Border Crossings and Princess Savings

Ahh...now that the hard part is done with my blanket, all I have left to complete (crochet-wise) is the border. I decided to go with my initial instinct and use bricks as the border rather than the ground tiles. Both hubby and my sis agreed that bricks just fit better.



I'm humming along quite nicely on it- should be pretty quick to finish and not the never-ending project I envisioned. :)

Waaaay back in December, when I cut my hair, I was working on a new scarf- a Princess Toadstool scarf to keep Mario company. Well, I really wasn't pleased with....well, anything with it- the colors, the yarn I chose for the body, the design- all BLECK! So, as I do with anything with which I'm not pleased, I bury it and pretend it doesn't exist. Works for ostriches, works for me. Well, in one of those beautiful, miraculous once-in-a-lifetime moments, while I was in the yarn section in Walmart (where these moments usually occur), the bells tolled and the birds chirped when I saw the PERFECT yarn for my scarf. I love it when that happens. :)



I am soo pleased with the outcome! I found the right scarf color, right skin color, right red hair color- and the yarn was great to work with. I don't remember the color name, but it was Vanna's Choice- LOVE it! I had an epiphany on how to fix the design, too. I really didn't like the back of the scarf with all the ends weaved in, so I found a way to hide the Princess' ugly backside (hey- not everyone can be J.Lo!).



I made a pocket!! I ran out of the main color, so I used this raspberry color, instead and then used it as an edging- LOVE it!! I guess with the right colors and design, you really can save a princess. :)

I even used white sparkle yarn to make the princess just a little more princess-y



The pocket is a good size and can fit a DS, natch.



The DS provides a nice heft to the scarf, so if you are walking down the road and are mugged by one of Bowser's minions, you can swing the scarf and whack them in the head. Hey- works in the game and, as we all know, games influence our real lives. ;)



Now, Mario has his mate. :)



Mawaige....Mawaige is wot bwings us togeder today.

Wuv, twue wuv.....

Mario Scarf and other Nintendo addictions

Ok. I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with Nintendo- Super Mario Bros. specifically. It stems from my childhood when we just couldn't afford to buy a Nintendo when the rest of the world was at home cozily warping their brains and wasting away their thumbs to their heart's content. My obsession runs deep and goes to dark places.....I would even try to get my friends to invite me to spend the night...IF...they had a Nintendo. That way, while everyone was asleep, I could play that 8-bit slice of heaven until the wee hours of the morning. I was like a junkie and just needed a video game hit so bad that I was just so jazzed when we got a hand-me-down Atari when our friends no longer needed it. Although, it was a little tough knowing we were getting our jollies playing Enduro while everyone else had moved on to Excite Bike. Though, when Super Nintendo came out, we were finally able to get our paws on our friend's slightly used Nintendo- with about 20 games and a bunch of accessories all for 100 bucks. Oh yes- my dreams had finally come true.

My brother and I would play SMB (1, 2, and 3- though 1 and 3 were my favorites) for hours upon hours. Thankfully we had always been very (hyper)active kids, so a Saturday here and there spent sitting on our butts didn't add to the childhood obesity epidemic that was beginning to emerge. One of the shining moments in my life was when I beat SMB3 before my brother- oh yes- I was, as my dad called me, the Nintendo Queen. This Nintendo obsession has to be a familial genetic disorder...everyone except my dad can quote Super Mario Bros. the Movie verbatim... it's one of my mom's all-time favorite movies. My mom is cool like that. My dad...? Perhaps my daddy aint my daddy but my daddy don't know??? Well, it's a good theory....until you look at us together....

So now, fast forward to my adulthood...not only can I now afford a Nintendo and of course stalked out a Walmart to snatch up a Wii, I am also able to create Nintendo inspired items. One of which is the Mario scarf.



I actually made this for my husband- he wanted a hat with a Mario on it (see why I love him??) but, since I had only been crocheting for a couple of months, I couldn't quite get it to work. I taught myself to crochet last summer and this was one of the first things that I created. He loves it and gets numerous comments on it- of course my heart swells with pride.

I'll be adding more pictures of the scarf being modeled in the next few days. It goes along perfectly with my "newest project" from below.



I've also been working on a Mario blanket for my hubby. It is easily the most awesome thing I have ever created and I.CANNOT.WAIT until I complete it. It will take a verrrry long time (I tend to be a perfectionist and really enjoy challenging myself). Here is a teaser of what's to come.



Alright- I'll leave you now...I have a princess to save!!