Amigurumi- Alice in Wonderland

I love the game Alice: Madness Returns. Sure, I totally suck at controlling with keyboard and mouse, and I can somehow die 20 times in 30 minutes in easy mode, but I love the graphics, the setting, the storyline... and I'm just a sucker for dark fairy tales.

Game trailer (may contain violent content, you have been warned) : 

Didn't mean to freak people out with that, I apologize if anyone is freaked out.

The point of this post isn't even the game. And I made this amigurumi long before I got the game. The little relevance to the game is really just the fact that it's also Alice, albeit a normal, not-covered-in-blood-and-gore version. Sorry, I just can't help but share my love for the dark Alice XD

This is part of a collection of smaller humanoid amigurumis I did earlier this year. They are only about 12 cm tall, and take much less time than full-sized ones, easily whipped up within a day, and they make nice decorations around the house. I want to do one for every one of my favorite fairy tales! (Then maybe a set of dark ones?)

I also did the Little Red Riding Hood, pictured here:

I ran out of button eyes so I just used reguar beads... a decision I regret... as it made her already funky face funkier (?) But overall I'm happy with how she turned out.

Oh and I don't know if people notice, but my amigurumis don't ever have mouths. Mostly it's because whenever I try to put one on, it turns out looking worse, so over time I just stopped trying. Perhaps it's due to my horrific embroidery skill. Oh well, I kinda like them without mouths. Hello Kitty doesn't have one (bad example lol, I actually dislike Hello Kitty quite a bit)

Busy with finals, I wanted to post everything I made in 2012 so I can have a fresh start for 2013 but I guess that's not happening =/

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!) 

Amigurumi- Sheri (Unlight)

I've been obsessed with the Facebook game Unlight since last winter. It's a card battle kind of game that really had a lot to do with luck (which I seem to have little of, as I lose pretty much every time). I'm charmed by the beautiful characters in the game.

This is Evarist, my first character (you get to choose one from three when you start the game). He's notorious for never hitting his target, but I love him all the same //// I plan on making a amigurumi of him after his next level up (*´∀｀*)ゞ

One of the most popular characters in Unlight, and one of my favorites as well, is Sheri, this adorable loli who increases attack by lowering her own health. (Thus dubbed 'M Sheri' by fans) I made an amigurumi of her after I got her to level 5 (the highest level so far) Here's a picture of the character:

And here's what I made:

Details of the skirt

Hairband- there's actually little skulls for the hair tie but I haven't figured out what to do yet.

Back

I spent so much time one these little boots! The buckles are embroidered, so they look a bit funky (My embroidery is not the best XDDD)

I knew I had to make this right away after seeing these shades of purple. It was after buying the yarn that I started noting down the insane details of the dress. You can't really see in the picture, but I've even gone and made the bloomers XD The tiny details drove me insane, but I'm very happy with the result (*´∀｀*)ゞ 

I definitely regret not using embroidery floss for the hair. I used three layers of gatsby hair gel, which is really strong stuff, but I still can't get the curls to have that airy effect. This is my first time doing pigtails, so they took a bit of experimenting. I cut pieces four times the length I want, fold it in half twice, and knot them onto the stitches of the scalp (I might do a tutorial next time I make an amigurumi). 

For pigtails I knotted the hair in two rows down the scalp, a row on the nape of the neck, a row above the fore head, and a row each down the sides of the head right behind where the ears should be (so basically two circles on the head), then pulled it up in pigtails before securing. The pigtails came out a little bit thicker than expected though > < I'm trying to figure out how to thin it out without letting bald patches show through.

She now sits on my desk and watches me play Unlight. Dare I hope for more wins with her cheering me on? =D

Hetalia- Taiwan amigurumi

I love the anime APH- Axis Power Hetalia. My ships are FrUK, USUA, Russia/Prussia, Russia/China, and, most of all, Japan/ Taiwan. So how can I not make a amigurumi for this series!? And of course out of all the characters I picked Taiwan, my adorable native country! How I wish she could be a bigger part of the series! So this is what she looks like, for those who don't know:

The flowers in her hair are plum blossoms, the national flower of Taiwan. I presumed that she pinned cherry blossoms in her hair when we were under the Japanese colonization, and peonies when we were a part of China. I wrote a short fanfiction for our Independence Day a few years back, and it can be found here.

Anyway, I finished the amigurumi with some difficulty (I'd always had trouble with female characters... I tend to make the breasts uneven OAQQ) I am very happy with the results, and took her out for a day of photo-shoots on a family trip to the beautiful Nanyuan, a traditional styled manor open to the public.

Here she is on the ride to Nanyuan! 

Who are you thinking of, dear Taiwan? =)

I love the details on the windows, so pretty =)

Isn't she beautiful? I had so much fun making her. The hair is brown embroidery floss, which I find makes better hair than yarn does. I tried my best to make it as close to the manga (actually, I sorta like the fanart versions more) as possible, so hopefully people will recognize her right away =)

I really love taking these pictures outdoors! Love the way they turned out. I should do this with my amigurumis more often!

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 =)

Martin Freeman and his comments about Lucy Liu

     So a lot of my friends have been asking me if I heard about the whole 'Martin Freeman called Lucy Liu a dog' business. I'm not just defending Martin Freeman because he's in my fandom. Yes, I have seen the video, and I find it ridiculous how people are freaking out about it. Talk about overreacting. *rolls eyes*

   
     For one, you can tell he's clearly joking. I'm pretty sure anyone with eyes will agree that Lucy Liu is an attractive, beautiful actress. British humor is not the easiest to get, I suppose, and some people are just really bad at detecting sarcasm, but still, it's rather obvious that he wasn't serious. Come on, I mean Martin Freeman being serious about him being 'prettier' than Lucy Liu?  I didn't laugh like crazy, but he did prompt a good few chuckles from me.
 
    I hate people making it into a race thing. I'm Asian, and I've dealt with my share of racist comments, but I
really don't have a problem with what he said. I think the people obsessing over how the word 'dog' must have been used because Lucy Liu is Asian is truly being offensive.
 
    Oh and to those who say that Martin Freeman is homophobic: Seriously!? The man browses Johnlock fanart on tumblr, talks about shagging Gandalf, and plays a character who 1) had his clothes ripped off by another man in a darkened swimming pool, 2) obviously doesn't need an upstair bedroom, 3) counts the number of flirty text his male roommate recieves, 4) held hands with said roommate, and just about a million other reasons that make him 'not actually gay'. Yep, he's the most homophobic person in the world! For those who have trouble recognizing sarcasm, that was sarcastic.

    I love Lucy Liu, despite somewhat hating the flat character she plays in Elementary (I blame the writing). Before I saw the clip of the interview I thought he was talking about how her version of Watson is just following Sherlock around like a dog, because that was honestly my first impression of the series- a version of Doyle's books in which Watson is little more than a babysitter, which is a shame because the interaction between Holmes and Watson is such a big part of the series. And I mean that with all ships aside.

    So yeah, this is my two cents. You can agree or disagree. We're all falling into the media's trap of getting us worked up about it anyways.
   
   

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! =)

Smaug the dragon- Amigurumi

     Upon hearing about Benedict Cumberbatch's role in The Hobbit earlier this year, I've been obsessed with the idea of making a Smaug amigurumi. I searched for free patterns online but couldn't find one that matched what I had in mind. I decided then to make one on my own.
      My Smaug is inspired by this pattern by ChrysN on Instructables, who wrote a very detailed and brilliant depiction of Smaug complete with glowing eyes and smoke coming from the nostrils. Link to that pattern here. I wanted something more cuddly, and I want my version to be able to stand on its legs. Also, I wanted the wings to be more bat-like. It took me a couple of days with a lot of unraveling and redoing, but I finally came up with my version:

Close-up of the wings... they took me forever to get right!

He now lives with my friend Glen, who is a huge Tolkien fan, and guards his most precious books. 

I am very very bad at writing down patterns, so I can't provide a pattern for my version specifically. The wings are done with crocheted triangles sewn together. The belly is made separately, then sewn onto the body.

I have the greatest desire to put a blue scarf on him now!! >w<

The Hobbit

I finally went to see the Hobbit!!! 3-D IMAX is amazing!

It's so hard to keep from squealing when Martin- ahm, I meant, Bilbo, appears on screen because he is just too adorable! Oh how I love his little frowns ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ 
I won't embarrass myself trying to discuss specific details (I'm still trying to get all the dwarves' names straight XD) 

The only part of the movie I felt was a little weak was when Thorin stepped from the tree to face Azog. Nevermind the shampoo-commercial-like flowing of his hair and odd slow-mo, I was screaming 'Your companions are still hanging on that tree!!!' Also, my friend whispering things like 'Attila the Hun' next to me didn't help matters. Don't get me wrong, I loved it all the same, and Richard Armitage is hot hot hot hot hot (in Toby Turner voice). 

His battle with Azog still reminded me of that scene in One Piece where Zoro faced Mihawk though XD

Oh and I love the bit where Bilbo was contemplating whether or not to kill Gollum, and Gollum was like:

萌え! Never did I thought would come the day I use the word 'cute' to describe Gollum. Well there you have it. 

Throughout the whole thing Thorin was a big tsundere! I almost burst out laughing when the first words that came out of him after he regained consciousness was asking about 'the halfling'. (Moe fangirl gushing all around the theater during that bit too...), and the whole tsundere apology and hug! Damn, two seasons in Sherlock and still we don't see a hug between Benedict and Martin. =3= 

*faces wall* I will not ship this pairing...I will not ship this pairing... I will not search for fanfics (I have a weakness for well-written fanficiton.).....

Oh I hope die-hard fans of the series won't read and murder me...

Anyways, it's a wonderful film, and I think it did the books justice. Though by all means not a short film, I'm sure we all felt it ended way too soon. (Smaug's eye looks terrifying!! Especially in 3-D) *sighs* Another year to wait, another thing to wait for... Looking forward to Star Trek now! Benedict's voice in the trailer is perfect! 

Oh that voice!!! Why would Benedict's character have to even lift a finger to get what he wants? He could just use that voice on everyone.

Oh and of course the game of F**k Marry Kill with Hobbit characters have hardly gone under the radar! 

Need I say more? Out of all the possible reasons he has to pick Smaug's voice! ☆.｡.:*(萌´Д`萌).｡.:*☆ 

Now I'm inspired to make something Hobbit-related... hmm... possibly Bilbo, which reminds me I haven't posted my Smaug amigurumi yet. Bilbo will have to wait after I make John though... Sherlock's lonely.