sc in next st* repeat 6 (18).
Round 4: *sc 2, 2 sc in next st* repeat 6 (24).
Round 5-9: Work even in sc (24).
Round 10: Work even in sl st (24).
Fasten off, tuck in ends.

Scarf Directions
Chain 16 (or as long as you want – 1 ch is the turning chain)
Sc across (15).
Fasten off, tuck in ends.

Notes on Pattern Use
This pattern may be used for personal or commercial use provided that full credit is given to BlytheLife.com/Michelle for the pattern (please include a link to the website or pattern page in your sales description). This pattern is not for mass-production manufacturing. You may not sell, republish, repost or claim the pattern as your own. If you have any questions regarding these terms, please email Michelle at michelle@blythelife.com.