Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune

Here's Sailor Uranus.  She's almost exactly the same as Sailor Mercury.  Her boots I did like Jupiter's, blue until I got to 5 sts, and then I actually crocheted a ring through the front loops arount the tops of the boots to give them that cuff.  Her gloves are two rounds of white instead of three, one of blue and four of skin, since she has shorter gloves than the rest.

Sailor Neptune.  I did the same shortened gloves for her, and her shoes are two rounds of teal then skin the rest of the way up, like Sailor Mars', and then I used a needle and embroidered the ribbons on.  I was very careful to make sure the ribbon lies the correct way. Her hair was a bit of a hassle, because in order to get the color I wanted I had to actually get baby yarn, which is sport weight.  that meant I had to make up for the thickness.  I think I had to do a full two extra rounds on the top part, and she's got two additional strands in her hair.  It's very soft and it looks fine, it was just a pain to handle.

It's Puu!

Sailor Pluto!  I always loved that she had darker skin than the others, I thought it made her exotic, so I chose a slightly darker color for her skin.  I added her red chevron earrings and used the pattern for Ariel's hair, just extra long.  Other than that, she's the same as Sailor Moon with the boots and all.

Sailor Venus

Sailor Venus!  she's got the same hair as Sailor Mars, Ariel's pattern with Sailor Moon's bangs, only I chained 6 instead of 5 so they look a little better.  It's styled the same way I did my Human Ariel, just pulling the front two strands back and stitching them down.  I did go back and fix Mars's bangs already.  Venus's shoes are two rounds of orange, two rounds of skin color, and one round of orange for the straps around her ankle.  I considered putting a chain around her waist but I decided against it. other than that the rest is the same.



Incidentally, a funny thing that happened I wanted to mention-  so, I love margaritas.  a lot.  and tequila.  I don't know why.  It's such a weird flavor.  But recently I finally acquired all the pieces to make my own margaritas, so last weekend, I did.  I also gave my husband shots of peppermint schnapps while he played League of Legends.  I made him take a shot everytime he died.  heh.  that ended up being a few too many... oops. I had three margaritas, which is enough to get me pretty noticeably drunk.

so the next day, I get up and check my email, and I have an order confirmation email from teefury.  apparently I ordered this shirt:

I decided I regret nothing. :D

River's Sweater

 

So, I finished River's sweater.  first of all, the damn thing was huge. I knit it in the large size, aiming for a loose sweater, but I overdid it a bit.  So once I got it put together I actually had to put it through my sewing machine for the side seams and about halfway down the arms just so it would fit better.  That also means the neck is a bit wider than I wanted, and you can see the shoulder seam slides down my arm.

I had a slight moment of panic while knitting this.  After looking at the pictures I realized that River's sweater does not have a visible knit pattern, which made me wish I'd knit the thing in garter stitch.  However, upon completion of the pieces, I realized I was being silly and I could just use the purl side of the fabric and it would be fine.

I added about 5 sm of length to the body, and about that much to the sleeves, plus a little more on the tops.  I added a u-shape to the tops of each sleeve so they would hang over my hands. I don't think that's quite right for screen accuracy, but from what I could tell, the sleeves on her sweater are weird. My yarn is a bit too heavy as well, so my sweater's thicker than hers. but it's very soft and warm.

The skirt's not entirely perfect, the ruffle bother's me a bit, but I tried to make my own skirt and failed.  I can do it and will probably try again, I just don't want to buy more fabric right now.  This is two Goodwill finds that I messed with.  Originally I bought a dark blue and a bright green skirt.  they were cotton, so I knew I could mess with the colors.  So I bleached the living hell out of them.  However, I forgot to account for stitching, which does not change color, and incomplete color fading.  The green one, which I thought I would use for the white layer, faded to a pale lemon yellow, with green stitching all over.  not gonna fly.  However, the blue one actually faded to pink, and I figured as the bottom layer the blue stitching wouldn't be too bad.  The white skirt that I'm actually using was another Goodwill find, just had to clean a small stain out of it that wasn't a problem.  I don't really like to ruffle for what I'm trying to do, and I feel like the white skirt should maybe be slightly pink, or at least a little more sheer so the pink shows through. but that's mostly nitpicking.

anyways, there it is. I like it, mostly.

Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter

First, after Sailor Moon, I did Sailor Mercury. She's the same as Sailor Moon, except in blue.  Her hair is just the cap part of Sailor Moon's hair without the pigtails and odangos, naturally. I discovered depending on the brand of yarn I'm using the cap may or may not be too big.  Sailor Moon's yarn (Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn) ends up too big.  Mercury's (Caron's Simply Soft) fits perfectly. annoying.  supposedly they're both worsted weight yarn.

Here's Sailor Mars.  Her shoes are just red yarn for the first two rounds of her feet.  Her hair is Ariel's hair with Sailor Moon's bangs- three on each side.  I'm actually a little unhappy with the bangs though, I think they're too short.  So I might go back and extend them a bit.

Here's Sailor Jupiter! Quite a few tweaks here.  For her shoes, I stopped the green once I got to 5 sts around.  and I actually ended up taking a needle and some green yarn and embroidering around the cuff of the boots just to straightened it up.  I used some pink yarn and just tied knots on either side of her head to be her rose earrings. Embroidery thread for the laces on her boots, which I don't think was the best choice ever, the strands are made to separate.  Her hair was interesting.  I started with the cap of Sailor Moon's hair, same bangs and everything.  I added a chain 10 strand on either side of the bangs.  the ponytail was the difficult part because I didn't have any kind of pattern for it, I just had to make it up.  This is what I did:

FIRST! I made some changes to the cap simply because this brown yarn was the Hobby Lobby yarn so I knew it would be too big.  to create the cap normally you do 6 sc in magic ring; 2 sc in each st around; 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next st around; 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 2 sts around; 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 3 st around; sc around four times.  I changed the "2 sc in next st, sc in next 3 sts around" to "2 sc in next st, sc in next 5 st around". the cap ends up about two stitches smaller, which is perfect.  this may not be relevant if you're not using different brand yarns, but I may need it for others of the senshi.

now, the repeated rows of slip stitches on top of eachother become very difficult and by the time I got to the decreasing I'd lost several, probably just skipped over them.  I think I had three left by the time I got to the 'dc around' row.  it worked out fine.  Now, I did not make a note of where I started the ponytail at, so the exact order of your stitches might be difficult. I believe I started to the right of what would be the front center.  The important thing is the eight stitches on top of the pony tail are dc and the stitches on the bottom half are slip stitches.  that's what makes it curve like that.

(stuff ponytail as you go along)
pick up about eight stitches in a circle at the center of the cap. like I said, join to the right of the top center.

        (ex: if you're looking at the top of the cap it looks like spiral.  if you draw a cross over the spiral- + -you'd start on the right arm of it.)
sc in each stitch around. (8)
2 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in each of next 6 sts (10)
ch2, 2 dc in next st 4 times, sc in each of next 6 sts, sl st into first dc (14)
ch2, dc in each of the next 8 sts, sl st into each of the next 6, sl st into first dc
repeat previous round
ch2, dc in each of next 2 sts, dc2tog 2 times, dc in next 2 sts, sl st next 6 sts, (to the end) sl st into first dc (12)
ch2, dc in each of the next 8 sts, sl st into each of the next 4, sl st into first dc (12)
repeat previous round 3 more times (12)
ch2, dc in each st around, sl st into first dc (10- like I said, I lost some stitches)
ch2, dc in next st, dc2tog, repeat around, sl st into first dc (6?)
ch2,  dc2tog around, sl st into first dc (3)
ch2, dc2tog once, sl st into first dc (1)
ch 10 off tip of ponytail.

I'm sorry that's not clearer, my notes are not very clear either. I think I forgot to write some things down as I was going... oops.  but like I said before, the main idea is the top slightly-more-than-half stitches are double crochets and the rest are slip stitches, to make it curve.  then you just decrease as you go to make a point.  Hey, if I figured it out, so can you. :D If you have any questions, ask, I'll be more than happy to help.

also, her green hair bobbles are 3 sc worked in a magic ring, then sc in each stitch around once.


Sailor Venus is next!

She is the one... Sailor Moon!

So, this is my newest crocheted doll, just finished her today.  She is based on the same pattern I used to make Tinkerbell, with an actual Sailor Moon pattern I found here:  http://ami.jenvasseur.com/2011/07/sailor-moon-amigurumi-pattern/

I tweaked it quite a bit and redesigned.  The pattern for Sailor Moon is very cute, all short and chubby, but I wanted a taller thinner one. so I mashed them together and changed things and this is the result.  It's for Shannon, naturally.  I will be making the rest of the Sailor Senshi, of course, and probably a Tuxedo Mask as well.

I'm going to add my notes of what I did different here just so they're easy to find.

please note: these are the changes I made.  They may not make a lot of sense just looking at them because they are based on starting from another pattern. I am not including all the details of the pattern here, because it's someone else's pattern, and she sells them.  I can't go giving out her patterns, that she's trying to sell, for free. If you want the pattern, (And I highly recommend it, her princess patterns are Adorable) you can buy them here: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sahrit-freud-weinstein

Bodice:
start with the underwear part of the Tink pattern, stop at 12 sts ard, go straight from underwear to bodice
instead of first round of bodice, 2 sc in next st, 5 sc, rpt.
then sc 2x, sc 2 tog ard (sts may not work out evenly)
sc around
go to rd 2 of bodice, skip first 3 sc, do * to **, sc to end
follow pattern, still skipping the beginning sc sts of round. 

and honestly, the bodice shaping included in the Tink pattern is pretty unnecessary since the big bow covers it up anyways.  instead of going to round 2 of the pattern, you could just sc around once in white, then switch to skin color, sc around, and then start decreasing for the next two rounds for her neck.

Skirt:

sc through front loops on bodice around the top of the underwear- widest part- all the way round (I think this was 11 sts?)
sc, 2 sc in next st ard
dc, 2 dc in next st ard





Tiara:
ch 10, sew with middle in the center of forehead, add gem

Collar:

only 8 sts across, 3 rows
3 rows of sc sts for straps

Hair:
cap- follow patten, stop at 30 sts around.
       sc around 4x
for odangos: stop at 9 sts around, one round of sc around
pigtails- added 3 sts for length, did not do extra sc row across.

Bow: 6 sts across, 4 rows.
bow tails: make 2 for each bow: ch 5, dc in 3rd st, dc, dc, sew to back of bow

colors were figured out as I went along.  Arms are 3 rows of white, one of red, 3 of skin tone. I believe boots are (after foot) four rounds of red, one of white, 6 or 7 of skin, not sure, didn't pay attention.  Odango covers were embroidered on. added a circle of red yarn around her neck for her choker. embroidered with white yarn all the way around her waist at the top of the skirt and added the little white V in the front for accuracy.

Okay, I think that's everything about her.  That should allow me to fairly easily create the rest of the girls.  Sailor Chibi Moon might be an issue, just cuz I might make her smaller.  no, you know what? I won't.  cuz if I did then technically Saturn should also be smaller.  too much a hassle.  it doesn't matter that much.  None of that helps me with Tuxedo mask though.  I think he will be a challenge. I will be referencing the Prince Eric pattern (that I haven't made yet) to see if that helps.

Casual Cosplay!

So, I think I've mentioned that I love cosplay, but I'm not a convention goer, so super fancy outfits are kinda a waste on me.  However, cute casual clothes are perfectly acceptable.  I'm sure you've noticed.  Almost every bit of clothing I've made has been an outfit of some character. So Sailor Moon is actually great for that because the girls spend a lot of time in normal clothes.  That's not always a guarentee of something wearable, the fashion sense in the anime is really horrific sometimes, but sometimes it's really cute.   So here's my Usagi outfit.  I went for pigtails just for fun, but I don't think I'd actually wear my hair like that.  Also, I don't have a shot of what shoes she's wearing so it's not quite complete.  Regradless, I'm pretty happy with it.

and the after.

here it is.  dyed a much less stressful color, added black tulle ruffle on the bottom and black ribbon straps.  I'd intended to do wider black velvet straps. but I didn't have enough ribbon.  however, I'm still thinking that would look better, so I may have to go get more.

AND TONIGHT'S PROJECT

So, earlier today, I went to the thrift store with Amanda.  I bought this:

three bucks, man, hell yeah.  cute, too.  I liked it, but I'm not a fan of strapless, so I had a vague plan of sewing ribbon on for straps.  As I was thinking about it, white is also very stressful for me to wear.  Lucky for me, this dress is cotton, which means it has no objections to being dyed.  so I'm overhauling this dress.  This is the before, I'm working on it and I'll get you an after as soon as it is after.

What I'm doing now and later

So, right now I'm finally, FINALLY working on River Tam's sweater from the episode 'Safe':

I've never knitted a sweater, so I figured if I'm going to learn I might as well make it nerdy. So I found a pattern and yarn and this is where I'm at:

yeah, it kinda looks like a mess now.  but I have faith that it will all come together.

As soon as that's done I'm going to start on a set of little Sailor Moon dolls (like the princesses I made) for Shannon for her birthday.  and once that's done.... oh man.  I have the coolest project lined up.  I'm super jazzed for this.

I found this picture ages ago and fell in love.  I saved it thinking maybe I could figure out how it was done from the pics.  Unlikely.  and then, just recently, I discovered the creator actually put out a pattern for it.  I had to buy it,which I hate doing, I think charging for patterns is mean, but whatever.  If it's something I want bad enough, I'll pay.  (I mean, I paid for the patterns for those princess dolls...)  so I did.  I'm super excited, I think this thing is amazing.  I had trouble picking yarn, the yarn used in the picture is this super special hand painted yarn that would have cost me like $400 to get enough for the jacket.  yeah, not happening.  I went for knitpicks.com, and actually ended up going with the same brand I used for Rinoa's jacket.  I just like the look of that stuff.  I put together a bunch of color schemes and posted them on Facebook to get votes from friends and family on what I should do.  after weighing the options and deliberating for ages, this is what I picked:

a bit different, still bright but not quite as rainbowy.  I like it.  I can't wait to get started on it.  just got to get through the other things in line first.

additionally, I'm creating this outfit right now:

Usagi's outfit, of course.  I've got the shirt almost done, and I already own white shorts, I'll post pics when it's done. (Those are shorts, I promise.  the line dividing her legs is just missing in this shot. it happens.)

and that's what I'm working on.

An update

So.... I've been a bit out of the blogging spirit since I finished Rinoa's jacket.  ah well.  No one follows this, it's just for me anyways.  Well, this is what I've been working on:

first, I made another River's vest for Amanda for Christmas, No pics, cuz it looks exactly the same.

And here's what I was making for Shannon for Christmas:

Thirteen Disney princesses.  To be fair, two are Ariel.  I wanted a human one.  I also made her a Gromit, from Wallace and Gromit.










And a Nibbler for Eloise.

And a Slender Man for Corey.

And what I'm most proud of, this quilt for Caleb.  The quilt top was made by his grandma, who passed away last year.  He was very close to her, and it was kinda rough for him.  She gave us this quilt top some years ago, but never finished it.  And so I learned to quilt and did it.  BEST PRESENT EVER.  He didn't see it coming.  it was awesome.

Then, after Christmas, I made some slippers:

nothing fancy, but they do the job.

so, that's what I've already finished.  I have some things I'm working on now, and I'm planning for, but I think I'll do a separate post for that.  more fun to break it up.