Crochet Kraken and a House Greyjoy inspired outfit

Hello! Do you watch Game of Thrones? I must admit I'm terribly behind (I think I kinda stopped watching in the middle of Season Two ...) but Pip recently invited me to her GoT premiere night and I simply couldn't resist attending! I have read all the books currently out, so I figured I wouldn't be totally lost. Now, don't worry, I won't share any spoilers! But Pip mentioned that we should dress in House colours and, you know me, I'm always up for a costume!

 

I decided to play subtle tribute to House Greyjoy. Well, subtle apart from the kraken on my head!

House Greyjoy rules over the Iron Islands, and their coat of arms features a gold kraken so I figured my blue hair would be a nice stand in for the ocean, and a little kraken would be a lovely fascinator!

I used a pattern by Mr Fox, which I had actually made up once before. In 2011 I made a squid for my friend Molly using this pattern, and have been planning to make myself one someday since then. Well, it only took me four years! ~____^

To attach my kraken into my hair, I used a yarn needle to thread a short length of wool through the base of the kraken. I then tied the two ends of the wool into a bow, making sure to go through the teeth of the hair comb so that it would stay attached. When the party was over, all I had to do was undo the bow and pull out the yarn to detach the hair comb.

 

I used buttons instead of safety eyes and I gave my kraken a little smile with some embroidery thread; just because the Greyjoys are mean (along with basically every House in the series ...) doesn't mean my kraken has to be!

The pattern doesn't say anything about sewing up the little gaps underneath the head fins, but I did because I was concerned that the stuffing would leak out otherwise.

 

And I french knitted the tentacles and arms because I really, really, really don't like crocheting arms and legs. This is probably the main reason I don't make more amigurumi!

 

I also put wire in the arms and tentacles to make them posable. However, my pipe cleaners were too thick to go in so I used floristry wire which isn't really as strong as it needs to be to hold the arms up. So it's really only semi-posable, but I still think it's more fun than having totally floppy arms.

For the rest of my outfit, I stuck with blue and black, with some studs and boots for that piratey flavour!

I wore my sword necklace (since the Greyjoys pay the Iron Price!) and made my word necklace say "we do not sow" which I think were the perfect finishing touches to my outfit ^____^

Dress (worn as skirt): Asos via the opshop

Crop top: Jay Jays via the opshop

Stockings: Myers

Boots: Ziera

Word necklace: Jay Jays

Sword Necklace: Diva

I'm currently working on gifts for three different people, so hopefully I'll gift them soon and be able to share some photos with you! I've been getting a lot done on them because I've gotten a nasty little cold. Tomorrow night is revision week for my roller derby training, so I really hope this awful cough I developed over the weekend is gone by then. And, of course, revision week means that assessment week is only seven days away! Eeep! Last week I made 22 laps in 5 minutes for the first time so if I can do that again I might actually pass ... but if I don't pass (which I personally feel is highly likely) then I have another twelve week cycle ahead of me for which to continue practising all the new skills I've been learning ^____^ It's a win-win!

- Lisa xx

Hoop wall

Hey! Well, I survived my first week of uni and my new job - yay for me! ~_^ And, I finally have some photos of my hoop wall to show you! Cue much rejoicing!

Hmmm. It *does* look more impressive in real life ... but anyway, here are some close-ups ^_^

Some of these hoops haven't been seen on here before, because they were so easy and quick to make! (Now that I think about it, that's a silly reason to not post things! >_<)

The top hoop, with the green polka dot fabric, features six pink buttons that came with one of my Mollie Makes magazines - I just added some embroidered stems to make them into flowers.

The squid hoop is made with some of my Spoonflower fabric and the blue and white hoop is a bit of fabric from Spotlight.

This one is made from a vintage hoop, a bit of fabric, and some wooden scrabble tiles. I just glued them on! ^_^ I also made a pink "geek" one, which hangs over my side of the bed.

Another vintage hoop, with some twine, mini clothes pegs, and a card from Typo. See, I *do* use the things I buy from there! ~_^

Here's the geek hoop I mentioned before ^_^ The Eiffel Tower is another one of my Spoonflower designs and the close-up sewing machine hoop is from the same blue and white fabric from Spotlight.

This hoop was also made with some of my Spoonflower fabric, and some more wooden scrabble tiles. I really like how this one turned out!

You may have already seen this one if you follow me on Instagram - I used another vintage hoop (I was so impressed when I found a red one! ^_^) and a necklace pendant which I spray-painted silver (it was bronze before and I simply couldn't get it coordinated with any of my fabric!)

I shared this one on Instagram too - it's just a felt moustache which I stitched onto this fun background fabric ^_^

In this photo you can see how I've hung all these hoops; I spray-painted a bit of wood white, hammered in heaps of nails, and then screwed it to the top of the wall. The hoops are hung with white thread which is not very noticeable and allows me to easily change around the arrangement without having to add more holes to the wall. Scott and I rent so this is a good way to hang lots of things without driving the landlord spare ~_^

You can see a few more hoops that I haven't included close-ups of in this photo. The dapper cupcake at the top is another one of my Spoonflower designs (yes, another one! I've made a lot! ~_^), the blue and white spool hoop is made from the same fabric as the other two blue and white hoops, and the origami moose is made from IKEA fabric.

The other ones that I haven't mentioned in this post are ones that I've posted about before. If you've missed any of my previous embroidery projects, here's a list so you can check them out ^_^

"My Love is True" anatomical heart hoop

"Thrift Shop" lyric hoop

Button heart hoop

Constellation hoop

"Free Hugs" cactus hoop

"You are my Sunshine" hoop

Fresh Baked Pi hoop

But anyway ... what do you think? I am thinking it needs to be extended to cover the whole wall next ~_^

- Lisa x

Raincloud brooch, tentacle earrings, Death Star necklace, and skeleton lady cameo necklaces

Hey! I made a quite a lot of jewellery yesterday; I seem to go through phases of making things and recently I've just been like "EVERYTHING can be a brooch/necklace/earring". Anyway, here are some kinda dark photos (it's so cloudy here today!).

This raincloud brooch is for the Harry Potter Craft-a-long; the challenge was to create something inspired by water. 

 

The cloud and raindrops are made from Sculpy, painted with spray paint, and then attached to tiger tail (jewellery wire) with Amazing Goop. Honestly, this glue is like my new favourite thing. It takes a while to dry but after that, the things glued will never move again. Well, I hope anyway ~_^ The badge back was also attached with the Goop.

These earrings are also for the Craft-a-long, for a craft with a symbolic meaning. Apparently sailors used to carry octopus medallains for good luck and to ward off evil. I don't know if it works with just the tentacles, but I mainly like them because they look cool so that's ok ^_^

The tentacles are also made from Sculpy and spray paint. They look pretty spiffy and shiny, which I like ^_^

The Astronomy challenge for the Craft-a-long was to make something inspired by the moon, sun, or stars. I went with the moon, and a slightly edited version of the phrase that features in René Magritte's famous pipe painting.

On the other side is the Death Star ~_^

This necklace is also made from Sculpey. I hope with all this practice my clay modelling skills will improve! ^_^

And lastly, I made these pendants just by gluing cameos onto bevels. Easy peasy! I really like how they turned out ^_^

How was your weekend?

- Lisa x

Squid amigurumi

I finished a crochet squid amigurumi today - yay!

I used a pattern from Ravelry, but I changed it a little. Again. I wasn't really a fan of the pattern for the tentacles (really I just am not good at crocheting little tubes) so I brought out my French knitter and used that instead! It worked really well, and it was a lot faster than crocheting all of them would've taken me.

 

I used purple Moda Vera acrylic yarn in 8 ply, a 4mm hook, black buttons (for the eyes), and polyfill. The small tentacles have pipecleaners in them for poseability (is that even a word? Is now!) and the long tentacles are French knitted with crochet spheres sewn onto the ends. Yayness! I'm so happy it's finished.

Have a great evening!

- Lisa x