Super Mario Blanket Love on the Interwebs

Last year at this time, I was spending 8-12 hours a day (yes, seriously) sitting on my ever expanding rear end watching Gilmore Girls and Avatar: The Last Airbender while obsessively creating my surprisingly popular Mario Blanket.  I really can't believe it's been a year- 2009, I hardly knew thee.  

It's been amazing to see where this thing has ended up.  I posted it on Crochetville first.  Then, over at Craftster.  (Btw- I am a Best of Craftster 2009 winner!) That's where it got a life of it's own.  Boing Boing picked it up and then it exploded all over the place.  I also listed it on my Ravelry page (user name: Gege.....duh).  I listed it at the end of March and found out that the deadline for nominations for the Bobby Awards was April 1.  At the time, I had no idea what the heck the Bobby awards were, but here we are nearly a year later and I find that I've been nominated in not one, but TWO categories!  Geekiest Pattern and Best Personal Pattern Project.  If you are on Ravelry, please be sure to vote for my blanket- voting closes Monday. :)  Thank you to everyone who nominated me and to those of you who have voted. It truly is such an honor to be nominated. (But, dang, it sure would be better to WIN! Just keeping it real, folks.)

In addition to the numerous tweets and wists, here's a list of a various websites/blogs on which I've seen it posted. Since many sites will show a picture of the blanket and not provide a link to my blog, I wasted my entire evening and googled myself and this blanket obsessively for hours. If you found it on another site, let me know!

Boing Boing
WiiNintendo
Sprite Stitch  (I had posted it in the forums first)
ThreadBanger
RugRag  
FaveCraftsBlog
EpicWinFTW  
Slash Gamer 
I-am-bored
ibored
Geek Central Station 
Craftster Manic Monday
GeekSpective 
1nation 
CraftyCrafty
I Am The Manta
Nerdism Is Sexy
Technabob (though not the blanket...it's for my Princess Scarf, which is pretty awesome in and of itself, but.....hello!? Did you not see this crazy awesome blanket?? Gosh!) (/Napoleonic (Dynamite) rant)
Geeks With Issues 
GoNintendo
That Girl's Site  

It was also in the Official Nintendo Magazine (UK) Fan Art section in May/June 2009 and someone mentioned they saw it in NGamer, as well (it would have been nice to have been notified about these things so I could have gotten a copy.....) 

Thanks for all the comments, compliments and overall geek love for my work.  It truly has been amazing.

Win Win Win!

Today was a great day. We've been snowed in for quite a while now due to the insane amount of snow that has blanketed the east coast. Let me rephrase that- my husband has been snowed in due to the snow. He's been home since the storms (yes, plural) started last Friday. I, on the other hand, have a 4-wheel drive SUV (don't judge me) and work at a place that scoffs at the notion of blizzard-like conditions.

This is me last Saturday. We got over 3 feet of snow total this week.


While dear hubby was at home bemoaning the woes of acute cabin fever, I was traversing the land risking life and limb to bring home the bacon. I am a Nutritionist. I actually like my job and am very appreciative to have employment right now. However, I am not an essential employee- I'm pretty sure folks will survive The Blizzard of 2010 without their Nutritionist telling them to not eat yellow snow.

Again, I'm very thankful for my job. However, I would have loved to have had a week off to work on my projects. I have a whole heck of a lot of ideas to get out of my head and fleshed out into yarn-y goodness or actually onto paper and not a whole lot of time to do it in. I've been promising some patterns for months now and am ashamed that I've not followed through in a timely manner. Sure, I have provided some free patterns (minus the Watermelon Hat pattern- seriously, it is coming!), but the ones that I am going to offer for sale have to be tested and edited and otherwise prettified for public consumption. It's so easy to make one thing once- it's not so easy for me to write it down while I'm making it and then making it again to make sure I wrote it down correctly.

HOWEVER. I am getting it done. For example, I promised a while back that my Watermelon Tote Bag pattern was going to be posted. I worked on the second bag this summer so that I could write down the pattern. This is a pic of me at Summer Camp at the end of June working on it.



I FINALLY finished the purse a month ago because I received an order for it. I have the pattern written down and am making it a third time just to get pictures to accompany the pattern. Looky- here's a screen cap (not final product):



See! New Years resolution WIN! I hope to have the pattern completed this week. I have a few more pictures to take and then off to Etsy it goes!

Now, getting back to my opening line of "Today was a great day." You see, I really wanted to stay home today so that I could finish my pattern as well as work on the Turtle Bag pattern (I'm making the second bag now). However, my hubby truly was about to die from cabin fever (mainly because I was about to kill him for interrupting me the umpteenth time to tell me how bored he is). He wanted to go skiing or see a movie or go on a road trip or anything that got him out of the house. So, I, being the brilliant lass that I am, suggested driving to the nearest Hobby Lobby.....which is an hour and 20 minutes away. COMPROMISE WIN!

While he did the driving (I did enough this past week, thank you very much), I was able to work on my Turtle Bag. Then, we got to do some retail therapy at one of the best stores in the world. I scored some yummy cotton yarn on clearance- win again! I then used said yarn to work on a bag concept I've had tumbling through my head for a while. Another win! We hit a couple other stores that were in the area (including a Joanns and AC Moore!) and then ate dinner at Carrabbas. So, I got to work on some crochet, bought some yarn and other crafty goodies, placated my hubby's need for freedom, AND had a date all in the same day! WIN WIN WIN!

Hey Vancouver- where's my gold medal?

New Year, New Beginnings

Hello to all the peoples in the world(s). Wow. What an insane few months this has been. Heck, what an insane week it has been! I live outside of the DC metro area so I've been basically snowed in since the weekend. Sure, there's a butt load of snow out there now (we got 30 inches on Saturday) and even more coming tonight/tomorrow (another foot in the forecast), but I can't complain. It sure makes for great crafting time!

I know that I've been MIA lately. I'd love to say that I had a fabulous Christmas and New Years and that everything has just been feasting and fun. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me. Unfortunately, we had a loss in our family, so 2009 ended with a lot of dread for the inevitable and 2010 began with the fulfillment of that dread. It's been a really tough few months.

I think one of the ways I coped in these last few months was by letting my creative juices flow. And, man! I have been busy! I have 4 new bags (all new designs) to line. One is my Traveling Turtle Bag.


For the picture, I just pinned on the straps, stuffed it full of yarn to give it some heft, and pinned it close. That's my sis modeling it- she got stuck by the pins- hee! I have a fabulous fabric with which to line it and I'm adding a zipper. I had a few motifs left over from this bag (it was going to be ginormous!) so I made a Turtle Handbag, as well (one of the 4 awaiting to be lined). As soon as I type up this pattern, I'll be offering it on Etsy.





Another bag I've designed is the Not Quite Mitered bag. I have the fabric for this one, but can't locate the perfect handles.....soon, my pretty.....soon. This one was actually done with tunisian crochet. People have asked how I come up with designs- I'll be blogging about that soon with this project as the example. I LOVE this bag.



Another bag is called Purple Haze- it's a great travel bag and is rather large. I actually just felted it today, so I'll have pics of that beauty very soon.

In addition to the bags, I've been working on some hats. I made another cat-eared hat.

This one is called Holy Eartha Kitt Batman! I'll be writing this one up, too.










Next, I have a Pixie hat that I had mentioned a few months ago. I got this beautiful purple yarn as a mill end at AC Moore. I have no idea what it is, but I have 4 pounds of it. It’s absolutely gorgeous! I made it into a scarf from my Pinky LaRue pattern- it was awesome! …..Until I tried it on. It must have wool from a porcupine in it. The most uncomfortable scarf IN THE WORLD! However, when I made it into this hat, it was bearable. I wanted a pixie hat with a scarf/tie on it, but that will be the next one I make with a more comfortable yarn. I really did love how this pattern came out, though.

Now to make a Purple Porcupine purse…….hmmm…..

This one is the Not Quite Mitered Hat. I wore it to AC Moore and a lady would not stop staring at my head. She asked if it was handmade and if so, if someone made it for me.....harumph! She knits and crochets but couldn't figure out how I did it. It was quite creepy, really. Yet, strangely a nice ego boost at the same time....ha!








I made a peppermint hat, too, and will have the pattern's minty goodness up soon.










Also, I'm working on a SMB themed hat, as well. Very fun!! In addition to these projects, I've made my Pinky LaRue scarf 4 more times- one for my sis (she felted the nice pink one I made earlier), one for my friend, one for my mom, and one for me. YAYAYAY!

SO, as you can see, I've been a busy little bee. One of my New Years resolutions has been to actually write down my patterns. I love creating all these loverlies, but it's a pain in the butt to write and test the patterns!! But, Ima gonna do it!!

Ok, that's enough updating for now. Even though 2009 ended quite suckily and 2010 didn't get off to the greatest start for me, I'm a natural optimist, so, here's to an amazing new year and new decade!!

Peace out homies.

Tis the Season for Giving! Free Pattern

Hello All! I love this time of year. :) The Holiday Season is my favorite- I love all the cooking and decorating and the snow....I love it all! I woke up today seeing a beautiful white blanket of snow on the ground- it's still coming down- LOVE it.

As I said in my last post (over a month ago- geez....time flies....), I have been in a creative bent and finally have the time to sit and type up a very cute pattern to share. It's one of many coming down the pike. However.....before I get there, here's a rundown of the last month....

Each year for Halloween, my church holds a Hallelujah party for the kids- it's a safe place for the kids (and parents) to come and have fun and load up on tons of candy without having to knock on strangers' doors. My sis, hubby and I volunteered for the event. Being the creative sorts that we are, my sis and I made our costumes- it was so fun!

For those of you not up on your Disney and Carroll characters, we were, of course, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

Teehee! From the crocheted hats (created by yours truly- pattern coming soon), to the handmade skirts, we made it all. We have some matching red tights and black ballet flats to complete the ensemble. We wanted my hubby to dress as Alice to make our duo a trio, but no such luck. He can be such a party pooper sometimes.... Granted, he wasn't the only adult not dressed up for the event....as a matter of fact, other than my sis and I, there were 4 other adults dressed up. Um....yeah. Turns out we were a hit and were recruited to do the puppet show for next year- something about us being creative and dramatic or some such nonsense...

I was out of town the first week of November for work- but I got to work on a travel bag that I'm super excited about- need to line it and then it'll be ready for it's debut. LOVE IT. Then, I had to prepare for my dad's visit for Thanksgiving. His b-day was that week, as well, so we had a blast. As I mentioned before, I used to do drywall finishing with my dad for 6 years when I was a kid. Painting was my area of expertise. Well, my dad offered to help us paint the entry way/foyer of our house. It took 2 days and 3 different colors, but it came out BEAUTIFULLY. It was great working with my dad again- sometimes it really is hard living so far from family.... *le sigh* This time of year makes me nostalgic.....

Ok, enough jibber jabber- on to the crochet!

I was going through a book of crochet stitches and came across one that really caught my eye. I thought it'd make a great scarf- and so it did! I found some Moda Dea Bamboo Wool in Boysenberry on clearance so I bought a ton and was waiting for the perfect inspiration to hit. When I found this stitch, I knew it was time to pull out that delicious yarn. It was great to work with and drapes really well! Here is Pinky LaRue (named by my sis- my mom used to call her that b/c she wore pink all the time).

At first I made it for me- but my sister wanted it. Then, one of my BFF's fell in love with it, so I made her an identical one. I have enough yarn left for another scarf- for ME- but have yet to make it. *sigh* Luckily it's a quick project- very easy pattern repeat. Here's a detail shot:

If you continue the pattern repeat, you can make it into a shawl- here's Blackie LaRue Shawl:

And, here's the pattern!!

Pink LaRue Scarf or Blackie LaRue Shawl

MATERIALS
Pink WW yarn- about 5oz for the scarf; ~ 14oz for the shawl.

Size 5 mm (U.S. H/8) crochet hook
Yarn or tapestry needle for finishing


GAUGE
Not important

NOTE:
Chain multiples of 7 + 1 to make longer if you wish.

Ch 3 counts as 1st dc

ABBREVIATIONS & TERMS
sc = single crochet

dc = double crochet

FPsc = Front Post Single Crochet (Insert hook from front to back to front again around the post of designated st, yo, draw yarn through, yo, draw yarn through 2 loops on hook.)

repeat instructions between asterisks as many times as directed

INSTRUCTIONS

Chain 190.
Row 1: 1 sc in 2nd st from hook. 1 sc across. 189 sc. Chain 6. Turn.

Row 2: Dc in second sc, dc in each of next 2 sc. *ch 4, skip next 4sc, dc in each of next 3 sc; rep from * across to last 3 sc, ch 2, skip next 2 sc, dc in next sc, turn.

Row 3: Ch 3, 3 dc in next ch-2 space. *Skip next dc, FPsc around the post of next dc. Skip next dc. ** 7 dc in next ch-4 loop; rep from * across, ending last rep at **. 3 dc in ch-2 space of turning ch. dc in next ch of turning ch. Turn

Row 4: Ch 3; skip first 2 dc, *dc in next dc, ch 4, skip next 3 sts. Dc in next dc, skip next dc **. Dc in next dc, skip next dc; rep from * across, ending last rep at **. Dc in 3rd ch of turning ch. Turn.

Row 5: Ch 1. FPsc around the post of the first dc. *skip next dc. 7dc in next ch-4 loop. Skip next dc**. FPsc around the post of next dc; rep from * across, ending last rep at **. Dc in 3rd ch of turning ch. Turn.

Row 6: Ch 5 (counts as dc, ch 2), skip first 2 sts. *dc in next dc, (skip next dc, dc in next dc) twice**. ch 4, skip next 3 sts; rep from * across, ending last rep at **. ch 2, skip next dc. dc in last sc. Turn.

Repeat rows 3-6 4-times for scarf; 18-times for shawl (or for width desired).

Last 2 rows: repeat row 3 & 4.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

Copyright 2009 Gege Crochet. All rights reserved. Pattern available for personal use only- please don't sell it- that's just not cool. Please don't post this pattern anywhere- you can provide a link back to here, though.

As always, if you find a mistake with this pattern, please let me know!! Enjoy!!!

I'm Allllive!

Soo, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Actually, I've been quite busy with some designs for scarves, hats, and bags. When I get an idea in my head, it's very difficult to let it go until I'm done with it. That being said, I've been on a huge creative bent recently and have 3 hat designs (including an awesome pixie hat- I've had that in mind for a loooong time), 2 or 3 scarves, and potentially 2 bags- all that I've been working on simultaneously. What? Moi? ADHD? Never! Now that I have a couple of them complete, I'll be posting pics soon.

Also, my sis and I are working on our costumes for next weekend- I soooo hope we'll be able to complete them in time! I did crochet some articles for those costumes, and that wasn't included in my tally above. Seriously, I've been all over the map!

Ok- back to my creative hovel. Pics and even *gasp!* patterns to come soon......