Yaaaay updates!

Elysse| 1 January 2009 4:29 am

So, on promised pictures, we have my cousin Leah’s stackable cats!

The StackCats were made of handspun (or handdyed… I don’t exactly remember which) Scottish wool. Mmmm. Sooo much fun to knit with! The cats were made from a pattern by MochiMochiLand and have been sworn into the service of attacking people who enter my cousin’s dorm room. Yay!

Other knitted deliciousness: a Golden Snitch!

Pattern here at Inner Child Crochet

And, finally, my mother asked me to knit her a nativity set. Unfortunately, I only finished Mary and Baby Jesus before Christmas:

However, since my mother got to pick the yarn, I’ve worked with WONDERFUL yarns, especially this absolutely delicious soy-wool blend. I’m currently working on Joseph, or rather, his robe–his body is finished. I’ve decided I really can’t STAND cotton yarn; I’ve gotten such huge blisters/calluses from knitting with it. Ugh.

But anyway.

SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR!

Quick update

Elysse| 19 December 2008 12:10 am

So, I realized I never posted a picture of the hand-killing maille glove backs…

Yes, the thumb looks ridiculously long — but they’re meant to be used for reenactment fighting, and with this design it wraps around completely and protects both the the top and inner edge of the the thumb (which are most likely to be hit when fighting). There is also a bit of a cuff to them.

This is also my own design, so if you want to use it, please ask first! And if there IS a lot of interest, I might just write up a pattern!

Also, an atypical craft: that is, baking. I’m not a big cook/baker, mostly because I prefer to eat the finished product as opposed to making it. However, I was trained quite well by my mother (using a pastry tube to decorate Christmas cookies at the age of eighteen months), and she thought I’d posted this on my blog. So, for her, I put up my one cake made solo. Last summer when my first D&D campaign (shutup) was about to finish, I decided we needed cake to celebrate.

Oh, and lots of marzipan. Lots and LOTS of marzipan for edible dice, which my friend Rachel helped me make.

This cake was later pondered by an Irishman, whose character I proceeded to kill at the end of the night. My paladin became lawful neutral, our characters were shipped off to their post-campaign lives, and the campaign died from diabetic shock.

Delicious diabetic shock.

Long Time No Text

Elysse| 13 December 2008 4:49 pm

Well, I really have no excuses for not writing, as I’ve been knitting and crocheting. Of course, when you fill up your spare time actually DOING the crafts, there’s no time left to blog about it. And then NaNoWriMo happened.

ANYWAY.

Thought I was done with my bellydance socks, but not so much. They’re starting to felt on the bottom, which may or may not be bad — we’ll see how it affects traction. I’ve also been washing them with my pink bellydance trousers (ok, they’re actually thai fishermen’s trousers… but still, they’re great to dance in casually). As the trousers bleed EVERYWHERE, the socks have gained a bit of (blotchy) colour.

Pink socks!

In other knitting, I’ve finished the Stackable Cats, but have yet to take pictures of them (I want to gift them first). So more info about those when I post the pictures.

In crocheting, I’ve been using the “Anarchy Irony Hat” from The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller as a base for making NaNoWriMo hats for my co-ML and myself.

NaNoHats!

…obviously, I fell behind and the suckers aren’t finished. They were supposed to be for my co-Ml and myself (we co-led our area) for our kick-off party. Maybe they’ll be done by next year’s NaNo. Of course, knowing my luck, they probably won’t match next year’s t-shirts. Alas.

Also have been knitting this headband with spare wool left from the StackCats.

Because I can!

My first cabling project, and mmmm cables. I <3 cables now. A great first project, by the way, and you can find the pattern for free here.

Combo projects: bellydance! For Halloween I bought myself a bellydancing outfit (it was an excuse), and decided I needed accessories to go WITH the outfit. Intro crochet and maille! I used the “Ruffled Corset Belt” pattern from The Happy Hooker for the belt, but only about a couple rows of it before adding the maille. It took me FOREVER to adjust it to my yarn. Originally I just wanted to use a sparkly black crochet thread for a nice spidery look, but I must have ripped that out about five times. I also thought I might cut the pattern in half, so I could tie it on either side, but that also proved too troublesome. I ended up using a light worsted wool combined with the crochet thread to add texture. The maille itself is aluminium (plain and anodized black trim, with red points on the headdress), with a gap left on each side so I could tuck up my top skirt. The headdress was a free-form piece, using longer and longer crochet stitches as it got wider. I also added rings around the crochet stitches just for a little accent, and a ruby-coloured freshwater pearl to the front triangle.

Belt

Headdress

Headdress

Apologies for the less-than-great pictures; I took them while running out the door.

I’m also currently knitting a nativity set for my mother, who chooses the most delectable yarns (alpaca and soy-wool blends, mmm!). Mary and Baby Jesus have been finished, but no pictures of that yet.

Will hope to update far sooner next time!

Two words: Eighteen Hours.

Elysse| 2 September 2008 11:01 pm

AHAHAHAHAHA. Why do we write blogs about things that already make our hands cramp in pain? It’s very lucky that I type mostly left handed and craft predominately right handed, because that means my poor right hand doesn’t have to do too much work when blogging. Ahahaha.

Why the manic laughter? Well, it all begins when a dear friend asked me to make him a pair of maille glovebacks backs, as he’s a Viking reenactor — British hardcore style, not American theatre style. If you need an explanation… ask, and I’ll reply when I’m not so incredibly tired.

Why am I tired? For the same reason as the manic laughter. I added up the hours that I worked on the glovebacks in the last two days, and it was EIGHTEEN HOURS. No wonder my right hand (and back, and shoulders) is (are) sore. And my eyes as well– I can’t maille without some distraction, so I’ve been watching Things. I began with the Muppet Movie, then the Muppet Caper, then Muppets Take Manhattan, then Muppet Treasure Island (with and without commentary). Then, moving on, I watched the last two weeks of both the Daily Show AND the Colbert Report, the extended edition of Kingdom of Heaven, and rounded it all off with a recorded copy of the Olympic Opening Ceremony (which I had meant to see but never got around to). I finished up 2/3s of the way through the Parade of Nations. AAAAAGH.

Pictures later when there’s hopefully better light. Now, to rest my aching bits and sleep.

Not-so-quiet

Elysse| 28 August 2008 5:44 pm

Despite my blog silence, I’ve been knitting like CRAZY. The Stackable Cats are almost finished (pictures forthcoming); they only need to be slightly felted, stuffed, and sewn. I’ve begun a filet crochet bookmark which will hopefully turn out well(ish), and on the things-to-do-for-people front I’ve two mailled bears and a pair of maille glove-backs to do. Luckily, I have a week-ish off from life (yay!) so I can focus on getting all that stuff done!

Until then, have a picture of the panda with his mommy, who named him Seamus.

Seamus and his Mum

Seamus and his Mum

Fandom Knitting: From Head to Toe

Elysse| 8 August 2008 11:18 am

Every now and then, I get the semi-perverse desire to express my fandoms via worn objects. As I do not yet have the guts to cosplay (or the people to cosplay with), this has in the past been limited to collecting appropriate LJ icons, those wonderful 1000-pixel pieces of art.

No more!

I have decided it is time to begin (or at least plan) my Fandom Knits. These will, of course, be secondary to Christmas presents and whatnot, but I figure it can’t hurt to start thinking.

The one requirement? Every object I knit/crochet must have the potential to be worn with the rest. This means head-to-toe fandomwear. My one exception: I will not force myself into making all the colours match. Therefore, I probably will not wear them all together. But it must be possible.

From head to toe:

For Firefly, everyone and their brother makes Jayne hats. But Jayne hats, as much as I would like one, are not conducive to really wearing, unless I decide to cosplay someday as Jayne (that would be interesting). However, jeshknits has two lovely Firefly-inspired tam patterns named “Simon” and “River”. The pun makes these a must. I’ve yet to decide between Simon and River, but they’re my two current options.

For LOST, the ravelry group has selected several patterns for knitalongs until the new season. I am quite taken with both Scaruffle and Ice Queen, but Ice Queen seems to be the winner for several reasons: it’s free (yay Knitty!), I have some frosted blue beads that would work with it divinely, and as a cowl/wimple-type it’s slightly medieval, which I can’t resist. I would still like to make Scaruffle someday, though, and I think it would look lovely on my mum.

For Pirates of the Carribean, I have yet to find something, though I know what I would like: something like this ruffled corset belt, which I intend to crochet in its own right for bellydancing. But I’d rather like to do something slightly more edgy, less structured and symmetrical, and red, inspired by Jack’s headscarf. Which means doohickies hanging off of it!

For Batman, which is not so much a fandom of mine excepting that I love the newer movies (and the new logo, such lovely parallel lines!), I think I would like to make a pair of convertible gloves, where there is a mitten-flap that covers the tipless fingers. I’d stick in that lovely logo, possibly on the palm. I’d want to go for subtlety, so even if it were on the back of the hand I might simply do it in two different fibers of the same colour…

For Discworld, I want to do socks. What sort of socks, I do not know. Perhaps I should experiment with cables (after I learn how to make them), a la the Bloody Stupid Johnson hat.

And let’s not forget accessories:

For Lord of the Rings, I’d like to make some jewelry. Perhaps now would be time to figure out a way to combine wire-crocheting with maille.

For Avatar: The Last Airbender, I’m considering adapting the Four Elements throw into a handbag. Still with the lovely pattern layout, but with far less time. Or, I could make a handbag with the Earth Kingdom symbol (note: awful representation of the design, but it’s the best I could find in a ten-minute search. For serious).

That’s it (for now) for my Fandom Knit plans. If I think of something appropriate that would fit into the wearable plan from another of my fandoms, I might add to it, but this is the current plans.

Stackable Cats update soonish.

Mr Fuzzybottom, take 2

Elysse| 5 August 2008 12:24 pm

Well, I fail on that “soon” update, and totally forgot to take pictures of Mr Fuzzybottom pre-assembly. However, I come bearing pictures!

Mr Fuzzybottom

However, I much prefer Mr Fuzzybottom sitting on his fuzzy bottom:

He’s so incredibly bright red that I’ve decided to give him a title: Mr Fuzzybottom, the Hellephant.

In other news, made an armoured panda for my friend Erin, which turned out so nicely that I took pictures of him pre-maille:

as well as post-maille:

Also, he hung out with Snorri a bit before he was shuffled off to his new mom:

Also, I’ve begun on the Stackable Cats. Details on that later, with possible pictures.

Mr Fuzzybottom

Elysse| 28 July 2008 12:03 am

Was trying SO HARD to finish Mr Fuzzybottom tonight. Finished his head, sewed the legs on to his bottom, crocheted his ears — but it just isn’t happening, and I need to get to bed. So Mr Fuzzybottom shall have to wait until tomorrow.

Bought yarn for the stackable cats yesterday — possibly the most I’ve EVER spent on yarn. But as it’s a gift I really want to give the best to this person, and if the best means (handspun?) Scottish wool, so be it. I just hope it’s not too scratchy. Hopefully post-felting it’ll all be good.

I’d post a picture of the parts of Mr Fuzzybottom, but my room’s too dark for the webcam, and I don’t have the energy for the camera. I’ll try and take a picture of him to pieces tomorrow before I put him together.

Continuous knitting

Elysse| 23 July 2008 8:21 am

I’ve been knitting quite a bit, as my dissertation is in semi-limbo until Thursday (yay meeting with supervisor!). Hence, I’ve been working on the elefante pattern by Susan B. Anderson. As I’m using the red fuzzy yarn left over from making my cousin’s graduation lei, there can only be one name for the elephant: Mr. Fuzzybottom. I’m knitting him on slightly smaller needles, as I’ve got ones just a size below and didn’t feel like buying a new set of DPNs. Photos shall be forthcoming, as I’m too lazy to pull out either my camera or webcam right now and go through the process of uploading. Lazy blogger is lazy!

My mum has also asked me to knit a gift for someone; the request was for some sort of stuffed animal. I’ve decided on a cat, because… well, if you don’t like kitties, you should. I could crochet it, which would be quick and easy, and use a pattern that I’ve done before (adapting a rabbit I made for my mum for Easter)… but I’m trying to increase my knitting expertise so that someday I can make something from here, and I am addicted to knitting in the round on DPNs. I’m not really sure why. So I was considering making these stackable cats, because… YOU CAN STACK THEM. Just need to run the pattern by my mum, and then get yarn. YAY!

Whoo progress!

Elysse| 18 July 2008 1:13 pm

So I FINISHED the bellydance socks on Wednesday, YAY!

bellydance socks

They turned out pretty well. I used this pattern with minor changes, primarily in that I used 5mm DPNs to cast on/bind off and for the two to three rows following/before. Added a new stitch every 3rd two to three rows before each bind off. If I ever make another pair, I might add slightly fewer at the very top, as it flairs a bit too much, and I also might fuss with the type of stitches… the k2p1 looks a bit funny when it’s all pulled out. BUT a very successful and not too difficult first attempt at a sock-like object!

Two weeks ago I also created something that should have made it up here a LONG time ago. I would like to introduce Snorri Sturluson, the armoured bear.

Snorri Sturluson, Armoured Bear

Two points if you know where the name is from. Snorri is a crocheted body made from wool yarn with mailled… well, maille, of nickel silver. Once again, the pattern was okay, but if I do it again I think I’ll just develop my own.

FINALLY, I’ve been mailling like a mofo the past few days, and THIS is the result:

mailled like a mofo

3 bronze and 3 aluminium byzantine bracelets, 2 helix bracelets, 4 diamond bronze earrings, 4 triangle brass earrings, and 4 stainless steel earrings with beads. The bronze and brass pieces are currently sitting on my desk in a pile of ketchup to make them all shiny, and I should probably go rinse them. And then lunch. Until next time!