Category: Crafts

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Krampus Challenge – Day 30, Crochet Krampus in progress

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Crochet Krampus in progress!

It’s NOT a bunny!

 
I’m still cleaning up the cross-stitch pattern, but I decided to switch gears for today, so at the very end of the month I started an entirely new project – a crochet Krampus amigurumi.

I realize that right now he looks like the disembodied head of a zombie bunny, but I think once I add the horns, beard, and body, he’ll look more goat-like. Regardless of how he looks, my 2-year-old nephew has already made it clear he wants this little guy. It will be up to his mother if he gets it.

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Krampus Challenge – Day 29, The Last of the Shrunken Elf Heads

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Four Shrunken Elf Heads

I think this may be my Christmas card next year!

What do you think? The elf on the far right has ears. I think ears make it look more elfie, but I also think I might want to sew them on a bit differently. I don't know though.

Here's a closer look at Elf #4.

Elf #4

Look at dem ears!

I think I'm done making elves for the rest of this season. I've got one more project in mind, aside from the cross-stitch pattern, which may or may not be done in the next two days. I'll have to see how New Year's Eve goes.

 

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Krampus Challenge – Day 28, Cross-Stitch Krampus?

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Cross-Stitch Krampus in progress

Krampus is looking a little cross...

Yes, I decided to go one step farther with the drawing I posted yesterday. I bought StitchSketch for my iPad and imported the image of the drawing into StitchSketch. It was not a perfect translation from drawing to pattern. I am still learning a lot about the program, and have a lot of cleaning up to do on this pattern. However, I think it has promise. I'll keep working on it over the next few days.

The other thing I need to do over the next few days is figure out what theme I should do for January. I usually dread January and February. Those two months make up the worst part of Girl Scout cookie season, and they're usually so painfully cold and dreary. This year, I want to make January and February more fun, or at least more tolerable. So I'm trying to decide on some themes that I will enjoy the most.

The first option is “Unfinished Business.” I have several projects lying around the house that need to be finished up. Some of these require more effort than others. I was thinking of picking 3-4 unifinished project to start with and knock them out one at a time until they were done, and then finish up more projects until the month is done.

My second option is to spend the month sewing. Pixie has a new sewing maching and she loves it! We went out today about bought a bunch of fleece to make pillows and cozy things with. I have a book on kawaai sewing that I would LOVE to get to work on, as well as several patterns that I've got the fabric for, but never got started on.

Which leads me to my third option for January's theme – “Creature Comforts.” It would in many ways combine options one and two, as I have several unfinished projects that would be very cozy once finished, and I have a list of several new projects that would also be cozy too.

Actually, now that I think about it, the “Creature Comforts” theme would be the best theme. I don't know how cold January is going to be, but it would be nice if I finally finished that granny-square blanket I started last year, and then I could sew a nice kawaii pillow to go with it, and make myself some new clothes, and finish up some unfinished paintings so I have something nice to decorate the house….

Yeah, I think we've settled this matter. Next month, it's “Creature Comforts!” I think we'll all enjoy this one 🙂

 

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Krampus Challenge – Day 26, Krampus Kawaii

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Krampus Kawall!

I have big plans for this little guy.

 
I spent a little time playing in Assembly this evening. They have a few shape packs available for free download right now, if you’re interested in checking out the app. It comes preloaded with some nice packs, but more shape packs are available for sale. And yes, this does export as vector.

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Krampus Challenge – Day 25, A special elf for me

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Special shrunken elf head

“Can you ‘ear’ me know?”

 
It’s Christmas Day. I got VERY little sleep last night, staying up to finish off wrapping presents and setting up little surprises for the girls. And then Pixie wanted me to get her up early so she could make the family a special Christmas breakfast of strawberry cream cheese sandwiches and ice cream. That’s when I discovered the dishwasher was totally full but wasn’t working, and I managed to wash 5 sinkfuls of dishes before Hubster (who KNEW the dishwasher wasn’t working) decided to flip the circuit breaker and voila! The dishwasher was now fixed. And also empty because I’d already hand-washed everything.

On the bright side, it was a slow, liesurely day. The kids tore through a mountain of presents and were very happy with (and even thankful for) what they received. Hubster was happy with his gifts too (more kitchen wares and dishes for me to wash… grumble, grumble…). And I got some very nice gifts, including a whole bunch of Studio Ghibli movies and some classic horror books.

Princess chased the cats with her new BB-8 while Pixie assembled her new Hot Wheels RC car, and I kind of stumbled around trying to pick up all the torn wrapping paper, or get the kids to pick up the torn wrapping paper, and sometimes even the cats picked up the torn wrapping paper, so I suspect we may get some very nicely wrapped gifts showing up in the litter box later this week, if you know what I mean.

And in between all this, I found time to work on a special shrunken elf head for myself. This guy is made with Vanna’s Choice yarn and he’s going to have EARS in addition to stitched on eyes and mouths. I think the ears really help sell the whole “shrunken head” thing.

And that was our Christmas Day. Oh, one more thing. Our household Krampuses (Krampii?) decided to come out and play in the tree. Here are a couple shots of the little buggers. 

Pink Krampus

“I see England, I see France!”

 
 
Green Krampus

“I see STAAAAAARS!!!”

  

Yes, that is underwear they’re carrying up into the tree. Don’t ask me why. It’s just what they do. Merry Christmas ya’ll.

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Krampus Challenge – Day 23, A Wicked Skirt

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So I’ve switched gears from crochet to sewing and am back at work on my outfit for Christmas Eve Mass, better know around here as “Drag-Your-Buddhist-to-Church Day.” I’ve got a lovely long skirt in pieces at the sewing machine right now, and I decided I wanted to applique something to it. So I spent the evening cutting out this…

 

Pirate Girl panel

“Ahoy there, ye scurvey dogs!”

 
Gorgeous, isn’t she? And she has two sisters, just waiting to be cut out as well. I think I’m only going to get this one appliqued to the skirt, but it’s a perfect match for the colors of the skirt fabric! And it will go with the Krampus Cowl I made at the beginning of the month. So I should look wonderful for tomorrow evening 😀

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Krampus Challenge – Day 22, Krampus Raven #2 is finished!

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Two Krampus Ravens

These ain’t two turtle doves!

 
Yay! I finally got the second Krampus Raven finished this evening. You can see that the colors match pretty closely. I didn’t have a dark grey for the smaller bird, but the dark maroon and black match perfectly, and I even had a smaller pair of the same kind of safety eyes! The only other difference, aside from the light grey/silver yarn, is the shape of the belly. I think I accidentally added a couple rows to the belly of the smaller raven, because it didn’t sew up the same as the  larger one, but other than that, they’re a perfect match!

I’m going to put the small one on my Krampus Tree, and the larger one on the Christmas Tree! And then, I’m going to move on to the next project! Taa!

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Krampus Challenge – Day 21, The Second Krampus Raven in Progress

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Krampus Raven in Progress!

What a pretty little birdie!

 
I realize it’s very hard to see the colors on this, but this raven will be black and very dark maroon with just a touch of sliver-grey. The little pointed round pieces are the wings, and they are maroon with black embroidery on them. I could have used colors with more contrast, but this is suppose to be a raven after all!

I should have this assembled by tomorrow. The next project after that will be to make a long skirt to go with the Krampus Cowl I made at the beginning of the month. It’s also going to be in dark colors – black with dark purple vines on it, and appliques of pirate girls! Perfect to wear to Christmas Eve Mass 🙂

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Krampus Challenge – Day 20, Three Elf Heads Are Better Than One!

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Shrunken Elf Heads!

Ta-daa! A trio of shrunken elf heads!

 
I managed to get these three finished today. I’m very pleased with how they turned out. They’re a very simple project, but even simple projects take a bit of planning and thought.  I experimented a bit with each elf hat to determine exactly how I wanted to make it. Small things – like crocheting in the front loop only on the bottom row – make it easier to assemble the final product.

I also noticed a few things about the yarn I used for these. For the most part, I went with Red Heart. Red Heart has plenty of shades of green and red, and some of the greens are perfect for making zombies. However, some of these yarns were more difficult to work with than others. Some of the reds had a stiffer feel to them, making them harder to stitch. One of the heads I made with Vanna’s Choice, which is one of my favorite yarns to make toys and amigurumi with. The difference between your basic Red Heart and Vanna’s Choice is very noticeable. Vanna’s Choice is much softer and easier to use. But it’s also more expensive, so there’s that to take into account.

I also did a little sketch today of my little shrunken elf heads.

 

Elf Heads Sketch!

This is exactly what our tree looks like right now.

 
I drew this in a book called “Never Quit Drawing,” by Laura Simms, illustrated by Kerby Rosanes. The little duck and snail critters at the lower left of this sketch are Rosanes’ work, as is the pencil at the top of the page. The rest of the artwork is all mine. The idea behind “Never Quit Drawing” is to establish a daily drawing habit. The book guides you through the process of developing habits in general, and looking at how drawing habits affect an artists work in particular. After each chapter, there are pages for the reader to draw on, with a spot to write down the time of day the drawing was done, and the mood/energy level of the artist. Obviously, i wasn’t feeling my best this morning (see the note on “tired, joint pain’). But i did get my drawing done for today.

TTomorrow, I hope to finish off the second Krampus Raven and maybe get started on a Ginger-Dead Man ornament. We’ll see how it goes.