Scarf

I don't really have anything exciting to say about this scarf. It's warm enough outside that you don't need a heavy duty scarf anymore, but still cold enough (most days) that I want something to keep me warm. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it too (probably because I used yarn that was way too thick), but I guess the end result was okay. It was supposed to be more flat and loose, but instead it's a bit stiff and chunky. I'm sure it will grow on me :-)

Close up of the scarf


Me wearing the scarf

That's all for now!

Dice Bags

Right, so I guess I just didn't crochet in 2009.

Long story short, I was busy. Now however I'm not so busy, and that means more crocheting!

When I first started playing Dungeons and Dragons a little over a year ago, I started out with one set of dice. These seven dice fit nicely in the little plastic case they originally came in, but the perils of living in my purse eventually took its toll, and the little plastic case shattered. This turned into the first excuse I had in a while to crochet something (I never did get around to actually making anything cute for all those babies I all-of-a-sudden knew). It had been months since I picked up that crochet hook, and the result was more of function over form (see: really friggin' ugly).

It may not look too bad at first glance, but, since it was the first thing I had crocheted in a while, it consists of all the yarn i wouldn't mind wasting, and has a horribly unsightly seem in the back. By now, I was the proud owner of two sets of dice, and they both fit in there perfectly.

Side Note: This concept baffled me at first, but that second set of dice just do not roll well. If i use those red dice I am almost guaranteed to not hit. It's very frustrating. I feel like there should be a 30-day money back guarantee on dice or something. I should be able to use them, see how they respond to me, and if we don't agree, return them for a set that rolls better. Either that, or have a system that works more like getting a wand in Harry Potter - let the dice pick you. *magic*

Anyway, after this dice bag was done, I went on another crocheting dry spell.

Fast forward to now. I went to my first ever convention over the weekend (awesome!), and because of that, I decided I needed a fancy new dice bag to rack up some serious geek-cred. It took me a few days to pick out a design to put on the front of my new dice bag; couldn't decide between Mrs. Pac-man or a black mage. As I hate to make decisions, I went with both.

front

back (can't have Mrs. Pac-man without a ghost!)

I like the way that the black mage one turned out a lot better than Mrs. Pac-man (I feel that she looks like she has a beak), but with the addition of a whole crap-ton of new dice acquired over the weekend, and the fact that they all fit into the Mrs. Pac-man one, that's the one I'm now currently using. The plan is to eventually weed out the dice that roll the best, and put them all into the black mage one. All the rejects can go back into the mess that is my first dice bag.


In conclusion, I have quite a few dice bags now :-)

It's been a while

I know I've neglected this blog of late, but I ended up actually getting a job and not having time to crochet fun things. This is quite a shame, seeing as how apparently everyone I know decided to have babies and would probably love cute little crocheted items.

Will update for real soon...promise :)

Nintendo DS Time

My journey through the world of crocheting has definitely been an interesting one. Since I made a nice new home for my ipod, I decided now would be a good time to make something fun for my DS. I just recently made the transition from the old fat version to a nice new shiny blue DS lite, and I was determined to now allow this one to get near as scratched up as the old one.

My first idea was to make a simple pouch for my DS with a triforce on it. It sounded simple enough, however, the end result did not look anything like I was expecting. If you're really that interested, it can be found here and here. I mean, it's not the most horrible thing in the world, but it's just not up to any standard that I had in my head. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I see all the mistakes I made :-( I think sometime in the future I'll try again, it's just hard to get a clean, consistent color change in crocheting, which results in ugly color changes (at least, I haven't found a way to cleanly change colors...if anyone has any ideas, I'd be more than happy to listen).

My second try went much better. Instead of going with a fun nintendo related pattern, I basically just made a colorful flappy-pouch thing. It's hard to explain, but it turned out awesome. I have a little button to keep it closed (I added it after the pictures were taken, so unfortunately, you don't get to see it) and some pockets on the inside to hold a few games (I origonally wanted to be able to hold 6 games, but I misjudged the size and it can only hold 3). Here's some photos for your enjoyment:















































































It's not my best work, but it gets the job done :o)

Tiny Pillow

We recently bought a new couch. It's a nice couch and all, but I really want a nice throw pillow for it. Since I have all the free time in the world at the moment (see "I haven't had a job since August, and still have two weeks left until I start my new job"), I decided it would be a fantastic idea to crochet myself a nice custom throw pillow.

I attempted a Futurama themed pillow, but after getting about 1/5 of the way through, I hated it and quit. It was supposed to be the Planet Express logo, but I sadly discovered that this logo does not pixelize (is that a word?) well. You can see my sad attempt at this here. I really liked the idea of the Planet Express logo on a pillow, so maybe sometime in the future I'll try again, but as it stands now, I have no Futurama pillow.

My next idea was the, slightly overdone, question mark box from mario. I loved how this one turned out. On one side I have the question mark and on the other side is the bricks.

Here's a picture of both sides before I sewed it together:


Here it is as a finished pillow:

I do, however, have one tiny problem with how this pillow turned out. Due to my lack of planning ahead, the pillow is a very tiny tiny pillow. Its measurements are a mere 6"x6". To give you some perspective of the pillow to couch ratio that's going on, here's a picture to help you visualize.


Since I wanted a larger, more useful pillow (as opposed to a pillow that is still totally awesome, just not as practical as I was hoping), I decided to sell this one over at etsy. If you're interested, you can purchase it here. If you know anyone who would be interested, feel free to direct them to it :o)

Well, that's all from me for now. Stay tuned for the next installment of the "I'm bored and going to spend all my days crocheting little things for myself" show.

Old School

As you may have noticed, I've got a bit of the thing for the old school Nintendo era. Seeing as how it's one of the first systems I can vividly remember playing (the other being Atari, but I really only remember playing pitfall and facemaker), it holds a special place in my heart.

With that said, I made myself a little ipod cozy:


I made this a little while ago, before I really perfected switching colors, so I made a plain grey cozy and hand stitched the black, tan, and red on. I think it worked out really well cause it's pretty small and detailed. Here's some closer looks:



You can't really see it, but there's a little botton on the back to keep my ipod all safe and secure in its new little home.

I was thinking of maybe making more of these and selling them, but I'm on the fence about it. Mainly because if I do that, then I won't be the only one who has one anymore :o)

I might change my mind tho, who knows...

Kuribo's Shoe

I just finished a nice little crochet Mario with a little Kuribo's shoe power up. I was originally going to give him arms and legs, but I thought he looked way cuter this way (sort of in the form of a mii). I might still put arms and legs on him in the future, but for now, I think he's fine the way he is :o)

Also, I'm not sure why, but all my pictures are getting cut off on the right when I publish this post. However, if you click on the picture it shows the full thing just fine.

I basically just made each part as I went along, so I don't know how easily I'll ever be able to recreate it. I might try again soon. The boot I made from referencing some in game pictures, and mario I based mostly off of this picture from someone else who made a cute crochet mario (much cuter than my mario).