Sackboy I

Here he is, in all his glory!

The original Sackboy. I am by far not the first to make one, but I did think of it on my own, before I knew others had done it.

He makes me very proud, even if he's not perfect - his arms and legs are disproportionately long. But other than that, I was super pleased with the final product here.

Made with Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool, black felt, a pink piece of Foamie, a working brass-tone jeans zipper, buttons, and accent stitches in LB Wool-ease Oatmeal. He's got a wire-frame skeleton, made from an old notebook, so he's fully poseable - even his thumbs.

I call him Sackboy I because he is the first of several planned ones. I already have two requests from close friends that I will honor, and during the construction of those I will be writing up a pattern with pictures that will be available on www.etsy.com. I'll make a note here when it's up. I considered selling these myself, but honestly it's a work of love - I don't think I could make enough money for it to be worth the time it took to make this one.

The next iterations will have a few other improvements - while the zipper on this one works, he's stuffed so full, it's hard to zip or unzip. The legs and arms will be proportionate, the body a bit larger, and I would like to add wire framing to the face so other expressions are possible.

Just like the real thing, Sackboy I gets around.

He digs the music. And this gives you a good idea of what size he is.
He's also really good with animals. Spiff likes him, anyway.
He gets a kick out of gaming. Unfortunately he can't play LBP at my house, though.
And one last standing shot, waving to the world.

Dreaming of an 8-bit christmas . . .

I have minions at my day job. And to thank them for doing the otherwise thankless job, I made them Christmas presents.

Cue images!!

What we have here are fleece hat versions of Mega Man, Proto Man, and a Tanuki suit. There are precedents - the people wearing these hats have photoshopped images of themselves as these characters on our door. Yes, I'm serious.

These were sewn, not knitted - once again I'm not even following my own rules. Sorry. But at least I think they enjoyed them, and it made me feel so deliciously nerdy to have made these.

If I get any requests, I can draw up a simple pattern. Each hat only took a few hours to cut and put together; just as much time was spent figuring them out as making them, probably.

Worst Knitter Ever

I keep letting other things get in the way of my creative passions.

Like, you know, life.

I didn't even update the blog for a while, which is ridiculous.

Anyway, here's a minor list of what's been going on:

Finished the awesomeness. I have a hand-knitted, wire-framed and thus fully poseable Sackboy of my very own. He's about 9 inches tall, and slightly out of proportion - his legs and arms are too long, compared to his body - but he's only the first of several. I have a lot more I want to say about this topic, perhaps later, once I get some really good pictures.

Started on something for myself, finally - a neckwarmer/ruff kind of thing. I had a small hoard of several skeins of Bernat Felting yarn in Gardenia, which is an absolutely gorgous colorway, and I didn't know what to do with it, until I was inspired by seeing some work by the featured crafters on Etsy - there are a lot of neckwarmers out there, and it made me want one for myself. So far that one's mostly done with knitting, it just needs finishing work. Rather than knit it as a tube in the round, I did it as a flat rectangle, and I'm going to attach some shell buttons so the closure will be adjustable. I guess it's kind of like an artsy scarf more than a neckwarmer. I started in on some matching armwarmers, but the bulky yarn looks a little weird for that, so I don't know if I will finish them.

When I get home I'll add pictures for everything I'm discussing here.

And now it's Christmas, and I feel like I failed. I started in on a sweater for someone, but just today I decided to give up, because there's no way it will be finished in time. It's working up really fast with size 15 needles and Caron's Simply Soft Quick, but not fast enough. Even if I just didn't sleep, it probably wouldn't be done, so I decided to set it aside and enjoy the holiday. I will finish it up for the next gift-giving occasion.

I think there's a philosophy in that - knitting should be fun, not work. When I find myself begrudging everything else I'm doing, because it takes time away from a project that I really don't even want to look at but feel like I MUST finish, it makes for a crappy holiday. Really, the philosophy here is one I've failed to learn for years now - start sooner than I think I will need to. On EVERYTHING. Today I went and bought a gift instead, and I feel amazingly better with that pressure off. Now all I have to do before Christmas is my regular day job.

But I am le tired . . .

Storage Issues

I was wondering how other people solve this problem that I have encountered. It could be that other people don't hoard the amount of yarn that I do, of course. But surely there must be a few other pack rats out there who need a place to keep approximately 200 pounds of yarn.

(I'm kidding - who has 200 pounds of yarn? My stash really only totals 193 or so, I just round up.)

Rack shelving, with see-through plastic bins, so I can see what's inside. It's hard to see in this picture, but I also tied a small sample of the yarns inside to the outside of the bin, which helps for the ones on the higher shelf. I can reach that high, but I can't see what's up in there near as easily.

So far this is a lot better than the laundry hampers it was previously tangling in. Any skeins that have been 'opened' are in ziploc bags too. Now, I just have to knit all the stuff I was planning on making with this ridiculous pile.

Little Big Planet is Neat

I haven't even played it. Haven't even seen it being played. But I am still interested. View the protagonist:


He's cute, he's small, and he's knitted. Looking at pictures of this guy next to ordinary objects like a skateboard or a soccer ball, I estimate he's about 4 inches tall. Others are interested in the fact that he (or she) is very customizable. Here we appear to have a shinto, or perhaps sushi chef, model.

In this vein, I have been knitting something that makes me feel really, really awesome. Pictures are coming soon.

The only thing I regret is that I did not think of this sooner - while I did come up with it independently, apparently I am not the only one, nor am I the first. At least I can take solace in the fact that mine will be appropriately sized.

What have I done? Dear gods, what have I done?

Melodramatic.

At any rate, it seems that a large amount of the things I make are presents for my Mom. I would like to think she likes them for themselves, as well as because I made them. As a Mom, it's her job, I guess. At any rate, though, here are a few that I remain proud of. Note that the misshapen clay objects left over from middle school art class do not feature here.

Items in this bunch: A crocheted car coat. Made with Red Heart Light and Lofty in a dark red color - again, I won't remember the name - from the Lion Brand Car Coat pattern. (You have to make a logon to see any Lion Brand patterns, but its free.) I adapted it from the original shawl collar, and added pockets. I also lined the edges with a row of Lion Brand Incredible tape yarn, in Autumn Leaves. I love this stuff so much.

There's also my first successful yarn project ever - a crocheted afghan in cream and sage Light and Lofty. Mom loved this; it was a Christmas present. I made it from a pattern in some afghans book.

There's a really cool intarsia scarf I made for her from a pattern in a knitting magazine. Which one exactly escapes me at the moment, but when I find out, I'll come back to edit it. This is in Caron's Simply Soft, which is one of my favorite acrylic yarns ever. It is super soft, comes in beautiful colors, and is really affordable. I have a huge stash of some of my favorite colors, which is good, because I heard they are changing it - my local Wal Mart has stopped selling it.

Lastly there is another necklace. This one I have made several versions of; thin copper wire and glass beads, twisted and woven together. Perhaps later I will post more detailed instructions on making one, and a shot of one I made for a friend that came out nicer.

Too many pictures to clutter up this post with. Click here to see them on Picasa.

This is what happens when I feel like making something, but I don't plan

About a week ago, I was sitting on the couch and was struck by a sudden desire to make something. I have a lot of craft supplies just lying around, and lately I have been on a wire-and-glass kick. I got to thinking about how wire is so much more organic-looking. And then this came out.


Three large glass leaf beads, a number of seed beads in shades of tan/brown and copper, copper wire, and some green ribbon. It's just barely bigger than a choker - it rests at the base of my neck. It closes with a loop of ribbon that just fits over a large roundish glass bead.

I do wish, now, that I had planned it better. As it was I sort of just kept going until it seemed done, but with some careful design it probably would have been nicer. Also, I really need practice with wire. In some places it is wobbly, where I would rather have it smooth. It's also a bit poky. Still, though, I love this. It makes me wish I had more open-necked tops, like a simple boatneck in some neutral color. Perhaps I will knit one, if I ever finish with all the other projects I have ongoing.

One more detailed picture below.