A Hat for Mother

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but in case I haven't (or you're new!) I'll recap:

When I first attended college in 2002, the only crafting to my name was some bead crafting.  I wouldn't even go so far as to call it jewelry, because it was really hit-and-miss.  Sometimes I finished a project; other times I just strung beads and never did anything with them.

My freshman year, I had a roommate who taught me how to knit.  I would take a skein of yarn and my needles to the language lab every week, to give my hands something to do while I listened to French conversations, songs, and news broadcasts.  It was slow going--I was making a blanket for my bestie (you know her as April) and one little square seemed to take forever.

Then I went home for some break (I fail to recall which) and my mother saw what I was attempting to do.

"Why aren't you crocheting?" she asked me.

I'm sure I must have stared at her, dumb-founded.  The obvious answer was that my roommate hadn't taught me crochet, she'd taught me knitting.

"If you crochet those squares, you can change color and make the blanket in strips," my mother continued.  "Then you can just sew the strips together."

Thus began my crochet career.  At first, my mother did all the crochet, while I was in charge of stitching the blanket strips together.  And she was right--she could crank out at least a strip a day, while I would labor over one simple square for three or four days.

And then she taught me how to crochet.  Mind you, it was a little more difficult for me to learn from her, because she is left-handed.

I started with scarves.  And chunky yarn.  (Not a bright idea.)  I progressed to color-block scarves, for friends who enjoyed Harry Potter.  At the time, I didn't know much about the significance of yarn weight or hook size.  I just wanted to give gifts that made people happy, and Gryffindor and Slytherin scarves did that.

After a short dalliance in the world of crochet, my craft focus moved on to other things, like hand-sewn teddy bears and serious jewelry-making.  Then it was t-shirt printing/stenciling, embroidery, and other things.

Finally, after April introduced me to the web comic Worsted for Wear, I discovered Ravelry and fast-forward to today.

All that to say: my mother is the one that taught me the basics of crochet.

When she and my father visited last month, she saw the Gaithersburg stole I was working on, and loved the cabled pattern.  She asked me to teach her to crochet.

How the tables have turned.

I think I probably stared at her again.  "But Mom...you taught me to crochet."

I knew that somewhere in the back of her mind, she already knew the basics.  She might need to brush up on American crochet terms, but tension, chaining, and single crochet were not going to be a problem.

We started with a test swatch of the cabled pattern, so that we could establish the different stitches needed: slip stitch, single crochet, etc.

Then I knew she was ready to learn something a little different: amigurumi.

See, she said she wanted a hat that would cover her ears.  (The one I crocheted for her two Christmases ago was apparently not long enough.)  I handed her some red yarn and informed her that she knew all the stitches she needed to know in order to start a hat.  Through some explanation of circular construction and multiples of six, she made the base of the hat all by herself.

Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time during her visit to complete the final section of the hat: the cabled brim.  So she left that with me, and that's the project I share with you today:

Look at that beautiful single crochet!

I'll be bringing the hat with me when I visit New York for spring break this year, since it's unlikely I'll remember to mail it first!

Later this week, I'll get to tell you about the new Ravelry group I joined!  You Potterheads out there will get a kick out of it!

Minecraft Builds: Aedui Bakery

Immediate disclaimer:  I don't build.

If I've said it once, I've said it at least a dozen times...my strengths do not lie in building design.  They lie in copying other people's designs.

That said, I'm pretty good at listening to and/or watching Minecraft tutorials and taking their design principles and at least expanding  them a little bit.

So, if you've never heard of Lynchyinc, here's his Youtube channel.  I was introduced to his tutorials via BdoubleO, one of the Mindcrack server players, and I thoroughly enjoyed his medieval steampunk style.

Last week, when April and I had our normal Minecraft building meet-up (working on her village of Aedui, which when I first saw it, was just a storage room, mine, and an island she'd begun to level) I spoke to DSCA and Deevius and had them show up to help.  We decided that instead of going off on a crazy adventure (because April's connection was far too laggy), we would build something new.

Thus started the construction of the Aedui (eye-doo-ee) Bakery, which I finally completed last night, with the help and assistance of April and DSCA.

Ta da!  I designed a cupcake banner to put on the front, too.

From the back, you can see the twin brick

baking ovens, and their adorable chimneys.

Interior, bottom floor.

We had a time of it, trying to get those ovens lit without setting the ceiling on fire.  In the end, we tore out the wooden planks and put in stone slabs, instead.  I also added wooden beams to support the stone floor, and so far, no more fires.  

Bonus picture: in the distance, you can see the first building April and I did for Aedui.  We even have a villager that lives in the bottom floor!

Far left: DSCA.  Using the furnace: April.

You can sort of see the similar roofing styles between the two buildings at this angle.

I've left April to do the interior of the bakery, and hope to be pleasantly surprised the next time we're able to play again.  The only other buildings we've done for Aedui are the lighthouse/watchtower, and the half-finished home for the lighthouse keeper.  

But we had fun together, and I think that the bakery turned out decent, my lack of building skills considered!

Lootz! :: My Bestie, April!

I may have mentioned before that my bestie from college, one Madam le April (but I just call her April) visited me this summer.

We. Had. A. BLAST!

But then, we always do.

I posted a picture of the GenerikB plushie she requested, but I hadn't taken the opportunity to post pictures of what she gave me!

Since April lives in China, she frequents the American establishments that have gone international.  Starbucks is one of her (and my) favorite places over there (despite the fact that the last time I was there in February 2012 they tried to poison me).

I'm lactose intolerant.  I asked for soy.  Their understanding of English wasn't that great.  I missed a great evening of Indian food and Chinese karaoke due to digestive distress.

But!  That's not the point.  Starbucks in China is fabulous, and part of the reason is that they have special mugs and things based on the Chinese zodiac, yearly festivals, and other holidays.

There's a mid-autumn celebration known as the Moon Festival, and Starbucks released some adorable mugs!

She brought me two mugs and what might be a sugar bowl.

The handles are shaped like bunnies, and the sugar bowl even has a little tail on the rim!

One of the random things I love about China is the abundance of cute stuff that's allowable in everyday life.  Particularly 'kawaii' animals, such as bunnies, cats, pandas, etc.  April helps me feed my addiction a little bit, and I love these mugs!  (Thanks, chica!)

I'm looking forward to presenting another couple of crochet projects before the end of September, but for this weekend I'm off to LARP!

Shadowmoor needs me! (...actually, they'll take anybody with enough lives left...)

^_~

A Happy Hermit!

Well, as you've probably guessed, I've been swamped with projects.  I still have an Etho, a Nebris, an enderman, and a wig to crochet for this month.

(Here's a hint: it's not going to happen.)

At least the Etho has half of his panels made and sewn together.

And Nebris has enough panels for a leg...sort of...

Anyway!  That's not why I brought you here!

Today we're celebrating what I have finished!

And that's this fun little fellow:

GenerikB is the sixth plushie in the Mindcrack Plushie Series.

He's a birthday gift to April (yes, the one who started it all this time last year).

I have yet to actually do his photo shoot (I was trying to find a way to demonstrate 'flim-flam' in a photo) but thanks to a Reddit post from TerasHD, I have another idea that my stuffed animal collection is uniquely suited to fulfill.

(Yes, I have a stuffed animal collection.  Don't judge me.)

Once I get that photo done, we'll see if I can snag the attention of the real Genny B on Twitter!  :D

Stay tuned!

A Weekend of Crochet

Featuring your new and improved summer scheduling: 3-day weekends!

(Although whoever invented 10-hour workdays for Mondays should seriously reconsider their life priorities.)

Alas, though I have no pictures yet (hopefully later tonight to be posted tomorrow), I did spend the bulk of my weekend working on plushie PauseUnpauses.

As of yesterday, I have one completely put together (minus his headdress) and the second has his legs attached (admittedly the hardest part of the assembly).

I am also photographing the process in order to finish writing my first complete pattern, which I hope to sell on Ravelry and Etsy.  (Nope, no idea what I'm doing!)

In addition, I also got to Skype with my bestie April over the weekend, and she has told me her Christmas and birthday wish lists for this year!  It includes one Mr. GenerikB and a Dalek of her very own.

This could be a challenge!

(I'm secretly hoping, however, that having 3 days off per week will allow me to get more crochet done on the whole, even if I'm at work later Monday thru Thursday.)

Oh, and then the Broken Buttons Lore stuff!  There was lots of that over the weekend, too!  We're trying out a new method of organization for our files and checklists.  It's called Trello, and I spent some time on Saturday setting it up, and then had a few chats with different people regarding layout, format, and how to post things in particular places.

I'm hoping that it will be a good tool that will allow the lore writers to stay in better touch with the admins.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have a chance to tell you about the Broken Buttons project that's put KotS 3 on hold.

But until then, happy Monday!

(What a contradiction, amiright?)

Tuesday Minecraft Musings

I promise this time we're getting back to the Minecraft Mindcrack crochet!

When we last took a look at my crochet history, I had mentioned thinking about making VintageBeef as a plushie, since his Minecraft skin is simpler (discounting the front of his chest with the apron).

I went through several searches for his skin on Google, and ended up at PlanetMinecraft.com.  I compared all the different 'VintageBeef' skins available to the other search results Google had turned up before settling on the one I considered to be the most accurate.

Then I chose the 'papercraft' option, which generates a pretty good panel layout.  And that's really the secret behind Minecraft crochet: find a way to get whatever it is you're trying to make into a papercraft pattern, and you can turn it into crochet panels!

Well, needless to say as discussed in a previous post, I succeeded with VintageBeef, who now happily resides in Dalian, China with April (and the latest creeper, who was glimpsed briefly in a post from last week).

Of course, I had taken tons of photos just to properly get an idea of the size and pose-ability of the plushies.  Then I decided that I would keep track of my work using DeviantArt, and began establishing what I called the Minecraft Plushie Series (M.P.S.).

Regrettably, the first plushie is the only one not in the 'standard' pose.

I finished my own PauseUnpause; to date he is the only one.

Then I got a little crazy and sent BTC his own plushie.

Then I wanted to complete Team Canada with Etho.

Somewhere along the way, however, I got a message through DeviantArt from a gal who had commented on the VintageBeef picture.  Her SN was PauseUnbeef, and she was the first person to order a commission!

Thus, I began tweeting out things like progress pictures for her, and then when I completed the plushie, I had to do group shots to prove that the plushie was indeed finished:

But my lovely, more-social-media-adept husband said...

"Why don't you put that up on the Mindcrack subreddit?"

I knew nothing about Reddit other than the fact that my husband's opinions were often down-voted because he's a sheriff's kid who owns a gun.  It seemed like I was throwing myself into an online pirahna tank--offering my art in a feeble attempt to not get it ripped to shreds by rabid fans.

But I tried it:  

And VintageBeef...well, you see.

(Yes, there was a FANGIRL FIESTA.)

The Panda was floored that I could attract 170 upvotes with a single post.  (I had no reference for comparison; I just wanted to know why the 13 people who down-voted me did so.)

I'm a perfectionist, and I take rejection pretty hard.

Other photos from that session included:

Featured only on DeviantArt

Also posted on the Mindcrack subreddit

(It got about the same karma, but if Beef saw it, he didn't comment this time.)

Featured only on DeviantArt and Twitter

PauseUnbeef loved her plushie; he arrived in California safe and sound!  Plus, I got more queries and interest in future commissions.  

One thing I had decided from the outset, however, was not to flood the Mindcrackers every time I made a plushie of their character, or posted a photo.  I needed to be strategic!

More about strategy and other commissions in the next post!

An Introduction to Minecraft Crochet

In case you have found my blog for no other reason than the Minecraft crochet I've done (whether it was the early creepers, the cake half-slab, or the character plushies from the Mindcrack server), here's how it all started!

I have been playing Minecraft since it was in beta (before wolves, meatpops, sprinting...and when the game was on sale for $16 USD).  So if I'm ever online in a public server and appear to be lost, it's probably because I've encountered (yet another!) new-to-me feature of the game and I can't figure it out.

I also enjoy reading web comics.  Particularly Looking For Group (in it's earlier days), Darths & Droids (which I am now woefully behind on), and The Knit Princess (which my bestie April introduced me to).

The Knit Princess sadly went through one too many artist changes, and I've since stopped following it.  But then either April showed me or I found something called Worsted for Wear.  Other than being about knitting (whereas I am a crocheter), it had many true-to-life references for the yarn world in general.

One of these was for a website called Ravelry.com.  I had never heard of it before, but I looked it up and was promptly floored.

It has to be the largest, most central place to find patterns for all types of crafts.  Crafters can host their patterns (for sale or for free) in the database, and all you have to do is have a free login.

There are thousands of patterns in here!

Add to that the tools like Library (where you can store patterns you've bookmarked as cool), Queue (where you can set up a list of the projects you need to do and in what order you want to do them, and Projects (where all of your completed/ongoing/hibernating projects are stored with pictures and descriptions, should you choose to add them).

Here's what my current Project page looks like:

Newly-finished projects first; older projects toward the bottom.

For awhile, I was just collecting interesting-looking free patterns.  Then I started out with hats (as evidenced by my previous two Avengers hats).

I quickly discovered a couple of other geeky patterns I wanted to try:

Minecraft Cake by Minke van der Zee

Minecraft Creeper (all sizes) by Minke van der Zee

But if there's one thing that I like to do to myself, it's to "improve" a pattern, even if it doesn't need it.

Let's start with the Minecraft cake.  That's a tiny cake up there; a couple of inches square.  In my mind, that was too small!  Cakes are supposed to be half-slabs (that is, half the size of a normal Minecraft block).

I was going to make it bigger.  (Like, three times bigger.)  The project was worked in two large rectangles, and then sewn together into it's boxy shape.

This was before I had discovered/learned/figured out how to change colors seamlessly for a better, pixel-like appearance.  Thus, my cake looked like:

If you'll look closely, you'll see how the icing edges are wavy.

Yeah, that sucker was pretty large.  I gave it as a gift to Midori for the first birthday of hers that I celebrated after becoming friends with her (we have only known each other a couple of years, and we're already thick as thieves), along with the code for her very own Minecraft account.

Would I make a cake like this again?  No.  I would make it using the new panel method I've invented for all of my current Minecraft projects, which would provide consistent seams on all six sides of the piece. 

Plus, that method would allow me to incorporate the red 'sprinkles' as a part of the panel, instead of crocheting all these tiny squares separately and then hand-sewing them on to the top of the cake (which was a pain, because I am not the neatest sewer).

Then we come to my very first creeper:

This guy looks only slightly like the pattern picture (above).

In retrospect, it would have been better had I actually looked up the appearance of a real creeper before deciding I knew better than the pattern designer.  >.>

For example, the body I made is actually square, whereas a proper creeper's body is rectangular, like in the original photo by Minke.  

On the other hand, I was able to add a little more detail, like the line of black on the front of the creeper's feet (accurate according to Minecraft pictures).

I also modified the features of the creeper, which doesn't really do it justice.  He just looks unhappy, as opposed to scarily, creepily, psychotically-stalkery unhappy.

The difference between the first creeper and a creeper done with my later method:

 

The primary differences being the body shape, and the facial features.

Needless to say, at this juncture I had a long way to go with understanding "improvements" to patterns.

So for awhile I worked on more amigurumi (crocheting in the round) projects, like the dragons in my 2013 posts.  But then, I had this strange idea of trying to apply amigurumi to a full-blown Minecraft character.

Let me preface this by saying I don't recall exactly why I chose to do PauseUnpause.  It may be because I was watching one or two of his vlogs/fanmail videos and he spoke about some of the things he'd overcome in his life; bullying, depression, etc.

Anyway, I felt for him.  And he had an address to send fanmail to, should I decide to do that.

So I started with the chest piece, working it in flat panels and sewing them together.  Yay!  I went on to the arms and legs.

But then I made the mistake of assuming that I could transfer a square pattern to a round crochet style.

Here's a hint: it didn't work.  Although, I still have the original set of limbs somewhere in my yarn stash.  T_T

So I set Pause aside.  Back to the drawing board.  Maybe his skin was too complicated?  How about somebody simpler?

Cue the VintageBeef plan.  

(Dun dun dunnnnnn....)

Tomorrow.  :D