Still Here, Still Weird

It’s been a while….cough.  I’ve been busy.  How have you been?

Reappearing here at the blog after an absence always feels a bit like running into an ex on the street or that friend you’ve been “meaning to call”, but haven’t.  Aw-k-waaarrrd. What do I say? Do you feel awkward too?  Are you mad at me for leaving without explanation?

Ha Ha! Just kidding!  I know there’s only maybe 4 people who read my nonsense anyway so I think it’s all good.  I have lots of stuff to talk about, but I’ve been so busy doin’ it all that I haven’t had time to sit down and write.

So I guess I’ll just jump in here since it’s the most recent project that I’ve finished and actually photographed.

Yes, that’s right.  I CROCHETED A DEATH STAR!  I’ll wait while the fanboys and girls calm down.  And…. wait for it…..I finished it on May the 4th!

As soon as I posted this on Facebook for friends and family to see, I received a desperate request from a high school friend who just HAD to have one for herself. I love making dreams come true!

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PATTERN:  Death Star by Patricia Castillo

YARN:  Big Twist Yarns Value Solids in Medium Gray  & Valley Yarns Stockbridge in Light Gray

YARDAGE:  174.4 yds for main sphere & 13.1 yds for contrast details

CROCHETING DURATION:  April 8, 2016 – May 4, 2016

RECIPIENT:  A gift for a friend’s son

DODGY BITS:  Had to rework the Superlaser portion on my own, not because the pattern was badly written, just because I’m a barely competent crocheter & I couldn’t figure out how to follow the directions as they were written. I think it turned out fine the way I did it and with the contrasting details it wasn’t even obvious that I’d changed it.

BLISS FACTOR:  8

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This pattern was well written and interesting to crochet. Bliss factor of 8 because, well, it’s acrylic (not that I’m a snob or anything, it’s just not my favorite) and it’s huge so it felt like I was going around and around and not making any progress.  Anything with details added after, at the creator’s discretion, drives me batty. Just tell me where to put the lines already! Don’t ask me to figure it out myself!  Hope the Star Wars fanboy who’s going to receive this will love it ♥

Handknits In Lavaland

News Flash!

The Goat King and his minions have donned the handknits today as a reported 3 feet of snow fell in Lavaland overnight. Yes, that’s right kids. Lavaland may have just frozen over. Why you ask? Because I am posting more than one FO this week. Can you even believe it? I know. And monkeys may fly out of my butt before long too.

But here he is! Meet Sheldy McSheldonstein! I actually finished him last month but with all our dark and rainy days it took two photoshoots before I finally gave up snapping a decent photo and sent him off to my niece. I mean, she’d already waited two extra months for her Christmas gifty. Then again, she’s also 1 ½ years old so I’m not sure it matters. But anyway, I picked the best of the suck and here they are:

 

Sheldy poses for the camera (and if you look very closely, so do I!)

 

Wow.  This bowl is really cold……

 

Are you done with that camera yet?  I’m tired of looking cute.

 

Pattern:  Sheldon from Knitty Winter 2006

Yarn:  Knit Picks’ Shine Sport in Grass (MC) & Green Apple (CC); 1 ball each

Needles:  Size 3 bamboo dpn’s & size 4 bamboo circ

Mods:  None except for the eyes.  Since this was a gift for my niece I was worried about using safety eyes just in case she managed to pry them off somehow so I used this mod to sew felt eyes on.  Otherwise, everything was by the pattern.

New Techniques:  Applied I-cord.  Fiddly but effective.

Comments:  This turned out pretty cute but really, seemed way too labor-intensive as a gift for a little one who will most likely chew on and pull the head and legs off at some point.  I seriously tried (and failed) about 6 times sewing the first appendage on, which put a whole damper on finishing.  Could be that I stuffed the shell too full as well, which made it difficult.  Not sure I’d want to make another one on a time schedule, but might be fun sometime when I really get to feeling I want to torture myself with craploads of finish work ;)

 

::Hope you all had a great week and have a lovely weekend!::

We <3 Katamari!

Hot off the hook!!  Do I smell a Katamari?

 

My co-worker Miami has this huge obsession with the Katamari Damacy video game (o.k., totally not his real name but if Frespañol was a language like Fritalian is, mi ami would mean my friend, which is a pretty good fake name for your buddy).  If you haven’t heard of this one yet, basically it’s a Japanese acid trip with a disturbingly electro pop soundtrack that worms its way into your brain like no other.  It’s probably delivering some kind of insidious subliminal messages directly to my cerebral cortex and some afternoon I’ll wake up from a trance wearing a Hello Kitty shirt with at least 84 stuffed animals attached to my purse by keychains.  Oh wait.  That was last Thursday.  Anyway, the whole point of the game is to roll your ball all over the planet, picking things up as you go and allowing your ball to get bigger and bigger until you can throw it into the stars to make a new planet to please your father The King.  Simple and somehow addictive, it’s developed a huge cult following all over the world.  So when Miami’s birthday came around, and I found the pattern for this Katamari toy, I knew I had to make him one.  Three shockingly tacky colors, 28 magnets, and a crapload of sewing later, Miami had his new toy.  And yes, those magnets work folks! 

 

Don’t get me too close to your face or I’ll suck out your fillings!

 

Pattern:  Magnetic Katamari Pattern

Yarn:  Red Heart Ltd. Soft Yarn Solids in Tangerine; Caron Simply Soft Brites in Limelight & Blue Mint

Hooks:  Size E & Size G

Other stuff:  Magnets & Stuffing

Mods:  None

Comments:  A little sewing-intensive, but technically easy.  Miami seemed to love it ;)

 

And now, back to our regularly scheduled fall off of the workout wagon!  Also known as attempting to drag your sorry ass into the workout room when you’d rather sit on the couch knitting and stuffing your face with bon-bons.