To Boldly Go Where No Hook Has Gone Before
Exciting news, everyone! My Spock Ears pattern is featured in the newly released book The Star Trek Craft Book: Make it So! now available through Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.
You can buy it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or preferably, through your local brick and mortar book store. Trust me, they need your support!
Although I haven’t gotten a chance to flip through a physical copy yet, I can guarantee it will be a treat for both Trekkies and crafters alike — particularly crafting Trekkies! They really get to experience the Best of Both Worlds, if you know what I mean…
Thanks, everyone!
Yes, I’m still alive.
Hi everyone. I’m sorry for the dearth of posts lately; you can blame my hectic schedule, lack of motivation, and need for an actual social life. Because things have been pretty busy for me lately, I will be taking a short vacation from making Croshame figures for about a month or so and have put the Etsy store on Vacation mode temporarily.
I will try to post more next month; I do have some exciting news which I will be sharing tomorrow, so stay tuned!
DIY at DIA
Last week I traveled back to my hometown of San Francisco, flying out of and back into the Denver International Airport (DIA). Before my departing flight, as I was on my way to the TSA checkpoint alongside one of those people-mover treadmill thingys, I came across a large display of work from local Colorado craftspeople.
The start of the exhibit had a piece done by Denver’s very own Ladies’ Fancywork Society, whose needlecraft work I have seen and admired all over the city since I first arrived back in August.
Needless to say, I was both excited and intrigued as I made my way past the various cases filled with examples of knitting, crochet, sewing, felting and other crafts.
Then, somewhere in the middle of the long line of cases, I discovered a little cubicle set up for passengers and visitors to make their own contribution to the display.
Oh happy day, what a little paradise!
The space provided seating, knitting needles (huge ones!) and a crochet hook, with little cans of yarn and hooks on which to hang the finished work. Several people had already made and hung their donations.
So you KNOW I had to make something and hang it! I didn’t know how much time I would have to wait in the TSA line, so I whipped out quick little tiny something in a couple of minutes.
So that was satisfying and all, but on my trip back I decided I really wanted to show my appreciation to the Denver Airport and the Ladies Fancywork Society for giving the public a crafty respite, so on my plane ride back from San Francisco I made a pretty straightforward crocheted “Thank You” card.
After touching down, collecting my baggage and meeting the husband, we traveled back to the exhibit and I put the ol’ girl up.
Going to SF was like a big chocolate cake, being back in Denver was the yummy icing, but putting my piece up in DIA was the big red cherry on top!
New segment: Hookin’ at the Movies
Wherein I share stills from (oftentimes unwatchable) movies, miniseries and TV shows displaying hilarious, dubious or questionable crochet tendencies.
From A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song :
Ooooh… no thanks. Socks crocheted by Lucy Hale sound about as appetizing as a macrame bra made by Selena Gomez.
2013 means ch-ch-ch-changes
With a new year comes new changes, and this year that adage also applies to Croshame. There will be several differences in the way Croshame operates in 2013, specifically because I’m going to be working on several big projects this year, but also because I’d like to concentrate more on making more fine art and creating new Croshame pieces.
NEW PIECES: Although I will still be making new Antigurumi characters and posting them here on croshame.com, I will no longer be making those featured pieces available for sale through the Etsy store. Don’t fret; there are still a plethora of “classic” Croshame characters that will be available.
COMMISSIONS: I will no longer be accepting commissions, at least for a while.
PATTERNS: I probably won’t be releasing any new patterns this year. This is partly related to one of the aforementioned “big projects” I’m working on, but I won’t mention anything else about that until things are a bit more fully formed.
Thanks to everyone for making 2012 a great year for Croshame! Here ‘s to a 2013 filled with many crass crafts and lotsa laughs.
Innocent Until Proven Gilly
Bonjour, mes amis! This is the luckiest day of the rest of your life, because you get to meet two entertaining guys who are always sure-fire crowd pleasers. Straight from 18th century France…
…it’s Gilly the Guillotine and his BFF, Henri the Executioner!
These two are simply inseparable.
Although he takes his job very seriously, Gilly can be a hysterical cut-up with his razor-sharp wit and ribald (sometimes offensive) humor.
Before getting his executioner’s degree, Henri worked as a foot-corn harvester and briefly as an au pair.
Beheadings and near-decapitations are only part of the fun Gilly and Henri have together. Their favorite BFF pastimes include jokes, farting, fart jokes, berry-picking and imagining what clouds look like.
One thing’s for sure: capital punishment has never been so lovable.
Awwww’f with their heads!
Plush Fiction
Although I’m an ardent cinema lover, I can be a pretty stubborn little mule when it comes to watching certain movies. I generally try to steer clear of most westerns, serial killer movies directed by Ulli Lommel, and just about anything with Vin Diesel in it. And for about 20 years, I avoided the Quentin Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction, telling people, “The only way I’ll watch that film is if someone pays me.”
Well, someone finally paid me.
I was recently commissioned to recreate Uma Thurman’s character Mia Wallace, specifically from the scene in which she’s revived from an accidental heroin overdose with a giant shot of adrenaline.
So, yes, I finally caved in and saw the damn thing. And no, it wasn’t so bad (particularly whilst reassuring myself it was only for research). After watching, pausing, and re-watching Uma Thurman being impaled with a syringe by a doughy, greasy-haired John Travolta, I came up with the following figure…
“A-Mia-gurumi Wallace”
More photos of “A-Mia-gurumi” can be found at my Flickr page here.
Digging Your Own Grave: A Free Pattern
Getting into a scary-looking costume, wearing massive amounts of theatrical makeup, smearing blood all over yourself and scaring the living shit out of people is a damn good time indeed. It’s also what I call a Tuesday. But because Halloween is (possibly) the one day of the year that I can step outside and be myself knowing I won’t be harassed or have trash thrown at me, I still have a soft spot in my heart for the old girl.
So what better way to commemorate the festival of Samhain than to give all my readers a free pattern in celebration of that most wonderful time of the year? Yes, yes, there’s always the oh-so-spooky neo-tradition of donning a skin-tight “sexy” maid or cat outfit and drunkenly vomiting in public… but we all know an Antigurumi crochet pattern is much more satisfactory, right? Uhh… right?
Putting the “fun” back in “funeral” and the “me” back in cemetery, I present to you…
GRAVEYARN!*
©2012 Shove Mink / Photos: Chuck McNary
*Feel free to make these as decorations, costume embellishments, or as gifts to friends — but please, please, please!! For the love of all that’s hallowed, do not sell or distribute this pattern or sell finished products made from the pattern. (I swear it will haunt you to the grave — the real, final, stone one.)
MATERIALS:
- Size “F” (3.75mm) crochet hook
- Worsted weight yarn in light grey, brown, green, and off-white
- Felt in dark grey
- Cardboard
- Fabric glue
- Sharp scissors
- Tapestry or yarn needle
- Tracing paper and pencil
- Stuffing
ABBREVIATIONS:
ch – chain
dc – double crochet
hdc – half double crochet
rnd – round
rs – right side
sc – single crochet
st – stitch
ws – wrong side
yo – yarn over
SPECIAL STITCHES:
Popcorn (Pop): Make 3 dc in the same st. Drop loop from hook, insert hook from front to back into first dc made, pull loop through and ch 1.
Reverse Popcorn (RevPop): Make 3 dc in same stitch, drop loop from hook, insert hook from back to front into first dc made, pull loop through and ch 1.
Loop stitch (Loop st): Insert hook into st and form a loop of yarn around your finger. Moving over the front and around the back of nearest facing side of the loop, grab the farthest facing side of loop with your hook and pull through st (2 loops on hook), yo and pull through both. (Confused much? The effervescent June Gilbank of Planet June has an excellent loop stitch video tutorial available here, which is much easier to understand than written directions.)
PATTERN:
TOMBSTONE (make 2)
With light grey:
On one of the tombstones, leave about a foot-long tail before chaining.
Ch 11.
Row 1. Sc into 2nd ch from hook and continue to end – 10
Rows 2-12. Ch 1, turn, sc 10 across
Rows 13-14. Ch 2 (counts as first hdc), turn. hdc 1, dc 2, tr 2, dc 2, hdc 2.
Bind off and weave in all ends EXCEPT the foot-long beginning tail. Holding both parts of tombstone together, use beginning tail to sew together along sides and top, leaving bottom open.
Trace tombstone shape (along the interior of seam) onto cardboard, cut out and place inside tombstone opening.
Cut out the letters “RIP” from dark grey felt and glue to front of tombstone.
DIRT AND LAWN
With brown:
Ch 14.
Row 1 (rs). Dc in 4th ch from hook, dc in next, pop, dc 3, pop, dc 3.
Row 2. Ch 3 (counts as first dc), turn, RevPop, dc 3, RevPop, dc 3, RevPop, dc in top of turning ch.
Row 3. Ch 3, turn, dc 2, pop, dc 3. pop, dc 3.
Rows 4-9. Repeat rows 2 and 3.
Do not bind off.
Attach green yarn with rs facing up and towards you.
Row 7. Ch 1, but do NOT turn. Sc 1 in each st around both sides and top, making 3 sc in each corner.
Row 8 (ws). Ch 1, turn, and loop st around, making 3 loop st in each corner.
Row 9. Ch 1 and turn. Holding loops down, sc around, making 3 sc in each corner.
Rows 10-11. Repeat rows 8 and 9.
Bind off, weaving in ends of green yarn and leaving tail of brown yarn.
Take brown tail and sew tombstone bottom (through both sides) against the open end of dirt.
Snip loops and trim to give the lawn a grassier look.
ARM
With off-white:
Sc 6 in magic ring (or ch 2, sc 6 in 2nd ch from hook).
Rnds 1-10. sc 6
Stuff and bind off, leaving tail.
FINGERS
Attach off-white yarn to round 1 of arm, then:
[Ch 5, turn, sc 4, sl st in next st] 3 times, then sl st in st below on rnd 2, sl st in next st, ch 4, turn, sc 3, sl st in next st.
Bind off and weave in ends.
Take arm tail and attach open end to the middle upper side of the dirt.
To build a teeny yarn cemetery, make multiple graves and sew them together along the sides with green yarn.
THE END!
If you need additional angles for reference, more Graveyarn photos can be found at my Flickr page here.
Don’t forget to keep the holiday safe! Go out at night in pairs. Keep away from gang colors. Don’t buy masks from the Silver Shamrock Novelties Company. And make sure to take those razor blades out of the Snickers bars BEFORE giving them to trick-or-treaters.
And above all… have a HAPPY, JOYOUS HALLOWEEN!
I know I will.
Plush You 2012
I will have a piece in this year’s Plush You exhibit, held at Schmancy Toys in Seattle, WA!
I really wanted to make three pieces, but with my out-of-state move and resettling (not to mention a violent bout of brutal food poisoning), my hectic schedule only allowed me to finish one piece, which I call The Bunny Trio.
(Sorry about the horrendous quality of the pictures, but “resettling” also entails not having proper photography equipment.)
The big opening reception happens tomorrow, October 12th from 5-9pm, at Schmancy Toys. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend, but if you’re in the area please stop by and support all the fabulous artists. There will be tons of impressive pieces by some of the biggest and most talented names in plush.
Back in Business
As some of you may have read in a previous post, I took some much-needed time off from Croshame to make the move from San Francisco to Denver. It’s been a crazily busy couple of months, but now that I’m somewhat settled and have gotten my yarn and supplies out of storage, I’m ready to start crocheting again.
The Croshame Etsy Store has been reopened, and I’m set to start taking orders and commissions. Anything that’s marked “Ready to Ship” in the listing title is precisely that — a finished product that’s eager to make its way onto your doorstep ASAP.
HOWEVER — if you would like to order something marked in the listing title as “CUSTOM” or you’d like me to make you a special request or commission to be shipped out by the holidays, please get your orders in by November 7th. (Or if you don’t give a toss about Christmas, just order them whenever!)
Unfortunately I have very limited time and arm strength this year and won’t be able to work my crazy speed-crochet magic as I have in years past, so please remember that my two doozies, the Krampus figure and the Exorcist Playset, as well as more specific commissions, can take at least 2-3 weeks to complete.
I’m also hoping to make some neato-keen changes to the site and additions to the gallery and catalog in the upcoming months, so there will be all the more Croshame to love…
…or despise!
Making Croshame a Family Affair
My husband Chuck is a wildly talented individual who enjoys a slew of artistic hobbies: drawing, painting, sculpture, animation, woodworking, photography… yeah, he pretty much does it all.
So it came as a bit of surprise when, as I watched Kristin Omdahl‘s Crochet Corner segment on Knitting Daily one morning, Chuck started asking me to explain what she was doing. Whuuuuhhh… REALLY? Chuck has seen me crocheting for at least 4 hours almost every day for the last three years, but for some reason — maybe it was Kristin’s perky dimples or those professionally smooth KS Inc. close-up shots — something captured his attention this time around and he expressed a sincere interest in learning to crochet.
Without me forcing it on him!
I could just imagine Kristin’s reaction…
Seizing on Chuck’s enthusiasm, I immediately cleared some room on the couch and whipped out my extra hooks and surplus yarn. After a few demos, soothing words, handholding, and the shocking revelation my husband has the opposite hook hold I do, by early evening I was staring from across the room at the surreal sight of Chuck crocheting.
Morning:
Afternoon:
Night:
So now it isn’t so weird anymore, and we have an entire stack of crocheted hats that are fun for the whole family.
Thundercleese, the Metalhead Pomeranian
A couple of months ago I received a commission from a guy asking to have his adorable Pomeranian, named Thundercleese, made into an amigurumi interpretation of a little metalhead.
(The original Thundercleese the Pomeranian)
He said their favorite metal band was Pentagram, so I got to work on some sketches, bought some novelty yarn, and ended up making this little guy.
The fur was made from Patons Divine, then brushed out with a metal comb.
Behind that adorable smile lurks the soul of a real hellraiser!
Yes, even fuzzballs can be tough.
Boys are made out of puppy dog tails, aren’t they?
The teeny tiny Pentagram patch was made from with an iron-on transfer on black felt, then sewn on the sleeveless, crusty denim jacket.
I loved making Thundercleese, and thankfully I had a great source of inspiration sitting right next to me during the whole process…
because after all, I’m a pentagram-loving Pomeranian owner myself.
My pomeranian Manson as a puppy (in 2008).
Moving On Up (and a little to the East side)
Next month my husband and I will be moving to Denver, CO — a pretty big deal for me considering I’ve never lived outside of San Francisco before. I know I’ll miss the foggy ol’ girl, but it’s high time for a change of scenery after shackling myself to the Golden Gate for over three decades.
The Ladies Fancywork Society‘s Blue Bear Installation @ The Denver Convention Center
Unfortunately, conducting business with half-filled moving boxes and my personal belongings piled everywhere is more than a bit challenging, so the Croshame Etsy store will be temporarily closing for a little while starting July 15th. I’m not sure for how long, exactly, but I’m hoping it won’t be more than 1-2 months. Please feel free to make purchases before the hiatus; although some of my more labor intensive custom pieces (Exorcist, Krampus) have been taken down, there’s still a lot of ready-to-ship items and other custom product available. So if you have a hankering for some summertime Antigurumi, be sure to scoop it up!
I know I’ve been pretty lax about blog posting lately, but I’m going to try to continue to post here in the interim as I have some new, non-sale work I’ve been meaning to show off, as well as some other forthcoming projects and scheduled events. Once I’m settled in, I’m hoping things will be back to normal and I can start making and posting new things again, but for right now all my nervous energy is permitting me to do is bust out dozens and dozens of afghan motifs and hexagons.
One thing’s for sure… even if it is currently 90 degrees there, at least I’ll have something to keep me cozy in Denver.
Giveaway winner!
Time to announce the winner of the first Croshame giveaway! The entrants were designated numbers chronologically in order of their purchases, then chosen via a Random number generator.
So congrats to the #1, Jenny, who had originally bought Grimm the Little Black Metal Dude. She will receive an Anton Crochet hat, a set of Croshame stickers, and a Crothulhu print!
A big thank you so much to everyone who made purchases from the Etsy store this month; you’re ALL winners in my book!
Etsy Update 6/3/12… and Giveaway!
Yes, yes, giveaway! But first, let me tell you what’s new in the shop!
I’ve introduced a new option to customize colors when you order a Wolfy Baby or a Viking Hat; just pick the two colors you’d like and I’ll whip ‘em up for you!
Next up, Wolfy Baby’s new distant cousin, Yeti Baby. Available here!
Last but not least, the popular “Anton Crochet” devil cap — as seen at Maker Faire! Found here.
OKAY! Now onto the GIVEAWAY!!
Starting today and lasting through the month of June, anyone who makes a purchase (within the U.S.) from the Croshame Etsy Shop will be automatically entered into the 1st Official Croshame Customer Appreciation Giveaway!
I’ve put together a prize package with the following items (worth over $50!):
- A Croshame sticker set, featuring adorable drawings of Wolfy Baby, Tuggin’ At My Heartstrings and other Croshame creations
- A Crothulhu print
- Your very own Anton Crochet Devil Cap (available in Small, Medium, or Large)!!
All you have to do for your chance to win is to buy something from the Croshame Etsy store! (Again, giveaway applies to orders made within the U.S. only.) Numbers will be assigned to customers in the order that they purchase items. If you purchase more than one item, you’ll be entered more than once! (Oh happy day.) The winner will be chosen via a random number generator and announced on the blog July 1st, and the winning entrant will also be contacted through their Paypal/Etsy email address.
GOOD LUCK!!
A Match Maker’ed in Heaven
As most of you may already be aware due to my multiple recent “reminders,” I spent last weekend selling Croshame products at the Bazaar Bizarre tent at the Bay Area Maker Faire.
Now that the Faire is over and I’ve (somewhat) recovered from the excitement, it’s time to blog all about it!
From the first moment the Faire opened, I had a lot of passers-by who were interested in my stuff…so that was encouraging. I would often see people far out on the fairgrounds crack an “OMG” face in my general direction and make a beeline for my booth. Some folks even recognized the Krampus and Exorcist displays, which were set out above the other shelves of stock.
The beautiful wooden displays and hat rack were handcrafted by my wonderfully talented husband Chuck, who was also a booth assistant extraordinaire that weekend!
Being at Indie Mart last year had prepared me for the likelihood of an onslaught of small children coming to the booth, so I “cleaned up” some of my more saucy pieces a little bit: “Goatse Cheese” was turned into the innocuous “Goat Cheese” (“-se” no evil!), Cairo Sheraton‘s peek-a-boo skirt was only lifted in front of two curious (adult) ladies by request after learning she was “anatomically correct,” and I placed my more PG-rated pieces towards the bottom of the displays and the naughtier ones higher up and out of the reach of small hands.
My prior “kid-friendly” assumptions were proven correct — my booth was a big draw for the wee ones. While a few parents steered their young’uns away once they realized most of my crochet was on the darker side, the majority of parents got the general humor and feel of I was going for and were genuinely supportive.
One Rad Dad even gave me a hug after his little daughter fell in love with her pink She-Wolfy purchase; she had to be one of my favorite pint-sized patrons from the weekend!
I had some new products for sale, like “The Anton Crochet” devil caps I made, which were sold out by the end of the faire.
This guy looked perfectly dapper in his devil cap, like a little brainy Beelzebub.
A lot of people snapped photos of me as I “happily” crocheted away behind my booth. Good thing I kept that lipstick-covered archaic smile plastered on my face.
Photo of Croshame at Maker Faire by Jordan Townsend of EuroVision (facebook.com/jtownsends.art)
I was even interviewed a couple of times for various video projects, which only seemed to prove that I turn into a blathering, incomprehensible cross between Corey Haim on painkillers and Sarah Palin when I’m asked to speak in front of a camera.
There were lots of talented people selling their wares alongside me in the Bazaar Bizarre tent. Our booth was stationed next to the gifted ceramicist Linda Fahey, and over the course of the Faire I got to meet and talk shop with fellow crocheters Narumi Ogawa from Mr. Funky and Steph from Nerd Jerk, who was also a guest juror for the Bazaar Bizarre panel.
I also met the fantastic artist Bill Robinson from Flimflammery, who bought one of my Wolfy pieces. I made sure to get myself one of his fabulous prints as well!
Professor Schnauzer print by Bill Robinson. Available for sale here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/60469896/professor-schnauzer-medium-print
The two days seemed to draw pretty different crowds. Saturday was filled with happy attendees, curious children, and lots of sexy steampunks in leather-tooled top hats, while earlier on Sunday there seemed to be a lot more looky-loos, lollygaggers, and a couple of “I’m too-cool for this” teenagers – although the turnout definitely got a bit more lively towards afternoon time with lots of Utilikilts, more sexy steampunks and Rad Dads. Marvelous Makers were everywhere on both days, of course!
Things got especially exciting near the end of Sunday, when I was presented with an “Editors’ Choice” ribbon from MAKE magazine photo editor Gregory Hayes. SWOON!
I’m so very proud of my ribbon. You like me! You REALLY like me!
The whole shebang concluded with the solar eclipse at the end of the day. (Chuck and I almost resisted singing Klaus Nomi‘s ”Total Eclipse” in high pitched voices, but failed miserably.) Besides an actual observatory, what better place to see an eclipse than Maker Faire, surrounded by robotics geeks, crafty bastards, and real-life science enthusiasts?
One important business lesson was definitely learned, though… next time I’ll probably get (or preferably borrow) some kind of newfangled electronic device to help me accept credit card payments, because — just as the great prophet Huey Lewis predicted — in the 21st century it’s apparently hip to be Square.
All in all, it was great fun and a big success. I got to share my work with a whole new audience, ran into some old friends, and met many fascinating people. And even if I did only get a chance to walk around Maker Faire a little bit (and most of that “little bit” was angrily spent trying to find the frizz-a-frackin’ bathrooms), I also got to see a lot of crazily fantastic projects and displays. I mean, really… where else are you going to see motorized muffins, Super Awesome Sylvia, and needle felted handguns all in the same venue?
MAKER FAIRE this weekend!
One last reminder to everyone that Croshame will have a booth set up this weekend at the Bazaar Bizarre tent at Maker Faire Bay Area, Saturday May 19th from 10am-8pm and Sunday the 20th from 10am-6pm in the San Mateo County Event Center.
I’ve invested many, many hours over the past month and half getting ready for the big show (with some wonderfully helpful assistance from my husband Chuck), so hopefully everything will go as planned and the weather will be cooperative. There will be some classic Croshame pieces as well as some new previously unreleased stuff, so if you’re planning to attend, please come by and check it out. (My Etsy store will be “on vacation” for a little while but will reopen shortly after.)
See you at the Faire!
Tinker, Tailor, Felter, Sigh
My good friend Sarah Scherer is not only an enormously talented hair stylist, but also a gifted fine artist whose subject matter usually centers around teeth, abstracted female genitalia, and naturalistic tree knot formations.
Photos courtesy http://www.sarahschererart.com
So for Sarah’s birthday this year I thought I’d make her an artsy sculpture out of hair (aka wool roving) using some of the thematic elements she loves so much.
Orificial Artifice
2012
Needle felted Corriedale and Merino wool
Approximately 4.5 x 5 x 3.5″ (?)
———————————-
I spent some time working on the piece with one of my favorite needle felting artists and personalities, Moxie, when she held a needle felting Tinkering Studio session at an event called Open Make at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.
Moxie felting with the masses (Photo courtesy Made By Moxie Flickr page)
I was honored to be felting alongside one of my heroes in the field! Watching Moxie patiently instruct both children and adults on the basics of the craft was really interesting, and everyone seemed to be having a great time stabbing wool into shapes. She even turned me on to her environmentally friendly felting foam (available for sale here), a nice departure from the sticky Clover brush mat I usually employ.
Moxie’s eco-friendly foam. (Courtesy www.etsy.com/shop/hifiberkits)
During the making of Orificial Artifice I found myself working more quickly than I had before, using blending brushes for the first time to mix most of the colors (with the exception of the teeth), and beginning to further explore making wrinkles, nooks and crannies within the sculpture that lent themselves to crisper dimensions.
But, perhaps most importantly… I got to put a smile on someone’s face.
(Frightening photo courtesy Karen Wilkinson/The Exploratorium)
Crochetin’ in Blood
I think I speak from experience when I say twisted minds sometimes have too much time on their hands… especially if those hands happen to be attached to the arms of a Slayer fan. (NSFW video evidence here!)
Well, you know what they say… if thine arm offends thee, slice it off.
Uhhh… don’t worry dude, I’m pretty sure it’ll grow back!
This once-menacing hand gesture of “HAIL SATAN” has been unfortunately morphed into the ultra lame, mom-like “YAY! THIS ROCKS!” over recent years.
Needle felted arm carving? Those crazy kids! What’ll they think up next?
DAMN! My favorite bracelet! I knew I forgot something at the show last night!
Available for sale in the Croshame Etsy store here!
Maker Faire, Maker Faire, Make Me a Match
So yeah, this blog has been a little neglected over the last couple of weeks… but there’s a good reason why.
I’ve been accepted into the Bay Area Maker Faire Bazaar Bizarre craft show!
Yes, coming up this May 19th & 20th at the San Mateo Event Center, Croshame will have its very own booth in the Bazaar Bizarre tent at Maker Faire. I’ve been busy as a bee on speed working my tendons into pulp to crochet up my old standard pieces as well as designing some new stuff that will be premiered at the Faire!
CRAFTS! INTERACTIVE EXHIBITS! ROBOTS! FIRE BREATHING DRAGONS! ADAM FREAKIN’ SAVAGE! There are going to be so many wonderfully creative and amazing displays, speakers, teachers and projects that there’s sure to be something for everyone. If you live in the Bay Area or Northern California area (or anywhere else in the world, for that matter), I highly encourage you to attend! Discounted ”Early Bird” tickets are now available through the Maker Faire site.
R.I.P. Kurt Cro-bain
Today marks the 18th anniversary of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s death.
As an angst-filled teen I was a fan of both his music and lifestyle, so when a customer commissioned me to make a Kurt Cobain figure a few months ago I was pleased to do it.
My first reaction naturally was, ”You want him to be dead, right?”, but the buyer assured me she preferred him alive.
Creepiest. Safety eyes. Ever.
That’s Flipper the San Francisco punk band. Not the dolphin.
Yes, Kurt was left handed. Sinister.
It just wouldn’t be 90′s grunge without holey jeans and Chuck Taylors.
“And I swear that I don’t have a gun / No I don’t have a gun.”
Sure you don’t, Kurt.
If only he could have picked up a better hobby than gun collecting…
R.I.P. 1967-1994
Bring in the Spring with a Ring!
Since the Easter/Eostre/Ishtar time festivities are almost upon us, I thought I’d remind “peeps” about the Bunny Ring pattern and tutorial I posted here last year. It’s an easy pattern and very quick to make, so feel free to make a bunch, stick them in those plastic egg thingies and hide them in the grass for all those tiny Easter hunters and gatherers in your life. (Just make sure your pets don’t eat them; trust me, they’ll try.)
Pattern is found here: BUNNY RING
Aaaand the tutorial video is here (WARNING: contains mild expletives, heavy sarcasm, and myriad views of my hideous man-hands):
They’re all going to laugh at you
Believe it or not, I never went to my high school prom. Shocking, I know. It wasn’t due to the fact that I didn’t have a date (I didn’t) or couldn’t afford the ticket (I couldn’t), but I was just very skeptical and apathetic toward the whole school dance situation in general. So instead, I stayed home, ordered a large pizza from Round Table, and watched the best movie ever made…
Carrie (1976).
Even though I’m (long) out of school and no longer required to face the terror of teenage dance-angst, I still watch Carrie about twice a year. On my last viewing, as the school gymnasium burst into flames and various high school students were either burnt to a crisp, crushed or drowned, I knew it was that time again — time to crochet a horror movie tribute!
Presenting…
CARRIE BEAR!
Carrie Bear comes with her own sash, rose bouquet, and bucket of spilled pig’s blood; she’s ready to come home with you and telekinetically set fire to your heart.
Available now at the Croshame Etsy store!
