Well! Ravelympics is half over, and life has since intervened and given me very little time to knit. However! After a couple tries, the Bishops are created, and Pawns are nearly done!

For some reason even though both of these are simpler designs than the King and Queen they took much longer, being ripped out several times. I still haven’t figured out a proper base that will let them stand, either. After this, the Rook and the Knight remain. The latter will be definitely the most difficult piece, both to create and just to knit—I’m envisioning lots of shaping. The Rook may also prove difficult, as I’d really like to create a square tower. If that doesn’t pan out, it’ll be a round one with crenellations, but here’s hoping.

In other crafts, I’ve been costuming like CRAZY. That would be some of above-mentioned the life intervening—there’s a tribal b-dance performance in three weeks, and I’m making most of my costume from bits and bobs. I’m retrofitting a pair of trousers, revamping a drape, bustling a skirt, figuring out a headdress*, and making a belt. Next week sometime I’ll post exactly how I went about making it, but until then, look at the pretty hip-medallions I chainmailled this weekend!

The one on the left is the “raw” product, while the other is sewn onto a circle made of felt and covered with green stretch velvet. Nice, solid, and just stiff enough that the maille and the circle don’t go floppy. Thinking of branching out into peacock-coloured medallions, and am making a pair of the basic ones for my awesome teacher!

And that’s it for now; Lysse-bird out.

* I’ve got a headdress!**

** Please ignore the inside joke.

Tags: bellydance,knit,maille,ravelympics
Categories: knit, maille
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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.

Categories: delicious, maille, projects
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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.

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.

…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.

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!

Tags: amigurumi,bellydance socks,cables,stackable cats
Categories: crochet, knit, maille, projects
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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.

Tags: glovebacks,maille
Categories: maille, projects
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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

Tags: armoured bears,stackable cats
Categories: crochet, knit, maille, projects
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Well, I fail on that “soon” update, and totally forgot to take pictures of Mr Fuzzybottom pre-assembly. However, I come bearing pictures!

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.

Tags: armoured bears,mr fuzzybottom,stackable cats
Categories: crochet, knit, maille, projects
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So I FINISHED the bellydance socks on Wednesday, YAY!

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.

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:

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!

Tags: armoured bears,bellydance socks,jewelry
Categories: crochet, knit, maille, projects
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