First Giveaway!

To date, Baby Groot has been my most viewed post on my Facebook page.  He's pretty easy to make (the only hassle is sewing on all the tiny leaves), and doesn't require tons of yarn.

The prompt for February's Defense Against the Dark Arts homework was to use the Legilimency spell and craft an item that a friend or relative would love.

My post on the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup was:

With a look of intense concentration on her face, VelvetKey enters the DADA classroom, balancing a mug full of…a dancing sapling? She glances up briefly at the professors and offers them a sheepish grin.

Um, good evening. As you can see, this one’s a bit…feisty. But when I tried the Legilimency spell, all I got was an image of a tree branch…

She trails off as if realizing something, and her face falls.

I probably shouldn’t have cast the spell near the Forbidden Forest. Um, well…Professor Sprout might like it?

The finished product:

Be sure to enter if you see this post!

I chose not to paint a smile this time, in order to more emulate the PopVinyl Groot figurine.

And the badge for completing the homework:

I'm excited for the weekend; I've got a dalek to finish and then we'll officially be done with the specific February tasks!  Whee!

Craft on, my friends!

Groots Galore

I promise I haven't been idle, beyond my obvious propensity to play LotRO over the weekend!  I recently shipped two orders out from my Etsy store, and the one for Canada had a little extra surprise in it.

You might remember the post I did before Christmas about the Baby Groot.

He proved to be quite the popular little fellow when I put him up on my Facebook page, and I had requests to make more and sell them in my Etsy store.

Unfortunately, licensing issues occur and all that legal fiddle-faddle, so that's never going to happen.

I did, however, make a second one for a friend of the Panda's up in Ohio:

A surprise for his wife, so I haven't posted it on Facebook.

And although I'm not ready to release all the details, I made a third Groot who is now somewhere in Canada:

I added a few extra rounds this time, as an experiment.

I can totally give Baby Groot out as a gift, and nobody's the wiser.  Plus, if I include them as bonuses in shipments I do, I can simply say, "They're unsellable due to copyright issues.  It's a gift; enjoy!"

I've cleaned up a few other projects in my Ravelry list, and had the pleasure of going back to working on Guude last week.  I hope to do more of that tonight before LotRO with DSCA and Deevius!

The to-do list:

1)  Guude plushie

2)  VintageBeef plushie

3)  Enderman

4)  Purple & black scarf

5)  Minecraft Cake Pillow (v2.0!)

...and then all of the new Facebook Art Trades for 2015!  I'm really looking forward to them!

Baby Groot!

Full disclaimer:  I have not seen Guardians of the Galaxy.  I do not intend to see it anytime soon.  After Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2, I am all Marvel'd out.

However, this did not stop any of my friends from posting patterns on my Facebook wall.  The most prevalent being:

Baby Groot

The pattern was provided by Nathaniel Wise, whom I met through my husband's work at the university we attended.  I think he was angling for me to make him one.  Another mutual friend pointed out that now that Wise was married, his adorable and crafty wife could do it for him, and we left it at that.

However...

I have another friend that LARPs in the same campaign, named Kat.  She is in possession of something I am not: a working sewing machine.  Remember when I made that post about Tatoke?  Well, when the local fabric store had it's summer clearance on fleece, I trotted my little self down there and managed to grab myself some anti-pill fleece in blue-gray for at least 60% off per yard (or more; can't remember at the moment).

Kat offered to help me make my own tunic for free, and she even purchased the trim sewn to the bottom hem and side slits.  (If I ever get around to it, I'll do pictures sometime.)

As trade, all she wanted was a Baby Groot for her husband, Doc.  She wanted it in time for Christmas, so over Thanksgiving I set out to try out Twinkie Chan's free pattern.

The results were quite adorable:

I didn't happen to have a usable flower pot handy.

To date, this is one of the most liked crochet projects on my Facebook wall.  And according to the Facebook Page manager, it's done better than 95% of my other posts made on my official Velvet Key Creations page.  (Go figure.)

And although the crochet subreddit isn't all that populous, most people seemed to enjoy him.  Unfortunately, since Groot is licensed by Marvel, he can't be sold in an Etsy store.  So, the cuteness is limited to personal gifts or trades.  Still, not too bad.

Today's updated crochet project list:

1)  House Slipper Collection (5 pairs)

2)  D20 of Plushiness

3)  Facebook Art Trade 2014 - #4

4)  Facebook Art Trade 2014 - #5

5)  Guude Plushie

6)  VintageBeef VII Plushie

7)  Baby Groot II

8)  Black & Purple Scarf

So, I did finish those goggles...future post!