The project that will be the death of me....

I'm exhausted. I mean, really exhausted. Here's what I've been up to.
Lego Man

After almost giving up on the hands, I wasn't sure how to form them. A trip to Wal-Mart later, and I got some heavy duty galvonized wire to form the hands. Turns out, it worked very nicely.



Then, I decided that although I had already completed the body, I wasn't happy with it. Turns out, in a year, my crocheting skills have really improved. I attached all the sides of the body, and the top of the body was sewn on with a completely different color red yarn. I found that unacceptable. Aside from that, I wanted the body to be a bit sturdier, but I knew that stuffing it more would pretty much lose it's shape. So, a bunch of packages of fun foam, a funny look from the lady at Joann's, and a few hours later, I had a very successful body shape.





Next up was the head. I had to make the head sturdy to sew on top of the now sturdy body. So, of course what else to do, but insert a dowel into the body. I reinforced the neck with some plastic canvas.





Now for the arms. After not being sure how exactly to attach them, and of course only thinking of doll joints way too late after the parts were assembled, the answer was yet another dowel. Add some Gorilla Glue to that, and bam: Lego arms.





And now, what I'm doing today.
I have crocheted all of the parts for the sides of the legs. I have to crochet some more parts, but it hopefully shouldn't take very long. I assembled the top of the pants this morning, and sewed them onto the body. They are not stuffed at all, but they are filled with a couple pieces of fun foam and mostly cardboard. This needs to really be stable so that the dowels that will be in the legs will be able to lean against something.



And now, you're all caught up. This has turned my apartment into a mess. And it's not a joke, it's really a mess. I have fun foam, legs, and Lego parts strewn everywhere in my dining room.




So, in the middle of assembling the other night, I suddenly remembered that Instructables.com is having a Critter Contest, sponsored by Lion Brand. There are 10 first prize winners, and the prize pack includes a $25 gift certificate to LionBrand.com, and a prize pack from Instructables.com. You can also submit as many as you would like. I already submitted my yeti, just for fun. My goal is to finish this guy up before I leave on Tuesday to head back to Florida for a couple weeks. I promised Seth that it would be done, so I'm really working on it constantly. In addition to that, my sister-in-law will be coming here Monday and staying the night before we leave on Tuesday, so I have to make sure it's all clean.

This has become way too big of a project!!!!! However, I can guarantee that I'll be proud of myself when it's done. :)

A Big Bigfoot

I took a small break last night from the Lego man. I ran out of yarn while my husband had the car, so I decided to play around with some of the other chunky yarn I have. Although I wasn't happy at first with the color of his face, I love him now. He's so big and fun! Here's a few pics, and a few just to show the size comparison.

To be honest, I'm not sure why I even had this brown yarn. haha. But again, I'm very happy with the outcome. I love that now I have a little bit bigger BigFoot. :)

He stands about 9 and a half inches tall. :)

My Epic Masterpiece

So, long before my husband was actually my husband, and a little after I started crocheting, I learned how to make amigurumi. It's a word that in Japanese means small knitted or crocheted toys. When I learned how to make them, I was in love. I believe my first book was Creepy Cute Crochet. The book is confusing, and now knowing more about amigurumi, the patterns aren't very well written. However, it has swept the crochet world by storm. I think it's what got so many younger people involved with crocheting. I can make about 1 granny square and be bored. But, there's something about creating something with a hook and yarn, and watching it transform into something before your eyes. It's what keeps me crocheting, and it's really what I love more than anything else.

After I started making amigurumi, I felt like I could crochet anything. I became a bit more daring with my ventures as well. Before I ever attempted my own pattern, I tried out changing colors first. My very first post on Craftster was my RoboCop amigurumi. I made him for Seth. We watched that movie when we first started dating, and since it was probably one of the worst movies we've ever seen, it's become 'our' movie. lol. We've watched it numerous times since then, and have made silly things, like that doll, to commemorate 'our' movie.

Soon after, I discovered the amazingness of Etsy. I found that people sell their amazing patterns on there! My first pattern I bought was for an amigurumi goat. lol. This was the first pattern I think I really followed to the T. I was so proud of it, and felt so accomplished that I made something more detailed. This guy was my second post on Craftster, found here.

My first attempt in creating my own pattern was interesting to say the least. To be honest, I was very proud of him. Father's Day was coming up, and I wanted to make something for my Dad. Guys are hard to make stuff for, it's just not as easy as making something cute for girls. So, after much deliberation, I decided to create a Spider-Pig for my Dad. Not only is Spider-Pig just hilarious from the Simpson Movie, but my Dad and I went to see the movie together. I believe the first time we saw the trailer on TV for the movie, and they played Spider-Pig, we both laughed so much we cried. As weird as it may sound, Spider-Pig was a bonding moment for me and my Father. :) Needless to say, he loved it. He put a piece of elastic around his belly, and he now hangs from his visor in his car. He's said he gets many comments on it, and loves to tell people that I made him his own Spider-Pig. :)

Well, patterns haven't always been easy to make. I find myself doing a lot of screw ups, and sometimes get frustrated and just walk away from a project for days. If Seth asks me to make him something, I really have to want to make it, otherwise, it's just not fun for me. I don't like to compromise really, and just make stuff to make other people happy. I would rather get enjoyment out of it as well. So, about a year ago, Seth asked me to make him a giant Lego guy. Well, I didn't want to. I had discovered around this time, that you can take any amigurumi pattern, and make it giant, all you have to do is use a much bigger hook, and chunky yarn. So, Seth went out and bought all the yarn needed to make a Lego guy. He also found while I was making a yeti, that the head resembled that of a Lego guy, so I wouldn't even have to make that pattern myself. Yay?? I still didn't want to make it....

But I attempted. I got as far as the head and the body.

Fast forward to last night. I came out of the shower to this, sitting in the middle of the living room floor:


It was Seth's way of saying: "YOU NEED TO FINISH THIS NOW!!!!"

So, I've started again. I'm declaring it my epic masterpiece. The pattern will be completely my own. I wrote down the pattern as I was making it, but of course guess what I couldn't find last night? The pattern. I have a little notebook that I keep all my notes in, and it wasn't in there. So, I'm starting on the arms now.



I think I was more intimidated by it more than anything else. I got worried that I wouldn't be able to figure out how the arms bend, or something like that. But, I think I've really got it figured out now. This will be my newest project, and will hopefully be done soon. He's looking quite sad as a decapitated head and body, right?

Well, thank you for taking a trip down memory lane with me. I enjoy looking back on Craftster posts that I've done, and find stuff that I made, and see how much my crocheting has improved. :)

Busy morning!

I feel like death warmed over. I'm trying to fight it, but I can feel a sickness coming, and it's not fun, especially considering I leave next week for a week long road trip.

I posted a few more things on Etsy today. I've been crocheting pretty much non-stop over the weekend. I plan on doing the same on the road trip. I think when I get back I'll start sewing more things for my shop.

Here's a quick preview of what I've been working on. Enjoy!! :)

You know what sucks??

Red yarn. Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to photograph it?! I seriously took about 50 photos of this thing to get 2 halfway decent shots. Oh well. I suppose it all goes with the frustration of even making this guy! haha
First, I wasn't a huge fan of the actual yarn that I was using to make him out of. It's quite rough, and hurt my fingers after a while. Then, I wasn't sure how to do the horns. I think they came out too big still.
However, I'm pretty proud of the tail. I think it came out nice, and it's also fully poseable. Any thoughts or suggestions on him would be GREATLY appreciated. Until I make my next, I'm not even sure if he'll go into my Etsy shop.




After making what I felt like was that hell of a creature (no pun intended), I decided to make something a little more fun, something I would actually enjoy.
I had mentioned I believe in one of my comments that I was going to try and do the zombie in an off-white color. This might actually be one of my favorite creatures ever. I love this color rather than the green. I will DEFINITELY have to buy more of these eyes so I can make more, because this one will be going into my shop, but I'm going to need one for myself. Given my new found love for zombies, I don't know how I'll be able to live without one of these in my everyday life. :)





That's it for now!
Tonight I had a date night with Seth. We went to dinner and a movie and I was finally able to see the new Alice in Wonderland. I enjoyed it, and I thought the costumes were BEAUTIFUL. However, the ending was a bit too 'Wizard of Oz' for me, and it's definitely not my favorite Tim Burton movie. I think, we might just have a Tim Burton night.

Speaking of which, I wanted to mention a funny story about my previous post, Sweeney Todd. Alexz had a cat named Sweeney Todd, and gave me pictures so I could replicate him. So, I thought I would share my Sweeney Todd story now as well.
I've always been a Tim Burton fan. I've always loved his work, and I have a deep love for Johnny Depp. When Sweeney Todd came out in the theaters, I HAD to see it. Seth and I went and walked away just like any other Tim Burton movie: I loved it, and he just thought it was so-so. Personally, he doesn't like that although Tim Burton has his own style, he remakes most movies. So, anyways, I loved the movie. He enjoyed parts of it. Well, about a month later, we find that Broadway Across America was coming to Tampa, FL with Sweeney Todd. Not only that, but tickets were buy 1 get 1 free. Um, I NEED TO GO!!! So, we buy tickets and plan a whole day around it. We got dressed up and went out for a beautiful dinner and then Sweeney Todd. The play was, to say the least, unbelievable. If you haven't seen it, GO! lol. It was just amazing. When we walked away, Seth actually wanted to watch Sweeney Todd again because it gave him a new respect for the movie. The whole thing was just amazing. The orchestra were the actors, and they had 1 background. Mrs. Lovett was hilarious. Again, if you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it to anyone. :)
So yes, I just thought I would share my little Sweeney Todd story. I was so happy to crochet a little Sweeney Todd for Alexz because the name alone had a story for me as well. :)

Sweeney Todd

So the package was received today of the cat I made, so I figured I could post pics. I actually have really crappy pics, because they were just taken with my phone. Either way, I think he turned out really cute. I tried my hardest to get his markings right.
Alexz said she loves him, so that's all that matters to me. :)




I'm so glad Alexz loves him. And again, sorry for the crappy pictures. :)

Creepy Cute Creatures

So, as previously mentioned in another blog of mine, I was looking for ideas. The incredibly talented Alexz gave me quite a few ideas. I decided to run with them.

These should be on my Etsy shop later today.

So, may I introduce, Bones.



And don't worry, because he has little boney arms as well.



I really like how he turned out. :)

And up next, is Mr. Zombie, because I suck at coming up with names. lol.



He comes quite 'incomplete' with a bloody stump for his left arm. I know, I'm cheesy. lol



And wait, what's this thing that he's dragging around like a toy? Why, it's a brain of course!!



I'm really happy with how they turned out, to be honest. Thank you so much Alexz for your ideas of doing things creepy cute! I plan on making a devil next, because I think he'll be adorable. :)

And, in a completely unrelated topic, I've decided that I will be going back to Florida this month. I'll be leaving here on the 20th of this month, hopefully arriving in Lakeland, Florida around the 24th. Then I'll be returning to the West on the 8th of May. I'll be flying into Spokane, where Seth and I will take a little vacation up to Newport, where he grew up. More than anything, I'm excited to see my niece, who was 2 when I left Florida, so we'll have to see how 3 is treating her. :)