Crochet Beholder Amigurumi

Hello! One of my resolutions this year is to actually post on my blog, so here I am! I'm going to aim for at least one post a month, but if you want to see more of my nonsense, do feel free to find me over on Instagram.

So, in my last post (from JULY 2018! Far out I've been slack!) I talked about how Scott and I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons with a group of our friends. We're still doing that and when I asked Scott what he'd like for his anniversary present this year, he requested a Beholder, which is a monster from D&D.

I found a great pattern by Aja Moniz on Ravelry and used that for the base of my Beholder, but I did make a few changes.

The pattern picture shows a Beholder with six eye stalks, but Scott wanted his to have ten, so I made a few extra stalks. I also decided to use safety eyes instead of using embroidery. The mistake I made with the safety eyes is that I decided to do that after I'd finished crocheting the eye stalks so if I made another one, I'd crochet the rounded bit of the eye, stick in the safety eye, and then continue to crochet the stalk.

I also wanted the Beholder to have more teeth as the official D&D artwork shows that they are very dentulous. Instead of crocheting the teeth, I cut out strips of fangs from white felt and then used a felting needle to attach the strips to the mouth area.

I intentionally used some different types of safety eyes, but I wish I had have had even more variety in eye colours. I think that since each eye of the Beholder has a different power, having different colours would be a cool way to indicate that.
 

Scott picked out the yarn for his Beholder and the purple that he chose for the body is some that I actually dyed myself! I liked how the colour come out, but the wool itself was pretty stiff and scratchy so it went into the stash box instead of being used for the scarf I originally wanted to make. It was a good yarn for amigurumi though, and it wasn't rough enough that it hurt my hands to use. Unfortunately I don't actually know any of the brands I used for this project as they have all been in the stash box without their labels for a long time!
 

I don't think he's as scary as the "real" Beholder, but Scott likes him anyway!

- Lisa xx

BB-8 amigurumi

Hello! Well, I decided it was finally time to show you the photos of my completed BB-8 amigurumi!

I used a pattern by Mysterious Cats and it was totally worth the $4.66! ^___^ It was very easy to follow and quick to work up. I actually finished making this little BB-8 at the end of last year, on the same day that I started making them. That's gotta be some kind of record!

 

But then I had all these ideas about staging for the photos - like making a background of Jakku and making a Rey costume for one of my Blythe dolls so they could pose together - and as a result I procrastinated over taking any photos for four months. I expect that is also some kind of record!

Anyway, when I was taking photos of my Bee cosplay, I also grabbed BB-8 and finally did a little photoshoot. There is a little sandy patch under our letterbox in which nothing grows, which I figured was close enough to Jakku ~___^

 

Also, can you believe it's only just over three weeks until International Star Wars Day? I haven't even decided what I'm going to make this year!

 

I think there is a strong possibility it will be another iteration of BB-8 though; just look at that adorable little face!

- Lisa xx

Captain America and The Winter Soldier crochet mismatched fingerless mitts

Hello! True to my word I have been taking a short break from blogging to work on some slightly more involved projects. I've also been fitting in a lot of extra hours at work, 2-3 skating sessions a week, and a heck ton of gardening! ~___^ So here's one of the projects I've finished: mismatched Captain America and Winter Soldier fingerless mitts. Yay!

I made these for Rebecca, as it was her birthday recently, and we share all the feels about Cap and Bucky. I have seen versions of this around before, but they were all knitted and since I'm still not a very confident knitter I decided to crochet them instead.

 

I used Twinkie Chan's instructions for a basic mitt pattern to determine the size these should be (as this varies depending on hand size) and used a 4mm hook and some 100% DK weight wool to make them.

For the Winter Soldier mitt I crocheted in the back loops every second row to create a kind of ridged pattern to mimic the segments of his metal arm. The star was extremely frustrating to make because most applique patterns were way too big. I ended up making it up as I went along, but I'm still not totally happy with it. If I ever discover a way to make a nice small star, I'm going to steal this mitt from Rebecca and replace the star ~____^

 

For the Captain America mitt I just did a plain treble repeat and I used Handy Knitty's pattern to make the "A".

The little wings on either side of the A were a little tricky to do, because again most patterns were much too large. I ended up using a similar technique to how Handy Knitty forms their letters. I chain stitched nine, slip stitched in three, chained two, slip stitched in three, chained two, slip stitched in five. The extra chain stitches form the two lower wing protrusions, and if you're trying to imagine how it is worked up, please enjoy this extremely high-tech Paint drawing, in which the red arrows indicate the direction you are working in.

 

The two sides are made exactly the same way, and I just flipped one over once I was finished crocheting. They need to be sewed down to really look like Captain America's helmet wings, but once they are attached I think they look pretty neat.

 

Can you believe it's less than a week until Halloween?? I haven't done many spooky projects this year, but I will have a costume to show you which I am pretty darn happy with. What are you going as this year? Are you making your costume? ^___^

- Lisa xx

Hipster Vulcan cosplay for SupaNova Perth

Hello! Scott, Rebecca, and I weren't really planning on going to SupaNova this year ... and then the week before we decided to anyway! We missed out on Oz ComicCon earlier in the year, so I'm really glad we did end up going ^____^ Of course this meant that we needed cosplays! I was being a bit indecisive about repeating one of my old cosplays, but in the end decided to make something new. The WA roller derby grand final was the night before and even though I was just spectating, I knew I'd want something simple and comfortable to wear the next day - that much screaming and cheering takes a lot out of you, you know! ~_____^

So I hurriedly threw this costume together, 100% from things I had lying around my house. As I awkwardly explained to one girl at the con, "it's like a hipster Vulcan, like on shore leave kinda thing, like just casual?" Ugh, words. Anyway, from head to toe, here's how I put this costume together ...

 

 Flower crown: I made this a couple of years ago at my "it's my birthday, let's make flower crowns" party ~___^ I used two bouquets of foam roses, one white and one pink, and thin floral wire. The foam roses come on bendable wire steams covered with florist's tape so all I had to do was bend them into a circle shape, alternating pink and white roses, and add small amounts of floral wire to hold them into place.

Eyebrows: I think I went too subtle, but I did actually change the shape of my eyebrows so that they were more straight (mine usually curve down a lot more!). To do this, I put a small amount of glue stick on the end half of my eyebrows (which, despite the internet assuring me this would be fine, I was very nervous about!) and then did layers of powder, concealer, foundation, and then more powder to cover up my eyebrow. Then I used an eyebrow pencil to draw them in again, but in a more Vulcan like shape. And, wonderful news, it all washed off really easily that evening, and my eyebrows weren't harmed at all - yay!

Jewellery and accessories: My glasses are my regular ones that I wear everyday, my necklace is one of the galaxy necklaces I made a while ago, I brought the Saturn pin from One Happy Leaf, my Starfleet brooch is made from sculpey, and my pointy ears are from The Reject Shop - I actually found a whole Spock costume there! Unfortunately, it's for children so the top doesn't fit ; _____ ;

 

(This pose displays what Rebecca calls my "angry model" look! ~____^)

Shirt: I had an old t-shirt in my drawer that I never wear anymore because it's a bit too big. I used a stencil from Typo to paint on the L,O, and E, and painted in a little Vulcan hand in place of the V ^____^ The shoulder ... things ... are from Spotlight and all I had to do was fold up the sleeves so that they were a bit shorter and then sew the shoulder thingies on top. I also cut the shirt into a cropped style, with some ties at the front. I wish I had have cut it just a little longer though, because I was a bit worried about it riding up at the back!

Skirt: This skirt had been in my mending pile for aaagggggeeeesssss because once when I was doing some cleaning, I got some cleaning spray on it which left little bleach marks - ___ - I had been planning on dyeing it so the marks weren't visible anymore but instead I did the opposite - more bleach! After bleaching it, I washed the skirt in hot water and left it to dry. Then, I got out my fabric paints and a sponge brush and went to town creating myself a little galaxy ^____^ I'm not 100% happy with it, but I think it's pretty good for my first try at galaxy painting. The only thing I wish I had have thought of was that most of my old clothes are too big for me now - including this skirt. I wore a belt but it was also slightly too big so I spent a lot of the day trying to tug it back up! All I need to do to fix this is take in the waistband slightly, and then I'm sure this skirt will get a lot more wear! ^____^

 

Tights and shoes: I also wore blue tights (they match my hair!) and, although they don't show up in any of these photos, my Doc Marten Mary-Janes. Cons always involve a lot of walking and standing, so comfortable shoes are a must!

Bec revisited her Princess Mononoke costume this year - she made her entire outfit save her earrings and shoes! Her cape is faux fur, her jewellery is made from sculpey and faux leather cording, and I believe her dress and top and made from cotton.

Bec also made a gorgeous sculpey mask ... which got a bit up close and personal with the floor and broke ; _____ ; 

 

Scott was really unsure about doing a cosplay this year but last minute he decided that he would be a Hooded Figure from Welcome to Night Vale. He wore black jeans, black shoes, and a black t-shirt, then added a hooded robe, a tactical vest, black gloves, and a ninja hood (basically a snug fitting hood that covers up the front of your neck). He started off also wearing a black gas mask but found it a bit too hot in the convention center; with the hood of his cloak pulled down low his face wasn't visible anyway. His sign is made from balsa wood which I just painted onto with acrylic paints and attached to some cotton string with hot glue. His outfit was very popular with other convention goers and he was asked to have his photo taken several times ^____^

 And, of course, I couldn't resist having a photo either. Scott and I don't really have any photos of ourselves up in our house, but I feel like this one needs to be framed ~____^

As you probably know, last week I was the Crafty Superstar on Cut Out + Keep and now all seven projects are done and up on their website! Yay! It was a lot of fun seeing my projects revealed each day and I'm so glad I've finally been able to share them with everyone - it was so difficult keeping the brand new projects a secret! If you have somehow escaped seeing my daily Twitter and Instagram mentions of this feature, go and check them all out now!! ^____^

I also picked a winner for the beanie giveaway, using the highly scientific method of flipping a coin ~___^ Congratulations to Molly who is now the proud new owner of a tiny, tiny hat! ^___^

Next week I've got a fun jewellery tutorial for you, and hopefully I'll have an update on how my next knitted hat is going - my aim this time is to make it so it actually fits an adult! ~____^

- Lisa xx 

Welcome to Night Vale posters, art canvas, and earrings

Hello! Recently I did a Welcome to Night Vale swap on Craftster and since my swap partner has received her parcel, I can share with you what I made! ^___^ If you haven't listened to the Welcome to Night Vale podcast yet, I highly recommend you do! It's really fantastic, and this post will make a lot more sense if you do.

The thing I'm most proud of is this WTNV themed art canvas. Whenever I start an art canvas I think that I have nothing to put on it, but after digging through my stash I usually manage to find more than enough - it's a great way to use up random bits of stuff I've been hoarding too! ~___^

I used a Kaisercraft wooden cloud cut-out covered in glow-in-the-dark paint for the Glow Cloud (all hail ....).

The musical notes (i.e. the weather) are also wooden cut-outs, but these ones are from Typo. I drew the Night Vale eye on the white one with a felt-tip pen.

I used "thickers" (still can't get over that name) to write out Night Vale, and the quote below is written in felt-tip pen also.

 

I'm not exactly sure where I got this plastic cactus from, but I figured it was perfect for representing this friendly desert community. I cut off the bottom stand with scissors and attached it with E6000 glue.

 

My swap partner said that one of her favourite characters was Fey, so I used stickers to add the numbers Fey read aloud down the side of the canvas.

This side of the canvas is kinda Carlos the Scientist themed; he discovered that the clocks in Night Vale aren't real, and I headcanon him as wearing thick glasses so I used clock patterned pattern and glasses washi tape for this part. The pocket watch is a jewellery component that I brought at Spotlight and then discovered is faulty - the glass face is meant to be removable, but mine didn't budge! I used my trusty felt-tip pen and some white card to add Carlos' discovery to the inside of the pocket watch and I attached it to the canvas with string, a small piece of leather, and a lot of E6000.

 

There is also an instruction from a local community group; they huddle in the hole in the vacant lot behind the Ralph's, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

 

The top of the canvas has more wooden cut-outs from Typo, these ones spelling out the end of a rather popular Night Vale quote: "If you see something; say nothing, and drink to forget." I don't condone this behaviour (you shouldn't be seeing anything in the first place) but I did have these wine glass cut-outs and I couldn't think of a single other thing they'd be useful for.

The bottom of the canvas has another one of Fey's numbers, Khoshekh the floating cat, and a warning against rabbits.

 

The other side of the canvas expands on the rabbit warning: they are not what they seem. These ones seem like even more wooden cut-outs.

I even added a little something on the back of the canvas. Strex is seriously creepy, so I think this is the best place for them.

All the papers I used were from mini scrap booking paper pads that I brought from Spotlight. They are really fantastic for canvases of this size as you don't get nearly as much paper scraps leftover.

I also made two paintings; they are just acrylic paint on card stock, but I think they would look quite good framed. I left them as is to mail, however, since postage costs are already high enough without adding more weight to the parcels.

 

I really liked how the galaxy effect turned out, although I think it could have possibly been a bit darker. Basically I watered down my acyclic paint so that it worked more like watercolours and added purple, blue, and black all over the page in random splotches. After it was dry, I added the words, the black edges, and the silver stars. I might make another for myself so I can play around with this technique a bit more.

It's difficult to see, but I also added some very watered down iridescent medium to the black edges of the page; it gives it a subtle sparkle that looks really pretty in real life.

 

This art piece was made using the same technique as my Princess Leia and Han Solo quotes where I just used masking fluid to write out the quote, painted over it with watered down acrylic, and then removed the masking fluid once everything was dry. I went around the words with a felt-tip pen again; I think it looks more impactful that way.

 

Lastly, I made these Big Rico's Pizza earrings; these were super simple to make as all I had to do was glue earring backs to the pizza charms I had already made.

 

I made the 'packaging' (I use the term loosely) with more scrap booking paper, mini stamps, and some pens. My drawing skills aren't top notch, but hopefully my Hooded Figure is a little spooky looking?

 

In return I received this wire crochet Hiram McDaniels sculpture;

 

 A wood-burned quote block, Glow Cloud card, and stickers;

And a tiny Glow Cloud scarf with a wooden-burned scarf ring.

Have you ever done a craft swap before? This is the first time I've swapped with someone I don't know, and I must say swapping with friends is a lot less stressful! 

I'm currently working on something just for me, which is even less stressful ~____^ I'm trying to improve my knitting skills so I'm making a hat with ribbing and colourwork - two techniques that I haven't tried before. It's going pretty well but my hands aren't used to knitting and are so sore! Luckily tonight is roller derby training so tomorrow my legs will be sore which will take my mind off my hands ~____^

- Lisa xx