8 bit Yoshi Blanket COMPLETE (for now)

I AM FINALLY DONEEEEEEEEEEE

And by that I mean I have finished putting together Yoshi's body and reverse single crocheted around the whole thing in black yarn. Someday I may make squares to fill in the background and make it rectangle. This will probably never happen though considering I once calculated how many extra squares that would take and I remember it being at least as many as was needed for the body. Enough blather and on to pictures!



You will notice the ladder that I am standing on to be able to get high enough to even take a picture of the entire blanket, haha. It quite literally takes up my entire living room when laid out flat as you can see.



I am sprawled out on the blanket for size comparison. The blanket is roughly 8' tall x 7.5' wide (I am 6' tall). This is only about 2' taller than I had originally calculated/aimed for, haha. Oh well, I suck at gauging and have known this for quite some time now.





Couple more detail shots. He is 28 square high, 26 squares wide and should be 728 squares total. He's gone through one round of blocking and will probably go through another before I call it entirely good.

It was one of the very first projects I started and I know so much more now that I would use to change it for a little bit better (like using Magic Circle so there aren't holes in the middle of the squares), but I still love it to death.

And for anyone interested, here's a link to a pdf I made of the chart: http://www.scribd.com/doc/45809950/8-Bit-Yoshi-Chart

If anybody uses the chart to make anything, crochet, cross-stitch, knit, whatever, let me know! I'd love to see links to any projects anyone makes!

-Erin

R2D2 Beanie Pattern!

I've been working hard on making a pdf of my R2D2 beanie that I posted earlier since some people on craftster requested it. It gets a bit complicated to try and explain in words at points, but I have a lot of pictures and notes to hopefully clear it up. It hasn't been worked through yet, so hopefully there aren't any mistakes. Anyways, here's the link to the pdf (I would just post it here, but with all the pictures added it would be a pain):

www.scribd.com/doc/45855169/R2D2-Beanie

I may write my pattern a bit strange to some some possibly important points to note about the pattern are:

1. asterisks (*) surround parts of the pattern that are to be repeated the number of times indicated immediately afterwards by x__ with the number of times in the blank
2. For the purposes of this pattern, I chunked the portions that are to be made in the same color together using brackets
3. 2sc in st = 2 sc in the same stitch (probably more known as a sc increase, again I write up patterns a bit weirdly)
4. If you don't know how to do a magic circle, just youtube or google it. There are plenty of videos/directions out there on how to do it.

If anything doesn't make sense for anybody, let me know and I'll fix it!

-Erin

8-bit Yoshi (almost) Complete...Well Sorta

I realize that, at least at this point in time, this blog is kind of like my own little world that just so happens to exist in the public domain which is my way of saying that I realize I'm probably the only one that reads or cares about it, buuuttt someday other people may read it. Or care. Or maybe I'll become famous and this will mean something.

In any case, I just wanted to share to the internet-savvy world that I have completed my last Granny Square for my 8-bit Yoshi Blanket!!!!!!!!

Now for those of you completely lost, if you take the time to scroll all the way down (and press the button for previous posts, which I'm kind of surprised I'm qualified for at this point), you'll see that I started the blanket sometime near August of 2009. Yes, that is over a year ago. It is so long ago that we have since lost the cat that some of my pictures on another post feature (and thus that post now kind of makes me sad). In fact, my last post on the blanket was half a year ago.

I would say oops, but there are a number of factors that have contributed to me taking this long that are not limited to laziness. Most importantly, the fact that I don't really get any time to work on things during the school year because of, well, school. That and I get distracted by smaller projects and monotony and blah blah blah.

Anywho, as I've said, I have completed my last square and almost all of them are attached. They would all be attached but I left a skein of yarn I need at my apartment and do not have it on me now. I still have to stitch them together going the other way which will still take quite a bit of time, but certainly I deserve a little celebrating!

Now there is one huge asterisk to my announcement/celebration/party. When I say done, I mean with actual Yoshi himself. I had ideally planned on giving him a background so the blanket would actually be rectangular. This would really help considering he gets a bit thin around the neck area and thus, when I cuddle up under him, I basically end up draping his head over my legs and twisting his body to cover my upper half.

But I really don't care a whole lot about that! Maybe he'll get a background someday, maybe he won't. I am just super anxious to get him done for now! Hopefully this will happen soon.

Until then,
-Erin

Harry Potter Earrings and R2D2 Beanie

It's been awhile since I last posted (of course) and I have made a few things since then. Some of which I don't have pics yet, but some I have already posted on craftster and figured I should post here.

First are some earrings I made for my friends for the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows Part 1. My one friend went as Luna Lovegood and my other friend just wanted some thunderbolt earrings.

with flash


without flash


with flash


without flash


They're all crocheted out of embroidery floss with a teeny tiny hook. I have my notes somewhere and will probably type up a quick pattern and post it on here sometime. I also dressed up as Hedwig for the premiere and made my costume which I will be posting on here soon as I stop being lazy, haha.

I also have some pics of an R2D2 beanie I made for my roommate for what will be a late Christmas present.







I tried to get a good picture that shows how the projector part actually sticks out :) Here's some pics of it on an actual person's head. Pardon me covering up my face. I've found that it's pretty much impossible to take a close up picture of your head from above without looking like a complete doof.







Again, it's all my own pattern which I will eventually type up and post. I'm still trying to get this hat thing down well considering I've made hats for myself that were too big and too small, but this should (hopefully) fit her head!

Comments always welcome! Now I'm going to get to finishing up Yoshi. I am actually decently close to being done. My goal is to finish him up over break. We'll see if that happens!

-Erin

Candy Corn

I know that I only update this thing sporadically at best and now that class has started again, that certainly isn't going to change. This semester is very stressful and keeping me crazy busy so I hardly have time to crochet anymore, nonetheless actually finish anything. However, Halloween is coming up and one day I really just needed to do something to relax a little bit, so I thought I would make a candy corn! It seemed simple and quick enough to make so I figured I could afford the time :)


Pre-face


Post-face

Pictures aren't as good as they could be because I was lazy and took them with my Droid so I could just upload them to facebook from there (don't judge!) I posted it on craftster and somebody requested the pattern there so, since I took the time to type it up, I figure I'll put it here too. First written pattern for me, woo! :)

Candy Corn

[in white]
R1: sc 6 in magic circle (6)
R2: 2sc in each st (12)
R3: sc around (12)
R4: sc 2, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 4, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 2 (16)
R5: sc around (16)
R6: sc 3, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 6, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 3 (20)
R7: sc around (20)
R8: sc 4, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 8, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 4 (24)
R9: sc around (24)
R10: sc 5, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 10, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 5 (28)
R11: sc around (28)

[in orange]
R12: sc 6, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 12, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 6 (32)
R13: sc around (32)
R14: sc 7, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 14, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 7 (36)
R15: sc around (36)
R16: sc 8, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 16, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 8 (40)
R17: sc around (40)
R18: sc 9, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 18, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 9 (44)
R19: sc around (44)
R20: sc 10, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 20, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 10 (48)
R21: sc around (48)
R22: sc 11, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 22, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 11 (52)
R23: sc around (52)

[in yellow]
R24: sc 12, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 24, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 12 (56)
R25: sc around (56)
R26: sc 13, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 26, *(2sc in each st)* x2, sc 13 (60)
R27: sc around (60)
R28: sc 13, *(sc2tog)* x2, sc 26, *(sc2tog)* x2, sc 13 (56)
R29: sc around (56)
R30: sc 12, *(sc2tog)* x2, sc 24, *(sc2tog)* x2, sc 12 (52)
R31: sc around (52)
R32: *[(sc2tog, sc 1)* x3, *(sc2tog)* x4, *(sc 1, sc2tog)* x3]* x2 (32)
R33: sc around (32)
R34: *[*(sc 1, sc2tog)* x2, *(sc2tog)* x2, *(sc2tog, sc 1)* x2]* x2 (20)
R35: sc around (20)
R36: *[sc 1, sc2tog, *(sc2tog)* x2, sc2tog, sc 1]* x2 (12)
R37: sc around (12)
Cut yarn, weave in end, and pull hole shut

Couple points of clarification in case people can't understand my notation. Asterisks (*) indicated the section they're surrounding (which should be in parenthesis or brackets) are to be repeated and will be followed by the number of times it should be done total (x2 means you should crochet everything in the parenthesis twice total). Numbers at the end in parenthesis indicated how many stitches should be in that row. Also, in round 32, I start using both parenthesis and brackets to indicate parts that should be repeated. Work through everything in the brackets first, then repeat it all again according to the number of times indicated (in both cases, the instructions should be crocheted twice or repeated once after you've worked through it the first time).

Also, I figured it was worth noting that I stuffed mine and then put some pellets in it too to help weigh it down so it would stand on its own. I made mine with a G hook and had some gaps at the bottom that were big enough for the pellets to fall out, so I hollowed out the inside of the stuffing, poured the pellets in there, then put more stuffing in the bottom to plug it up and keep the pellets from falling out before I closed up the bottom.

Hopefully those instructions will head off any confusion over the pattern (I know how frustrating it can be to try and make something and have to frog it because you didn't understand the pattern) though it really isn't that difficult so you might not even need them! Good luck everybody! :D

See you when my sanity runs short again,
-Erin

Starghan: 1/2 Done

Welp, to anyone actually paying attention to this, I thought I would post my new big project. Yoshi is quite close to being done but, at this point, I think I'd rather chew off my own fingers than crochet another granny square... I've really wanted a starghan for quite some time now and really mostly just wanted to make up a blanket that works in a round so there's no assembly required. This is what I've come up with so far:



The color in the picture is horribly washed out. Took a closer picture that's slightly better:



The colors are absolutely gorgeous and yes, the black is sparkly! Made with I Love This Yarn so it's quite soft, despite being crocheted. Row-wise, it's slightly more than half done. However, effort-wise, not quite so much considering each round gets bigger and bigger... Le sigh. Either way, it goes a lot quicker than granny squares to which I say huzzah! Plus it tentatively matches the color scheme for my apartment I'll be moving into for the school year! Yeah, let's not judge the level of my nerdiness/color obsession...

For anyone interested in the pattern, it's Chromium's Star Blanket which is awesome because the modified half doubles and adjacent doubles fill in the holes you would normally have at the corners and dents. Link to the pattern can be found here. There are also some helpful links to exactly how to do an adjacent stitch and even how to do the first three rounds. I would definitely recommend giving the pattern a shot :)

Toodles,

-Erin

8 bit Yoshi Blanket Update: 3/4 Done!

I realize I haven't posted on here in foreverrrrrrrrrr. First off, I apologize to anyone who cares enough to read this. Unfortunately, a lot of things in my life get put on the backburner when I'm at school. That being said, I haven't been entirely too busy to accomplish anything :)

First off, I thought I would remind everyone where I last stood on my Yoshi Blanket:



(Also, I've finally figured out how to make it so you can click it for the full size picture. Yay!)

And here is where I stand as of now:



Quite beautiful if I do say so myself :) He stands a bit taller than me (which is saying something) and I'd estimate that I'm about 3/4 done with the body. There is a possibility I could get it done before a year's gone by! Then once I'm done with that, I've still got to make the background to fill it in and make a rectangle (assuming I don't give up that hope for laziness, haha).

Anyways, hopefully I'll be updating here a bit more often than once every 10 months. Oops.

Until then,
-Erin