Retro Gaming Tournament

Here are the highlights of our retro gaming tournament:

- eating wings (of course) AND getting 3 free soft pretzels because of a super nice waitress (who we then cheered and clapped for every time she walked by after that)
- the many, many occasions when someone would have one hit left and then kick the trash out of their opponent for a come-from-behind win (and the subsequent racket that ensued)
- Chuck and I playing Dance Central 2 instead of getting creamed on retro fighting games...
- finding out the James is actually really good at Dance Central 2 despite never playing it before
- seeing all the old video games Nathan made in high school (that he hand drew, pixel by pixel!)

The final standings of the tournament were:
1st: Jordan
2nd: Nathan
tied for 3rd: Jason and Derek
5th: James

The prizes I spent so long slaving over were a set of 4 Mario mushrooms (which I forgot to take a picture of, but I'll insert a pic of the ones I made at Christmas that looked the same).

Originally we were going to give them as a set to the winner, but then we didn't want the losers to be sad. So...

Jordan won one of our bob-ombs (I had two - maybe if I make one to replace it, I'll make it pink so it will be like the one in Paper Mario, Bombette!) and the red Mario mushroom, and everyone else just got a mushroom (Jason got green, Derek got blue, and James got yellow with red spots). And all were satisfied, and now I've made 10 of those mushrooms and given away 9. I'll have to fix that eventually when the crochet bug strikes again.

My Crafty Endeavors

I spend a good chunk of time this afternoon cultivating my crafty side some more. See, my sister-in-law holds a boutique/bake sale every year to raise money for Autism Speaks because my niece and nephew have autism. I live in another state so I can't help out a whole lot, but I can donate crafts at least. :) I'm running a bit behind this year - the boutique is this Thursday - but hopefully my meager contributions will get there in time.

I made five pairs of earrings and four plushie monsters (though to be fair, the crocheting was done already from my Christmas rush; I just had to do the faces and stuff them - so not quite so impressive as you may think).

I am kind of terrible at photographing earrings. But we have blue and purple/green on the left, and turquoise, brown, and purple/yellow on the right.

Yay! More monsters!

Crochet Project: Psyduck

This weekend was General Conference, so I had 8 hours to burn on crocheting while I listened. Nathan requested I make him a Psyduck, and I conveniently had all the right colors. So off I went!

He's about 3.5 inches tall.

I choose you, Psyduck!

I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out. I used #10 crochet thread and a size 7 hook, with ecru, black, white, and yellow (not sure on the exact color name, unfortunately) for the colors. It took me almost exactly 8 hours to make him, which was very convenient. The pattern (linked above) was pretty easy to follow too. (I like her patterns a lot.)

Now on to the next project... we're working on our steampunk goggles some more tomorrow. Hooray!

Baby Shoes

At long last, it is time to unveil the latest crochet project...

Crocheted baby Converse shoes!

In honor of my brother and sister-in-law's newest addition (who could realistically arrive any day now), I decided to finally try this pattern. (You'll probably need a ravelry account to download the pattern; it's not posted online anywhere that I know of.) It was a bit trickier than I am used to - well, okay, not really trickier, but it's very different crocheting shoes than it is plushies. For some reason shoes are more daunting. But I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, overall. I left off the little star medallion on the sides because when I tried it, I didn't like how it looked (even though the pictures online make it look really awesome), but other than that I followed the pattern almost exactly.

The real question is: how long will they actually fit the baby once s/he arrives?

REALLY EXCITING THINGS!

This is my 100th post. And you know what that means....

Giveaway time! 

Here's the deal. I couldn't decide what to give away. I took a poll a while ago and it was a pretty even split across the board between something crocheted, something baked, and a book. So rather than crochet a book and then bake it... I'm going to give away a sweet little package of three unrelated things! (Or shall I say, seemingly unrelated. Since they do all have my interest in common.) 

Item 1:

One of these little guys! Winner can choose the color of the top and spots and I will customize it (as long as I already have those colors - and I do have a LOT of colors). The eyes will be closer together too. Every time I see this one I think his eyes are too far apart.

Item 2:

One copy of N.K. Jemisin's Hugo nominated book The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I read this last year and really enjoyed it, and I think you will too.

Item 3: 

One dozen non-blurry chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. If you live outside of Utah, I cannot guarantee their freshness, but I will bake them within 24 hours of mailing them. 

There. Hopefully that appeals to most of my audience...

Now for the rules. US only (not that I think I have any readers outside of the US, but you never know - and now I really don't since I've gone and alienated them). To enter, leave a comment naming a book or game or link to a recipe you enjoyed recently. If you tweet about this post or share it on Facebook, you can earn up to one extra entry, but let me know in your comment if you did (and mention me in your post to make it easy on me - I'm @WombatWife on Twitter). Lastly, the giveaway closes in ONE WEEK because that puts us right on the ides of March. So comments close March 15th at 9pm MST and I'll post the winner that night in a new post. Winner will be chosen by a random method not yet determined.

And now... I think I should probably consider eating something besides toast for dinner. Yes, it's been one of those evenings.

Crochet Pattern: CTR Shield

I decided last night at midnight that I ought to make something cool for my Primary class at church today, so I made up this pattern for a CTR Shield. I finished making them all at 2 am. Yeah, not my smartest move. (I made 5 total.)

Materials: green yarn, G hook, white felt, glue

Row 1: ch 1.
Row 2: 2 sc in ch 1 from previous row, ch 1, turn. (2 sc)
Row 3: 2 sc in each stitch, ch 1, turn. (4 sc)
Row 4: 2 sc, sc in next two st, 2 sc, ch 1, turn. (6 sc)
Row 5: 2 sc, sc in next 4 st, 2 sc, ch 1, turn. (8 sc)
Row 6: sc in next 8 st, ch 1, turn. (8 sc)
Row 7: sc in next 8 st, ch 1, turn. (8 sc)
Row 8: sl st in next 2 st, sc, dc decrease in next 2 st, sc, sl st in next 2 st, ch 1, turn.
Row 9: sl st in next 3 st, sc in top of dc decrease from previous row, sl st to end of row, finish off.

Weave in ends.

Cut out the letters CTR from the white felt and glue them onto the green shield. Mod Podge is not ideal for this, incidentally, though I discovered that fact TOO LATE. So use some other kind of craft glue.

If desired, glue pin backings on to the back to make them into pins. (I wanted to do this but did not have a hot glue gun available to do so... fail.) Another easy adaptation is to crochet a basic band onto it to make it into a bracelet.

Each shield took about 5-10 min to crochet, and cutting out/gluing on the letters was the tedious part. But still, I did the whole thing from making up the pattern to finishing five in under 2 hours (with some aborted ideas along the way) so it's not a super intense project. I would estimate you can crank one out from start to finish in about 20 min tops. Finished product is about 1 in square.

Mission Calls, Milkshakes, and Mysteries

Nathan's brother received his mission call today, so we went over to his apartment to watch him open it. He was called to the Donetsk, Ukraine mission (Russian speaking) and leaves June 6! Pretty exciting stuff. His aunt taught school in Ukraine, so he already has an "in" with the people. XD

We recorded a video; if you really want to see it, let me know and I'll email it to you. 

Then we got a quart of ice cream, came home, and made milkshakes. Mmmmm. Here, I'm so generous that I'll even include the recipe! 

Chocolate Milkshakes

- 3 large-ish scoops vanilla ice cream

- some milk

- some chocolate syrup

Blend until well mixed. Add more milk and continue blending until it reaches the desired consistency. If you are feeling super on top of things, freeze/refrigerate the glasses beforehand so that the milkshake melts more slowly.

Makes one large milkshake.

I find milkshakes are best when you use vanilla ice cream for the base and mix in your chosen flavors as you go. Much more versatile. For example, I throw in strawberries when I have some that are fresh. WAY better than strawberry ice cream, IMHO. 

As for the mystery alluded to in the title... well, I started a new secret crochet project. I haven't decided how secret yet, but I'm almost half done so you'll probably find out within a week anyway.

Crochet Cactus, attempt #2

Remember when I made my sister a cactus for Christmas to remind her of warmer climes during the frigid winter where she lives?

Well, I tried again, this time with #10 crochet thread and a slightly different pattern. It's still found here, but it's pattern #2 instead of #1.

Here are the results:

It's about 2 inches tall.

And another angle:

No face this time. I forgot to do one until it was too late.

It is clearly not as rounded as the original maker's was, but I think it still turned out decent. I'm not sure how she got the dirt to stay down though. I guess I'll just have to practice some more. :)

Hobbes is finally complete! And a TV show suggestion.

After 3 weeks of procrastinating, I finally finished Hobbes' tail. 

And now he will go to work to sit on Nathan's desk with Super Meat Boy and an Angry Bird.

As for the pattern, it is excellent practice if you need to work on your color changing skills when you crochet! You an still kind of tell where I switch in the picture if you know what to look for (the zig zaggy look at the end of the tail? that's from the color changes), but it's vastly improved from when I first started (I hid my first attempts with the white tummy patch).

We watched the first 3 episodes of QI (Season 9) while I did the tail. QI is a quiz show (sort of) that airs in Britain. It stands for "Quite Interesting", and the whole point of the show is to ask impossibly obscure questions about random, little-known facts (and also disabuse people of commonly held misconceptions). Stephen Fry is the host and then they get various British comedians to come on to the show each episode. It is hilarious and, at the same time, quite interesting (for example, did you know chips and other starchy, crunchy foods like that are more likely to contribute to cavities than sugary snacks? This is because the starch breaks down into sugar over time, but the chips stick in your teeth for longer and don't dissolve as readily as the sugar, which dissolves in your saliva pretty rapidly). In short, it is well worth watching, and it makes me wonder why the UK can put out such higher quality tv shows than the US.

Epic Plushie Collection Revealed!

Our updated plushie family...

From left to right, more or less:
Back row: Bob-omb, Peashooter, Turret, Bob-omb II, Hobbes, White Mage Chocobo, The Maw, Sunflower, Super Meatboy, Companion Cube.
Front row: Pichu, Angry Bird (black), Super Mario Invincibility Star, Angry Bird (red), Mario Mushroom, Turtwig, Little Monster, Yoshi, Angry Bird (yellow), Pokeball, Angry Bird (blue), Yoshi Egg, Slime, Link, Leafeon.

Can you guess the source material for each one? Most of them shouldn't be too tricky...

Here's another arrangement... they spread out to take over the whole love seat!

The Rest of the Crochet Stuff

Having family come to visit really messes up all my intentions of posting every day... oh well. :) I think it's worth spending time with them.

And now for the last two crochet creations from Christmas...

A carrot for my dad (again only available for download as a PDF on Ravelry) - #10 crochet thread

A happy cactus for my sister (first pattern from the link, smile added on a whim... also I could NOT figure out how to get the dirt to stay down in the pot like it was supposed to; I swear my yarn was stretchier than theirs or something). I think I might try one of those patterns again in #10 thread instead to see if that works better.

We also got a pretty awesome present from my brother. We asked for gray floor mats and got... 

I rather like them. They are "gray on average".

I also received, among other things, lots of kitchenware, a filing cabinet, a few DS games, and lots of chocolate.

I hope you all have been having a wonderful Christmas break as well. I'm a little sad that I didn't take tomorrow and Friday off of work too, but it's too late for that now. At least I get a three day weekend after that. XD

Crochet Extravaganza!

I made lots of crochet gifts this year... so this post is mostly a picture blitz with links to each pattern.

Fierce little dragon... in honor of Skyrim (it's a PDF download available for free on Ravelry). Made from #10 crochet thread.

A little money purse (adapted from here - I only did a starting row of 14 chain st though, and then made as many rows as it needed to look like the right shape. The flap was also many fewer rows as a result but the basic pattern remained the same.). Made from some kind of soft acrylic yarn.

Mario mushroom collection - made from #10 crochet thread

Hobbes - aka the present that took until 3am Christmas Eve! (The tail will be added on this week... it was not a necessity for the present opening when it came right down to it.) Made from #10 crochet thread.

Yoshi (Man, this pattern takes a LONG time... and has a lot of pieces to put together in the end.)

Yoshi from a different angle. Made from #10 crochet thread.

Elfin booties (for an incoming niece/nephew) - I swear they look the same size in real life. I have no idea what is going on in the picture. Made from a wool/acrylic blend of yarn.

There are a few more that I missed getting pictures of, but I'll post them soon!

Christmas Crocheting

At long last, I can unveil one of my Christmas surprises!

I made each of my nieces and nephews a little crocheted plushie monster this year. Nathan helped quite a bit with all the faces, which was the really important part. And now for pictures (grouped by family):

The Princess and the Pirate

The second one from the right has spikes on its back.

Blue is popular in this family.

We had fun making these! I thought they turned out pretty cute overall. Now I just need to make one for myself...

Bob-omb

This is another favorite pattern I've found: a Bob-omb from Mario. I've actually made two of them so far, but my husband took the first one to work already to decorate his desk. You get TWO pictures of this one, so as to fully appreciate him from all angles: 

I used this pattern, except as you can probably tell I mixed up the colors a bit after consulting the reliable source of "Google image search". Plus it is freaking impossible to find gray #10 crochet thread. I looked everywhere for it, because I wanted it for a different pattern that I haven't tackled yet. I still have two possible stores in my city to check out, but the three I've looked at so far have failed me. I did get some very thin yarn to try as an alternative, but we'll see if it ends up working or not. Anyway, I am quite pleased with this particular endeavor. I used #10 crochet thread and my trusty #7 hook again with white, black, and yellow thread and fiberfill stuffing. He turned out about 1 1/2 inches tall.

If I do this pattern again I may eliminate one of the white rows on the cap to make it a little shorter because every time I look at him it strikes me as abnormally tall, but that's probably just me.

Super Mario Invincibility Star

I've been on a Mario kick lately with crocheting. Maybe it's because there are so many free patterns out there for Mario-themed amigurumi... Anyway, I liked the way this one turned out:

Pattern found here. I used #10 crochet thread (again - I use it for most of my projects) and a #7 hook. I even had lots of help from my in-laws' kitties! (I made it while visiting them over Thanksgiving.) It is about 2 inches tall and maybe half an inch wide.

More Mario themed objects to come - I've been busy lately. :)

Homage to Dragon Quest

I played Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (on the DS) last year as my first introduction to the series, and I must say I was quite enchanted (even though it's impossible to 100% that game). Then I played Rocket Slime a few months ago and it further solidified my appreciation of slimes. So when I saw this crochet pattern, I had to try it out. Here's the result:

I made it with crochet thread #10 instead of yarn so it's only about 2 inches tall and SO CUTE. Making the tip was the trickiest part but I am quite pleased with how he turned out!