There's One (or more) In Every Family.

Hello out there in blog land, I know I've been away for a while but I'm hoping to get back to at least semi-regular posting!

This is my cousin…unfortunately. Without going into too much detail, she and I don’t get along. Recently I found myself in the position of needing to remove her somewhat erratic and destructive force from my life. *sigh* These things happen. I believe very strongly in family but I also believe very strongly that blood is not thicker than self preservation and sanity.

Anywho, I didn’t post a picture of my cousin because I wanted to talk about unpleasantness. Rather, I wanted to talk about the nifty hats I slaved over before cutting her out of my life. I had thought to roll these out over more than one post but I figure I may as well get the cousin related blogging out of the way and move on with my life.

As you can see in the first photo, my cousin is sporting some knitwear. She requested three hats of me (and expected to pay next to nothing…really kicking myself for giving her such a good price now) A baby Yoda hat for her infant son, a Green Lantern hat for her betrothed, and a Hat with attached scarf for herself. (Pictured above)

She requested that her hat be made of super soft yarn so I complied despite the extra cost of the super soft yarn (again, kicking myself for the rockin’ discount I gave her.) In order to cut my costs a little I knit the hat and scarf double strand, one strand being softer yarn and one strand being regular acrylic. Still soft and cozy but a little cheaper to produce. (Lol, there’s my trade secret for the day!) I knit the hat and both scarf-flaps separately then seamed and attached. Nothing too complicated but I was pleased with how it came out and so was she!

Next was the Baby Yoda hat, pictured here on my cousin’s little boy. He is rather cute, a pity I will no longer be able to use him as a hat model. Nothing ground breaking here, you’ve seen my Yoda Hats before, but I wanted to show it off on a living model!

Last but not least is the Green Lantern hat. There was a time when there were many Green Lantern fans in my life so I set out to knit a Green Lantern symbol. I posted that on a favorite geek message board of mine which led to what was actually my very first order for knitwear: a special request for a Green Lantern Hat and scarf. My cousin’s someday to be husband saw pictures of that set and had to have a hat for his very own.

So I knit him up a hat and here is his customer action shot…It’s a little beyond me why he couldn’t like…I dunno…put on a real shirt for the photo which was part of the trade for the discount I gave them. Que sera, he truly enjoys his hat and it shows in the pic (see his happy face?) and that does warm my heart. Few things make me happier than seeing people truly enjoy something I’ve made for them.

 Since I’m getting all things related to that chick formerly known as my cousin out of the way, I figured I’d also show the first two baby hats I gifted my cousin with upon the birth of her son. The first being one being a fuzzy kitty ear hat and the second being a boobie!

The boobie hat is actually a story all it’s own, so I will leave it at that for now!

Anywho, Have a good day readers, and appreciate your family, be they blood relations or the family you build for yourself with good friends!

Did I 'Ear You Right"

So in the last post I mentioned getting paid to knit. This post is also about some of the things I’ve gotten paid to knit recently! Ina weird way, this is also very much about getting ears shaped correctly.

So, recently I was tasked with making a Yoda baby hat and a child’s Pikachu hat. I love a new knitting challenge so I did some research to make sure I could put something together and then set about designing these.

For those who don’t know, Pikachu, is a Pokemon. Pokemon is short for Pocket Monster (or so they tell me). If you don’t have children and have never been a child or somehow otherwise managed to miss the entire boat on the Pokemon phenomenon, Pokemon was a children’s TV show of Japanese origin. Pikachu is a specific Pokemon character. As I recall, he is an electric mouse. In general I will only use my own images on here but I figure this is one of those times when a visual aid would be a good thing. So this is a Pokemon and I own no rights what so ever to this image. 

Ok, got it? Good.

So now that you know what a Pikachu looks like, you can see my brilliant work crafting a hat for a child who is a big Pikachu fan! This hat was purchased by a mommy friend for her very cute and sweet and well behaved 5 year old!

I knew basically what Pikachu looked like but I was not well versed so I did a bunch of research. By research mean, I googled the heck out of that little guy. I also looked around at the sort of Pikachu hats others had made. I rarely end up using an actual pattern for anything and I of course won’t sell anything made with someone else’s pattern. But I do like to reference and see what others have come up with, I figure that’s fairly common.

There were several out there but I found many of them were all yellow except for the black tips on the ears and it seemed boring. It’s not like a huge design element but I threw in the black brim to break up the yellow a bit ‘cause that’s how I roll. Speaking of how I roll, the brim can be rolled up so It looks more like a beanie!

The ears were interesting, I debated how best to make them look like what I saw in the pictures. I saw all manner of other knit Pikachu ears but often they were flat or too droopy. But a little stuffing and mine seem to sit just as intended. Apparently Pikachu uses his ears to express emotion. It was also beyond cute to see the 5 year old recipient of this hat shaking his head around to get his ears to bounce!

How freakin' cute is that?!

Now on to Yoda.

I figure Star Wars in general and Yoda specifically is prolific enough for me to not need to provide too much explanation or pictures stolen from the interwebs. If you don’t know who Yoda is…well go watch Star Wars, like all of them! Do it now, I’ll wait.

Didja do it? I’ll take your silence as an affirmative.

So the Yoda hat requested was for an infant. Infants can be tricky. See, some kids come out with tiny tiny heads and some come out with really, like freakishly large heads. And eventually, they all grow. So I like to err on the side of caution and go bigger for infant sized hats. If you go too small, the kid may never get to wear the hat. If it’s too big to start with, it’s likely it will fit eventually.

So I did some research. There are two really important components in both these character hats and those were the colors and the ear shapes and details. Pikachu was easy because he’s generally accepted as a bright yellow color with black. Yoda, on the other hand is green. Not just any green, but a sorta mossy, minty green. He’s minty moss green. Actually, the color on the yarn was something like frosted mint. Either way, Yoda is a light green color.

In researching images of Yoda and other designs people had used for their Yoda hats, I noticed a disturbing trend: none of these people knew what color Yoda is! Shocking, I know, but take heart gentle readers! For I have carefully constructed a Yoda hat in about as close to his coloring as one could get.

The other tricky thing about Yoda was the shape of his ears. They aren’t just some form of triangle like a lot of puppet/animal/creature type ears are. They’re all curly and pointy. I looked at what others had done and most of them had weird floppy ears that weren’t the right shape. I was determined to keep this from happening.

Ok, one more stolen image to illustrate the absurd curly/pointiness.

It turned out to be laughably simple to get the right shape (not that I’m going to share trade secrets :-P) and I managed it on my first try. It’s entirely possibly I may never top the awesomeness of the Yoda hat and honestly, I’m pretty zen about that. If you have to peak young, you may as well peak with the greatest of all the Jedi masters right?

So, somewhere between Princess Liea, Pikachu, and Yoda, I seem to have found somewhat a niche in what I lovingly call: Nerd Knitting!

Princess Cinnamon Buns!

I’m a bit of a geek/nerd in general. Not the kind who can fix your computer or hack into it or program it. More the kind who cut her teeth on Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, and Spider Robinson. I love sci fi and to a lesser degree, some fantasy. My geekosity takes many forms, from being a knitting nerd to a history buff, but the specific realm of geekdom one of my recent projects involves is Star Wars.

I am a huge Star Wars fan. Han Solo is my first true love. We’re not talking celebrity crush on Harrison Ford, (though I had one of those too) we’re talking full on in love with Han Solo, the rogue with a heart of gold!  

However, this post is not about Han Solo.

Any girl in love with Han Solo at once wants to be and hates the oh so iconic Princess Leia Organa (eventually Solo…that bitch!). And what says Princess Leia more clearly than the ever recognizable cinnamon bun hairstyle? Nothing, that’s what.

Granted her hair looked better in just about every other hairstyle she wore, but when people think Princess Leia, they think cinnamon buns! Ok, they think of the slave costume as well, but I’m talking about hair here, people!

So I thought it would be fun to knit myself a Princess Leia Cinnamon Bun Hat!!! I looked around online and was not surprised to find that others had also tackled this feat. I did not however end up using anyone’s pattern. I tried a few different styles for the buns and ended up using i-cord. But the whole thing, though not very complicated, was improvised by me.

I absolutely love the way this came out…and so did the person who ended up buying it! So the bad news is that I have yet to make a Princess Leia hat for myself (just modeling it in these pics). The good news is that before I even finished knitting this one, I had a customer for it. She absolutely loves it and that honestly makes me (almost) as happy as having one myself. Not to mention, getting paid to knit, which is pretty nifty.

Happy New Year!

In this blog I’d like to draw attention to another blog: http://365dayswithjoel.blogspot.com.

I started reading this woman’s regular blog after seeing her post on one of the message boards I frequent. I don’t remember what made me check out her blog but I did and found it rather entertaining. I think it had something to do with cooking, it was amusing and from her blog I learned of Bakerella, one of my now favorite sites!

In reading her blog I saw references to a tragedy that had occurred in her family and so started digging into back blogs to discover what had happened. She had carried her son to term, 40 weeks, only to discover he had no heartbeat in the womb. Her son Joel was born sleeping. Heartbreaking as her story was, I was amazed at the humor, spirit, and strength with which she wrote about her experience.

So, when she posted about this project on the boards I was eager to take part in it! Basically the idea is to collect 365 pictures of the name Joel. She wants to make a photobook at the end of the year as a keepsake for her son.

People are often afraid to mention the name of a lost child at the risk of upsetting the family. However, in my experience, parents and family members of a lost child are often eager to get the chance to talk about their little ones. Our society is uncomfortable with death and would like to sweep it under the rug and hide from it whenever possible. These families are often left feeling rushed to just “get past it” or “move on” and in some horrible cases they are even told to “stop bringing everyone else down”.

I would like to celebrate Joel and his family and all the little ones gone too soon. I think this project is a fabulous way for this family to remember their child and a good way to encourage others who have been told they shouldn’t publicize their tragedy.

Now, onto a more personal note: I never have New Year’s Eve plans, for whatever reason, I never get invited to parties and can never find anything to do. So I tend to be a little annoyed by the holiday. This year I was being a jerk about it to someone I rather care about and I’m sorry for that. It had bothered me all week and I’m ashamed to say I threw a bit of a fit. Not my proudest moment.

For some reason however, I woke up the next day feeling truly over it. I wasn’t annoyed anymore, any jealousy due my lack of plans was gone. For whatever reason, I woke up at peace with it and with an idea. Since I planned to make something for this 365 days with Joel project, I decided I would devote New Year’s Eve to working on the project.

So ladies and gentlemen, that brings me to the actual project for this post. I had a few different ideas floating around for what I’d do but when I sat down to work on it, I discovered that I had…crafters block.

My dad’s apartment building has a communal library for the residents with a table in the back room where people can set out things they no longer need and others can come along and take it if they can use it.

I found a stack of Christmas and holiday cards and decided to grab them and see what I could do with them. The pictures make it pretty obvious what I chose to do with them. I like birds, for me they are a symbol of freedom and renewal. So I cut out all the little red birds I could find and then made Joel’s name with some cute gingham fabric I found in my stash!

I’m not a religious person, but I am, in general, a somewhat spiritual person. Be it karma or angels or what have you, I like the idea of a guarding force. I like the idea of a lost little one resting peacefully on a fluffy cloud. Say what you will about what that means, I just think it sounds nice. I also think snow angels (or if you’re from California like me, sand angels) are such a fun and natural part of childhood so when I came across the snow angel card I really fell in love with the image.

Inside the other cards I found the letters I needed to make Joel and the word peace. I like to think Joel is at peace knowing his momma is remembering him in such a wonderful way.

So, I had planned to make a more permanent project but then I couldn’t figure out what I’d do with the pieces once I was done. So this sort of collage inspired photo project was born. I may make more things for Joel should the mood strike me and if I do, I’ll be sure to share them!

In the meantime, I’m pleased with what I’ve come up with and I feel good about using this project to help me bring in the new year.

I hope 2010 treated you well and I hope 2011 treats you even better. 

Happy New Year, Readers!!!

Santa’s Littler Helper!

I love Christmas time! I also love wearing Santa hats. I’m always on the look out for cool looking Santa hats as soon as the season rolls around. I have a big, soft, fluffy one, and one with a black brim and pom pom on top, I even have a cute felt elf hat with a bell on top.

But this year I decided what my collection really needed was my very own knit Santa hat!

I don’t currently knit in the round. Since I am a mostly self taught knitter, I’m still aquiring skills, I can do quite a lot with straight needles but double points and circulars are not something I’m familiar with. Unfortunately, literally every Santa or elf hat pattern is for double point or circular needles. I’ve mastered the beanie on straight needles but I wasn’t exactly sure how to get the cone shape.

I looked up some patterns and tried to figure out if I could adapt them for straight needles. I found one pattern that looked like it had a straight needle option and kinda skimmed it. And by skimmed it, I mean didn’t pay a lot of attention to what it was saying.

So I got started on a hat and tried doing what I thought this pattern was telling me to do, which was to knit for about 5 or 6 inches and then start decreasing one on each end every other row…this did not end up going well…you might even say it was an epic fail. I imagine if a better, more experienced knitter were reading this, they would probably laugh at me.

I am constantly working to improve my knitting skills but I’m not so seasoned that I can always tell how something is going before I finish it. Sometimes things look completely wrong to me right up until I either cast off or sew it up. Anywho, when all was said and done I was left with a hat that looked more like a…well it looked kinda like a mountain with a pointy cliff. This, dear reader, was not the desired result.

  

So I took a couple pictures of the monstrosity so I could send them to a friend to laugh at and then decided I would try it the way I had originally thought about doing it.

Turns out my way was the right way. I basically made my normal beanie shape but put more rows between the decrease rows and started with fewer decreases which essentially made a nice cone shaped hat!

When the hat came out looking more like a Santa hat should, I made a pom pom for the top, sewed it all together and was quite pleased with the end result.

I’m rather proud of this hat and I have to say, I get comments every year when I wear my Santa hats around town but I’ve gotten more compliments on this particular knit Santa hat than any other Santa hat I’ve ever worn! It’s kind of a nifty conversation starter, people tell me they like it and then asked if it’s home made. So of course I say it is and that I made it and before you know it I’m discussing crafts with complete strangers!

Franken Hat and Franken Baby!

So, I’m trying to get myself back into blogging more regularly. To that end, I thought I’d follow up my last post with a couple  of my Franken Projects.

As soon as Franken Ball was born, I was excited to make something with it. Since I had no idea how it would knit up, I decided to try it out on a hat. Hats are nice and easy and a good way to see what the yarn looks like in a project.

So I knitted myself this cute little hat with ears! I normally knit my hats with two strands of yarn knitted together. So, for this hat, I used Franken Ball and basic black for the body. For the ears I used Franken yarn knitted with soft, fuzzy yarn.

I loved how random it came out! Also, when I tie the pieces of yarn together to make Franken Ball, I don’t trim the ends, I leave them sticking out and I like the kinda shabby look it adds to projects made with Franken Ball!

The next project I used Franken Ball for was a gift for my cousin’s baby! The momma to be requested something a little edgier than the classic teddy bear. She suggested something with extra legs and eyes. Obviously I didn’t go that route exactly but it was a good jump off point.

So this is the little monster I made for her little monster! Baby Jax is still a little young to appreciate my handiwork but I hope eventually he does come to enjoy the little guy.

Most of Franken Baby’s body is more or less the same as the hat, Franken Ball knitted with black. I got tired of the black and decided to knit the legs with Franken Ball and dark green. The two strands knitted together helps make the weave a little tighter which is good for keeping the stuffing inside. 

I embroidered (sorta) a different face on each side of Franken Baby and actually had the head spikes/hair already lying around.  I had made it for something else and then changed my mind and used something else it made the perfect spikey topper for the little monster.

Franken Hat and Franken Baby are both quite soft and fun to touch because there are so many different textures!

Franken Ball

It’s high time I introduced you all to Franken Ball!

As any crafter knows, when the project is done there are always scraps and bits and pieces of crafting materials left over. They are too small to be used again for their original intention but it often feels wrong throwing them away. It could be some extra scraps of material from cutting out a pattern, left over beads from making jewelry, or in my case, left over bits of yarn.

At the end of every knitting project, even if it’s knit completely in one color you will usually have at least a couple tails left over from your working yarn. These pieces are usually only a few inches long and can’t really be used for another knitting project. I think most people probably toss these. I on the other hand, compulsively save them.

Once I have a good amount, like a plastic baggy full, I sit down and go through them. The ones that are something like 2inches are under go back into a different collection and are used as filling for small things like cherries on top of hats and what not.

Anything longer than that gets tied end to end in random order and wound into a ball: Franken Ball.

Franken ball is always different, always’s growing, always random and really fun to work with! I like to find different textures to add to Franken Ball because they really change things up. Once in a while I find a damaged sweater or scarf and pull it apart and add pieces to Franken Ball but for the most part, Franken Ball is made up of pieces of my working yarn or ends of a skein or ball that aren’t useful for anything else.

Most people would probably find tying billions of pieces of yarn together to be pretty tedious but I’ve always had a thing for tedious projects. They keep my hands busy without taking up too much of my brain, I find them soothing.

Franken yarn also looks really cool because it is intentionally random, you never know how exactly a project will look! Because I use so many different types of yarn on Franken Ball, I usually knit it with a second yarn to make up for any lack of bulk.