Beads!

So, I love acquiring new hobbies.  My newest one is beading.  I found these pictures online:

http://crafty-tardis.livejournal.com/407311.html#cutid1

http://crafty-tardis.livejournal.com/407311.html#cutid1

 

And I had to have it.  If you're not sure, that is a small beaded version of the Fourth Doctor's scarf from Doctor Who.



You know, this guy:

geez, he looks like a nutter butter.  But that's why he's fun. 

Anyways, I've thought before about knitting the scarf, since it's one of those things that any self respecting crafty nerd is required to make. (along with the Firefly Jayne hat- I have the materials, I swear I'm gonna make it soon.) But what on earth would I do with a 20 ft long scarf?  It would be impossible to wear, except in costume, and when am I ever gonna have a chance to do that?  Also, UHG 20 feet of plain scarf knitting.  Just the thought puts me to sleep having nightmares of endless boredom.  But then I found the beaded necklace.  That is perfect.  I can wear that.  And we all know how I love to mix nerdy into my daily wear. So I immediately went out and bought a bead loom and taught myself bead weaving.  Not like it's hard, Shannon and I learned together, and she can do it no problem.

Of course, it wasn't good enough to just copy the pictures I found, I had to go to the official Doctor Who scarf site and carefully research my pattern and colors.  I ended up buying beads for it twice cuz I had such a hard time finding colors I liked.  Even now I'm not entirely pleased, mostly with the purple color I got.  But the person who made the necklace originally is selling them on Etsy for $125 each, which I think is majorly overpriced.  If I really don't like this one, I'll sell it for half that, and remake one for myself.  Selling this one might make me feel better about how much I've spent on beads.  I'm almost 3/4 the way done with it, and it's taken some time. I really don't want to remake it, but I will if the details bother me.  You know, cuz I'm crazy like that.  I'll put pictures up when it's done.

I've also been making a lot of other random jewelry just cuz I had the tools and supplies, since I now have a basic beginner's beading kit.  Maybe I'll post some pictures of the other stuff I've made.  I'm pretty proud of it.  I also want to learn kumihimo, which is Japanese round braiding.  It can be done with beads, and you end up with cool round ropes of beads.  I may run to the craft store on my lunch break.

I was knitting that shrug for my Rinoa thing, but I needed a break from knitting, so I put it away.  I'll finish it eventually.

Granny Square jacket is done!

so, it's finally done, with only a few minor hiccups.  The body of the jacket was plenty long enough, but the sleeves did need lengthening.  so the sleeves are five squares long, instead of four.  also, to avoid bagginess in the arms I did reduce it to three rows wide instead of four.  I was worried about it being tight in the armpits, but the squares have plenty of stretch, so that's not a problem at all.  These changes did mean that I didn't use one of the sets of godets I made for the sleeves, and I have four squares leftover instead of two.  not sure what I'm going to do with that.  I severely underestimated how long assembly would take, but I guess it makes sense.  it is a jacket made up of a bunch of small pieces that needed to be sewn together.  and I ran out of black yarn, AGAIN.  very annoyed.  last time I knew it was coming and ordered more in plenty of time, this time I wasn't ready, so I had to just let it sit so close to finished while I waited for knitpicks.com's INSANELY SLOW SHIPPING.  only time in my life I've wished I paid more for shipping so I'd get it faster.  all I had left was about half of the body edging, and the edging for the sleeves.  so in all, it took 1 1/2 skeins of the colors, and 8 1/2 of the black.  way more than I thought.

Caleb hates it though.  I think that's funny.  he doesn't like hippie style things, and is definitely not a fan of mixing crazy bright colors like this. ah well.  I love it.

New Rinoa Project

So, if you remember, I mentioned this other project when I was working on my duster.  I wanted to create this outfit of Rinoa's from some fanart I found.  I love this version of Rinoa's outfit.  And, since I ran out of black yarn RIGHT BEFORE THE END of my granny jacket and need something else to do while I wait for the rest of my yarn to ship to me, I decided to work on this.  Already have the armwarmers, obviously.  I have half a dozen black tank tops I can use for this.  I had a plain denim skirt, but it recently came to my attention that the skirt was sitting badly and causing some self conciousness issues that didn't need to be there so I got rid of it.  So I need a new one, but that's not hard.  And I have a plain black belt.  I can't tell what the neclace is, something with wings, I don't know.  I have a necklace that is a winged heart, and I decided to order a Griever necklace, even though she's clearly not wearing Griever, just cuz it's cool and would be appropriate.  I'll figure out something for the bracelet.  Her legs are hard, there's not much to see there.  it looks like some kind of leggings with zippers, or stockings, or it may even be thigh high boots.  Not sure.  I may just do my own thing with thigh high stockings and something else for shoes.  thigh high boots, while awesome, and I do want some, are a bit out of my reach.  Stockings are much easier.  The shrug, of course, I am knitting.  I found a pattern that was simple enough, and close to the right shape.  I had to sit and redo all the math for the number of stitches and rows and whatnot, cuz I'm using the same yarn and needles I did for the duster.  so now, once again, I am knitting and purling on tiny, tiny needles.  sigh....

Granny Takes a Trip

So, finally almost there with my granny square jacket.  I love the way my colors look.  the picture is the squares all laid out the way the pattern says to.  It took so long to make all those squares and it was SOOOO tedious.  they're not terribly interesting squares, and there's so many... I did the godets for the sleeves in pink, grapefruit, yellow and teal. I also kinda obsessed over the color arrangements, trying to make sure that there were no two squares the same.  I wrote out color orders and planned it.  somehow I still ended up with two sets that were the same.  I was very disappointed.  So of course I made new ones.

and after laying it out and doing some math I realized the sleeves were going to be way short.  the body is a bit shorter than I want it too.  So I"m adding a row to the sleeves, possibly the body too, I haven't decided yet.  And I've reduced the sleeves to three rows wide, instead of four.  They were going to be really loose and baggy.  My only concern is that now the armpits could be too tight. If that's the case though,. I'm pretty sure I could make some more of the triangle pieces to loosen the armpits while still keeping the slimmer arm. Of course, this means I will have one set of godets that goes unused.  Mildly annoying.  Probably the grapefruit ones I think.

still messing with it.

Rinoa Heartilly

Please excuse the massive image dump, but this particular sweetheart has so much detail, I'm so proud of her.

Rinoa Heartilly!  I had this idea, and I just couldn't resist.  Now I have a matching doll to carry around when I'm dressed as her!  you know it's totally a Rinoa thing to do, to have a cute little doll of herself. :)

She's based on the Tinkerbell pattern with the alterations I made for the Sailor Moon dolls for the body. The skirt is the same, but with only like two or four increases so it fits over her hips.  Her skirt doesn't flare at all. silver buttons were embroidered on.  Her boots are the same as Jupiter's, with the little silver buckles embroidered on.  Her legs are six rounds of skin color and six of black, with the lines for the zippers embroidered.  Her necklace is two strands of embroidery thread chained on a 1.3 mm hook (SO HARD TO DO.  tiny hooks suck.) and a loop on the bottom to look like a ring.  Her arms are two rounds of skin color, three of blue, and three of skin for her armwarmers.  Her hair is Ariel's pattern with the short hair variation for the strands, and Sailor Moon's bangs, but only four on each side.  and I just embroidered the highlights on with brown.

The duster.  that was the biggest thing I created for this.  I ought to be an expert at Rinoa's duster, right?

started at the bottom, chained 15, so it would be 14 sts across.  went up until it reached her hips, decreased two stitches each on the next two rows to 10 st,  crocheted across until it reached about her armpits, sl st next 3, sc in next 4, sl st, turn, ch 1, sc in 4 previous 4 sc, turn.  I think I did four or five rows of 4 sc.  at each corner of the 4 sc bit I ch-5 and joined it to the point of the piece where it was still 10 sc across to make the arm straps.  the tails from the hains worked perfectly to tie it across her chest, and the wings are handpainted on by me, using the same picture I used for my own duster as reference.  I tried to get as much detail as possible, but it was a very small space.  I think I did pretty good though.

I think that's all the details. I had so much fun working out every part.  She is also for sale in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lynlynlora

And now I really think I need more Final Fantasy character.  Ohhh, these will not be easy.

the Black Lady

And I felt like my set needed a villain, so, the Black Lady.  She's always been my favorite, she's gorgeous.  Sailor Moon's cap and bangs and pigtails, with Sailor Chibi Moon's odangos.  Her bodice is the same as all the other senshi, just in black and burgundy.  I just wrapped black yarn around her neck for her black collar, and embroidered the shoulder straps on after the arms were sewn on.  Same basic legs, with red heels.  Her sash is the same as Mulan's, except that I did dcs all the way down, instead of hdcs, cuz I wanted it a bit wider.  The dress was fun.  I sewed her legs on first, and then I picked up five stitches through the front loops just even what would be her hips.  this is what I did to make the skirt piece:

after picking up the five sts,
sc in each st across - 5
1 sc in next st, 2sc in next st, 1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next st - 7
sc in each st across- 7
1 sc in next, 2sc in next, 1 sc, 2sc, 1sc 2sc, 1 sc - 10
sc in each stitch across - 10
repeat until you reach her feet.  I think this was about 7-ish rows.  I'm not sure.  I didn't count.

do the same thing on her back.  this way you get her black skirt with the long slits up to her hips.  I ended up using a little black yarn and stitching a bit at the top of the two skirt pieces, just to draw the pieces together.  And of course, embroidered the black moon on her forehead.

you know, it occurs to me, it would be really easy to make a Luna P ball...

Big News! I suppose. I made an Etsy shop.

People tell me over and over that I should sell the things I make.  I did once, I made like six moogles and sold them at my local game store.  they didn't sell fast, but they did sell, and it was kinda cool.  But I didn't like mass producing them, it kinda took the fun out.  But I realized I can make them made to order on Etsy, so I made an Etsy shop, if anyone wants a Sailor Moon Doll.  it's here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lynlynlora

Out of courtesy, I messaged the designer I bought the Disney Princess patterns from, showed her my dolls and asked her permission to sell the dolls.  They are heavily modified, but I still used parts of her patterns.  She had no problem with it, as long as I wasn't selling any part of the pattern.  The only thing I'm selling is the dolls, and even here on my blog, the only thing I've put on here is the things I've done differently, you'd still need the patterns my dolls are based on to make it make sense.  I love her patterns, so I'm not going to steal that part from her.