I found the size 7 needle I needed at A Balanced Skein, and to be quite honest, I would rather my money go to support them, seeing as they're small, they're local, and they have a higher caliber of yarn. (I also bought some yarn, including a skein of something that is going to go to make a future surprise for someone if I can get it made in time....and a skein of very pretty deep blue-green tweedy sock yarn).
I also went to "Touch of Class" antique mall, just a few steps away.
And had the best day of antiquing - at least in terms of "best single item found" - that I've had in a while:
No, not the book, though that's one I've looked at the two previous times I was there (it was $8) and not bought it; decided third time was the charm. It's a memoir by the daughter of conductor and pianist Walter Damrosch. I'm not that familiar with him but the snippets I read seemed interesting, from both a historical (I guess it's set in the very early 1900s) and cultural (Damrosch was a German immigrant) perspective.
But the thing that made me grin with delight is on the right there.
My very first spotting "in the wild" so to speak (as opposed to on Etsy or eBay or sent to me by a friend) of a vintage Pony. It's Butterscotch, one of the very first ones. I admit I debated at first: she was marked $17.50, a bit more than what I typically pay, and she is kind of grimy (I am hoping that is just surface dirt, though if soap doesn't work I do know a cloth with a little dilutes OxyClean on it will safely clean them).
But then I decided: well, she's one of the early ones. And you NEVER see these out for sale where you go shopping (I don't know, maybe if I hit the thrift stores more regularly, I'd find some, though I bet I'd find more G4 or G3 ones). And then I picked her up and saw her feet:
She's a flat-foot pony. That means she's the very first run of these (well, the very first run of My Little Ponies were a big, hard-plastic critter, but she's the first of the line pony collectors know and love). They are, I understand, a bit less common than the "collector pose" that came in the next year.
So that confirmed it - she was coming home with me. (Well, I'd already decided, because the crouton-petting side of my personality was going "SHE NEEDS ME! SHE NEEDS ME TO CLEAN HER UP AND UNBRAID HER TAIL AND MAKE HER PRETTY")
And yeah, I didn't quite go so solipsistic as to say "IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE" but I did smile to myself and go "Well, maybe you weren't such a terrible person this year after all, if the universe has sent you a My Little Pony at a not-out-of-reach price*"
(*Sometimes the local antiques stores go "YEAH THIS THING IS HOT RIGHT NOW" and way overprice it. $17.50 is maybe a *little* high for a Butterscotch, but it's not terrible.)
So yeah, that's my early-evening activity: give her a bath and wash her mane and tail and see if I can get her a little prettier than she is now. (She has a mark on her upper lip that might not come off, but you can't expect perfection in something that's more than 35 years old and was made to be a toy)
So one quick "pony selfie" before I give her a bath. (There might be more photos later depending on the outcome of the bath and how fast her mane and tail dry):
Edited to add:
ALL CLEAN! Most of the stuff was, as I thought, surface grime, and a little soap and a little gentle scrubbing removed it. She has a couple of tiny pinpoint dots that are probably a flaw in the plastic (it happens), but they're not unsightly, and I think the whole "Pony Cancer" thing wasn't real (spots that spread and grew; someone hypothesized they were a fungus, but I think later research showed they weren't growing or spreading to other ponies)
(I didn't submerge her but yes, it's possible a little water got in. I think it will be OK. There is no sign of tail rust on her and I keep my house pretty dry - and her neck joint seemed pretty tight)
I used my own shampoo and conditioner. Maybe there's a better product for this nylon "dolly" hair, but I didn't have any. If I go big into finding and "rescuing" dirty ponies I should see if such a thing exists.
I combed the conditioner out gently (and wow, these old ponies have good dolly hair: NONE of it pulled out and it was easy to get it all smooth). And I pressed out the excess water with a towel, and dried her off and then
Used chenille stems to "set" her hair. I'm not as good at this step as some "Pony Mommies" are but I assume after it dries I can maybe brush it gently; a lot of this old dollyhair has a "memory" and will go back to much like its original state after washing and air drying.
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