Hatsune Miku's Leek

    This week's Friday night horror movie project~ That means I watch a horror film with my roommate while crocheting so that by the end of the movie I barely remember the characters' names and can only vaguely recall the plot.

     

     Come to think of it, I've gone through seasons of TV shows never really getting the plot... XD

     Anyway, this week's project is Miku's leek. Of course anyone even remotely familiar with Vocaloid will know Miku's Ievan Polkka, the video in which she waves a leek back and forth.

As it happens, the leek I made turned out to be as tall as my Miku amigurumi, since I wanted to be able to swish it around (in case I ever cosplayed as Miku XD) Here it is: 

I watched the video again and again while waving the leek until I realized that I look utterly stupid (which I should have realized halfway through the first time, not until my arm felt sore XDD)

Lord of The Rings Inspired Dwarven Beard Helmet

    My friend Glen, who is a huge LOTR fan, sent me a photo of a crocheted bearded helmet, and he was so excited about it that I promised to make him one, as long as a.) he pays for the materials, and b.) he wears it to the next Hobbit movie.
   
    So I went crazy on the next yarn-shopping spree and started sketching out the design I want. I based the helmet off of Gimli's helmet from the LOTR movies, as most of the reference photos I found for helmets seem to be his.

Here's what I have for the helmet part. (Forgive the awful quality of the photo and the state of my face XD)

The beard consisted of a base, with clumps of yarn hooked onto it. Here's my dear roommate Esther in the half-completed beard.

I finished it this afternoon and gave it to Glen right away. Here he is modeling the completed project. It's almost summer and we have sweltering hot weather, but he just won't take it off XDDD

The materials are all set now for Bilbo, so I'm probably gonna make him next. Let's see how many dwarfs I can finish before the next movie comes out!

Crochet Violets in Flowerpot

Today is the birthday of my lovely, wonderful freshman Eng. professor Mary~ I love her classes so much! (If you happen to be reading this, Happy Birthday!!! And I can't wait to take your American Lit. classes when they finally stop clashing with my schedules!!!)   

I remember surprise parties and pranks we did in high school whenever it's a teacher's birthday, and I would love to do that again, but I found out a bit too late, plus I don't want to fail the class XD 

I thought since my dear professor is getting a new office, some plants would make a nice office-warming/birthday gift.

A quick dive into my yarn stash gave me what I needed for the present I had in mind (thank goodness, since I'm fairly certain the craft shop nearby was closed then).

Picture is courtesy of  dear Professor Mary Goodwin <3

The pattern referenced can be found at Knits ~n~ Purls ~n~ More. I have a different hook size and not as much yarn as the pattern indicated, so I pretty much winged it after getting the gist of things (no surprise there really, since I'm always so faithful to patterns XDD).

They look so nice I think I'm going to make a whole bunch and line my windowsill! 

Project Preview~

    I'm working on a project involving lots of granny squares lately, I've run out of yarn though, so another big craft store shopping spree is due~ Here's what I have so far:

    Guess my love for the color purple is evident now XD
   
   

Gandalf Hat- Finished!!! (≧∇≦)/

I've finally finished making my Gandalf hat!!!

As I said before, this is my first felting project, so I was nervous as hell with the sizing.

This is what it looks like pre-felting. In this photo I haven't sewn in the brim yet. (The brim is knitted so that there's two layers folded over, and so the second layer has to be sewn on. The stitch definitions are very noticeable (well duh), and the hat has trouble standing on its own. (I'm actually holding the tip in this photo)

I hand-felted the whole thing, which took me about two episodes of Dexter's time. (This includes some break time)

As you can see, the stitch definitions are almost completely gone, and the whole hat is a lot stiffer and sturdier. The brim is still a bit floppy for my taste, but I guess for a first try, I'm pretty happy with it.

Here's me wearing it  (*´∀`*) 

Sadly, I've run out of money for more yarn or craft supplies, so the chainmail armor would have to wait a bit. I have some spare yarn lying around, so maybe I'll work up a project from those =D

Crocheted Chainmail

I'm on winter break, which means time for bigger projects!
I'm planning to make a Gandalf-styled hat (I say 'styled' because I want mine to be for myself and in dark blue), and as I was describing how I hope it will turn out to a friend, he asked if I could make chainmail.

To which my immediate response was 'impossible!', but as I said that my fingers were already typing searches on chainmail tutorials. That set off the strongest desire to make an actual chainmail armor!

I did figure out how to put the links together, but I quickly realized that if I am really going to use PVC pipe and piece everything together, I won't be able to finish my Gandalf hat before school starts again.

So crochet it is! In fact in many movies the minor characters' armors are made this way: knitted then painted to look like metal.

I used twine for a stiffer, sturdy texture. I chose a thinner twine with less 'hair' on it. It cost me 40NTD (that's about $1.25) every 80g skein, and it should take around 6 skeins to complete the tunic pattern found on Betty Crotchitt's lovely site.

After half a day's work, I caught up with all the new episodes of my favorite TV series (Bones, Leverage, Criminal Minds...), and is now halfway through finishing the crocheting part. Here's what I have so far:

I plan on spray-painting the whole thing silver, then ageing it a bit. Can't wait to finish and see how it turns out!

Crocheted Book Covers

I have a vast collection of manga, and I like to keep one or two in my purse to read when I'm waiting for the bus or in between classes.

There's just one problem with this: some of the covers on these manga might be a little bit embarrassing to take outside. Like Sekaiichi Hatsukoi or Junjo Romantica, with the cover screaming YAOI LOVE!!! Or sometimes you just don't want the obasan next door looking at you disapprovingly when you have a manga in your hands. (I never understood why so many adults I know think comic books/manga= bad student)

I found the perfect solution! With some yarn left over from a bigger project, I made this beautiful book cover, just the right size for a Toei shounen manga. I'm working on one to match the size of Kadogawa mangas as well.

This is just to show how the whole thing looks like. I NEVER put my manga down like this!!!

It's really quite simple, just 12 granny squares sewn together (it's actually 6 squares each with a strip made thick enough for the spine in the middle), with a borders of however many rows will get you the size you need for your manga/book/notebook. I cut up my sister's old pair of jeans for the lining. Just basic rectangles hemmed and attached to the inside of the book cover. 

Do block the granny squares for this project, it makes for much more even squares to work with. And be careful while sewing the lining to make sure your manga/book/notebook will fit.  

Isn't it just the perfect disguise? XD

(In the picture: Ilegenes: The Genetic Sodom/イルゲネス～黒耀の軌跡～ , a manga I whole-heartedly recommend, by the way!) 

Free Pattern- Fingerless Gloves for Men

I found myself in need of a pattern for fingerless gloves after drawing the name of a classmate- who earlier revealed that he would like a new pair of gloves- for secret Santa this year. I wanted something simple that covers the wrist to about an inch from the knuckles. Most patterns online (free ones, anyway) are designed for women, so I'm going to share the pattern I came up with! =)

This is a simple design with ribbing on the cuff to add a bit variety. It's a quick project that took me only a few hours, and makes a great gift. My classmate received his present today, and I'm glad to report that he really likes it (●´∀｀●)
I'm using the pictures he took below ^^

You will need:
Medium weight yarn in two colors (I had to skimp on the yarn and use 100% acrylic because of budget limit)
5.00mm hook

Pattern is written in US instructions

Abbreviations:
ch: chain
sc: single crochet
hdc: half double crochet
dc: double crochet
fpdc: front post double crochet
bpdc: back post double crochet
fphdc: front post half double croceht
bphdc: back post have double crochet

You will need to know how to do front and back post stitches for the ribbing effect.
Instructions on how to do these stitches can be found here on Crochet Spot.

Row 1: In color A, chain 34, dc in 4th chain from the hook, dc across
Row 2: ch 2, turn, dc in first dc, fpdc, *bpdc, fpdc*, repeat * to *, dc in last dc
Row 3: ch 2, turn, dc in first dc, *bpdc, fpdc* repeat, dc in last dc
Row 4: rep. row 2
Row 5: Switch to color B, ch 1, turn, sc across
Rows 6&7: rep. row 5
Row 8: ch 2, turn, dc across
Rows 9&10: ch 1, turn, sc across
Rows 11-13: rep. rows 8-10
Row 14: ch 1, turn, sc across
Row 15&16: ch 1, turn, sc across
Row 17: switch to color A. ch 2, turn, hdc across
Row 18: ch 2, turn, hdc in first hdc, fphdc, *bphdc, fphdc*rep., hdc in last hdc
Row 19: ch 2, turn, hdc in first hdc, *bphdc, fphdc* rep, hdc in last hdc. Bind off

Sew the sides together with a yarn needle, leaving a two-inch gap where the thumb should be.

I didn't want anything too complicated, so I only alternated between sc and dc in the middle, but you can replace that with any stitch you like, as long as you reach the same length.

Hope the pattern is helpful! Feel free to leave a comment if I made a mistake or if there are any questions =)

Christmas Decorations!

     It's almost Christmas! I'm not going to be home for Christmas, and I'm going to be missing out on the beautiful-albeit tiny- Christmas tree my mom puts up every year p(´⌒｀｡q) And Christmas happens to be my mom's birthday, so it's doubly sad that I can't be with them. Anyway, even though I'm going to be staying at my dorm this Christmas, I'm going to make sure it's as Christmas-y as I could possibly manage! 

     This beautiful wreath now hangs on the door of my dorm room. I got the gorgeous pattern from the lovely  blog Handmade with love by G, the decorations are just a simple bow, little crocheted berries, and a string of slip stitches. I made it with just about a ball of Excel Ex991 in green with a 4.0mm hook.

Then I decided to spread the festive feeling around, so I made a stocking and filled it up with candy, so that all everyone in the dorm can help themselves =)

The note is in Chinese and reads: There's candy and chocolate inside, please help yourselves =)  It's getting cold, remember to stay warm (and gain some fat XD) -love from room 5553 (Now I've went ahead and revealed where I live > <)

     The pattern I followed for the stocking was meant for a softer yarn, and I pulled a a bit too hard when I realized I was running out of red, so it came out a bit funky, but I love it all the same =) I'm just so embarrassed that the loose ends were untucked when the first photo was taken! The card with Santa and Rudolph on it came from one of my roommates, who cut it out from a package she got. We're very economical X)

 

     And what Christmas is complete without a Christmas tree? My roommate and I saw a small Christmas tree on sale (we got it for 39NTD, which is a little over a dollar), and I crocheted the decorations. We don't have a star to put on top, so we substituted with a flower and an adorable figurine I got from a gashapon vending machine (pictured in the left, she was originally meant to sit at the edge of a cup). Most of the decorations were just multicolored crocheted balls, but I added some pine cones and snowflakes. I love the snowflakes so much I'm planning on making a whole bunch and hanging them up everywhere.

     We'll be doing an Christmas/Winter Solstice celebration this weekend, where we'll be making red bean soup with tangyuans, which is a tradition here for winter solstice. We're coupling that up with secret Santa and Christmas carols, can't wait!!!

     Have a Merry Christmas everyone! =)