Craft Splurge!

The new school year is only a week away, and this means this is the last serious crocheting time I will have for awhile. So, for the past couple weeks I've been going crochet crazy! Here's a quick rundown of what I've worked on.

1) Wolf Dreamer OTH's Umbreon. Still have to finish this one up actually, but I've just got the circles and the eyes left!

2) Baby Elephant. Kind of on a whim while I watched superhero movies, I crocheted up this adorable little elephant. A pretty easy amigurumi pattern with almost no sewing, you attached the ears and legs as you go!

3) A matching hat and cowl set for chilly football games. I made these two from separate patterns, but they look pretty good together. For the hat, I added an extra row of increase (up to 48 sts) because as written it was turning out too small for my already little head.

4) Actually I just made a lot of cowls in general. The sage green cowl was the first time I'd done a foundation sc, and it turned out alright! There's a link to a video posted with the pattern if you've never tried this before either. I made the smaller of the two sizes. The other green cowl was a pattern I made up as my boyfriend and I watched Dollhouse. It's bulky yarn and basically just works alternating rows of sc, hdc, and dc. I may post up a quick pattern at a later date.

5) Colorful coasters! This is another pattern I made up that I will post when I refine and make a few more for my apartment.

6) A crochet bag for my momma! This pattern is available as a Ravelry download.

That is it for now, but stayed tuned for some possible new patterns!

That One Blanket I Worked on for a Year

Also known as the Avatar Blanket! I actually finished this blanket back in March, but never got around to taking pictures of the final product, so I am doing so today.

Ta-da!

Appa for scale

So this project took me almost exactly a year. Phew! However, the finished product was well worth the effort. It drapes across a twin really well and is super warm. I used Red Heart super saver yarn and so I just threw it in the wash (hang dry after) and it softens up a bit. Also, a lot of fellow ATLA fans have admired it and jokeingly offered me money for it (heck no!). But it's actually a pretty simple project. All in all, I'm very pleased.

Here is the pattern so you can make your own: http://kimby77.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/avatar-the-four-elements/ 

"Water,

Earth,

Fire,

Air,

Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony.

Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked.

Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them

But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

100 years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar,

An airbender named Aang.

And although his airbending skills are great,

He's got a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.

But I believe, Aang can save the world."

~Katara, ATLA opener

Sibling Christmas Gifts

I know, I know, it's March. But this semester's been pretty busy, so cut me a little slack.

I made a lot of the Christmas gifts I gave this year. This post will be dedicated to the gifts I made for my boyfriend's siblings and my brother.

First, I decided to try and tackle the gift for my boyfriend's older brother because I had no idea what I wanted to make. Through some "sneaky" question asking during Thanksgiving I confirmed that he was a Zelda fan. Enter the Triforce hat.

I had to add around seven rows to the end of the pattern, and it was a bit tight, but I was pretty pleased with it over all. And he didn't take it off for a couple weeks, so I think I did good.

For my boyfriend's sister I made armwarmers. It took me awhile to decide which colors to use, but ended up using black and white because they will in theory, match more things.

I made my little brother a hat for his favorite sports team that I unfortunately didn't get to take pictures of. The pattern was my own invention, but I'm going to have to modify it some if I want to make it again! New pattern coming?

Batman Hat (Free Pattern)

This is one of those times of the year where I get really busy/ make a lot of crochet Christmas presents. As such, internet, you are about to get A LOT of posts in a short amount of time. First I would like to share the Batman hat that I created for my friend. Louie's Loops has this great Batman bat pattern that I'd been wanting to use for a long time, and this was the perfect chance. The beanie is my own original pattern created with the bat in mind. So here goes!

Batman Beanie

Materials:
I hook
Red Heart with Love in Daffodil and Black
Tapestry needle

Note: repeat instructions in **
         ch counts as 1 dc throughout pattern

In black
1) Make a magic circle, ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), 9 dc in magic circle, join with sl st to chain (10)
2) Ch 3, dc in same st, *2 dc in ea st* around, join with sl st (20)
3) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next st, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next st* around, join with sl st (30)
4) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next 2 sts, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next 2 sts* around, join with sl st (40)
5) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next 3 sts, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next 3 sts* around, join with sl st (50)
6) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next 4 sts, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next 4 sts* around, join with sl st (60)
7-11) Ch 3, *dc in ea st* around, join with sl st (60)

In yellow
12-16) Ch 3, *dc in ea st* around, join with sl st (60)

In black
17) Ch 1, *sc in each st* around, join with sl st, FO (60)

All that's left is to sew in the ends, create the bat, and sew it onto the yellow stripe of the hat!

Drogon (A GoT post)

The nice thing about dragging my crochet around to class with me is:
A) I stay awake easier in class
B) Sometimes people ask me to make them things AND offer to pay for all the materials

B is exactly what happened last semester. I had someone that sat behind me in our Native American History class. It turned out we were both part of many of the same nerdy fandoms. I had been bringing my Avatar blanket squares around with me to work on and he asked if he could pay me to make something. After deciding that it would be something based on Game of Thrones, I found a wonderful pattern for the Khaleesi's dragons. My friend's favorite is Drogon.

Even though the pattern called for assembly as you went, I prefer to finish all the pieces before putting them together. First step after completing all the pieces was attaching the head to the body

Next was getting the wings in working order.

Pinning the wing-bone to the actual wing.

Finished! Then I could assemble everything!

Yay! Also, super cute. To make the eyes I wound black thread through the button holes on red buttons in an attempt to recreate slit pupils.

The pattern called for floral wire (inside straws) to steady to wings and help hold them up. I found straws just fine, but I could not for the life of my find the right kind of wire. So I improvised and bought giant paperclips and undid one, and frankly it worked pretty darn well.

I was super happy with how he turned out (I spent more time than I'd like to admit on him). Also, my friend seemed super excited which made me happy. I was worried for a second that I wouldn't be able to get it to him though because I was showing another friend before church and suddenly five other people were admiring him and passing him around!

This was the first pattern I have ever purchased, and as a result I can't share the pattern directly, but here is the link to the Ravelry page: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dragon-wyvern-game-of-thrones-style

Fire Nation

So this is a little delayed due to packing, cleaning, moving out, and moving in, but I finished the third square!

This square was more challenging than the other two because you have to switch between colors more often, but the results are awesome. This is also my favorite square to date.

With the completion of this square I am 60% done with the entire blanket! ONE MORE SQUARE!

Earth Kingdom

After making multiple projects while working on this square, I've finally finished. I present, the Earth Kingdom square!

I think it turned out well. With the completion of this square I am approximately 40% of the way done. Yay!

Now that summer is upon us, I'm hoping I will have a little more time to work on the blanket and that I can have it done by the beginning of August. Even if I don't though, I'll definitely have it done by the time it starts to get cold.

The swirls might be my favorite part.

And of course Appa's gotta pose with the square.

EDIT: Here's the first post of this blanket saga. I did not write the pattern or create the charts. The link to the pattern is in the first post.

Cthulhu

The stuff of geek legends..The terrible, mystical beast, best described as a sea demon. Who this? Why, Cthulhu of course!

Looking quite adorable and cuddly, really. Last year I made my boyfriend a d20 for his birthday, and this year I had to try and match that by making him some equally geeky and cool. I had seen this pattern on Ravelry and decided it was perfect, and I am very pleased with the results.

The pattern calls for an F hook, but I decided to use a G hook to make him cuddlier (it's also easier to work with.) The pattern was relatively easy to follow, and the wings were definitely the most difficult part.

In order to get the ribbed, more wing-like look, I crocheted in the back loops only on the way back from the chain. This means you only crochet in the back loops in one direction, aka every other row.

My boyfriend was very pleased and his nerd friends jealous, so I suppose I accomplished my goal!

Water Tribe

Because this blanket project is going to take awhile I plan on giving updates as I finish things like...I finished my first square!

It only took me three weeks! Which is pretty good because I calculated that each of the four squares as 8,836 stitches in it! Holy crap! That's not even including the three rows of dark border. Completing this square means I am approximately 20% of the way through this project.

Appa modeling

I made a few adjustments to this square. First off, there are only supposed to be 94 columns, but the water motif pdf has 95, so I scratched the 95th column (the rightmost column). The pattern also calls for cluster stitch for the dark blue but I changed to half-double crochet because the cluster stitch was not working out for me.

 Swirlies!

This is not my pattern, I found it online and I am so glad I did because I am seriously in love with Avatar: The Last Airbender, on which this blanket is based. Feeling confident? Want to try to make your own blanket? Here's the link to the pattern!

ATLA Blanket Pattern: http://kimby77.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/avatar-the-four-elements/

Jayne Cobb Hat - Crochet Pattern

Think Geek recently released an officially licensed Jayne Cobb hat from the TV show Firefly. I love this show. I really really wanted to buy one but decided they were too expensive for my budget and thought that I could maybe make one for myself. So I tried searching for a pattern but only found one that I liked that used super chunky weight yarn. Problem is the Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's in my town were fresh out of the colors I needed. With my boyfriend's encouragement I decided to try to write my own pattern, and I would like to share with you the final product!

Jayne Cobb Hat

Supplies:

A little less than half a skein each of medium (4) weight yellow, orange, and red

I hook

Tapestry needle

Scissors

Instructions:

HAT

With yellow

Rnd 1. Make a magic ring with 10 hdc, slip stitch to join (10)

Rnd 2. Ch 2, 2 hdc in each st around, sl st to join (20)

Rnd 3. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next st* repeat around, sl st to join (30)

Rnd 4. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 2 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (40)

Rnd 5. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 3 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (50)

Rnd 6. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 4 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (60)

Rnd 7. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 5 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (70)

Rnd 8-13. Ch 2, I hdc in each st around, sl st to join (70)

Change to orange

Rnd 14-20. Ch 2, 1 hdc in each st around, sl st to join (70)

Fasten off and weave in loose ends.

EARFLAPS (2)

Right earflap start 10 stitches from seam in back, left earflap start 8 stitches from seam in back

With red

Row 1. Make loop on hook and insert into correct orange stitch on base of hat and make a sc stitch. Continue along base until you have 14 sc (14)

Row 2-7. Ch 1, sc across (14)

Row 8. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 10, sc2tog (12)

Row 9. Ch 1, sc across (12)

Row 10. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 8, sc2tog (10)

Row 11. Ch 1, sc across (10)

Row 12. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 6, sc2tog (8)

Row 13. Ch 1, sc across (8)

Row 14. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 4, sc2tog (6)

Row 15. Ch 1, sc across (6)

Row 16. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 2, sc2tog (4)

Row 17. Ch 1, sc across (4)

Row 18. Ch 1, sc2tog twice (2)

Row 19. Ch 1, sc across (2)

Row 20. Ch 1, sc2tog (1)

Fasten off, leaving long tail. Cut another long red string, fold in half, knot through last stitch and braid with the tail.

Add pompom and go be a Big Damn Hero.

If you have questions or notice mistakes, let me know in the comments! Enjoy! :)

Dinosaur!

Being a geologist means I LOVE Dinosaurs. A lot. I found this pattern (located here: http://amigurumibyknotty.blogspot.com/2010/05/longneck-dinosaur.html) for a long-neck dinosaur early on in my crocheting career, and I've been dying to make it ever since.

I finally did, and I am very pleased with the result! If any of you have been reading this blog you might notice that this is the same yarn used in Joy's birthday scarf. I used it in this pattern because this dinosaur is for a fellow geology undergrad who is graduating this year (I just got it done way ahead of time!). When I was working on the scarf she noticed it and decided she really liked the colors and the sparkle and so declared I should make her something with the extra, hence this dinosaur.

The reason one of his legs is purple is because I originally thought I wasn't going to have enough of the teal color. Turns out I did, but my friend decided she liked the idea of a purple prosthetic. (He got into a really intense fight with some raptors) My friend will have to careful though, or I might steal him for myself!

Isn't he too cute!?

Surprisingly, I managed to make this guy in about a week! I guess that's what happens when classes haven't started yet and you have free time...