Sometimes I Ask... WHY?

So I wasn't going to post today. I didn't have anything appropriately formulated in my brains.

But... this... this was just too... disturbing to let pass by. I saw this as one of Ravelry's new crochet pattern links today and was just... I wanted to cry. Before you click on this linke be warned: you're about to see an unhappy baby with an pickle and antennae on her head: OK Click here... but don't say I didn't warn you

Does anyone understand the Katamari Damacy thing? And if you do, would you subject your innocent child to putting that thing on their head? The last picture the child just looks so blatently uncomfortable and unhappy.

I go to work now... weeping...

D'oh!

Last night I finished this Homer Eyeglasses Holder for my dad. My mom saw the one I made for myself that looks like Ernie from Sesame Street, and decided that a similar one that looks like Homer Simpson would be perfect for my dad. Apparently he's always forgetting where he puts down his glasses and Mom thinks this is a great solution.

I got the original pattern here, and modified it a bit to get the Homer shape. The eyes and 5 O'Clock shadow were improvised. I sent the pics to Mom this morning and she thinks Dad's gonna like him, so that's a good thing.

Here he is, standing along and also in an action shot:

Acrylic has Cooties

When I was growing up, I only ever thought there was one kind of yarn - Red Heart acrylic. My grandmother had a big dresser full of it, and I played with it to make bracelets for my friends. I watched her knit blankets, mittens, and hats with it and crochet clowns with it. She had all the colors of the rainbow and back again in her dresser drawers. As I got older and found an interest in crocheting, I discovered that there was a whole world of yarn. In flipping through some of the forums on Ravelry, I've discovered there's a whole culture surrounding different yarns. For some it seems as though yarn is a way of life.

By no fault of my own, I have a bigger yarn stash than I ever would have thought I would have - mostly various acrylics and acrylic blends of various ages. I've never found fault with acrylic yarn, but have discovered of late that there are a whole lot of people who are anti-acrylic. Most have valid reasons for not liking acrylic yarn: it irritates hands, it's made of petroleum based stuff and isn't good for the environment, people don't feel it breathes the same as natural fibers, etc. But then there are a few yarn snobs out there too who just flat out discriminate against acrylic yarn and its users. One person on one of the forums I read asked for advice on making a sweater out of Red Heart Super Saver acrylic yarn, and was told:

"I can't help you because you're using acrylic. You need to get some real yarn, made from animal fibers. If you look in a zoological book, you will not find an animal named "acryl." Therefore, ask your question when you're using an animal fiber."

Wow. That's terrible! Don't get me wrong... I would love to get my hands on some more cotton yarn or maybe even some specialty yarn from a neat animal like a yak. My favorite yarn I've found so far is Paton's Classic Merino Wool. But what the heck is so bad about acrylic yarn that a few people have to become yarn snobs about it?

Acrylic yarn is affordable, softer in a lot of cases than our grandma's acrylics were, easily washed, and versatile in the projects that you can make with it. I see no real reason for the snobbery that I've recently learned about regarding acrylic yarn. At least (from what I've seen) this elitist attitude seems limited to a few select people, while most accept that people are free to use whatever yarn they feel is best for their projects and budgets. For the latter attitude, I am thankful.

Bottom Line: I don't think it matters what yarn you use. What you make with it comes from your heart. The patience and care needed to use needles, hook, or loom to put it together is worth more than what yarn is it made of or how much the yarn costs. The end results are made with love.

Resources:
Acrylic vs. Wool Yarn
Acrylic Yarn thread on "Get Crafty"

Update from the Land of Hooking

I know, when Thing-A-Day ended you all wondered how I was going to fill my time. No need for worry, I'm doing quite nicely.

I recently signed up for another crafty website, Craftster. It's a forum for people who do all sorts of crafty things across the gambit; really, if you can think of it and it's a craft someone on Craftster probably does it. I've decided that there are a few things I absolutely love about Craftster since I joined up about 3 weeks ago. There are a lot of different crafts on there so I can see what lots and lots of people are doing that are crafty and artsy. There are also ways to get advice on various topics and lots of inspiration for different ideas.

Something that Craftster does (and Ravelry does too, though I find Craftster's forums easier to navigate) are craft-alongs. I've started one (a Turtle-Along in the Crochet forums) and posted for two others (Muppet Eyeglasses Holder and White Elephant Crochet Along). I'm also participating (starting this month) in the 2008 Color-Along for any craft where a different color is assigned every month and you make something in that color. There's a Strongbad craft-along that I'd like to get involved with sometime this year too (though admittedly I haven't checked the Strongbad Emails in a while). It's really neat to see what different people are doing with either a similar theme or a similar pattern.

The other thing that I think that Craftster does well are organized swaps. These are swaps where crafters are paired up to send each other presents. The thing to these swaps is that you have to be a Craftster member for at least 1 month and have posted at least (I think) 15 times in order to participate in a swap. There's one coming up that has a closing date the day that my one-month-iversary with Craftster occurs that I'm really interested in. I sent a message to the organizer - and I got my reply that a spot is being held for me! I'm really excited about this for some reason, so I bookmarked the thread about the swap so I can send my information in on the 22nd.

They also do a monthly craft challenge where people make things based on the current theme and then submit them to the forum. At the end of the submittal period, Craftster users vote on their favorite project and the winner gets a prize. This month is a Dollar Store Challenge, and I'm feelin' up for a run to the brand new Dollar Tree in Salem for this one. Submissions are due between April 1-5, so I have plenty of time to get my tax-free dollar shopping and cheap creation juices flowing.

And... on a non-Craftster crafty note: I figured out a way to get yarn cheap when my ginormous stash finally begins to deplete. People list yarn they're trying to offload on both Craigslist and Freecycle. Ooooh baby. Plus, there's a website that sells yarn in bulk at decent discounts that I found recently.

I also just found out that it's National Crochet Month. I have 19 days left in the month, so in honor of National Crochet Month I'm committing to finish a total of 5 projects in the next 19 days. I have three in the works already, plus a Stitch N' Eat this coming weekend - so I don't foresee this as being an issue.

Oh man, this craft "bug" isn't letting up at all; I'm like Christopher Walken needing more cowbell. When we get a house (someday), and I have a craft room... watch out...

Can't Sleep, Wanna Craft...

I've been getting a craft bug lately, and I can't seem to get rid of it.

What started this? As you all know, I enjoy a good crochet project and have been moving forward in the crochet arena for a little while now. I also dabble in some drawing here and there and when the mood strikes me I'll pick up a latchhook kit or make something with paper. I've also got a scrapbook that is dying to be started/put together that I need to get my act in gear on. I have a general knowledge of sewing things by hand, but my skills in that area are poor to fair at best.

Then there are a couple of things that I don't know how to do yet that I would love to do. One of them is knitting, and I think I've mentioned that in here before. Even though it takes eons longer than crocheting to get a project done (unless you're making a korknisse from what I can tell) it seems like such a beautiful thing to knit. Another is sewing with a machine, something that I never quite learned how to do and would much rather do than sew by hand. Then I was poking around Craftster and was looking at some projects made with polymer clay. I couldn't help but think about how incredibly cool they were and how neat it must be to make these beads and figures by scuplting them.

Add to that the fact that last week, a friend of mine offered to pay me to crochet something for her as a gift to give to someone. That started the gears turning again. Crochet for MONEY?? Craft for MONEY?? That was not something I ever thought I could do before. I start thinking about the possibilities... and decided I needed original designs, or designs that people don't mind if I make something with and then sell. I spent a car ride on Saturday crocheting a quick scarf out of some bulky yarn and decided that it would be the start of my inventory build-up. I thought to myself, that was fast... I should get some more of that yarn!

The gears kept turning... I need... a SEWING MACHINE! I found a reasonably priced one and added it to my Wists so I wouldn't forget which it was. Now it's time to start saving up to buy the sewing machine... then I can learn how to use it, and make things out of leftover fabrics, and old clothes, and add those to my inventory...

Oh man, and I already have all that YARN...

Then Steve puts an idea in my head... can I make a Mario? I already wanted to come up with a pattern for a crocheted pencil scarf that was inspired by a knitted one I saw... now maybe an amigurumi Mario too... I don't know if I have the confidence for that... but the worst I can do is try...


And now I want to just make things. Make things for my inventory. Make things for other people. Make make make.

The craft train is chuggin' in my brains...

Where's Bert?

OK, I have no idea why but I really really love my latest crochet project. Some of you may have seen him already, but he's my new eyeglasses holder.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: Ernie.



I found the pattern for Ernie a while back and he's been sitting in my Ravelry Queue for a little while now, just patiently waiting to come to life... er... whatever. I whipped him up in just a couple of days and now he sits proudly on my dresser, patiently waiting for me to go to bed and put my glasses on him.

And I'll have you all know that last night when I did just that, it caused Steve to laugh and tell me how much he loves me. It's a good thing he knew how big of a dork I am when he asked me to marry him! Then I showed a picture of Ernie to my mom today, and she suggested that maybe I make one for Dad for his birthday because he's always forgetting where he puts his glasses down. Only she suggested a different character. I'll save that for later, incase that comes out equally as awesome.

At any rate, that's Ernie. And he's awesome. He might be one of my favorite projects so far.

A Couple of Quick Things

Very quickly...

- I finished the Sunshine Bunny last night (see below) for Grammy Kathy's birthday gift. As I stood back and looked at it, I decided I LOVE crocheting and I even know why. It is so cool to start with a pile of string essentially (yarn) and end up with a something after a day or two or five.



- I've also decided that my cousin Krista is my Guitar Hero Hero. She railed on the expert level last night and it was amazing. 86% on "Evenflow" her first time trying it.

- I need to start watching the clock more at night so I get more sleep.

- I found this website yesterday and was fascinated by it. It's all about gyroscopes (which AMETEK used to make for navigation purposes until about 12 years ago). Very interesting stuff.

- I am trying very hard to practice patience about waiting to hear back on whether or not I got into Daniel Webster's MBA program.

- April 14th is not that far away if I do.

Some Things Just Shouldn't Be Made

Since I joined Ravelry last fall and since I have gotten more excited about reading patterns and crocheting to them, my search for fun or cool or awesome patterns has led me down some odd and disturbing roads sometimes.

I have a thing for page-a-day calendars. With my new-found love for crochet patterns, this year I got myself the 2008 Crochet-A-Day pattern calendar. Some of the patterns have been fun/cool/awesome and I've held on to those. Others that I don't think I'll ever do I have offered up to a co-worker who also crochets, and if she's not interested it goes to the recycling bin. Here is one that is destined for the recycling bin:

Lace-Up Moccasins

Yes, I found it on eBay when I googled it. Yes, I noticed that the seller called it part of an annual publication. And yes, I also noticed that whatever poor sap ended up buying it paid a total of $2.50 after shipping (which, I can't believe they charged a dollar for shipping when a standard $0.41 stamp would have sufficed).

Seeing that pattern yesterday prompted me to think of some other patterns I've seen that just should NEVER have been brought to fruition. Here are some examples, and I'll preface this by saying that these are the ones that disturbed me. Deeply.(Beware - some of them might be NSFW or you might not want your mom [we'll call that NSFM - Not Safe for Mom] around for. Yes, I just said that about crochet patterns.)

Example One
**Link fixed**Example Two

Then there are some things that are just plain ugly. Rather than post a million links here of those ugly things, here's a link to a wonderful collection of crocheted uglyness (I might have mentioned it before, but oh well).

What Not To Crochet

I'm sure at some point in time I'll inadvertantly make something that's ugly, but I promise I'll try not to. And please, be honest if I do.

Spazzy Updates

- Started Thing-A-Day last night. Thing One is a granny square afghan to donate to Soldiers' Angels, who will give it to a wounded veteran at a VA hospital. It's coming along nicely, and what's neat about it is that because I started it for a purpose I don't feel like it's mine at all. This means that no matter how nice it gets... I won't get attached to it. Of note is that I also learned how to Granny Square last night thanks to my fabulous teacher Kimberly. Here's the beginning of it; I've now finished through the blue section shown, added another cream, and started another burgundy:

Kimberly is also working on a blanket for war vets. Hers is also coming along nicely, and it'll be awesome to ship them out when they're done.

- I have no idea what I'm going to make today (read: tonight because today is busy). The themes are: War, Follow Instructions, Crossroads, and Shoot it Again. I figure, if I get to stuck on trying to be creative I can just crochet something; if I follow a pattern, that falls into Follow Instructions. I'm saying this because I'm open to suggestions. **grins**

- I've decided to apply for my MBA. I'm applying to Daniel Webster College's MBA for Aviation Professionals program, and the next round of classes starts April 14th. The good news is that I don't have to take my GMAT. The bad news is I have to write an essay that's 4000 words or less about my skills and what I can contribute to the educational process/aviation world. What I want to write: "I already work for an Aerospace company. Please let me in? Please?". But that won't work. I'm actually really excited about this and hope that I get accepted.

- On second thought, if I work on my essay - that could count as "Crossroads"...

- Crazy is when you're standing in your driveway, and a truck comes barreling out of nowhere and crashes through your landlords' fence. Crazier is when instead of sticking around to own up to it, they drive away. Even crazier is when you have the realization that if it had been a minute and a half earlier - that would have been you crashing through the fence because they would have pushed you through it since you had JUST been where they were.

- For those who are wondering... the poll results from last month (Who do you think will be the next US President?) were:
---Obama: 5 votes (27%)
---Giuliani/Clinton: 4 votes each (22% each)
---Romney/McCain/Edwards: 1 vote each
---Other: 3 votes
Be sure to vote in this month's poll!!!

Get Outta My Queue!

Last night I was poking around Ravelry* and looking at some of the new patterns that were posted yesterday. I added a pattern for a cute snuggle bunny to my queue and then thought to myself, "I wonder how many patterns I have queued? Last I checked it was up to page 4..."

I hopped over to my queue page and clicked on the number 4 indicating the last page of patterns in my queue. I scrolled to the bottom and found that I have a whopping 117 patterns in my Ravelry queue. I had two patterns for how to make a Granny Square, so I deleted one bringing my total patterns queued down to 116. That's a lot of patterns; and I haven't even counted the ones in my Crochet-A-Day calendar at work that I've kept as the days have ticked by.

Understanding the value of having many patterns available at my disposal (keeps the options open!), I don't want to completely wipe out the queue. I also am feeling very overwhelmed that there are 116 things that I'd like to make on a list that will inevitably keep on growing if I don't do something to control it. The reality is that I don't crochet fast enough to keep up with the rate that I have been adding patterns.

I thought about what to do and decided that if I want to feel any sense of accomplishment and control over my queue, I need to stop adding patterns. The problem is that with 5-10 patterns being added to the database daily, I'm always intrigued to see what's new and interesting - and I end up adding 1-3 patterns to my queue with each look. I don't want to say I'm addicted to looking at patterns and adding them to my queue... but I'll say it's bordering that.

What I've decided to do is fast from adding patterns to my queue for a little while. I cannot add any more patterns to my queue until the queue count is below 95. That's about 20 projects completed specifically off of my queue. Projects that I'm currently working on do not count towards the number, and projects that I do that are not currently on the queue (I have 2 hats I'm going to be making that are NOT on the queue, for example) also do not count. This is not going to be an easy thing for me to do because I love looking at the new patterns, but I need to do it before my queue overwhelms me too much and I stop bothering with it.

Heck, I've managed to control my Goodreads queue of what to read next - why am I having such a hard time with this queue? I'd rather use it for what it is - a means to keep me on track without getting overwhelmed trying to figure out what to read/crochet next.

Wish me luck!

*For those of you who don't know, Ravelry is an online community for people who knit and crochet. I perform the latter, and am a member of said community. It also allows you to have a queue of patterns, track your various projects both finished and unfinished, maintain your yarn stash, and keep a listing of your related books.

Mudd

This is my little piggy that I recently made. He's the third toy that I've completed, and I think that so far he's my favorite. I have named him Mudd, because after we took his pictures I got the song "My Name is Mud" in my head. Anyways, here's a picture of my little pig who is now sitting on the top of my monitor.

For those of you who crochet, you can find Mudd's pattern along with some other toy patterns here at Kristie's Kids.

Not sure what I'll make next. I'm currently on hold until we get back from Florida at least, then when we get back I'll have to head over to the Robinson Yarn Stash. There's a certain someone I owe a set of coasters to (smiles).