Nintendo Controller Scarf

My husband doesn't wear scarves, which is unfortunate for him because I make so many lovely ones... For his birthday, I decided to disregard his disapproval for scarves and make one he wouldn't be able to resist. For two weeks I hid my secret scarf project from him. I only worked on it when he wasn't home and made him call me on the phone before walking through the door so I could put it away. Even though he never wore a scarf before, the "Nintendo Controller Scarf" has become a daily item of clothing for him.



I originally made more red and black pieces to sew on the scarf to approximate the buttons of a Nintendo Controller, but eventually, I decided I liked the unobtrusiveness of the scarf without all the extra bits. From a distance, you cannot really tell it is a controller which, according to the wearer of said scarf, creates a better "wow" factor when people eventually realize that you have been wearing a controller this whole time.

Bags, bags, and more bags

A few weekends ago, I decided it was time to retire my everyday purse (it was a lovely handmade small messenger bag style purse, but it is getting worn out). So I decided I would make myself a new bag, or three. Really, I didn't know what type of bag I would want to use, and I couldn't resist making quite a few. So by Sunday evening, I had a wall of bags...



By the time I took this picture, I had already given away the dragon bag (posted separately below).



I love this fabric, and the simple bag design turned out well with such a busy fabric.

Here is a close-up of the patchwork dresden circle bag. I should post a link to the page where I got the idea for this bag, but I can't seem to find it. It was originally intended to just be a straight dresden circle bag, but the first circles I sewed up were disproportionate and too small, so I cut it all up and added some more fabric to make the patchwork panels.

Fire Flower Mini Quilt

I thought I was done making Mario themed crafts, but the mini-quilts just seem to keep coming... and I am so glad, cuz this one is my favorite so far. Someone, (crosswordnerd), had hoped to get me as her partner for a scarf swap so she could make a Mario-themed scarf, but no such luck. Anyway, she contacted me and asked to do a private Mario swap. She made me an awesome Yoshi scarf and matching fingerless mitts, and I of course made her a mini-quilt. As husband joked, a fire flower is perfect for a trivet, because you put hot stuff on it (a joke that was slightly funny the first time, not so funny the second time and kind of annoying the third time).


I have a back-log of video game related crafts to post soon, and I keep thinking that this one will be the last, but, no promises, working in 8-bit is just too much fun. Until later...

Mario window

PROBLEM: I just really don't want to make anymore Mario themed creations. I am burnt out on 8-bit art. Unfortunately, Hubby keeps wanting me to make more.
SOLUTION: Hubby should make his own damn Mario stuff!!!
PROBLEM: He refuses to learn to crochet or sew and is generally too lazy to paint or sculpt.
SOLUTION: Perler beads!



PROBLEM: The Mario Perler bead creations are getting out of control.
SOLUTION: Make a faux stained glass window out of plexi-glass, some weird lightweight space modeling clay, a few screws, christmas lights, and lots of clear tape. (After numerous ideas, a few attempts with other materials, this was the best solution).


Here we are carefully squishing the space clay into the perler beads.

And here is the finished piece in the front window of our house. At night it lights up which is really awesome, but of course since its so awesome all lit up, those pictures turned out horribly.

Warp Pipe Scarf

My husband, the driving force behind many of my crafting adventures wanted a present for a friend who not so subtly dropped hints about loving the Mario crafts and an upcoming birthday. Inspired by enemyairship's Piranha Plant Scarf we decided that a warp pipe scarf would be perfect. I figured that a warp pipe scarf might be versatile enough to wear out (without drawing too much attention to its Mario-ness) while still being worthy of the geek-craft label. The lovely recipient even agreed to model.

Honeycomb Lattice Button Cowl Pattern

Honeycomb Lattice Button Cowl

Although this is not a beginner pattern, once you get the hang of the lattice stitches, it is not too difficult ; )

Stitches used:

Single Crochet (sc), Double Crochet (dc), Front Post Double Crochet (fpdc), Lattice Treble Cluster (LTC), and Half Lattice Treble Cluster (HLTC).

Materials:

Approximately 500 yards of worsted weight yarn (I used one ball of Sensations Rainbow Classic); H 8/5.00 crochet hook; Two buttons (about 1” in diameter, although you could use slightly larger buttons); Large eye needle (or something to use for attaching buttons).

Special Stitches:

There is a super awesome hat and visual tutorial (mad props for the visual tutorial using different colored yarn) of the Lattice Treble Crochet (LTC) stitch at Rheatheylia.com

LTC: YO twice (3 loops on hook); insert hook under LTC two rows down*; YO and pull through (4 loops on hook); YO and pull through 2 loops (3 loops on hook); YO and pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook); YO twice (4 loops on hook); insert hook under LTC in front of hook two rows down; YO and pull through (5 loops on hook); YO and pull through 2 loops (4 loops on hook); YO and pull through 2 loops (3 loops on hook); YO pull through all 3 loops.

* For rows beginning with 2 sc the first LTC you insert hook under will be slightly behind your hook and two rows down. For rows beginning with 3 sc, the first LTC you insert hook under will be directly below (or just slightly in front of) your hook and two rows down. The second LTC you insert into will always be in front of hook.

HLTC: YO twice (3 loops on hook); insert hook under LTC two rows down**; YO and pull through (4 loops on hook); YO and pull through 2 loops (3 loops on hook); YO and pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook); YO and pull through remaining 2 loops.

** For HLTC the LTC you will insert hook under will be more obvious than with the LTC stitch because it will either be the first or last LTC of the row two rows down.

Notes:

In row 4, you will crochet around FPDC instead of LTC. Throughout the cowl, you will insert under HLTC when you come to them as if they are LTC. For rows beginning with 2 sc, the very first insert will be under an HLTC. For rows beginning with 3 sc, the second insert for the final LTC will be under an HLTC.

Each LTC, HLTC and FPDC requires skipping the dc stitch behind it in the row you are working on. In the pattern, these are marked as “sk st”

Pattern:

Chain 28

1. Dc in 3^rd chain from hook; dc in each ch across (26 st); ch 2 and turn.

2. Dc in first 2 dc; [FPDC around next dc one row down, sk st; dc in next 3 dcs]; repeat [] 5 more times; ch 2 and turn.

3. Dc in each dc across; ch 1 and turn.

4. Sc in first 3 dc; [LTC (around FPDC for this row only); sk st; sc in next 3 sts]; repeat [] 4 more times; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 2 stitches; ch 2 and turn.

5. Dc in each dc across; ch 1 and turn.

6. Sc in first 2 dc; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 3 dc; [LTC; sk st; sc in next three dc;]; repeat [] 4 times; chain 2 and turn.

7. Dc in each dc across; ch 1 and turn.

8. Sc in first 3 dc; [LTC; sk st; sc in next 3 sts]; repeat [] 4 more times; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 2 stitches; ch 2 and turn.

9-74. Repeat rows 5-8 [18 repeats]. The cowl will be approximately 3 ½” longer from here. To lengthen or shorten cowl, increase or decrease by 4 rows being sure to end on a row 8 configuration.

75. Dc in each dc across; ch 1 and turn.

Making the buttonholes: The buttonholes are worked into the pattern as follows. You will be skipping LTCs and using HLTCs to make two large diamonds around the buttonholes.

76. Sc in first 2 dc; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 2 dc; ch 3; sk 3 dc; sc in next 2 dc; LTC; sk st; sc in next 3 dc; LTC; sk st; sc in next 2 dc; ch 3; sk 3 dc; sc in next 2 dc; LTC; sk st; sc in next 3 dc; chain 2 and turn.

77. Dc in first 6 st; dc in each of the 3 chain stitches; dc in next 9 st; dc in each of the 3 chain stitches; dc in next 5 st; chain 1 and turn.

78. Sc in first 3 dc; HLTC; sk st; ; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 3 dc; LTC; sk st; sc in next 3 dc; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 3 dc; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 3 dc; HLTC; sk st; sc in next 2 dc; ch 2 and turn.

79. Dc in each dc across; ch 1 and turn.

80. Sc in first 2 dc; HLTC; sk stitch behind HLTC; sc in next three dc; [sc in next three dc; LTC; sk stitch behind LTC]; repeat [] 4 more times; sc in next 3 dc; chain 1 and turn.

81. Sc across all dc; fasten off and weave in ends.

Put the cowl around your neck as you would want to wear it and mark the button placement. Sew on the buttons and enjoy!

This pattern is free for personal use, sharing and enjoyment. If you like the pattern and want to post it (or your cowls created from the pattern), please give me credit and a link.

Pumpkins for a video game obsessed household.

This was the first Halloween where we lived in a place that had a chance for trick-or-treaters so we obviously needed pumpkins. For weeks we had been contemplating what to carve our pumpkins as and we had settled on a Pac-Man theme. When I went to purchase squash and pumpkins, I ran across this awesome, scary, ready for Halloween Turban squash. This squash needed no carving, it already looked like the birth of an alien. Out went the plans for Pac-Man, I just picked up an array of pumpkins and squashes and figured we would see it all when the squash was sitting at home.

Even though the turban squash could have just sat out on the porch without any changes, it needed to be painted for the theme. First it was painted white, making it look like a gigantic garlic.Then it was painted to resemble a one-up mushroom. It reminds me of an aqua teen hunger force interpretation of a one up mushroom.



Of course, all of the pieces for the Pac-Man theme pumpkins were easily converted into a chain chomp.

And finally, the cutest pumpkin, the Bob-omb pumpkin, complete with eye cut-outs used as feet and a tinfoil covered tube as a fuse (the tinfoil had holes in it and when it was dark, the candle light shown through like sparks).

Here is the whole porch scene (including a very curious cat). Unfortunately it was hard to get good pictures at night when everything was lit up. Lots of kids really like the black pumpkins, "mommy, i never seen black pumpkins," "those are cool" unfortunately, it was only a few grown ups who recognized the scene.