Tropical Delight Wrap

Backtracking a bit here...

It's totally because I was waiting for pretty pictures.

I've written previously about playing the Shadowmoor LARP, and between the months of April and May, I began to do some online role-play with another Sampan.

(The leader of the Sampan storyline had made a Facebook group to keep all the Sampan in Shadowmoor 'in the loop' about shared visions. I have been trying to spread the word around to all of the other Sampan, to make sure that they know what's going on.)

Long story short: Calla (Jamie) and Feather (me) decided to take a short sea voyage out to see said leader (the Dragon Prince) using Honu's (my husband's) boat.

Anybody confused yet?

We have had some great written roleplay interactions on our journey out to the Dragon Prince (in fact, we're still RP-ing now!) and when we were originally starting out, Calla expressed concern about being recognized and drawing unwanted trouble to ourselves.  (Feather is very much acquainted with this feeling.)

"Perhaps you would consider a disguise? I mean, you didn't think my real name was Feather, did you?" Feather summons an almost conspiratorial smile. "I used to be a weaver by trade; I'm sure I have something that would keep your identity a secret."

Calla smiles, leaning forward slightly. "I... hadn't thought about your name before, but that does make sense."

She thinks for a moment. "I've made a hood that would disguise you, or a long wrap that can be worn any number of ways. Or of course I could craft something new in a color you prefer." Clearly a little delighted with the idea of disguise hijinks, Feather rummages through one of her trunks.

"And of course, a nickname would help mask your identity, too," she continues. "Even Midori went by Jade before coming back to TaiZi Rax."

Calla smiles. "I'll leave the nickname to you. It takes me ages to name kittens, and they don't even care what they're called. I would be very grateful to borrow something. They're used to seeing me in colors analogous to blue. Anything outside that color family would throw them a bit..."

"Hmm," Feather says after a long moment of consideration. She pulls a small bag out of her trunk; the contents clack softly as she opens it and pours a handful of seashells into her palm. After a thoughtful moment, she stirs the shells with a finger before selecting four and putting the rest away. Then she pulls an open-worked wrap with tones of beige and purple, accented and bordered in seafoam green.

"Periwinkle," Feather says, holding out the shells and wrap to Calla.

Calla had laughed and nodded her agreement at Feather's assessment of Town on a ship, and watched with intrest as she sorted through the crocheted goods and shells. She now looks surprised, then smiles.

"Really? I mean- Thank you!" She bows and carefully accepts the gifts with both hands. "They are beautiful."

"You're more than welcome," Feather replies with a grin. "The adventures of Periwinkle and Feather...I think we could sell a few books with a title like that."

At the time, I sent Jamie a picture of the shells Feather had given her above:

 My mother brings me shells when she goes on vacation;

these are actually periwinkle seashells, hence Calla's nickname.

If you read the description above of the 'open-worked wrap'...it does seem oddly specific.  

I'm trying to contain my crafting glee...it's not working.

Maybe it's because I had already selected a lovely pattern that I wanted to make: 

Tropical Delight Shawl by Elk Studio

Purchase available through Ravelry.

And I had wandered out to my nearest lovely yarn store and bought the colors I wanted to use.  

Jamie/Calla/Periwinkle didn't know I was doing any of this!

So I spent the first couple weeks of May crafting like a madwoman.  I ran into a couple of pattern snags, but they were entirely my fault for not reading everything correctly.  I absolutely love the result, and staged some Hawaiian-themed pictures:

Doesn't everybody have a ukulele at home?

At the last minute, however, I wasn't able to attend the May gather for Shadowmoor (too many other crochet commissions; sometimes being a responsible adult has to come first).  So I sent the wrap up to site with Mike the Coworker (with the periwinkle shells wrapped inside).

Jamie loved it!

And what was even better, I asked if I could take pictures of Calla (meaning, in costume) to show you all, and I was finally able to do it at the June gather!

The sunlight and setting were perfect; this location is just outside the larger cabin we use for the Mages' Guild.

Isn't Calla (and the wrap of course) just lovely?

Thank you to Jamie for being so gracious!

Such a pretty color combination!

Apologies for the silence in June; I've had a lot of commissions going on and will hopefully share one or two (plus another free pattern!) soon.

Craft on!

Dwarf Lass's Beard! - Cosplay Commission

For LARP last month, I was told that the plot team needed a dwarf beard to match the one I had made in 2013:

That's Mike the coworker.

We had been asked to help run a special All Hallow's (Halloween) haunted house.  Deevius was also with me, for her first (and so far, only) LARP event.  Mike was playing a barbarian.  I was an islander (think Polynesian--I wore a lei and a sarong with hibiscus flowers).

So, in reusing the beard, Mike and Sheryl were going to be playing a pair of dwarf siblings, so she wanted a "girly" beard.  

o_O

How you make an epic beard girly is a little beyond me, but she asked for green bows, so I thought, "Okay, I can figure something out."

Using the same pattern as before, courtesy of Melissa Campbell (Ravelry login required) I started the beard base.

And then I realized that in my 2013 notes about the first beard, all I had said was "pattern was followed 85%; I made some strands shorter due to wearer’s request."

...um, whut?

Commence the educated guessing!  Finished product:

Pattern is supposed to be accompanied by a

crocheted helmet, hence the buttonholes.

I threaded some rare sparkly green yarn I found

in a clearance bin in a tiny yarn shop in New York

through the "metal clasps" of the beard, and 

embellished with plastic gems for extra girlyness.

I found a YouTube tutorial on how to tie perfect bows,

and made teeny, tiny ones.  I then secured the center

knot with superglue and a gem.  I also knotted and 

glued all of the ends, just to be safe.

After all of my rushing around to get this and Nautica's scarf done in time for the event, the gal playing the sister dwarf did not come to the event, or I would have tried to get a picture of her for you.

Instead, Mike the coworker wore his beard, and some professional photographers were out and caught these candids:

Left to Right:  Eolian (Dave) and Moriarty (Todd).

The girl with her back to the camera

is Onesti (Ashe), who plays a Sarr (cat person).

The crochet quest continues!  Today's list:

1)  Two (2) pairs of aviator goggles.

2)  A D-20 plush dice.

3)  Five (5) pairs of slippers.

4)  Guude plushie (the first one!)

5)  VintageBeef VII

6)  Enderman (still...)

7)  Baby Groot II  (I'll do a different post on Baby Groot I.)

We'll keep plugging away!

Nautica's Scarf

As previously posted, I LARP (Live Action Role Play) once a month during the warmer months of the year (supposedly.)

I attended a little more than half of the events this year, and at the end of the October gather, I was approached by Rick, a fellow player (whom I don't know very well, as evidenced by mixing him up with Mark when I tried to message him) with a commission.

He wanted a black and red scarf for a fellow guildmember (they are in the group simply called 'the Red and Black').  I found out later that in-play (that is, when the game is in session), his character Marius has been enchanted with some kind of love poison so that he's basically infatuated with the character he requested the scarf for.

Her name is Nautica.  She is a sea-elf.

More on that after we talk about the scarf.  (I know, just hold your horses!)

So I went home and checked around Ravelry for a suitable scarf pattern; nothing too plain, but nothing too complicated that would take to dual colors pretty well.

I found:

Ravelry pattern by Chelsea Dean here.

Well, let me be the first to tell you that this pattern was a nightmare.  I struggled with understanding it from the get-go, and it didn't get better.  In the end, I pretty much improvised 75% of it, and included my notes on the project page on Ravelry.

After the pattern frustration, however, I was pleased with the result:

In the words of Rick:

"You do not even realize how awesome and amazing you are!! Seriously...it looks great."

A close up of the pattern and the bobbles (which I had to look up a picture tutorial for):

  

And finally, the fabulous Nautica herself:

And probably the best news of all (other than happy customers/recipients) is that Rick's girlfriend wants one for herself!  :D

I'll get right on that, after...

1)  VintageBeef plushie

2)  Guude plushie

3)  Groot

4)  Enderman (*sigh*  I know, still...)

Later!

Cosplay Commission!

So in this season of pumpkin spice and falling leaves, I finally finished a commission that I've had floating around on my plate for quite a few months.

My fabulous friend Ren from high school caught up with me on Facebook one day, and asked me if I could crochet a wig for her Guild Wars II cosplay outfit.  I believe she wears it to renaissance faires and other gatherings.

The original pattern was from Lion Brand Yarn, (requires login) but the yarn called for has been discontinued.

But I was not fazed!  The specific colors needed for the cosplay was simple: black.

From the images, I gathered the character had dreadlocks or many, many braids:

But in black.

The hardest part of the entire pattern was that the wig base itself came out entirely too small.  I reworked it four times before I could get it to a size that would work for an average adult.

And then in one of my finer moments of genius, I decided that it would be prudent to sew a strand of red yarn into the front of the wig to remember proper braid placement.

Further, I knew that if Ren was going to be able to tie the braids into the knot-like arrangement above, the braids couldn't be too thick, and they needed to be much longer than the pattern called for.

I futzed around for a little bit, and decided that the easiest thing to do in order to achieve both the most coverage (concealing the wig base) and length would be to just chain the braids.  

I think they pass for skinny braids.

Also, I further concluded that if I was going to make the braids look like hair, then the ones at the base of the neck would be shorter than the ones at the crown of the head.  (I was going for even layers.  I have no idea if I actually succeeded.)

The finished product:

Nice and thick for a ponytail.

I'm hoping Ren will send me pictures next year, when the festivals are open again and she does her costume.

But until then, I believe I have a dwarf beard, a lattice scarf, a VintageBeef, and an enderman to work on!

(Oh, and I have a post about the Nebris plushie coming soon; I just need to get some information off of Reddit, which I can only view from home!)

SC Comicon 2014 - Part 2

So now we come to the brief, post-picnic-lunch section, where Deevius was able to see again, and we tried to get pictures of any amazing costumes we had missed.

Spiderman

Gambit & Rogue

The Tallest Jawa Ever

Lucy Heartfilia (Fairytail)

Fun story: I went up to this gal as she was turning

to walk away, and I tapped her shoulder and said,

"Lucy!  Can I get a picture of you?"

This girls's smile was the most brilliant thing I've

ever seen, which is what encourages me to try doing

a complete cosplay at a con in the future.

(She even let me pick which key she held in the picture--I picked Loke.)

The other two remote-controlled R2-D2s.

(This one snuck up behind me when I was photographing the Jawa.)

Also, a huge shout-out to Midori, who toted plushie Etho around with her for most of the day (barring the fifteen minutes where I was holding him and not taking photos).  She was amazing; every person that inquired about him, she pulled out the small stack of business cards I'd given her, and managed to give away all but four.

(It's my dream, maybe in a couple years, to be able to have a booth of my very own at a con like that.  Cuz that would be awesome!)

And it was pretty legit; one little girl came right up to Midori and said, "I like your Etho."  (Major WIN right there!)

Most other people recognized Etho as 'Kakashi' from Naruto, even if they didn't understand the reference to Minecraft via the redstone torch he had pinned to his left hand.

Here he is with me, posing in front of the "official" SC Comicon badge:

The one other thing we had to do was get Deevius in the Batmobile.  There was no way she was leaving without photographic proof:

Everything inside was labeled "Bat_____".

So, my goodies from the con included:

Tile coasters featuring the TARDIS in other fandoms.

This is Narnia and Middle Earth.

(The artist was out of his Shire coasters.)

Deevius got Middle Earth and the bridge of the Enterprise, c. 1969.

Amazing wooden charms for all fandoms.

Clearly, I went with Legend of Zelda.

Deevius went with Captain America, and chose the necklace option.

The artist also had everything from Marvel to DC, Naruto, and many more.

But there were all kinds of toys, models, shirts--and of course, boxes and boxes of comics.  I wish I had had the presence of mind to ask about some of my retired/vintage/internationally-published collections that I'm trying to finish (namely 'ElfQuest' and 'Asterix and Obelix').

There's always next year! 

So my next con...hmm...I've been invited to MineCon 2014, to speak as a member of the Broken Buttons if they are able to host a custom map-making panel.

But, as the Panda would say:  "There are 3,249 things that have to happen in order.  We are on 8.  You're talking about number 2,796."

Still, he was kind enough to photograph my arms before I became a normal person instead of a crazy fangirl:

Silence will fall.

(But only because I tripped Deevius.)

Until next time, where we'll get back to Minecraft crochet discussions.  ^_~