Warning: picture-heavy post. If you're on dialup, you might want to go check the mail or change the laundry over to the dryer.

I don't know - I just got to feeling like taking a lot of pictures today.

First, my antiquing trip. I didn't find a whole lot of things, and I'm often envious of bloggers who seem to live in an area where better stuff turns up in thrift shops (here, it's stuff that's really truly on its last legs and anything nice winds up in the antique shops). But I did add a few things to a small ongoing collection I have.

A couple years ago, I started occasionally buying little figurines of dogs as I found them. The only stipulations I have is that I have to like the figurine (duh), it has to be appealing to me in some way, and it has to be stamped "Made in Japan."

I'm not sure why about that last one except that I think that's a hallmark of an older figurine - Japan had probably ceased doing this kind of thing (and shifted over to more-profitable items) by the 1960s.

I've acquired quite a little family:



My favorite one, I think, is the springer-spaniel type dog in the back. He (and yes, you can *just barely* tell it's a he) has an interesting expression and there's a mix of grey and mustard color on him.

The little Bonzo dog on the right is different from the others and actually isn't really part of the "family" per se; he's a pincushion except the pincushion he once held in his top hat is gone. I keep saying I need to take a little square of the 1930s era fabric I have on hand and make a new pincushion to go in his hat so he will serve his purpose again.

Yesterday was a good day for dog-hunting. I found three specimens (out of numerous ones I saw) that charmed me enough (and were reasonably priced enough) for me to want to take them home:



A shiny dog with some kind of a lusterware type glaze. I think (or at least the tag said) that it (I'm leaning towards thinking of this one as a "she") is a German shepherd.



A comic bulldog (most of my dogs are at least semirealistic but this one made me smile) sticking his tongue out.



A terrier, with a pretty brown glaze, nice deeply molded fur, and a winsome expression.

I started the collection a couple of years ago, with the little bulldog that is on the far right of the first photo. I bought it because it was inexpensive (I think it was $3) and because it reminded me a little bit of a dog-and-doghouse figurine set my grandma had in her "front room" (except hers was smaller and I think the dog was sitting down). After I bought the bulldog, then I saw the spaniel and the hound with brown ears on a later trip and decided to get them to be "company" for the bulldog. And I've kept buying, off and on, as I see things I like.

Right now they live on the shelves of one of my bookshelves but I'd eventually like to get a larger wall shelf where they can all be together.

I think I said once before that the stuff that tends to appeal to me in the antique shops are not the "true" antiques - not the Royal Doulton or the Steuben Glass things. I like the humbler stuff, the stuff that probably came from a dime store when it was first purchased. I think that's because it's easier for me to imagine the people who owned it - maybe a young teenager bought the terrier to decorate her dressing table, or a young couple got the spaniel dog to "class up" their little parlor. The "rich folks" stuff tends to leave me a little cold (well, I can't really afford it anyway) but the stuff that people like my grandparents would have owned - I'm charmed by it and want to bring it home so I can enjoy it myself.

Speaking of stuff one's grandparents had:

One of the things my grandmother had when I was growing up was one of these little elves. I think they were probably pretty ubiquitous in the 1950s and 60s. I always liked the little elf - hers was green - and was sad when, because of other family trauma when my grandmother passed on (one aunt was in the hospital, another was slowly dying, and my mom and dad were getting ready to move), a lot of my grandmother's stuff wound up getting lost - either stolen by renters who rented her house, or thrown out, or something. I sort of regret that a lot of the little things she had disappeared - especially the Christmas ornaments, which I had some strong memories attached to.

But I did find this little guy in an antique store and I can look at him and remember Christmas at Grandma's.

I also have my little tree up.



And one of the reasons I love Christmas decorating is that I have an excuse to bring out some of my "critters" and put them on display. Here are three bears that sit under my tree: the biggest one is a "Millenium commemorative" bear that I got stupid-cheap at Dillard's on sale, and the medium sized one is a bear masquerading as a reindeer that was an impulse-buy at a Christmas store here in town. The littlest one - who is not so totally Christmassy but he has a green sweater and I like him so he gets to be out on display - is the "Aer Lingus" bear my mother bought for me on her trip to England a couple years ago. (His name is "Paddy" which is, yes, stereotypical but I like the name on him so it stays).

And I also have other critters. This is a reindeer made out of a pair of argyle socks, kind of like the sock dogs that all the craftbloggers went nuts over in 2002 or so. I'm embarrassed to admit that unlike most of the critters I make, he doesn't even have a name!

You can also see that Fred and Ginger have taken up residence on that chair. They seem to fit well there.


I also did finish one thing this weekend - the AAUW gift-exchange gift hat:

I used the leftover Paton's "Rumor" from the slippers I made. And if you've read this far, a question: I know I have kind of a wonky fashion sense so look at the colors and tell me: ugly or pretty? If you got this in a gift exchange would you be happy or disappointed? Because if the hat isn't worthy, I can find or make something else; I have time. I mean, I like the hat but I tend to like things that are that kind of a mix of colors and I know not everyone does.

(It might help to know that I am the youngest woman in the group, most of the others range from 60 to 80 but most of them are pretty down-to-earth people; they're not Botoxers or anything like that.)

And finally: a couple more links - I've been cruising for crochet-critter patterns again.

"ugly" duckling (Though I'd say it's not so much ugly as cute.)

fat little lamb

toy cat from a vintage pattern

Donut pincushion. Mmmmmm, donuts. I like the idea of using multicolored glass-headed pins to look like "sprinkles" on it. I think this would make a fun little gift for someone who sews.

And one that...well, I said I have a wonky fashion sense but I don't think it extends to items like a Weenie Link Scarf, but maybe there are people who would find this an amusing or thoughtprovoking "statement."

I'm thinking about these because I started the crocheted baby Triceratops using - no less - some silver Glitterspun that I bought on clearance (I only have one ball - 1 3/4 oz. - and the pattern calls for 3 oz., but based on past toymaking experience, you never use a whole ball for a smallish toy, so I'm going to take a chance on it). I'm tentatively calling her Gloria - after Gloria Gaynor, the only disco star I can think of at the moment - because really, a silver glitter triceratops HAS to have some disco in her, no?

(I also find it amusing that an extinct critter is named for someone who is best known for the song, "I Will Survive," which I think is frankly one of the kick-ass songs of all time.)