The requisite crafty!squid post

You know what, I haven't posted anything squid-related in a while.

. . . and Keito is eating the hammock. Yessiree.

And that would be my giant squid pillow, Keito. Don't we all need random crafty squid creatures in our lives? Why yes, yes we do. So if you're feeling the need to sate that urge, why not take a look at some of these great squid projects:

• 8-foot giant squid pillow. Yes, this is the pattern I followed to make Keito. It's a bit nightmarish at times (especially if you overstuff your squid and have to hand-sew large sections), but definitely worth it. A playful pillow and a great conversation starter.
• Adult knitted squid hat. Knitting is the bane of my existence, but this hat is nice and silly. And with a little modification could be easily transformed into a blooper. :D
• Deep sea diver and squid amigurumi. This one's pretty cute. I imagine that it would make a good centerpiece if you wanted to put together a fake fishbowl . . . you know, with all of the rocks and plants, but no actual fish. just the diver and the squid. Yeah?
• Realistic crochet squid. For those who are looking to make a hardcore squid. I haven't made this one yet, but I really love the accuracy put into it. Definitely looks like it would be quick to whip up, and there's a companionable octopus pattern!

Now weren't those adorable? There are a ton of squid patterns out there (including a spectacular mitten one that you can only see with a Ravelry account), but I tried to pick out some of my favorites. Either way, I really need to get my hands on that realistic squid pattern . . .

So how do you guys feel about crafty squid projects? Have any desire to sew your own 8-foot squid pillow? Or are you working on something a little more, uhh, normal? Tell me what crafty endeavors you're up to in the comments!

Guest Post: The quest for the crochet zombie

It's been a while, but today is a day for a guest post! Woo!

So Thea Gregory, one of my lovely Twitter peeps, is currently doing a blog tour for her Zombie Bedtime Stories. I've only had the opportunity to read the first installment, Locked In, but it was definitely a treat. Envision your standard zombie apocalypse . . . but written from the POV of a victim. Yeah. That's right. Our main character becomes a zombie. It's fabulous. Go check it out. Now.

Anyway, being that Thea and I bond about crocheting all the time, today she is going to regal you all with her adventures in crocheting a zombie. Enjoy!

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When I was 9 years old, I started making teddy bears. Pictured is the only remaining relic (that I know of) from that time. As you can see, I had a very weak grasp of proper stitching and pattern-making, but a strong appreciation for the macabre. Perhaps Bear simply came before his time. 

During Bear’s almost 20 year stay in a basement, I received a book for my birthday, Creepy Crochet by Christen Haden. It contained all kinds of marvelous wonders, like how to make your own crochet Trojans, zombies, vampires, robots, and even Chuthlu. I was fascinated, and my quest to create a crochet zombie began.

I hit one immediate snag—I didn’t know any of the stitches! As the granny square queen, I can basically make a giant square blanket. While this is amazing, useful and a great way to spend the winter months, it doesn’t help me create my zombie empire, or re-enact the Zombie Bedtime Stories with little dolls. Because, who wouldn’t want to act out zombie fiction with crochet dolls?

So, my old friend Google and I teamed up for yet another adventure. I made many attempts to start at the logical source—the head. What’s a zombie without a brain? I tried, again and again, but eventually I was sent back to the drawing board. So, I started with an arm, a project that was a bit less ambitious. At first, I thought it would just be a finger hat, and posed accordingly.

But, miraculously, the arm came together properly. Afterwards, I fashioned another arm, in green. I made the arms different colors, because he’s my crochet zombie, thus he needs to be special.

Emboldened by the success at creating two almost symmetrical arms (zombies don’t need symmetry, they need brains) I decided to return to making a head. Despite forgetting to count my stitches, I pressed on, eventually coming to a roughly spherical shape.

But, disaster struck.

My arm had cramped up, and I could no longer continue. Not wanting accept defeat, or to deprive Bear of his new little brother, I cobbled the old, discarded attempts into a mouth and hair. Then, I added buttons for eyes, and stitched on his little arms. I used a sharpie to give his eyes the proper bloodshot effect. No cutesy giggly eyes for my zombie.  Bear would be jealous, after all.

Thus, I created a crochet zombie. Not in the fashion that the book recommended, but he’s made of crochet, cute, and obviously a zombie. For the moment, that’s good enough for me!

The quest for the perfect crochet zombie shall continue! 

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THEA GREGORY
Thea writes zombie stories and science fiction. She was raised in rural Quebec, where her imagination was often her only friend, and this upbringing also engendered a fanatical love of reading and books.You can stalk her at her blog, Thea's Writing Asylum, or on Twitter as @TheaIsis.

I'm full of crazy excitement!

Look, my lovely crocheted sugar skulls, finally completed!

Today and tomorrow are going to be awesome. I have been anticipating them for a while, so, please indulge my spazzing:

1. Today is Halloween . . . which always equates to fun and frivolity and candy and dressing up in costumes. Yeah, not gonna lie, totally my favorite holiday. I'm gonna be at a game night too, which rocks, and I definitely hope you guys have fun doing whatever you'll be up to!
2. Tomorrow is Dia de los Muertos! Not only is it a cool holiday, but I love love love the entire aesthetic to it. There's just something about associating death with bright colors and flowers that makes me happy inside. Also, I like skulls . . . especially calaveras skulls.
3. NaNoWriMo starts at midnight and I shall be eating pie at a write-in. And writing too. I suppose. If I must. The pie is obviously the most important factor in play.
4. Uncharted 3--which is basically like a modern Indiana Jones in video game form--comes out on the 1st. Being that Uncharted 2 came out two years ago, it's safe to say that I can't wait to get my grubby hands on it.
5. Florence + the Machine's new album, Ceremonials, also comes out. Considering that both my inner literary critic and inner depraved fangirl irrationally worship Florence Welch, I'm a bit enthused. Okay, a lot enthused. Also, I secretly plan to listen to this album throughout NaNoWriMo.

Yes, these are all good things. But what about you guys? Any of you up to anything exciting in these next two days? Any good plans for Halloween? Planning on NaNo-ing at midnight? Any other great music/video games/books/etc coming out this week? Tell me in the comments!

The long-belated crochet post

Well, this week has been serious. Time for something lighter!

Crafty-times! Now, unfortunately, the last time I did a crafty-times post was back in June. Which is a bit unacceptable. And is also an explanation for why this post is a bit . . . long. *shifty eyes*

Right.

So, back in July I started working on one of these awesome tartan potholders from the September/October issues of Crochet Today! Unfortunately I wasn't considering yarn thickness, so my potholder turned out huge. It's more of a trivet than anything else. But here, observe anyway:

See . . . it's a potholder bigger than my head!

The backing is supposed to be felt, but it's been a bit impossible to find any felt that's an appropriate color . . . which means I might have to dye it. Or just crochet an entire back . . . which sounds kind of nightmarish, considering how much I despise working with cotton.

And, uhh, as long as we're talking about things that need backings, I'm sort of making myself African flower coasters. Why? Well, I have a lot of random yarn leftover from my awesome blanket, and decided to make an african flower. It happened to be the size of a coaster. See:

African flowers are kinda like granny squares . . . only different.

A lot of people make blankets and stuff from African flowers, but I'm not sure I could handle that. It's a lot of stitches for a rather small space. Which is why I'm going for coasters. :) However, on the blanket front, I'm seriously considering this sexy, plaid blanket. I love the red/white/blue yarn combo, but I might go with Green Bay Packers colors too . . . because I need a football blanket. This is important.

Anyway. At about the same time I was working on the "potholder," I made myself a quick case for my portable harddrive. It was super cute until I decided to correct a small mistake and accidentally ripped out the chain stitches and destroyed EVERYTHING.

It's more of a "sleeve" right now.

Yeah. Haven't quite figured out how to fix this without it looking crappy. But I'm sure I'll figure it out. Eventually. Just trust me when I say that it looked better when it was in one piece. Speaking of pieces . . . Totoro is close to being finished! I just have to sew all of his pieces together!

Limbs, limbs EVERYWHERE!

Of course, sewing pieces together is my least favorite part of the entire process. Which is why you aren't getting a new, exciting picture of the mouse crobot . . . since, uhh, I still haven't sewn him together. *fail* And I, uhh, guess I should admit that I haven't worked on the dragon scarf either. *even more fail*

But let's talk success now, shall we?

First, remember that yellow birdie from so long ago? Well, I spruced him up a bit!

He's totally ready for a night on the town!

Yeah, okay, so the sprucing wasn't 100% intentional. I'd made a top hat for a project mentioned below and it was waaaaay too small . . . so the bird got a classy upgrade. I think it gives him the character that he was seriously lacking.

And now you want something better than the bird? Well, let me tell you about the Cathulhu I modified from this pattern. The story goes like this: I crocheted a Cathulhu for my friend Kirstin's birthday. What's a Cathulhu? Well, it's a pun on cat and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. The most important part is that it's adorable. Observe in the (relatively old) pictures:

Note the red cat collar hidden beneath the tentacles.

And a back shot so you can see the awesome wings and tail.

Kirstin, btw, adored it (and you can see her indulgent post on the matter here). :3 And now I've been teaching her to crochet . . . which has been entertaining. We're both making the dragon from this Chinese Zociac amigurumi set. Kirstin's still working on hers, but since I have speed and experience on my side, my dragon is currently in pieces:

Me and pieces? We're like this: *crosses fingers*

How did I start talking about a project with pieces that need to be sewn together again?! Jeeze, moving on . . . again . . . and for good this time.

Now, it you've ever perused my Tumblr, you might have noticed that I have a bit of a love affair with calaveras skulls. Well, it's really all kinds of skulls, but calaveras skulls are my favorite. There's just something cool about that aesthetic . . . the Mexico/Dia de los Muertos levels on LittleBigPlanet were some of my favorite in the game. Anyway, several weeks ago I decided to modify this skull pattern and create my own Dia de los Muertos bride and groom!

They're . . . nowhere near done.

The groom is the skull with all of the designs. I also have a top hat with a purple hatband that I haven't attached yet, and after that he'll be finished!

The bride is the difficult part. She'll be getting eyes along with similar designs on her, uhh, face, along with a veil. The veil will be made from crocheted roses and white tulle. If you're curious, my experiments with the crocheted roses have been kind of nightmarish, but have thus far produced these two specimens:

Still deciding whether the small rose is STILL too big. >_>

The big issue here is getting things the right size . . . which is actually how the yellow birdie ended up with his top hat. Hopefully I'll manage to get these done by Halloween.* Wish me luck?

And that's all for now. What do you guys think? I'm partial to the skulls . . . but that's me. :) Also, have any of you worked on any exciting, non-writing related projects in the last few months? Tell me about them in the comments!

In which I vlog

So those of you who follow me on Twitter already know this, but on Wednesday I did a vlog. Yeah. That's right. A vlog. In which you can see me moving and hear my lovely voice.

What really happened is that @steph_wooten, @Thealsis, and I decided that maybe if we did vlogs together, it would seem less menacing and terrifying. And because I've been meaning to talk about the crafty projects I detailed two months ago, I spent the entire time talking about knitting and crocheting. Enjoy:


So there we go. I crocheted stuff. And did a vlog. Pretty successful bit of work there, eh? So what about you guys? Get anything particularly exciting done in the last few days? Tell me all about it in the comments.

It's crochet and knitting time!

It's been a while since I ranted about dragon scarves and manuscripts and I figured it was time for a crafty-times update. Or rather, the Salt Lakians (aka: the people who taught me to knit) are visiting this weekend and it's time to own up.

For all of you that don't know, I am in the process of making this awesome-sauce dragon scarf. It is also my first knitting project and I have pretty much banned the idea of working on another project until I finish the stupid thing. Here's my progress:

Well, it does have two more spikes since last time.

I kind of fail. However, like I said before, at least I haven't started any other knitting projects. Yes. This scarf is my one and only foray into knitting hell. I feel like I am doing much better on the crochet circuit. Let's share, shall we?

First of all, my current crochet project, which is a delightful mouse doorstop. Yeah. That's right. A mouse doorstop. Check it:

Okay, so that's worse than the dragon scarf.

Right, so maybe that's only five rounds of goodness, but I've only been working on him for a day! And my attention span was kind of low on that day. Really. I don't suck this much. I'll show you.

Second concurrent crochet project: Totoro. I've made him before, but that was a gift for a friend and he was awesome enough that I've been slowly working on one for myself. Because Totoro is awesome. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then it's time to get on Netflix and rent the movie. But yes, here is my Totoro progress thus far:

Mysterious blobs of grey yarn!

Mmm, arms, ears, and a tail. It doesn't look that impressive, I know, but eventually they'll all add up, right? Right? Okay, so that's nowhere near done. Well, how about this: I made a cute birdie!

Look at him! So cute, so tiny, so finished!

That's right, a finished project. Because I'm very much capable of actually finishing things. Okay, I'll admit it: this is slightly more fail than it looks. So maybe I was inspired by the pattern and I decided to make more than one bird. Maybe I wanted a flock and then my ambition puttered out. Maybe.

Yellow bird totally does not approve.

Okay, so maybe I'm not doing so fantastic in any ring of craft land. This is obviously why I'm not a professional fiber arts person, because my attention span for these things is relatively short. In fact, there are actually two more projects that I haven't even started yet: the stripey blanket that I've been "working on" since December and the red panda hat that I blabbed to Twitter about. Hopefully next time I decide to do a crafty-times post I'll have more to show for it. If not, feel free to make me pay, readers.

Anyway, what kind of crafty things do you guys do other than writing? Do you knit or crochet? Are you an artist? Or would you rather play sports and leave writing to be your only creative outlet? Tell me in the comments.

Your manuscript is a dragon scarf

Knitting is hard. Just throwing that out there. It's deceiving too.

You see that pattern and it just looks cool and who doesn't want a dragon scarf?! Maybe you don't know how to knit, but according to your sources, this is actually a good pattern to start with. Lots of basic stitches. Screw potholders! You will have a dragon around you neck. This scarf will be EPIC.

The first rows go good, you're in the zone. This seems easier than expected! You're a prodigy--a god of knitting. This doesn't last long. Suddenly you're dropping stitches and you don't know why. For some reason, your brain went away and you purled that entire row when you were supposed to knit halfway through! The potholder is starting to look better. You actually do need potholders. Maybe if you just worked on a potholder for a while . . .

NO. STAY AWAY FROM THE POTHOLDER.

Let's imagine for a minute that the dragon scarf is my manuscript and that the potholder is my shiny new idea.

Writers like to jump around between story ideas. We can't help it. Writing can suck, and unlike a dragon scarf, there's no picture of the finished project to push us forward. We have to stitch words together with the hope that maybe, like the scarf, our story will be EPIC in the end.

But so many people stop halfway through. I'm guilty of it, are you? When things get hard, it's easy to back down. But trust me, you shouldn't. A finished scarf, even with dropped stitches and an inconsistent gauge, is always better than a project stowed away for "later." So plug away, suffer and force yourself to work, because it will always be worth it in the end.

Have you ever knit anything other than words? Are there unfinished manuscripts hiding in notebooks under your bed?

In case you're wondering, here's my dragon scarf so far:

Can you see it? There's a dragon hiding in there!