Yeah I kept forgetting that I had to follow up on my craft swap, so I'm going to do it now! It was a lot of fun. Nothing was actually swapped outside of the blaster gun and the scarf between Rhiannon and myself, but it was still really fun. We all partook of our crafts and watched the British Dorian Gray movie from 2009. It was...interesting. I'm a HUGE Oscar Wilde fan and I love the novel, but the movie tried to turn it into some kind of thriller. I enjoyed it, but probably not for the right reasons, and I think I was the only one who did, heehee.

But yes, craft swap = huge success.

As for what I'm working on, I'm making a cross stitch Blastoise (from Pokemon) for one of my friends from camp as a commission. I really need to get my ass in gear with these commissions because I'm flat broke and because I want to make them, so there are a lot of factors pushing me towards finishing.

I have so many plans going on this weekend. It's going to be absolutely insane. But in a good way I guess, at least for the most part. I look forward to it.

One of the big exciting things that's going to happen will occur in approximately 12 hours (it's about 2:30 am), and that is my first ever trip to Knitter's Underground. I've heard many a tale of this land of milk and honey and yarn, and at dinner tonight celebrating a friend's birthday, another friend dropped that she was going Saturday (today-ish but I haven't gone to sleep yet and since the world CLEARLY revolves around me, Saturday is not today, it's still CLEARLY tomorrow) at around 2:30. My schedule instantly cleared. I'm sure there was some important stuff like cleaning my dorm room or doing some homework or reading or crocheting/cross stitching/crafting or socializing that I was going to do Saturday during the day, but now there magically isn't. Funny how these things happen. Anyway, I'm totally going to Knitter's Underground in 12 hours, and I'm super excited!

Progress report on my actual crafting:

- For Christmas last year, I crocheted all my friends something, usually a plushie of some kind. I still haven't finished EVERYONE, though I am really close. For one of my friends from camp, Vicky, I wanted to recreate the squid plush thing from the movie Coraline, because she loves the movie and the "I wanna hugga yo face" line became an inside joke with us. Originally I was going to just make an octopus to commemorate it, but then I found this pattern for how to actually crochet one, so a while ago I got the yarn and last night I just got the urge to start it, even though it's not next in line on my list of things to crochet (but I suck at doing things in order anyway). I can't find the giant button I got for the eye, but I'm sure once I finally clean my room, it'll turn up.

- I've decided to have another craft swap/viewing party of the 2009 Dorian Gray movie, the one with Ben Barnes as Dorian. I've been saying that from the trailer it looks like how the newest Sherlock Holmes movie was, which was nothing like the book at all, but so awesome and fun that you don't even care. Some of my friends who have seen it agree with the description, so I'm excited. Katie (my roommate, if I haven't mentioned that) rented it for me from her Netflix, and I'm eager to see it, but think it would be fun to do with a group, and I'm itching for another craft swap, so I figured I could combine the events, and decided next Friday is a good time, which means I need to make some stuff!

- On that note, one of Katie's friends, Rhiannon, has moved into my dorm building from her apartment, and so I've been getting to know her, and she's a big crafter (she's coming with me to Knitter's Underground tomorrow, er, later). She stole some camo print yarn and my knitting needles one night while hanging out and started making a scarf. She didn't like what she started with (she was inventing a cable stitch) so she made it into a square (more on that later) and started over. She's letting me have the scarf, so I decided to make her something in exchange for it so we could swap. I offered to make another blaster gun (see older posts) and she joyously accepted, so I'll be making another one of those in hot pink, green, and purple. I'm a little excited and almost started it tonight, but I really need to work on the whole "finish what you start" thing that I suck at so much, so I want to do Vicky's present first.

- I really love crocheting squares. I have a bunch that I've made and don't know what to do with, and I have books that add up to several hundred different square patterns, and many of them I want to try but don't want to make a whole blanket out of, so I've decided to make an afghan or a quilt or whatever you want to call it, that's made up of miscellaneous squares I just felt like making. Fun and functional! Rhiannon's camo cable knit square will be added to the collection of random squares for this project.

- I taught Ashley how to make granny squares, and she loves it! Yay!

- On to cross stitching! I mentioned the Pokemon sprite idea, and so far it's been going swimmingly. I started with Bulbasaur because A) it's the first Pokemon on the chart, and B) my coworker Ricky asked me to make him one. I finished the pattern and now I have to choose the colors to make it, but the first one I'm actually going to do is Blastoise, because a friend from camp told me he'd pay me for one, so guess which one I'm making first? I'm almost done drawing up the pattern, and I already chose the colors, so hopefully I'll be able to get started on it soon so I can get some cash!

- Speaking of commissions, I may or may not have another one. My brother's friend from work may or may not want me to make her a Cthulhu, and she may or may not pay for it. My brother had just been asking me about it and said he'd let me know the details, but hasn't yet. Granted it hasn't been very long since the initial proposal, but it's always good to know when money is coming in.

- I will soon have more garb! I started and damn near finished my fencing doublet for SCA, using some extra fabric that Dani had. It's this nice blue fabric with reddish orange-ish brocade on it. It's really thick and durable and looks really nice, and in one night I mostly finished it. I can't wait until it's done! Ashley has been making her garb, a really nice bliaut (I can't find any particularly excellent pictures, but Google will give you an idea) in dark purple, and the Harry Potter club will be making a trip to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire next Sunday, where we will prance about in our garb. We're both very excited. I want to at least finish the sleeve caps for my Venetian gown, because Dani is going on a trip and I don't think we'll be able to make the sleeves for it yet. I hope it's not too cold!

- I kind of want to get into making softies (abstract plushies). I think they're really cute and interesting. It'll be easier when I have a machine to sew on, but in the meantime I'm bolstering up my scrap fabric collection, since they're often made with random fabric, mostly with odd colors or patterns. I got some great cheap remnant fabric at Joann's the other day to add to the collection. I don't know what I want to make just yet, but I had some good finds and it was really cheap, so I'm glad I got it.

Sorry this post was super long. Heehee.

And now it's about 11 1/2 hours (about 3:00 am) until Knitter's Underground. SUPER EXCITING! =D

It was pretty darn epic! Some good trades, mostly yarn and ribbon and the like. I swapped the blaster gun and I.O.U.'d an Emo Bunny (since I wanted to keep Jack, lol) and got some cool stuff in return. But what was badass was all the trade secrets I took in today. Drea showed me the proper way to change colors in crochet, since I read it often but never really got it (I'm one of those people who learns through doing, not reading), which is the only thing stopping me from trying crocheting things in grids, which I've kind of always wanted to try. Also she taught me how to make a yarn ball that unravels from the middle/both ends, so I can ball all my hat yarn! (I leave it unballed so that I can double strand the hats from both ends.) She also taught me Viking wire weaving, which is pretty cool, but I'll need to relearn (again, I learn by doing). Meredith taught me cross stitch, another thing I've always wanted to learn. I'm currently working on a cross stitched chick just to practice (pictures when I'm done!). It's coming along quite well; I'm pretty proud of myself! I'm going to get some cross stitch supplies tomorrow.

Food was had; I reheated some of my mom's epic gravy (meat sauce) with spaghetti and Sarah made meatballs. Sarah and I made a pineapple upside down cake last week from a cookbook we have, and Sarah decided to kick it up a notch for the craft swap and made what I've called a "stuff upside down cake." It had pineapple, apple, blueberries, and raspberries, all beautifully arranged. And she added more sugar than the recipe because we didn't think it was sweet enough last time, but this time was perfect. DELICIOUS!

So today I finished an afghan I was working on since winter-ish time. Turns out the skein only had about one and a half once-around left in it, so I could have finished sooner. I had the ultimate choice of "do I get more yarn or leave this skein unfinished?" and decided to leave it unfinished, because I'd already used 8 skeins on the thing, lol. But now I have the second afghan I crocheted all finished! It's really just one giant granny square made with Seagrass by Red Heart. As Drea has often said to me friends don't let friends knit Red Heart, but the coloration was soooo pretty I couldn't help myself!

Here is the afghan on the couch, and on it is my giant octopus Hubert (I decided to give him a name besides "giant octopus" just before taking the picture) that I finished the day before I started my blog, lol.

And one more of my "baby octopus" Dumbo on Hubert's head.

Sarah was posing the octopi on the blanket, and she said it was like an ocean scene. She said we should cut off some of Dumbo's legs and make her a starfish, to which I replied, "Or I could just make a starfish..." Sarah continued with something to the effect of, "We need some fish, and...do you think you could manage a coral reef?" I said maybe; she said she had faith in me. Heehee.

We got to talking about Emo Bunny again, and Sarah asked if he had a real name, and I explained the name of Jack. She seemed unconvinced, and said he needs "a more depressing name." I'm leaving it up to her to come up with one.

OMG CRAFT SWAP TOMORROW! SUPER EXCITING!

He's done! ^-^ Here he is posing on my couch with my first afghan. (Sorry about the not-so-fabulous quality; the light in my living room sucks.)

Some close ups of his face.

And a close up of the embroidery skull and crossbones.

I've half-decided to call the bunneh Jack after my LARP character for Scion, who is also an emo, but is a far cry from a bunny. Jack was an adventure in crafting, to say the least. Getting the ears to match the slits in the hood was tricky, but that was just the beginning. I think I got more than I bargained for with the emover; it took a lot of thought and creativity, as well as a good 45 minutes. Then came the skull and crossbones. I believe I mentioned I suck at embroidery, and if not, then I'm saying it now. But I am DAMN PROUD of how this turned out. It might just be the best thing I've ever embroidered (let that be the standard you judge my skills in embroidery, lol). After several attempts at just a skull that looked like some kind of abstract line art, I finally came up with the skull and crossbones idea, and that only took one try! And it looks really good! And I did it with my cheap plastic flimsy tapestry needle because I still can't find my good metal ones! Booyah!

My summer roommate Sarah thinks I won't trade this for anything at the swap. She might be right. He's going to be hard to part with, if I'm even able to. We'll see on Thursday. ^-^

My older brother needs to have a baby so I can be an aunt. This of course requires finding a girlfriend and getting married. But still, it needs to happen. I could have my own baby, but I too am presently single, plus I'm still not sure I want to have kids, which is philosophizing for another night, but I know I want to know someone who has kids. Why? Because I, of course, want to crochet baby things. ^-^

I worked on my schoolwork a little and rewarded myself with some pattern browsing, and came across this alphabet baby afghan pattern (it's free!). As my friend Ginny would put it, it made my ovaries explode with happiness. It's so cute! And I want to make it! It's so simple, but nice, too. Sadly, there are not many babies in my life, and it would be a little silly of me to make it for myself. So someone has to have a baby!

I also found these adorable monster-themed bibs on Etsy (I'm kind of an addict...). I like the Cthulhu and the vampire one the most. Again, someone needs to have a baby...and a good sense of humor, lol.

Anyway, on to projects I can actually do now.

I've decided on my next mini project for the craft swap. It's going to be one of these bunnies with hoodies, pattern found on Etsy again. But of course (saying that a lot in this entry...hmm...), I decided to kick it up a notch. I'm making the hoodie in all black and depending on how up for it I feel, I might give it an emover. Meredith suggested I also embroider a skull on the hoodie. I kind of suck at embroidery but I'm going to give it a shot. So yeah, emo hoodie bunny. Again, I might end up making one for myself. ^-^;

So I didn't finish it BY dinner, but by dinner everything was done but the handle so I finished the handle, ate, then did the button and stitched it together. I was talking to Katie, my during-the-school-year roommate who is presently finishing up her study abroad in Vienna, while working, which is why it didn't get done sooner. But here it is!

Another angle.

Detail shot of the front. I break away from the pattern for the rings and make them more like funnels, since the frontmost one is made like a funnel and this way they all match, rather than have a funnel with three rings.

In my rush to finish and eat, I accidentally skipped over four rows of the handle. I didn't notice until I had bound off and was about to stitch it on and noticed how short it was. So I retied the yarn and threw four rows on the end. The result is a handle that's not exactly right, as it's supposed to be a more gradual narrowing, but it still looks good. Detail of handle (sorry it's sideways!).

Bleeeeeh it's almost three in the morning and I'm wired. I really need to stop sleeping until noon on days I don't have work. Heh.

I finalized the date and time of my craft swap, the first I've ever hosted (OMG SO EXCITING!). It's going to be Thursday evening. I need to make some little projects so I have stuff to trade besides the like three skeins of yarn I can bear to part with. I decided to make another blaster gun like I did for the last craft swap I attended. They're fun to make, pretty quick and easy, and c'mon, who doesn't love a blaster gun? I found the pattern on Etsy; it's right here. Though it costs money (it's really cheap though!), it's totally worth it. And hey, maybe you can figure out how to make it on your own by looking at the picture. Beats me. Do what you will.

Anyway, the last one I made was black, white, and gray, but this time I got crazy. The main part, the knob thinger on the end, and the trigger are all a dark steel gray, while the barrel and the base are a sort of light coffee brown, and the rings are black. I'm totally making myself one in this color scheme, because it looks really good all together. I'll post pictures when I'm done. I wanted to try to do it all in one sitting, but some drama that came up kept me from doing this, but I'm still going to try to finish tonight.