Mario Party! Part 2- My Quest

As my teasing (and teasing) can attest, this blanket/bedspread has been a real obsession of mine for a very long time. I had just taught myself how to crochet and decided to make a Mario granny square blanket for my brother- this was over a year and a half ago. My husband saw it and wanted one of his own. However, I could not let my husband have the same blanket I made my brother....oh no, my friends. His had to be so much....MORE. I woke up in the middle of the night and had the beginnings of the blanket in my head. I scribbled out a rough draft of a map and was so giddy, I had a hard time falling asleep. I had never used Tunisian crochet before, so I had to practice. This was the result of that first practice:


My husband wanted a hat with Mario on it-I was unable to get my idea for a hat to work, but I thought, I could so do it as a scarf! Thus the Mario scarf was born.



Even though I had the concept down correctly, I did not know how to change colors correctly- there were huge holes in between my color changes. I'll show an example of this in just a bit.

I soon started on my blanket with this panel- The Beginning of a Journey:




Then, I did the second panel- needed to have a Goomba and a Koopa Troopa!



I fell in love with these two! I kid you not- I would wake up in the morning, see them on the floor, and bust out with a smile and a laugh. My husband thought I was nuts....

Well, I continued on, making 7 panels total throughout the months. Each panel took about a day to complete and, since I was working part-time, I could dedicate my days off to making them. But, I was suffering migraines from having my head hunched over all the time.....so I put off the blanket and started other endeavors.....

With each blanket or purse I finished, my husband would sigh, look longingly at my Mario panel pile, and say, "One of these days, I'll have a blanket of my own...." I wanted to finish this blanket soooo badly, but was not satisfied with some of the panels. The last one I worked on was the underwater panel; however, when I counted the rows (height) after completing it, one side had 50 rows and the other had 49....oops. I had mistakenly started a first pass with a row when I hadn't finished the second pass of the previous row. (Each row of Tunisian crochet has 2 passes- the forward pass and the backward pass- in order to make the stitches square.) I was sooooo bummed. As I mentioned before, if something doesn't come out right, I put it aside. Well, I put this blanket aside for about 8 months because of that. I didn't have the heart to tear back 15 rows and re-do them.

Well, all that changed at the beginning of 2009. I decided that this was the year I was going to finish this blanket, so I started in earnest. Well, now that I knew how to change colors correctly, I had to redo 4 of the previous 7 panels that came out all wonky. Ugh. But, it really was soooo worth it! There were 2 other panels that I had to redo- not because of the mistakes in color changes (I had learned how to do it with the underground coin panel), but because I found the right colors to use for Mario's skin and for the "skin" of the enemies. So, even though I started a year and a half ago, every single panel that is now on the blanket, except for the coin cache one, has been completed since February 2009.

Here are side-by-sides of the panels:

This first panel actually didn't look so bad. However, I did have some issues with my tension, which is why it's so much smaller than the newer one. However, the character definition, and even the cloud, is so much better in the newer one. Changing colors correctly is soooo important!




This second panel really shows how having the correct colors makes the image POP. Also, the first one was sooo wonky! I was so incredibly proud of it when I first did it....now, I feel like a kid proud of a stick drawing. I am proud to say that, by changing colors correctly, the goomba no longer looks phallic...




This one I knew I had to redo....if only to correct Luigi's hat. Erg. You can see how malformed the pipe is (due to incorrect color changes) and how much more the color pops in the second one. Also, I had originally crocheted the turtle shell by using a screen shot of the whole turtle and taking off the head and legs. I then found this awesome site that has all of the characters on there...including the correct turtle shell!





Next comes the underground coin cache. This is the only "original" panel on the blanket. I learned how to color change correctly with this one; however, I didn't have the right color for Mario's skin tone. Though you can't really tell in the picture, he's my Chicano Mario on the blanket. :)













Mario comes out of the coin cache and steals the star Luigi was about to use. Life isn't fair for Luigi.... This is actually the first of the new panels that I made in February.
















Ever since the beginning, I knew that Luigi couldn't stay forever....this was Mario's quest. I loved the idea of him being trapped between a Bullet Bill and a Buzzy Beetle! However, the star panel above was not part of my original design. I decided to add that during the blanket reboot. So, since I had to redo this panel anyway due to the wonkiness, I decided to replace the question block with a brick, and to have Mario as star Mario. Oh yes- Luigi has to take one for the team!



This panel makes me laugh- poor Luigi! Game over for you, chump! And, to add insult to injury, that innocent looking brick actually contained a 1UP mushroom for Mario- hahahahaha!















Awww yeah! Hammer time!! This was a new one that I did in February and also had to redo. I used the peach color for the Hammer Bros. skin when this color really popped. So, I ripped out allllll of those rows and redid it....this one took me 2 days to do. *Sigh*















This is one of my favorites- not only do you get a Piranha plant, but also a squished goomba!!! Ahhh...I love this game. :)
















The Lakitu and Spiny panel. The original is on the right and was my favorite of the original panels. I did the color changes correctly and I LOVED it. Then, I realized that the colors weren't correct....then I realized that I had Mario in that same pose for a few panels in a row....BORING. So, I changed the colors (MUCH better!) and put Mario in a skidding stop right before he could slide into a Spiny. Whew!


After surviving Lakitu, Mario goes underwater. The original one is on the left. I ripped back the 15 rows to correct my goof from a year ago....then I realized that I needed to change the Cheep Cheeps' color to make them pop. But, the good thing is that I got to add the air bubble that I wanted to add originally but forgot and, again, didn't want to rip back so many rows to fix. I changed the red and green Cheep Cheeps' positions b/c of the following panel.

Flying Cheep Cheeps! Since the red one was on the bottom left, I decided to have the green underwater Cheep Cheep on the bottom right....crazy? Maybe.... I LOVE this panel. The bridge just makes it....WOW.















I LOVE THIS ONE! This is the cutest of the bunch. :) Mario now gets to go to Coin Heaven...atop the "teeth clouds" as my mom would call them. :) Now, astute gamer geeks will know that in world 3-1, just prior to hopping the turtle (next panel), Mario does get to go to Coin Heaven. I debated whether or not to make this a black panel since world 3 is a night-time world. However, I had always pictured this blue! I LOVE IT!











Awww yeah....my true SMB geekiness shines through. Getting infinite free men by hopping the turtle. I LOVE THIS GAME!
















Mario finishes the world by getting 5000 points off of the flag pole. He even ended the world with 1 second on the clock, thus the 1 fireball. :)
















Here are the first 3 rows complete. Honestly, this could have been a blanket just by itself! You got the beginning of the adventure at the very top and end with Mario on the Flag Pole, beating the level. If you can see, I have Gilmore Girls on DVD scattered on the floor. Oh yes. Tons of GG time spent on this blanket....kinda poetic, don't ya think? :)





I'm going to continue the story in one more post. This one is just about filled to the brim.....The end of the quest is in sight!


PS: A FAQ can be found here.

Mario Party! Part 1- The Whole Enchilada

Alright. The time has finally come. I have finally finished crocheting each and every panel of my Mario Blanket. They are all crocheted together. All that is left is crocheting a border around it. However, I have been working my buns off on this thing and I don't know when I'll finish the border. I'm so freaking excited to have it "done" that I'm going to be unveiling it.........NOW!

Here it is, in all of its technicolor glory:



ACK!! How awesome is that?!?!? It's so huge, I had to lay it out in my foyer and go upstairs to get a photo. Here's a pic of my birthday boy stretched out on it for a size perspective. My honey is 6'2".



Here's a shot of it on my queen sized bed- its ultimate resting place.



Unfortunately, I did not get it all done by his birthday party. I was working on the last panel and had only this to show for my months of hard work:




Now, this is not all my friends...oh no. The blanket itself tells a story- if you start in the upper left hand corner and go right, then down and left, then down and right, then down and left, then down and right, you'll indeed see that this was a quest for Mario. I have incorporated various scenes from my beloved game and will show pics of the individual panels. I'm way too proud of this baby just to show a bird's eye view. :) However, since that will be a butt load of photos, it will be a separate post (or two).

Going back to my husband's birthday- my sister had a wonderful idea! To go along with the theme of my blanket, she suggested we throw him a Mario Party....complete with a Mario cake. Well, my entire family is artsy/fartsy, and my sister is no exception. She had a WONDERFUL idea for a cake and it turned out BEAUTIFUL!

Here is the artist at work:



She really wanted to have fondant to make it look absolutely smooth and perfect; however, that stuff is expensive as heck....especially for such a large cake....so we used a cream cheese frosting that was supposed to harden "like fondant." Ummm....no. It did not. Darn those lying liars who tell lies. However, it tasted great!

All of the cakes tasted absolutely phenomenal. The first tier had a raspberry cake layer topped with a chocolate cake layer filled with cream cheese frosting and whole raspberries in the center. This depicted the first level of SMB. The second tier was a mango cake filled with raspberry jam in the center and was the water level world of SMB. The third tier was a chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting and whole raspberries in the center. This was the Bowser battle scene. The fourth tier was raspberry cake with raspberry jam in the center. This was the hero's welcome by the princess. All of the cake was iced with the cream cheese frosting. It was absolutely AWESOME!!!





We had so much fun that night- had some friends over and played Wii....and of course some old school Super Mario Bros. I don't know if I'll ever be able to top this crochet project- or at least not for a while. I've got some ideas burbling around and, once my shoulder, neck and finger muscles go back into a relaxed state, I will be back with my yarn and my geeky obsessions. :) I'm going to take a little time off since this project has seriously taken over my life, but I'll be back with some new purses and scarfs in the very near future.

Onto the individual pictures!

PS: A FAQ can be found here.

Just a quick check-in

I have been working almost non-stop on my hubby's Nintendo blanket (now a bedspread....yipes.) I HAVE to finish it! It's been hanging over my head for over a year and I'm alllllllllmost there! I hope to have all the crocheting done by this weekend....I hope I can do it! One of the issues I had with it was that I had to completely re-do all but 1 of the first panels I did last year. 6 panels = 6 days added on. I'm so glad I did, though. The first ones were before I conquered switching colors with Tunisian crochet and before I had the correct colors. Now- its fraking awesome!! Pics to come soon, but I'm serious- I've been putting every spare second, minute, or hour in this thing. How I don't have a raging migraine yet, I don't know, but I'm thankful for it! Ok....back to my work....

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've actually been quite a Valentine's Day Grinch for just about forever. There's just something off putting about being forced to show love to someone with cards, flowers, and candy. I always get nervous around this holiday since I never know what is an appropriate Valentine's day gift. I realize this is ludicrous since I've been married for almost 10 years, so there's not much more impressing I can do for the guy- he already knows the good, the bad, and the ugly. I always feel guilty, too, since my husband usually always has a card and a thoughtful gift...I remember one year he got me the latest Kinsey Milhone mystery (I'm a huge book worm and LOVE Kinsey!)- HARD COVER....and I got him....a tie. Yipes.

Well, last year, we finally came to an agreement on how to make Valentine's Day enjoyable and memorable for us both. We decided that, instead of eating out at a restaurant and spending beaucoup bucks on a meal we'll most likely forget once we get home, we would instead come up with an elaborate meal and cook it together. You have no idea how wonderful this is! I love to cook and have tried, unsuccessfully, many times to get my hubby to join me in the kitchen. I think it's awful romantic....he thinks it's just awful. Well, it was his idea to cook with me and I LOVE IT! He even went through one of my cookbooks and came up with a menu for this evening. Seriously! I am so in love with this man. :)

We just spent the morning making dessert- a chocolate, cheesecake, pecan pie. I'm serious. It has a chocolate ganache on the bottom, a cheesecake middle, and a pecan pie topping. If it tastes half as good as it sounds (and looks!), then I'm sure we'll be making this for years to come. He found the recipe on a freebie mailing from some magazine...I want to say Southern Living or Fatten You Up....one or the other.



We are just about to go to Wegmans and shop for the ingredients for the rest of the meal. He found a grilled tuna (though we'll sear it) white bean salad for the first course and a Greek wet rub for lamb chops with a side of orzo for the main course. I'm super excited! The best thing about eating at home is that we can polish off the bottle of wine (a Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley in CA....high hopes for this one) and not worry about driving home. YAY!

Since we'll be shopping and cooking, it'll give my poor neck and hands a break from all the crocheting I've been doing. As I mentioned earlier, I've been working on my husband's Nintendo blanket. I have an elaborate map all worked out and it will consist of many different panels. Each panel takes about 8-12 hours to complete. I showed you the first panel earlier....I'll show just one more now. This is the latest one I completed and I'm over the moon pleased with how it came out. It is probably the most Nintendo geekiest of all the panels- it's Mario hopping the turtle in world 3-1! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I LOVE IT!



Here's a pic of the back so you can see what I have in store for me when I finally get around to weaving in the ends.



I think I may just give the blanket to him with all the ends out and tell him it's fringe.....hmmm....now there's a thought......

Happy Valentine's Day!

Back to the land of the living!

So, I've been pretty sick these last 2 weeks and have finally pulled through. Thankfully, it ended up NOT being strep so it's a good thing I didn't go to the Urgent Care right away- I'd have been angry with their incompetence yet again only to realize that they weren't the ones being incompetent and that's not fun.

I have been working on a few projects while I was at death's door (what? exagerate?? Moi??) but don't have anything complete as of this post. I have a couple of things allllmost done, but I like sharing pictures of the finished object....the big reveal! I tend to be a little bit of a perfectionist sometimes.... When there is something wrong with one of my WIPs, I put it away until I can figure out what the heck it is. It could be because of a color combination that just isn't right or, for a purse, it could be that I haven't quite figured out how to finish it- wrong handles or lining or....something. These are the things that I've been working on lately. My "oopsies."

When I cut my hair in December, I was working on a Princess Toadstool scarf to match the Mario one I made for my husband. I loved it while I was working on it and had maybe 2 or 3 more hours of work, including weaving in ends. However, there was just something "off" about it, so I stopped working on it. I finally figured out what it was! Actually, there was a bunch of stuff wrong with it....the main scarf was doubly wrong....the yarn itself was irking me and the pink was the wrong pink....the flesh color was not the color I had envisioned....the red was the wrong red....even the construction of the scarf was wrong- I really didn't like seeing the "wrong" side of the scarf with all the hidden ends from the tunisian crochet. It did not please me one bit Sam I Am.

So, I found a nearby Walmart that has not downsized it's craft department and they had the right pink for the main scarf and the right flesh color. W00t! I used Vanna's Choice yarn for the first time and must say that I really enjoyed working with it. Didn't enjoy the price, though. I think it's quite a rip off, actually. But, something so petty as money shan't dictate the genius of the artiste! (Said in my snootiest faux French accent). Thankfully, I found some coordinating colors at Joann's where they were on sale...whew! Anyway, I finally figured out how to construct the scarf in a way that will showcase the Princess while hiding the ugly backside and yet still be functional and, well, pretty. :) I'm finishing it up today, so I'll hopefully have some nice pics to showcase very soon.

I've also been working on my husband's Nintendo blanket...I'm so excited about this one! I have quite a few panels complete, but, again, I want to showcase the big reveal when I'm done. Although, I think I'll end up jumping the gun and showing it when all the panels are complete even though the ends aren't weaved in. I think I'll be weaving in ends for quite a while....

Anywho, that's an update for now. I will be finishing up my Princess scarf and will be shooting a tutorial on my scarves this week. Yay! I really do like shooting the videos. Oh, by the way, I haven't forgotten the video tutorial for lining a bag I promised eons ago. It's just that there was so much footage and we kinda got bogged down in the editing. As much as I'd like putting up a 3 hour video, me thinks it wouldn't be all that enjoyable to watch.....

Until next time....