So I went crazy again and decided to make this door hanging in about a week while taking classes and preparing for finals... yeah... Happy Holidays!!!!
You might be wondering what exactly is this strange Police Box which landed on this unsuspecting doorstep. It is in fact a TARDIS door-hanging made out of felt and love. It even has it's own white board incorporated in the sign! It was a lot of fun to make and more fun to surprise my friend with!
I've crocheted all of the yarn I brought home for break and the rest is at school... Oh, Woe is Me! And thus writing this lament seems the correct and logical thing to do (especially at this time in the morning)
"The Last Thread"
Alas without your warm tangles and gently tug,
I shall never be like a bug in a rug.
The never-ending line has come to a close,
Yet I will see it finished, I suppose.
Not till the end of day,
Will everything be okay.
I recover your brother skein,
They will not be my bane.
With luck and love I will make you comfy,
But that will require a lot of Buffy.
Sitting in the wee hours of the morn',
I crochet this blanket to adorn.
Everyday I slave away,
So it's ready for the holiday.
...that I have stopped work on my brother's Christmas present. This has been remedied! I picked up yarn and hook after a couple of months of needle and thread and started working again! All of the shoreline ocean pieces are done and have now been fully attached to their comrades, making a uniform ocean marred with the occasional port. Now if I wasn't insane this would be where I would stop. One full Catan board... but that's not how I roll. This will be a fully functional AFGHAN BOARD GAME! yes smooth out your bed we are playing Catan on it and it will be the seafarers extension pack and I;m not stopping there. The Cities and Barbarians extension will also be factored in that way we can always play the addition we want and ignore the extensions we don't care about. Also I will be planning out how to crochet little houses, cities, roads, walls, and metropolises soon too! EXCITING! The question is can I get it done before Christmas with this level of meticulous craziness on my hands? I don't know but something is going to happen!
...that I haven't been posting info or pics of my cute little change purses! So far I have Pokéballs, Mr. and Mrs. Packman, and a Penguin. Yes they are all adorable! I can't wait until I can bring myself to sell them... it hasn't happened yet ^_^ They are so cuuuttteeee! That is all.
...that when a bag full of balls of yarn falls on your head it doesn't feel to great... yeah that happened already today.
...that crocheting and updating my blog is more interesting than my homework!
YAY it's after Halloween and our costumes were done (mostly) in time! All that labor: sewing skirts, cutting playpen balls, poking holes, spray-painting, sewing bumps, sewing headbands, spray-painting "plungers," fixing up whisks, attaching LEDs, ironing cummerbunds, the list goes on! Overall it was a fantastic time and we really rocked out our Doctor Who Fan Club's Halloween Party!
We had 7 Dalekettes running around PSU and they were amazing! We even had a Michigan Fan run after us to get a picture... don't worry we exterminated and Michigan in that Game! ;)
I'll get a pic up here soon but I couldn't wait to post!!!
Glittering in the afternoon sun, we have all been dubbed Edward Cullen. Yes we glitter gold but it is so much better because we EXTERMINATE emo vampires! In short the Dalekette dresses are coming along wonderfully! we have cut all of the playpen balls in half, pre-punctured them for easy sewing purposes and spray-painted them gold with an extra layer of crystal clear. In short they are spectacular and shiny!
And we have sooooo many to put on our skirts! Although due to sad :( logistics if we want to be able to sit down in class wearing our costumes we will not be able to put the bumps on the back as we had originally hoped. Sadness and woe. However that does mean we have to attach fewer balls to the skirts :D So only about 150 in all... which doesn't seem to many now but in a few days it will be hell! Also we need to get some interfacing to iron on little circles to the back of the skirts. This way we won't make any pulls or run into any problems when we sew on the bumps. Also with pre-ironed spots to center the bumps in, it will take a lot of the thinking out of the sewing, but then again all of that thinking and more will be needed to iron on the spots in the first place! If you're wondering what 150+ spray-painted gold semi hemispheres looks like you're in luck!
No doubt you're amazed and disoriented by the incredible sparkle blinding you. But through that haze of Edward Cullen Glare (AHHH MY EYES ARE BLEEDING) you may be musing over those black things stuck in the middle of the super protective sea of newspaper. Those would be our super smart, lightweight, and cheep version of the Dalek's plunger... which isn't even a plunger in the show to begin with so why stick with the common stereotype?! Anyway those black spray-painted margarita glasses don't look like much at this angle but when you have on in hand menacingly thrusting it at your dreaded enemy/friend, it looks pretty bad ass and reallllllly nerdy. So here's a last close up from the super terrible angle...
Ironing and hand-sewing is on the schedule for the next couple of weeks and then it's party day!!!
So for the last couple of weeks I've had Setsucon on my mind (it's the anime convention around here). So I have been obsessively compulsively crocheting these cute little change purses. ADORABLE!!!! I've finished off two Pokéballs and am working on Mr. and Mrs. Packman purses. I've also been informed there are such things in the Pokémon universe called Great Balls, Master Balls, and Ultra Balls, which should also be crocheted in copious amounts! :) One of my friends feels obligated to crochet little Pokémon to go inside the balls so when we sell them off we can charge more and the Cuteness Factor breaks the meter! So anyhow the Pokéballs are about 3inches across... very rough guess-to-mate. I'm also thinking about selling the pattern, since I made it up myself but that's still to be decided. Anyhow here are the pics of the Pokéball that I have done!
Wow, I guess I've neglected my blog quite a bit but things around here have picked up their pace and I am once again an overworked English major! That being said everyone needs time to relax and zone-out on some lovely sci-fi (not syfy) while crocheting like a mad lady... yes, everyone does this *nod* So mainly I've been working on my super secret afghan project thing. And hopefully my brother won't find my blog like my sister did... I mean really why would you search for my blog? Oh yeah, I'm amazing! ^_^ Anyhow I have all the ocean pieces for around my main island done and I'm working on single crocheting them together. Actually now that I'm thinking about it maybe I should just chain stitch them together... if it works there would be a less visible joining and it would put more emphasis on the raised roads.
However, I might have to take a break from my afghan for a while since I'm going to go to my first craft swap on Friday and I need something to trade! I'm thinking Pokemon balls will be pretty easy to make and in high demand among my friends, lets see what kind of time I have for them!
EXCITING NEWS: Last weekend I went on a Quilter's Getaway with just about every female in my immediate family. Lets just say there were two sisters from three generations of my family there! But we pulled together and whipped up 10 Dalekette skirts that are adorable! I still have a bunch of work left on them though; we need to iron them, top stitch around the bottom hem (optional), put in the elastic, sew the casing closed, get some interfacing, iron panels of interfacing to the skirts, cut the playpen balls in half, poke holes in them, spray-paint the semi-hemispheres, and attach them to the skirts. Luckily Eri has an iron and we know people with sewing machines. I also need to straighten out the cummerbund situation at home, cut and sew the headbands, attach the lights to the headbands, collect money, and hope it will all look good once it comes together. Oh FYI we added another member so now the entire officer board of the Doctor Who Fan Club will be Dalekettes for Halloween! YAY! So super exciting things are in the works but now I have to go do homework and not take pictures of fun, crafty things! :(
I finally completed the mustache, beard, hat thing for my friend! And yes I was finishing it when I was driving to his house (I swear I wasn't crocheting and driving at the same time!) Anyway I am super proud of the mustache because it turned out so amazing for a pattern I just made up! So straight to the pictures which is the best part of this entry!
And the completed piece (plus a few loose threads)
The only thing I would do a little differently is the beard. I made the face hole a little long so really it hangs past your chin (bad etiquette and a little disturbing). Also the hat part was a little tight but that's very easy to fix. I guess I could have made the beard a little fuller to balance out the awesomeness of the top but whatever I like it!
YAY! I put together my main island for my Settlers of Catan Afghan today! It's about 2 feet across due to the J-hook I'm using. Also I decided to deviate from the pattern a little bit. Instead of sewing them together with an invisible mattress stitch or something of that kind I went for the blatantly obvious joining method. I sandwiched 2 blocks together and then just single crocheted around an edge until the entire island was put together. It was incredibly easy and non stressful... usually I have a billion blocks sitting around for ages waiting to be put together. Not this time! I'm too excited AND I want to get it done by Christmas so there's no stopping me... except I have to stop when my brother's around since it is a SECRET PRESENT!The reason why I hose to add the tan single crochet sashing is because if you look at the Settlers of Catan tiles they each have a little tan border as if a little dirt road circled the pasture, forest, quarry, etc. So I made my own little dirt road too! The real question is do I like the front (which shows the single crochet) or the back (which is sleeker and easier to play on) more? I'm not sure. But since I like them both so much that means I need to embroider the little sheep on both sides of the afghan so it is truly reversible. They better be worth the added effort!
Top of the Island with tan Single Crochet visible on top... and the close-up!
As I said before I also like the back and am considering making the back the front... just a little extra embroidery and it would look pretty good too! It's already significantly less bumpy but the tan "road" surface isn't as pronounced... its more like a railroad or something idk. Anyhow here's a look at the back and its close up too! (below)
A few weeks ago I went to the Great Lakes Medieval Renn Faire and of curse I had to get dressed up. Unfortunately it was HOT so I didn't feel like wearing my full length medieval dress which is also fairly heavy and gets muddy. This meant I had to get inventive... What Would I Wear? I found my new blue party dress and my sister's fairy wings. Things were looking pretty good! For footwear I needed something sparkly so what's easier than spray painting a pair of old white flats silver? Not much unless you don't have silver spray paint that is! I have to say that after all of my old HS art projects I'm not bad at spray painting odd things. Now I just need a spray can of Crystal Clear and time to spray on a waterproof coating. Unfortunately the spray paint does wear off in the mud and the rain but usually only the bottom of the sides of the shoe but that's what another coating of spray paint is for!
Since you have to get all sides of the shoe you have to stick your hand inside to hold it... and of course it also happens to be a lot of fun to walk around with a silver hand! I swore I already posted a picture of my fun cocktail dress but apparently not. So here it is! Just imagine it with massive full size wings and the silver shoes... PRESTO! That's my fairy costume!
So I was so Excited after doing the detail work on this block that I had to snap a picture and post it as soon as I was done!
The sheep was more of a challenge that it looked but I have some really nice fuzzy white yarn that I just finished washing, drying, and balling which made great wool. At first the plan was to simply embroider a cloud shape then stick some legs and a head on it. Then the plan progressed to French Knots which would have given great texture but proved to be too small for this project (they did make a great tail and eye though!) After that I needed some inspiration and my mother pulled out her old book, Crewel Embroidery by Erica Wilson so we could look at different types of stitches! The Bullion Knots worked fantastically giving the woolly sheep an appearance of fuzzy tangles! Last minute, I added a fuzzy River just for kicks, with some scrap yarn.
Today I decided to go through my stash of yarn to see what I was going to bring to school, when I stumbled across a bunch of wool that my Aunt had found at a yard sale for me! This means I get to try washing yarn and then balling it. Hence the internet is proving very helpful so I don't accidentally felt the wool (crosses fingers and hopes). I have unwound a few balls of yarn and wound them into loose circles around the back of my kitchen chair. Then I loosely tied the layers together with scraps of acrylic yarn. Now they're all prepped to sit in some lukewarm (NOT HOT for wool) water with some mild detergent and then rinsed by sitting in some lukewarm water without the detergent. I plan to hang them outside to dry on a rack. I also have some interesting non wool yarns picked up at the garage sale. Hopefully I can wash them with the natural colored wool without bleeding the colors together.
Unfortunately there is this really beautiful wool (that sounds contradictory, but it's not!) that is falling apart. It appears like it hasn't been spun very well and it's single ply. So I started looking around on the internet for an answer to respin or ply the yarn together. It looks like I'll need a drop spindle of some sort to spin the yarn but I found this really amazing article how to make your own out of a dowel rod and a few old CDs! (I have about 50 sitting in my room waiting to be donated to the Green Team lady who reuses them for crafts) It looks really cool and easy (to make the spindle at least... spinning itself looks like it will require a lot of patience and practice!) Hopefully I can spin the beautiful brown wool into a usable yarn that won't fall apart in my hands. Or I could just make a mess and have some fun, which is more likely for my first foray into spinning and plying yarn!
But if I ever get any good at spinning yarn I want to try spinning newspaper!
So after I finished making my sister's Christmas present, the Wind Chime Afghan, I decided to make my brother one too! SUPER SECRET MODE IS ENGAGED! I'm not sure if I want to make it big enough for a double or single bed, home or school afghan is really the question. ANYWAY it's going to be a Settler's of Catan Afghan! I'm super excited! For those of you who don't know Settler's of Catan is a kick ass board game. My siblings and I play it with practically all of the different variations and expansion packs so it gets complicated and fun fast!
So back to the Afghan idea: I made a few practice hexagons to start out with which looked more like starved orphan stars than healthy hexes in the prime of their life. The reason for these initial complications of course have nothing to do with me :P Alright I'll admit that I started reading a British Pattern Like an American Pattern and then confusion escalated from there. But I got it all sorted out when I found this website which foresaw my problems. So now my hexagon have a decent pulse and are recovering quite nicely. I finished 8 healthy hexes in two days and they are going really fast! I think I'm going to make one central island that looks pretty standard (18 hexagons and one desert) Then to make it bigger I'll put in some islands with gold mines, attacking barbarians and what not. I initially wanted to make it a fully functional board game spread. In which case I'd put a nice square border around it and make 4 Velcro pockets (one at each corner) so that I can crochet towns, cities, roads, ships, and more for each player and then you can actually play the game on your bed!. The only bad part about making a Catan board game is that once you sew the pieces together you can never change the set-up of the board game, although with enough islands and the like I suppose you can always section off fields of play for a different game. So I picked up a couple of pounds of Caron yarn 2 dark blue (ocean), 1 brick red (clay), 1 blue Grey (ore), 1 yellow (wheat), 1 dark green (forest), 1 light green (sheep pasture), and 1 tan (desert). That's a lot of yarn but I trust Caron to give me a nice feeling afghan. Plus when you buy in pounds of yarn you really don't have to worry about dye lots! YAY! And I'm basically using Amber's blog pattern, with my own minute variations and translations. However after doing one hexagon with my I-hook I promptly forgot which hook I was using and picked up my J-hook for the next one, and the one after that, etc. Needless to say by the time I recognized my mistake I was ready to pretend that the I-hook hexagon was specially made for a.... pillow? Whatever. It's good to be crocheting an afghan again! Hopefully it will be ready for Christmas!
Okay everyone! This is a little checklist to make sure we get everything we'll need and we end up matching to the best of our abilities! MAKE A COMMENT IN THE COMMENTS FIELD ON THIS BLOG DO NOT SIMPLY CHECK THE BOXES (they will reload unchecked)!!! Simply copy and paste the lists into the comments and tell me yes (I have this item) or no (I will need to buy this item) When I have responses, I will update the check-marked lists accordingly This is important so DO IT please!
Respond by LEAVING A COMMENT:
YES (I have it) or NO (I need to buy it)
Per Person Requirements
Brown Camisole or Tank Top (Shopping Expedition for when we get back to school)
2 Small Battery LED lights with a 40% off coupon cute 1.25" LEDs are 12lights/$6
a length of elastic that will fit around your waist and hips
16 plastic ball pit balls
Wisk. For a more authentic look: beater or paint roller frame
Plunger aka plastic margarita glass with removable stem
Black Boots, Black/Gold Flats, or shoes that can be spray painted
2 Translucent M&M Cups with lids from Retifer or plastic shot glasses
I know my Hip and Waist Measurements in Inches Gives Emma Permission to Buy unchecked items if she finds them cheaply Enough for Everybody
Less than 12-16 yds. Gold Fabric picked out at JoAnn's
Chocolate Crepe Backed Satin picked out at JoAnn's
Brown Headband fabric 1yd at JoAnn's with coupon
Interfacing
NEW IDEA: Skirt Pattern Sizes 8, 10, 12, 14
OLD IDEA: Skirt Pattern C but not This Pattern which has the same Simplicity Number!
Pattern Sizes 6, 8, 10, 12
Pattern Sizes 14, 16, 18, 20
Tan and Brown Thread (1 spool)
Pins, Needles, Sewing Scissors, etc.
X-acto knife (2)
Gold/Bronze Spray Paint
Crystal Clear Spray Paint
Black Spray Paint in case plunger, shoes, or accessories aren't black
Time to make all of this stuff: Priceless
More things I can't think of (Lots)
This list is also a bit of a DO NOT FORGET TO BRING TO COLLEGE reminder as well. :)
So lately I've been contemplating Halloween in order to make kick-ass costumes before October 30th! The plan Dalekettes! So the plan and what it requires:
Bronze Dalek
Dalek Head:
Brown Headbands (CVS)
Clear/Translucent Dixie Cups (Retifer Commons)
Small Battery LED lights (dollar store?)
Dalek Top:
Brown Tank Top (Closet or store)
Gold/Bronze Tape or Fabric Belt (JoAnn's or Hardware store)
Dalek Bottom:
Bronze/Gold Fabric (JoAnn)
Skirt Pattern (Basement)
Dark Brown faux leather to weight down bottom of skirt and trim (JoAnn's)
Elastic or Zipper (JoAnn's)
Brown Thread (JoAnn's)
Wisk (Bring Your Own)
Plunger (Dollar Store)
Black Spray Paint in case plunger isn't black (Lowe's)
Black Boots or Black/Gold Flats (Bring Your Own or a pair that can be spray painted)
Silver Dalek Dalek Head:
Black Headbands (CVS)
Clear/Translucent Dixie Cups (Retifer Commons)
Small Battery LED lights (dollar store?)
Dalek Top:
Black Tank Top (Closet)
Silver Duct Tape or Fabric Belt (JoAnn's or Hardware store)
Dalek Bottom:
Silver Fabric (JoAnn)
Skirt Pattern (Basement) Black faux leather to weight down bottom of skirt and trim (JoAnn's)
Elastic or Zipper (JoAnn's) Grey Thread (JoAnn's)
Wisk (Bring Your Own)
Plunger (Dollar Store)
Black Spray Paint in case plunger isn't black (Basement)
Black Boots or Black/Silver Flats (Bring Your Own or a pair that can be spray painted)
Now I included the Silver option because I think it will be cheaper than the bronze option. Most people already have a black tank top and the black headbands are sold a few to a pack at CVS not one brown headband in a pack with a few other unwanted colors. Also I know we already have 2 bottles of silver spray paint at the ready. Also then we wouldn't be copying the original Dalekettes exactly and we could add our own little flair to the project by going old school. This however will need to be discussed before a discussion can be made.
The last structural elements that need to be considered are fitted skirt (zipper) that looks really good or easy to make one size fits all skirt (elastic). Find an appropriate skirt pattern among the masses of possibilities.
Also considering how to attach the dalek bumps to the skirt: I believe thread and needle will be able to puncture the plastic balls so that they can be easily attached to the skirt. OR we could test out the riveter I have in my basement and make small holes along the edge of the plastic balls and sew them to the skirts using that. I think the thread and needle version would look more authentic although the riveter version has the opportunity to look like what I would consider steam punk.
Also since we are all women we might want to consider if we want to make a Dalek-ish type of purse to go along with our costumes!
So in the words of the Enterprise theme song (or more accurately how I inaccurately remember it): "It's Been a Long Time" since I last posted. What's been going on with me? A lot actually K-9 and the Supernatural Penguin Army are 100% complete (although I really want to add more penguins!) Right now I'm just too lazy to take pictures and I want to find a decent backdrop instead of my dirty carpet.
My new project was suggested to me by my friend Ash who said "Where in the world are you going to put all of that stuff?! You crazy crocheter you should slow down or make a net or somethin'." Yes, I'm paraphrasing. But anyway I have this cute crochet book full of different stitches and one of them is the net stitch!!! So I picked the diamond variation grabbed my rainbow colored yarn and started crocheting a multicolor net on the way to the Ren Faire on the 24th! I've got a few inches worth done and it looks pretty good but it is slow going. *5ch, sc* over and over again isn't very fast no matter how much I like chain stitching! also it it over 30" wide so that I can throw K-9 in it if I want. Hopefully it will be near completion soon so I can attach it to my ceiling out of sight and mind until the army chooses to attack any annoying people who enter my room.
Exciting News Everyone! I just came back from JoAnn's and I have all the yarn I need for my next afghan! Now that I have all the yarn I can make my brother a surprise Settlers of Catan themed Afghan for Christmas! More info latter when I can be more secretive! *Plot, Plot, Plot*
Oh and I've also been working on organizing all of the crochet and knit patterns that I've been collecting and using! They're all cute and saved in paper protectors in a three ring notebook. I've been trying to keep track and credit my online patterns as I go along. This way I have the original cited pattern on the right side of the spread and my variations, spare yarn, completed pic are on the left side of the open notebook spread. Very exciting! Can you tell I love organization?! XD
Today I've spent the entire day playing with henna and reading. Hopefully my hand takes the plant dye but its really old stuff so I thought I'd try it out one last time before deciding whether I should just chuck it :( But anyways I used one of my favorite patterns (it's now my banner) and then I had fun decorating my fingers in different styles. I really hope this turn out well but my expectations aren't high. So in a last ditch attempt at making the henna really stick to my hand and dye it darker I looked on the internet... which recommended to make a hairspray and regular white glue mix and apply it over the dried henna. Since I don't have "hairspray" I decided to mix the mousse and glue instead... it seems to have worked in some degree. There is now a shiny sealant keeping my henna from drying out (although I think it has already and it didn't seem to do much except for keeping it from flaking off) Also I tried out the process of "wrapping your hand" to make your hand sweat and moisten the dye and heat things up. It makes sense but after a couple of hours of reading outside in the heat with my hand wrapped (minus the saran wrap) almost every OTHER part of me was sweating... just not my hand. So I pulled off the toilet paper and old sock (some of the toilet paper stuck to the dried glue covered henna which is supper annoying). So the henna is still on my hand and has been there since 11:30 and due to the glue I have no idea when I should just give up and rip it all off. The few times that I've "peaked" in a place that already seemed to be coming off there was little to no visible stain... which sucks. But luckily I've been enjoying not having to clean my house and my new book which is fantastic! I mean really how can you not laugh your ass off when San Francisco is plagued with Vampire Cats?
Back to the art: So in the anticipation of a really sucky henna temporary tattoo I'm going to post some older pics of my fab-tastic skills!
(This one is my favorite pattern)
and the inside of my hand which I did a little bit differently and also takes the dye better... the palm's skin is softer and a better absorber. Negatives are that you generally wash the palms of your hands more often and thus it has more wear and tear damage. Also you can do less when your hands have henna on the palms of your hands waiting for it to dry.
Crochet
This week has been very productive for me as I have finished the Supernatural Army and each Penguin has its own unique characteristic! Pictures coming soon of all the penguins together and whatnot. However all of the penguins have proved their aerodynamic abilities to hit targets and conduct surprise raids on unsuspecting prey! Huzzah!
Knit
I am a compulsive knitter and nothing shows this more then when I started putting the finishing touches on K-9 my electronic made squishy dog from the Sci-Fi tv show Doctor Who. Anyway I started the embroidery for his top control panel at 1am with the intention of making 4 stitches just so I knew where to start on the following day. BUT I couldn't stop until it was finished... and it didn't matter how tired I was or how early I had to wake up! Also I finally made his ears a long struggle since I didn't think the pattern's directions were big enough. K-9 ears double as his satellite sensing receivers--clearly not just the average ears! So after knitting a couple of demo ears varying the number of stitches and size needles I simply gave up! I picked up my E-hook and whipped up the perfect sized ears on the first try! Then to incorporate some of his metal personality I bordered the ears with a quick blanket stitch with silver wire... hopefully its the non-tarnishing type! So all K-9 needs now is his plaid collar and dog tags. I already have some dog tags but the collar means I need to take a run to JoAnn's with all of my coupons and pick up some ribbon. I'm also thinking of adding the red buttons that double as his probe which I can also pick up at JoAnn's...
Yarn and Books
So I was really excited when I got my weekly email from JoAnn Fabrics saying that there was a 30% off all yarn with free shipping was going on! I didn't get any new yarn (yet) but I did order a TON of crochet and knit books from the library. One of my favorites tells me all of the neat tricks to crocheting with wire, another is about traditional quilt patterns that have been translated into crocheting terms, and my last new favorite book is all about crocheting purses (my next project)!!!
Afghans
Really I originally got all of these books out so that I could help my mom pick a stitch she wanted to make an afghan with. I think we finally picked the basket-weave one it has really nice texture and after I realized "FP" meant "Front Post" it looks pretty easy... the difficulty lies with that it was written for alpaca yarn not Homespun and the hook size is pretty big... an L-hook! So we'll have to do some gage checks and increase the number of stitches and decrease the hook size... basically just play around until we have a pretty sweet afghan going... I just hope we have enough yarn!
I'm also working on an afghan... I've raised my collage afghan back from the dead and have started knitting the borders for it. Now that I have new yarn things were looking up... that is before I realized how different variegated yarn dye lots could be! It looks like I can NOT just continue with the new yarn on the border I already have half done (that's about 200 rows of knitting on a size 8 needle O.o) So I started the other border with the new yarn... which knits up to look mighty stripy... that's been going swell (but a long process given the size of the needle) I'm hoping that I can kit one border with one skein of yarn and then I can rip out the old stitches on my existing border and knit that all up again with my new skein of yarn... I only have two new skeins so hopefully that will be enough to make the two long borders... I hope so or that means I have a lot more work in front of me than I thought!
Basically the situation with my college afghan is its going to take me a long time. I started this afghan in the summer of 2007 (I think) and it has progressed in bursts until last year when I ran out of the variegated yarn I used for the borders and sashing after completing all the borders except the two, long vertical ones. So this summer I finally ordered some more yarn... but the dye lot was different and you could definitely tell... the yarn knit up in stripes instead of a few stitches in the same color before changing. So I'm starting both vertical borders from scratch with the new yarn so they match. One of the horizontal borders has been completed and attached for some time while the second one has been gathering dust waiting to be attached.
Dyeing and SewingI'm plotting again... I want a pillow cover for my dorm room body pillow and now that my quilt is done I think it should be a matching pillowcase! I have a lot of hand dyed fabric left over so it will look realllllllllyyyyyy cool but I just need to make a pattern (taking in mind how much fabric I have left) I'm debating between something curvy like my quilt or something more like a starbust rainbow of color comprised of diamonds. Either way I don't think I'm going to do more convergence quilting for the body pillow... That might be a little too much considering that's how my entire quilt was created. Well I'll have to plan this out in advanced especially if this is going to be the project I'm going to take on the Quilter's Getaway in September! One whole weekend quilting with the family and other enthusiasts! So far I think my grandmother, mother, aunt, sister and I are all going... with a little bit of luck we might even be able to rope in my Great Aunt! It looks like it will be a lot of fun and I'll even bring my quilt for show and tell!
Wow that was a longer update than I thought it would be!! That about sums up all (?) of my projects for now (and longer). Although I think I might take a break today (or tomorrow) and play with henna and read a GREAT NEW BOOK by Christopher Moore!!!!! *REALLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY EXCITED* BITE ME I mean really, how great does that sound! :D
So I've been siting around looking at Nessie the Loch Ness Monster/ Dragon/Dinosaur Thing and I just have to finish his legs (so that he can stand upright properly) and put his face on (eyes and nose) But I now have a good idea of what I'm going to do so hopefully now that I've got a new G-hook I'll be able to finish my fuzzy reptile!
This is my picture status update for the Penguin army... it also helped that I remembered that I had a webcam on my computer so I didn't have to find my camera or camera cords and that what-not...
So in order left to right: John Winchester (minus beard), Meg (evil), Chuck (twitchy eyed drunk), Pastor Jim (minus crosses on wings), Bobby (his hat looks better in real life), Sam (extra long wings), Dean (Big Eyed Big Brother <3!)
Currently Lacking brainpower that was the best title I could come up with. I just sort of ran around wearing the hat I'm mid crocheting. Right now it looks like one of those fur Russian hat things but in a couple of days I think I'll be able to pull off the desired beard mustache combo. I'm a little worried that since I've been circular crocheting for a while the fuzz will lay differently when I suddenly started straight crocheting. Also without a head model I'm having difficulties determining how long the hat should go before I start making the sideburns. I'll just have to eyeball it and hopefully David the Destroyer of Worlds' head is about the same size as mine. This is what it looks like now... I'm going to do maybe one or two more rows and then start the longer section in the back of the hair and the sideburns. FUN! :D
I think I'll also post some pics of zhe penguins soon! :D
So I completely lost my G-hook so I can't finish my big God Penguin until I either replace it or find it... also I'm almost out of white yarn... I think I can finish the YED Penguin with my original yarn and then I can switch over to the white yarn that I have to buy today for the God Penguin. I also need to pick up some yellow yarn for the YED so I can see if I have enough white yarn to finish the job. I <3 JoAnne's and their online coupons!
Since I couldn't work on my penguins I started the much awaited beard/mustache hat of doom! At first I was so discouraged by the mere idea of working with fun fur... it was hard enough when you're knitting and KNOW where the stitches are! But since I have pretty big stitches (due to my I-hook) the fun fur is relatively easy to crochet! I paired it with a pound of Caron's black yarn to add some weight and warmth to the hat. Together they're going great! I'm just doing a basic hat pattern and then starting the beard/back of the hat when the pattern calls for ear flaps... it doesn't look too hard and so far the hat looks like a fantastic tribble!!!!!!! :D
YAY after two weekends straight in the car I've successfully finished the majority of the penguins!!!! I've also indulged and watched A LOT of Supernatural. So far my favorite episode is Nightshifter! Hehe the cops finally are hunting the boys down and they ended with one of my favorite songs, "Renegade" by the Styx!!!!!!! Blissfully Blissfully Happy! AND OH MY JENSEN ACKLES, I JUST REALIZED THAT I ONLY HAVE TWO EPISODES LEFT!!!!!!!! The second season is almost over O.o luckily I already have the third season! XD
So back to the Penguins... I've been having a lot of trouble with John Winchester's Penguin beard/goatee... I embroidered on a beard of sorts but it sorta just looked like chest hair. that's mainly because his chin is his chest but I WILL SUCCEED! Also John doesn't really have a goatee... but oh well
Bobby is done and I like his baseball cap... it's pretty identifiable... I just wish it was removable but instead I just started off the head with the purple yarn made a brim and then switched to black and then white. Also I've been noticing that my penguins have two distinct sizes... at first I though t I had just picked up my G hook instead of my E hook on one of the penguins but then I realized that I hadn't :( Apparently when I ran out of black yarn, I bought more and my new yarn is thicker than my old yarn... making the penguin's heads bigger... thus the whole penguin is slightly larger than the rest... This is sorta sad because Dean was my first penguin and now he looks really small in comparison to the rest of the group. But he'll get over it. I also discovered that one of the little penguins could actually wear the black head part of an uncompleted penguin and it looks like an army helmet!!! Oh So Cute! He looks like Sgt. James Byrd from Spyro! (Just minus the heavy artillery)
Overall they're all turning out wonderfully and are the perfect size for juggling and throwing at annoying people... hence their original purpose is being put to good use!! :D
So I'm pretty bored right now... it seems all I do these days is listen to music, walk/scooter, and watch old tv shows, and think about crocheting. I WANT TO GET A PROJECT DONE!!!! After my afghan crocheting has seemed less interesting cause I don't have something I need to get done THAT DAY. I guess I just have to set some more goals. On a positive note I found a bunch of files that I thought were deleted with my hard drive wipe :D On a less positive note my desktop has a megavirus and won't even turn on anymore. This is an ehh kind of week. But on a more positive note: I HAVE DOCTOR WHO TO WATCH!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! Excited! Also I reorganized my entire DVD collection and got some more DVD cases from the Dollar Store... I bought enough that I'm glad that they were only a dollar :)
Alright so back to the world of crocheting and updating... although I should add some pics so you know generally what I'm talking about. But on my 8 million hour car ride this weekend (about 20 hrs in 3 days) I did a little crocheting... basically I worked on Bobby and Sam of the Supernatural Penguin Army. Bobby's baseball hat is very um... interesting. I just started out the top of his head with with the purple yarn and then changed to black where I'm going to sew on the white eyes. Then I switched to the white yarn for his tummy. The beak, feet, and wings are already made but need to be sewn on. I also made Sam's unique wings. They're extra long and pointy, just like how extra tall Sam is :D I have come to the conclusion that it is probably impossible to make the Penguins buff. Definitely impossible to make them as buff as Jensen or Jared! (Who are in love)
Well that's all that's going on here... Star Trek is calling me!
So as my frequent posts hinted at, I have to go to my cousin's wedding soon and I have to look decent. Soooooo I went Shopping O.o I think I fell in love with JCPenny's sales rack! I bought the previously mentioned long black slinky dress and the short white sun dress (which has been dyed) but today I happened to stumble upon a very cute little blue dress!!! So for about 20 bucks I picked up a little "princess" dress as my mom termed it. A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. It also happens to be very glittery so it got its own dress bag. As you can tell I'm excited! Beware: I will be looking for every opportunity to prance around in fun dresses!
Getting back on track: The Wedding. An outside wedding down in Virginia in 100 degree weather, this promises to be veeeerrrryyyy interesting. My max temperature is 83 degrees in the shade, which is why I sprung for the little white sun dress that was on sale at the store my dad has seen too many credit card bills from. Since only the bride should wear white to a wedding and the color washes me out... although I do have a microscopic tan from walking in the mornings... I decided to dye the dress PURPLE!!! (P.S. That dot is just on the camera lens and it still needs to be ironed!)
I used the violet iDye from my favorite artistic brand, Jacquard. Tulip is good and inexpensive (especially for projects you don't care too much about or when you're dyeing large quantities for a quilt) but Jacquard is the brand that I bought when I got all of my fabric paints and such. This was a new method of dyeing for me... simmering dye/water bath for half an hour (I let it go for 2 hours) then ring and wash. BUT IT WAS REALLLY COOL!!! The dye packet is actually dissoluble so instead of cutting it open, losing dye, and making a mess you just throw the whole thing in and stir! MAGIC!
The stitching was polyester so it didn't dye as well as the cotton dress and is clearly visible but besides a little place where they "un-noticeably" pinned down the pleats (which can be written over with a purple permanent marker) it just looks cool and different... but I think it detracts a little bit away from the cool belt-like artistic pleats. Whatever. I like!
I was surprised how well the dye took to the zipper... I expected it to remain white and I'd just hide it under my arm and ignore it... the glory of side zippers. BUT the plastic actually absorbed some dye and is now a light lavender color... this picture is a little undescriptive for the purpose of judging the color of the zipper but it is great to see the real color for the dress! I <3 this dye! (I got to catch up on the last season of Sanctuary while I stirred this pot and I have to say the Druid is my favorite character by FAR... who cares if he's Jack the Ripper?!)
Also I might be adapting my old purse that I made awhile ago to go with my purple Renaissance Faire costume. It's supposedly in the chenille style although it's not frizzy enough to really be considered chenille. Anyway its about the right color, I like it a lot, and it has an interesting batik pattern! (I <3 Batiks! I want to make an entire quilt out of them!!!!)
Also when at JCPenny's I picked up a cute little scarf that will go nicely with my dress and other fancy occasions!
So the only thing I'm missing a close up are my new shiny black dress shoes and the purple waxed string neckless my sister got my mom from Brazil... I happen to wear it a lot with my Renaissance dress and other Purple dresses. But if you look closely it is in this picture with all of my other fun accessories and my hand dyed sun dress!! Finally I'm all ready for this wedding!
Yes, I am aware that I've never actually posted a picture of me wearing the dress... and somehow my picture of Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean keeps on creeping into my pictures! Too Bad I <3 Jack Sparrow more!
My Afghan is FINISHED!!!!! The original pattern was a Lion Brand pattern, which means its free and you can sell your own creations on Etsy or other places! This double bed-sized afghan took me three weeks to the day to complete!!! 13 main stripes followed with a sizable border of 12 double crocheted rows and two single crocheted rows. YAY!!!! Now my sister's Christmas present is ready months in time... now i think I have to spend some quality time creating my Supernatural Penguin army and dying my dress for my cousin's wedding!
I've also found time to take pictures of my afghan thanks to much loving nagging from a friend! <3 This afghan is big enough for a double bed.
The border was also fun to make especially since I decided at the last minute to make it nice and thick and shiny.
The way to connect the different stripes was fun too. Just a couple of chain stitches and single crochets to pull it all together!
Today I tried on the two dress that I bought recently (the only two dresses that I own!) Originally I went out looking for decent clothing to wear to my cousin's wedding at the end of June. So I picked up this cute, little sundress. Since the white color of the dress washes out my skin color, which is already pretty pale, I have decided to dye it a different color... probably purple or blue depending on dye color selection at the store and my different jewelry options.
I love the little decoration on the waistband. The cute little pleats are adorable and really make the dress special. I just hope that the thicker layers in the pleats dye the same color as the rest of the dress. I guess I'll just have to make sure the whole dress is saturated!
While I was shopping in JC Penny's I couldn't resist this LBD that was on sale. It will make a perfect gown for Yule Ball next year!
Also you can probably tell that I like Pirates of the Caribbean a lot! :D
So I finally found the time to take a picture of the little Kangaroo that I made a while ago. She's been sitting around holding my various crochet hooks and helping out around the house! I originally left out the inner ear piece but because the ears were too floppy I decided to add them in. Also the feet were a challenge because the original (20 year-old) pattern referenced a different pattern (that I didn't have) for how to construct the feet. However with a little help from Abby and Eri I made up a new foot pattern by crocheting on both sides of the original line of chain stitches. It was an experiment!
This little Kangarooster, now that she's had her photo taken, is ready for her flight and mid-air collision with a friend who will soon return from Australia... BEWARE!
The song I chose today to name my blog entry is "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" by the Allman Brothers.
Today I have been crocheting and watching RuPaul's Drag Race Season 2 finale... lets just say I was disappointed and my crocheting was slow. Recently I've been trying to crochet while listening to a book on tape... unfortunately the only one I could find is The Scarlet Letter, which either puts me to sleep or speeds up my crocheting O.o I've also been researching online the best place and price that I can find Caron's Evening Jewels Ombre. I just ordered it but at the last minute apparently the sale on the yarn ended and I was stuck buying it with only a coupon for a discount :( But now I can finish my other knitted afghan (with the incredibly small needle size that I started it with O.o) and my Wind Chime Afghan of Awesomeness will keep me busy until the yarn is shipped in! With Sci-Fi Friday promising a solid two hours of SGU and whatever else I can scavenge I think (hope) that I can get my next stripe (dark purple) done tonight. Currently I only have a row and a third done but what it's only 6pm and I have a long night of fun planned! Also I was browsing through my old bookmarks on my different computers and found a couple of more projects that I just have to make. Also apparently I need to get my summer applications in to JoAnn Fabrics and Michaels ASAP or some members of my family will go crazy and I will be in trouble again. *sigh* oh well... That's it for now and enjoy a Wonderful Friday of Sci-Fi Geekiness and Crocheting!
P.S. I think I will start naming my blog entries song titles for fun! So here's to the Beatles! XD
It seems to me that for every item I put on my Progress Meter List, I add at least five more ideas to my For the Future List. I seem to be losing an uphill battle. I really want to make some really cool crochet and knitted animals for my Library Summer Reading Program but all the ones I want to do look too time consuming. Also I know I'll start to get attached to the items and want to keep them. But right now I'm looking at some cute fishpattern that would be easy and perfect for the Library "Make a Splash" theme! Maybe I'll put my afghan on hold and whip up some aquatic life!
Update on Afghan: So I finally decided on the pattern so its big enough for a full sized bed... Blue, Light Purple, Dark Purple, Pink, Blue, Light Purple, Dark Purple, Light Purple, Blue, Pink, Dark Purple, Light Purple, Blue. Then I'll surround the whole thing with a 9 rw dc border. Very exciting! Right now I'm working on my second blue stripe that I doubt will be finished today, but on a good note I did take a five mile walk today. After that I thought I would sit on my bed for a nice easy five minutes before i jumped in the shower... I was out for 15-20 mins instead and then had to run through a quick shower before lunch time! :D Oh well life goes on and now I'm squeaky clean!
As you can tell, today I do not feel like sitting still. But is periodically raining resulting in a stuck-in-the-house kind of feeling. I have crocheted half of another stripe bringing my total up to 2.5 stripes completed but I need to get this light purple one finished so that I can attach the dark blue one and the dark purple one to it. Hopefully it will all go alright and I am confident that I can finish the stripe by nightfall or a little after but IT IS GETTING DONE TODAY! :D
The only question is where are my tapestry needles... "Here Needles where arrrrreeeee you?" *evil laughter*
NEW PROJECT!!!! Yesterday I was confined to a car in Amish country, traveling around on a day of family fun and I started a new afghan! This one is going to be the same basic colors of my first afghan (blues and purples) because I have sooooo much leftover yarn. It is from the Lion Brand pattern Wind Chime and it looks really cool. This is the first project that I've made that has intentional holes in it giving it the lacy look (or really just a patterned look). I'm debating whether I should adapt the pattern a little and make the intended length into my width and then make a really big blanket instead of a lap throw thing. Hopefully, this little blankey can be modified into at big ass afghan that I can give to my sister sometime... whenever it's done. Luckily its just a double crochet so its been going really fast but I am looking forward to trying to attach the stripes together with this fancy crisscross look. We'll see what happens!
In an Update on my other projects: Work on little Nessie the Loch Ness Monster / Dinosaur / creature has stalled out until early Jully when I can go up to my grandmother's house to take a look at the original pattern and reevaluate shoe size. And the Supernatural penguins are put on hold until I can find my tapestry needles!! They are no where to be found and it is very frustrating.
So back to my new project and a fun fact that may be commonly known or guessed according to Oxford Dictionary, aka this random website that cites the Oxford Dictionary, the etymology of Afghan goes like this:
"As you might suspect, the word "afghan" refers to the country of Afghanistan. The coverlet was originally produced by the Afghanis. In fact, the term "afghan" is a shortened form of reference for three things, in addition to the usual reference to the people of Afghanistan. In reference to the people, however, the word is capitalized. The other two "afghans" are the dog [a hound] and woven carpet, produced in a style that is unique to the Afghani people."
