Middie Monday is a feature that is published on the first Monday of each month! A guaranteed monthly post on Blythe’s little sister – Middie! If you have any suggestions for a future Middie Monday post, please send me an email or use my Suggestions form!

It’s December, which also means that one of my favourite holidays is coming up soon! Now what does that have to do with Middies? Not much, but I was musing a bit about what Blythe-related (and Middie-related!) gifts I’d be putting on my wishlist if I was still doing that. For my Middies though, I do think they need something for the holiday season. Given their meager outfit choices between two of them (poor things), I’m thinking I need to work on the following:

• Outerwear (coats) and accessories (hats, scarves)
• Dresses (just more of them, a greater selection)
• Separates (tops and bottoms – this is literally at the bottom of my list because something about sewing doll-sized pants makes me apprehensive of sewing…)
• Shoes (to be bought)

Basically, my Middies need a little of everything. And if they felt hot or cold, they’d be shivering in their little plastic shoes right now. Not boots though, because I only have one pair of boots that really fit them (I’m a bad Middie owner…).

Do you own Middies? Do they suffer in comparison to their bigger Blythe sisters on the wardrobe or shoe front? What do your Middies want (or need)?

Month #3 was the month that I fell flat on. I got to photo 70 of 365 before I just kind of stumbled with taking photos. It was also the same day that I started my new job (sort of, officially/unofficially), which was back on November 9th and no photos were taken since.

The month of November began with a Halloween Blythe meet on the 1st, followed by knitting, collecting birthday swag, turning another year older, and beginning orientation for my new job as a casual Registered Nurse. Since the 9th/last day I took a photo of Eden for 365, I’ve started working and have been really busy! Hopefully it settles a bit soon and I get into more of a routine so I can spend some time on my hobbies too.

365 challenges are hard. They are so simple in concept – take a photo once a day. Until you actually try to do it, then it’s a little bit more difficult. I didn’t get as far as I did with my first attempt at a 365 challenge with Eden (114 of 365), but that’s okay. I have different priorities now and the holiday season is upon us. It’s been a good run, and I would like to try again at a 365 (perhaps with a different doll?) in the future once things settle a bit for me with work.

I was eyeing my KLIPPAN the other day (the pink Blythe-sized one from HUSET, not a real 1:1 scale couch) and was thinking how much better it would look if it was a different colour. Now, I know that there are slip covers available online like via Etsy but I’m still trying to curb the spending and keep my ‘fun’ spending on the lower side of things because it’s not a necessity. Trying to live a frugal life with a luxury hobby like Blythe is almost like a paradox in a way because it’s Blythe and not exactly a frugal or inexpensive hobby no matter how you look at it.

So I got the idea that I would knit a slip cover for the KLIPPAN. I’m sure you’re all thinking “But Michelle, sewing would be so much faster” and yes, it would be, but you don’t understand how poor of a sewer I am in terms of actually sewing in straight lines. I’m a lot better at knitting, and with the mishaps that may happen it may very well be faster for me to knit the slip cover than it would be for me to sew one. I really wanted to go for a much different colour than the original pink colour (I will not be painting it as I do like the stock pink colour), so I picked out a few colours that I was musing about.

I decided on the one in the middle (the brown), mostly because it’s something that seemed like it would be a good neutral choice – mostly because while I love the reddish purple and the green, I thought a nice neutral colour might be better for now. I have my supplies (yarn, needles, couch for sizing it up against) and I’m probably going to attempt to write a pattern for all of the pieces as I work on it (in case anyone else is as crazy as I am, and for when I decide to go with another colour!). I think it’ll be fun to try to work in different stitch patterns to get the different textures for some visual interest.

Hopefully this pans out. At the time of writing, I have not started actually knitting this. I’m not sure if it will turn out or if it will be a lesson in futility. Hopefully it works out and I don’t regret wasting the time on it (and if it does turn out funny, at least I know?).

I have quite a few wants, not needs, when it comes to Blythe. Just a few, but here they are in no particular order:

• I want an affordable Blythe doll that comes with translucent plastic that doesn’t become overpriced on the secondary market before pre-orders even get shipped out the door (and then I also want to own one, preferably with pink hair)
• I want more doll boots (because tiny shoes are my favourite things), I’d also love for Takara to produce another set of boots/shoes! It’s been almost 5 years since the Shoe Cruise Day & Night sets were released (December 2010, according to Blythopia.com).
• I want official Middie outfit sets or shoes releases! It’s also been a long time since the last official Blythe outfit set (2009).

• I want a doll with curly hairy that doesn’t look like a hot nest the moment it leaves the box. Is that so difficult to achieve? (Above is Cedar, my Monique Magnifique – this is post at least one hair detangling session.)
• I want to add a couple more dolls to my family – but being responsible is kind of making that unlikely right now! If I did have the funds, I’d love to add a BL (my first!) and another Kenner to the doll family.
• I want to craft more! When I was down about not having a job, I didn’t really spend a lot of money on my dolls because of the fact that there’s such a buy-buy-buy mentality that I can get into at times. This is one of the reasons why I tend to buy in bursts – a lot of purchases in a very short period of time, and then I sit there wondering about where my money all went! I’ve definitely tightened the proverbial belt when it comes to unnecessary spending, which makes me want to do more – which includes using supplies (that I already own!) to create things.

Some of these wants (mostly the curly hair, adding new dolls to my family at this moment in time) are a bit more of a pipe dream than other wants right now, but I do think some of them are achievable. Including the aspect of crafting more, and perhaps sending an email to the people who make the decisions about new doll and accessory designs that there are people who want more shoe sets in hopes of getting it done.

What are some things that you want more of when it comes to Blythe? Share in the comments below!

Some days I can recall life pre-Blythe well. I was frequently in jeans, tees, and hoodies. The few dresses I had in my wardrobe either a) did not fit me anymore because they were from my younger years and I grew or b) was my grad dress. Since I got into Blythe six years ago, I’ve branched out a bit and I’d like to think that my fashion choices have gotten a little bit more sophisticated from the time that I was nineteen.

Now, I’m not sure how much of this was due to Blythe being a fashionable doll and being overly bombarded with images of dolls in really cute outfits and how much of this was due to me just growing up, having more spending money for clothing and just being more aware of how I wanted to dress. That said, I’m in a profession where my work clothes are scrubs and those are essentially like wearing pajamas at work so who knows where I’m going with this.

One of the tiny influences in my life.

In the process of knitting tiny sweaters and cardigans for dolls, I’ve wound up buying (not knitting…) sweaters and cardigans for myself. It’s a great process that winds up with the dolls getting clothed and the money that possibly would have gone to clothing the Blythes have gone to, well, clothing me. I read a lot of times where people buy their dolls fancy dresses or really detailed clothing, but they themselves are wearing jeans that get patched over or having bought themselves anything new for a good long while. It’s nice to be able to treat yourself to something new once in a while. I noticed a few years back that I didn’t think twice about buying a doll dress that was $30-50, but I hemmed and hawed over a jacket for me that was the same amount of money. And I needed to change that mindset. This may have been because I had quite a few expensive doll dresses at the time, but also because I needed to get a new jacket.

If nothing else, I personally wear a lot more pink now (thanks Eden!), and I take into consideration what I need in my own wardrobe when considering if it’s a “good idea” to drop more money on doll clothes.

Doll shoes are always always fair game. I just love tiny shoes.

Do you remember to treat yourself from time to time or do you primarily spend your hobby/spending money on the plastic family?