Emily's Musings on Knitting: Dummies in our Midst

There hasn't been much knitting chez Emily, mostly due to the purchase of a new computer and the playing of Civilization IV. I love all the Civ games (yes, I am a dork, and I'm fine with that). I had been wanting this new one, which actually came out last fall, for some time, but my old computer (which was on its last legs (I think), hence the new one) couldn't handle it. I played it once at my friend Rem's house, and liked it, although it's more complicated than the old versions (of course). Now that I have my own, I love it. The graphics are great, it's 3D, and you can zoom way in. Plus, you can build pastures around little horses, cows, and SHEEP. It's great. I was at it for over 4 hours last night, and I sense tonight may be the same...pathetic, I know...
But what I really wanted to show you all was what I did on Sunday. We made (well, Pam and Rachel made, and I documented the proceedings) duct tape dummies at Rachel's mom's house in Gig Harbor.

Here are some photos from early on in the proceedings:

Pam is looking a bit more cheerful than Rachel, although we were all having quite a good time. Here's Pam, just about finished, with Kristen (left) and Shibani:

Pam and Rachel got a little punchy in their armored suits!

Pam even did a bit of knitting in her armor,

using some handspun that she's making on the wheel she borrowed from a friend in Portland. Between her and Rachel (and Daisy, but she's been very busy, as you can see on her blog, and not spinning so much these days) there has been a lot of spinning going on in the Fiberphiles. The bug didn't bite me, but maybe I'll come back to it in good time. Cutting off the dummies was quite a process, and ended up requiring four people - one to cut and two for leverage, plus Pam in the armor:

The dummies came out really well, and should be quite useful as sewing forms. The impetus for making them was so that Rachel could cut and paste an old UFO to the right size. Due to the complicated pattern she decided that a form (and cutting and sewing) would be best, instead of trying (again) to rip it out and reknit it to size. Here are the finished dummies, in repose on the sofa,

Pam's on the left, Rachel's (with more 3D territory, as Pam said) on the right. It was a really great time, and thank you to Rachel's mom for hosting us!