Great Old One

So the army of cthulhus I made was obviously inadequate, because I felt the need to make yet another.  This was not entirely my idea; a friend was making a scarf out of Lion Brand Fun Fur in white.  She threw the leftover at me and said to make something to make her laugh.  The clear choice was to make a cthulhu out of it, so I did.

Following the same pattern, same hook, same everything, just with Fun Fur for the head (I switched to a thin red yarn for the body and hood I added).  In hindsight, I probably should have just done the tentacles in the Fun Fur, but then I wouldn't have a puff-ball of an Old One hanging about.

He's adorable, gathered a lot of attention and laughs and was frustrating like nothing else to make.  The fur kept getting tangled and in the way and just generally knotted an obnoxious, but it was worth it in the end.  Working on this project actually inspired me to use yellow fur in the future to make a Lorax.  Time will tell, however.  As of yet, I've been unable to find it in yellow.

Zaage Scarf 3

This was a bit of a disaster.  I had rose and blue yarn I'd gotten from the Dollar Tree and didn't know what I was going to do with it, so the obvious answer was to make another scarf for my Vampire: The Masquerade character, Zaage.  Only I used all the yarn.  And there was quite a bit more than I thought there was.

It was a brand called Rhapsody in a dusty blue and a dusty rose.  I did a bunch of different patterns I don't recall at this point that ended up sagging a lot more than expected, which only added to my problem.  By time I was done, the scarf was about 4 inches wide and 25-30 feet long.  The ends were rose, the middle was blue.  It had to be wrapped several times around.  It was really a bad plan.

This thing was so terrible it almost doesn't deserve a post (especially this long after making it).  I did wear it for a good while, though, until I finally got fed up with having to wrap around and around.

And since then, it's sat in the closet with the other multitudes of scarves I've used for the character.  I really need to stop actually making scarves each time something happens in-character to the one I'm wearing.  It's really the only time I wear scarves to begin with...

Pictures eventually.

White Day

For Valentine's Day, I received (quite by surprise) a duct tape rose.  I've never liked giving or receiving flowers (unless they're potted or can otherwise be planted and even then I'm still not excited about the idea) because it's a waste of money and it's rather depressing to watch something so beautiful die.  Plus, is that really the message you want to send to someone you love or care about, or who's in the hospital recovering?

Anyway, I was absolutely tickled that I didn't have to give this flower schpeal of mine and wanted to return the gesture.  So I searched for a pattern for a relatively realistic long-stemmed rose, as I really had no idea how to go about such an endeavor.  While there was a super-detailed, super-delicate one available via Etsy, I went with this one, as it was simpler and free-er.

For the flower, I used an E-4/3.50mm hook and white Sugar 'n Cream yarn.  I didn't have a yarn needle to secure the bottom after rolling it up, but I made do with my C-2/2.75mm hook and stitched a little more to keep the outside edge of the spiral from coming up.

For the calyx, I used the same E-4/3.50mm hook and a green medley Sugar 'n Cream.

Being a college student, and one without a car, I had to make due without a pipe cleaner or other wire.  I substituted a chopstick as the stem.  I had to work it slowly into the flower and through the calyx then remove the blossom and push the calyx down the stick so it was out of the way.  I then poured a little super glue into the hole in the blossom, dribbled a bit around the end of the chopstick and inserted the stick into the flower, checking to make sure it couldn't be seen through the petals.  I dribbled a bit more glue around the chopstick and pushed the calyx up so it met with the blossom.

When that dried, I tied the green yarn onto the bottom of the calyx and wrapped the rest of the chopstick, securing the yarn by dribbling superglue around the bottom of the stick and on the yarn.

It was a real quick project, very adaptable, very easy.  I sprayed the flower with a little floral body mist and sent it off for White Day.  In Japan, Valentine's Day is basically broken into two days.  February 14 is for girls to give the men in their life handmade gifts.  March 14 is for guys to return the favor with gifts that are typically white.  I like that it divides the responsibility and doesn't focus on love or significant others necessarily.