St. Patrick's Day Crochet Shamrocks

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Even though I'm The Crafty German, I've got some Irish blood in me, so I have to celebrate and remember to wear green. But, it can be easy to forget, especially on a work day, so here's a quick crochet project to get in the spirit and ensure you'll have something green on you.

Last year, I had only been working with my company for a little over a month on St. Patrick's Day. It was a small company though so I was already getting along with my coworkers. Apparently a coworker hired a month before I was had the same idea as me, because she brought in pins for all of us and I brought in these crochet shamrocks. 

I modified a pattern I found to make flowers for a hat to make some 3-leaf clovers.  I used 1 piece of yarn instead of two pieces and repeated step 2 for three petals instead of five or six.  Then, I finished with a chain of 6, turned, and single crocheted in each chain stitch.  Lastly, I did a slip stitch into the ring to finish.

They came out really cute and hardly take any time to make!  You can even sew safety pins to the back to make them wearable.

My Nerdy Valentine

I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's day, except for the chocolate and the excuses to get crafty.  I also like getting stuff for the Tall Guy (who is the one getting me the chocolate) and coming up with some creative ideas.

Chocolates and Nightmare Before Christmas.  He knows the way to my heart.

I try to buy or make something he'll like, which often tends to be nerdy.  Last year, I made a card based on something I found on Pinterest.

Mario is Red, Sonic is Blue

Will you be my player 2?

It definitely took a while, but totally worth it.  Who wouldn't want a Nintendo valentine with Mario and Sonic?  I took out some fine-tip colored markers, printer paper, graph paper, and pictures of Mario and Sonic.  I'm nerdy enough to know that Mario is 8-bit and Sonic is 16-bit (originally), so each pixel for Mario would be four for Sonic.  Unfortunately, the squares were too big on the graph paper I had to do four squares for each Mario pixel, so I colored Sonic a quarter of a square at a time.  Each Mario pixel was one square and each Sonic pixel was 1/4 square.

Easy level

Hard Level

I sat at my computer staring at pictures to try to get it just right.  Of course, printing would be easier, but I was out of colored ink and too cheap to buy any.  Plus, as tough as it was, it was really fun.  The controllers were also pretty easy, but I had some difficulty drawing the wires in a heart shape.  Also, I used crayons, which worked, but pencils, pens, or fine-tip markers would have been easier.

Crayons: something every 20-something year old needs

He liked it, but he was definitely more excited about his cookie dough oreos.  Can't really blame him!

T-shirt Costume Tuesday #3 - The Powerpuff Girls

College was great.  There was always something to do and friends to do things with.  So, group costumes were a great option for Halloween.  Freshman year I did my own thing, but sophomore year, some of us decided to go retro and be The Powerpuff Girls!...plus Mojo Jojo.  We tried to get another friend to be The Professor, but couldn't convince him.

Photobombed by Indy

A bunch of us from the dorm

The three of us thought it would be easy to find matching dresses in blue, pink, and green and started our search at American Apparel since they tend to have simple styles in many colors.  Unfortunately, most clothes were very expensive and I wasn't comfortable with how tight and/or revealing some were.  We kept it as an option, but looked elsewhere.  My mom came up with the idea of using t-shirts and offered to make the costumes for us!  She did a great job.

We got the right color shirts at Michaels and all she had to do was cut one shirt of each color into skirts (right under the armpits, just like the Sally and Hobbes costumes).  Since she can sew, she put in an elastic waistband so they would stay on better.  I definitely need to visit home for some sewing lessons.  We rolled up the sleeves of the shirts so they looked sleeveless and tucked them into the skirts.  But, we needed more or we would just be girls in different colors of the same outfit.

The finishing touches were some accessories.  We found black belts (with heart buckles, because that made sense) to create the black band in the middle of the dresses, and that pretty much made the costumes.  I'm not sure if we wore anything on our legs, but white tights, knee-highs, or socks would add to it.  Lastly, we styled our hair.  I had hair past my waist and a huge collection of bows from my childhood (dozens and dozens), so I was clearly Blossom.  Julie had blonde hair she put in pigtails to be Bubbles.  Katie decided to cut a black wig to create her Buttercup hairstyle.  We all wore eyeshadow that matched our dresses for one last finishing touch, and, voila!  We were The Powerpuff Girls!

Mojo Jojo photobomb

Another friend helped to add to the costume by dressing up as the main villain, Mojo Jojo.  He wore a navy t-shirt and navy basketball shorts.  We put a ribbon around his waist for the belt and glued a purple triangle on the front of the belt.  He put on white surgical gloves, painted his face green, and wore a purple tablecloth as a cape.  My mom made the hat, which shouldn't be too hard to recreate with some white felt.  We decorated it with silver duct tape and a purple sharpie.  It was the icing to our costume cake.

Action Shot

Me and Mojo

This will always be one of my favorite costumes, and it's so simple!  Because of the belt, the elastic waistband isn't even necessary.  It's great for a group, especially for something last-minute and everyone loved it.

Perfect likeness

T-shirt Costume Tuesday #2 - Calvin and Hobbes

Law school can be fun in the ways that it's an extension of college.  One similarity is parties, including Halloween parties.  Halloween may be my favorite holiday, in no small part for the costumes.  I love making my own, helping other people with theirs, and seeing what everyone else comes up with.  My first year of law school was the first time I could convince my guy to really dress up and my first opportunity for a couples costume.  We finally decided on Calvin and Hobbes.

Unfortunately the clearest picture we have

While Hobbes is usually taller in the comics, he's also sometimes shown as the stuffed animal.  That was a great solution for us because I really like wearing a costume and he wanted to be as close to normal as possible (look at how much more adventurous he's gotten in just a few years: from Calvin to Jack).  But, the most important parts of both our costumes were t-shirts and neither required any sewing.

Calvin was easy:  Black stripes drawn on a red t-shirt with fabric marker, black jeans, and black converse.  The jeans cost something like $40 at Bob's Stores, but in a world where clothes are scarce for 6'7" people, they became one of his favorite pairs and he still wears them years later.  Walmart had cheap knockoff converse, and red t-shirts are easy to find.  I always have a black fabric marker, but they can be found anywhere you buy crafts (Michaels, Joann Fabrics, Walmart, etc).  But, unless Calvin is carrying a stuffed tiger, that costume needs a Hobbes to compliment it.

Hobbes was a little more complicated:  I started with 2 orange t-shirts in my size.  I originally had the idea to make tiger stripe cutouts in an orange shirt and layer it over a black shirt, but that didn't work well for the top and I couldn't figure out how to do the skirt like that.  So, I changed my method.  I got a couple of the 8.5"x10" (?) sheets of black and white felt to decorate the orange shirts.  I kept one shirt intact for the top, but cut the other shirt straight across right under the armpits for the skirt.  I checked how they fit and marked where to put the white for the chest and tummy.  One the white was hotglued on (which held really well), I cut stripes from the black felt.  I figured they didn't have to be perfect but tried to make them look like tiger stripes.  If you don't want bare arms and legs or additional parts to cover them, you can do the same method with a long-sleeve shirt or sweatshirt and pants (leggings or sweatpants maybe).

Front

Back

I included more accessories to flesh out the tiger look.  The lower arm sleeves are orange felt sheets.  I wrapped them around my arms and pinned where they fit.  I used my hot glue gun to finish them and added more black felt stripes.  They slid right on since the top was slightly larger than the wrist part.  I orgered tiger-stripe tights from welovecolors.com.  Regular orange tights with stripes drawn on would work too.  I bought a black giant chenille stem pipe cleaner from Michaels for the ears and tail.  I basically made a headband with round ears with part of it and looped the rest to a belt that I wore over the skirt.  It was a cheap, easy way for those parts, but there are plenty of ears and tails already made for sale.  Finishing touches were white gloves and socks.

The Hobbes part sounds pretty complicated, but it wasn't that hard to pull off.  And it looked good and was comfortable!  This was one of my favorite costumes, partially because it was my first couples costume.  I could even use it again since it's held up so well over time.  Plus, it can just be a normal tiger costume!

Father's Day Shirt and Tie Card

Father's Day is a week away!  I don't really think I've ever gone big with presents (for this or Mother's Day), but I like giving my parents cards.  Sometimes I buy them, but the handmade ones are always more special than store-bought.  There are still things I made for my parents as a kid lying around their house even though they're only worth the sentimental value.  Even last year, when I was 24, I gave my dad the handmade card below (though since I had already bought one for him, the handmade one was from my cat, Spartacus, obviously).

Pattern below

Valentine's Day Crochet Hearts with Lollipop Arrows

Holidays are big where I work and we're always finding excuses to bring in food and other things for everyone.  Mostly food.  For Valentine's Day last year, we decorated paper bags and anyone could fill them with treats.  It was a throwback to elementary school days of trading valentines with everyone in the class, but our parents weren't paying for it.  I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but I like candy and I love anything crafty and creative.  So, I came up with something to make it more fun.

Me embracing researching foreign laws too much

I'd love to say I came up with this craft+candy myself, and it's possible I did because after a lot of searching, I can't find anyone else who's done this.  I know that my initial inspiration was a pin on Pinterest showing crochet hearts.  Unfortunately, it was misleading and linked to an Etsy Shop instead of a pattern.  I looked around and found an amazing, free crochet heart pattern.  I had tried a few others in my search, but this one wasn't huge, was relatively fast to make, and came out actually looking like a heart.  I took some red yarn I had lying around, put my hook to work, and knocked out enough hearts for my coworkers and then some.

One of many.  The camera makes it look slightly less heart-shaped.

I liked it, but figured that a bunch of yarn in the shape of a heart wasn't the best gift, especially for the male coworkers.  Our team revolves around food, so I knew that was what was missing.  I wanted it all to go together, and finally thought of using something as an arrow through the heart.  It's a classic Cupid-inspired symbol of Valentine's Day.  Candy canes seemed too Christmasy and other treats wouldn't fit.  I even considered Smarties (which I can't have lying around or I will eat a whole bag in one sitting), but they didn't quite look right.  I either found it somewhere, or a lightbulb went off, but I realized dum-dum lollipops would be perfect!

Sweetest arrow in a heart I've ever seen

I got a valentines pack (which unfortunately only has 5 or so flavors...none of which are typically favorites in my experience) and started sliding them through the hearts.  I probably made 20 even though I only needed a dozen or so for work, and the whole thing took 4 or 5 hours spread out over a couple of days.  If you want to do this, it's not a total last-minute craft, unless you want to pull an all-nighter, but it doesn't take forever either.  This would be fun to do with kids too, especially if they're learning to crochet.  It's maybe a step above beginner and good for practicing counting, sc, dc, and hdc.

Finished pile

People loved them.  Some of the women even still have the hearts somewhere.  I can't complain about what I got in my treat bag either!

Nom nom nom

If you're looking for something a little different and handmade for Valentine's Day this year, this heart and arrow craft is great.  Maybe some people can even modify it and improve on my idea!

Have fun and happy early Valentine's Day!

Musik Monday - Jingle Bells (Bayern München)

It's almost 3 weeks after Christmas, but I couldn't resist sharing this gem.  I've posted English speakers singing in German in the past (The Beatles and Elvis), but not the other way around.  It's wonderful and sort of hilarious either way.  Regardless of language ability, sometimes accents are just hard to lose.  Someone once said that the accent you have speaking a foreign language is a special and unique thing that you shouldn't work to get rid of.  I tend to agree.  Plus, it makes for some fun videos.

Behold!  The Bayern München soccer team singing Jingle Bells!

Musik Monday - May You Always

It wouldn't be New Years for me without hearing the bit below.  It's not really music (though it uses Auld Lang Syne in the background), but I thought I'd use it anyway.  The man speaking is Harry Harrison, a radio DJ I grew up hearing daily.  He worked as a DJ from 1953 through 2005, most famously on WMCA, WABC, and WCBSFM.  He not only talked about the music, but also shared personal stories and became a friendly voice for many people.  The clip below was played every year around Christmas and New Year's Day after being recorded in 1965.  You can read the text here, but I'd recommend listening when you have a chance.  It's well wishes and hopes for everyone listening.  It's a small tradition for me that I hope all of you can enjoy.

Musik Monday - American Soldier

It's Memorial Day, and I hope between the picnics and fun, Americans take a moment to remember those who protect us and our freedom.  And especially remember those who died defending and protecting us.  I'm changing it up again this week to honor all the past, present, and future soldiers with this Toby Keith song:




Not so much about the actual music today, but I love country music and Toby Keith.

Though it's not as common where I grew up as in other areas of the country, I've had a number of friends join the US Military in some capacity.  My father was in the army and both my grandfathers were as well.  My grandpa did everything he could to join and I know he was in Korea and did a lot of dangerous work looking for bombs on bridges because of his engineering background.  My Opa joined after moving here from Germany to become a US citizen and even was stationed as a US soldier in Germany for a while.

I'm lucky that none of my close friends and family have died or been seriously injured while serving in the Armed Forces, but it's important to remember all of those soldiers who have.

National Pretzel Day!

April 26 is National Pretzel Day!  So, in honor of that, I decided the German thing to do would be to bake some Pretzels!  I used this recipe.  I had used another recipe from that website for my bienenstich cupcakes.
It was not the easiest recipe and my pretzels aren't exactly the prettiest things.  I'm proud of them though and I got them done just in time to celebrate the day!

Chef Spartacus was making sure I was doing it right

Egg-cellent Easter Part 2

Easter egg trees are a tradition for many families.  I know that it's a tradition in Germany, Austria, and other German-speaking countries to blow the white and yolk out of eggs, paint the hollow eggs, and hang them on branches or trees.  My family has always done this tradition.  Though we don't paint eggs every year, this is just as important to us as a Christmas tree.

A lot of people in America (at least in my experience) don't go through the process of blowing out and painting eggs.  Instead they get the plastic eggs and hang them.  I've seen pictures friends have put up of this.  I also used to go to the local firehouse when I was a younger Girl Scout and we hung plastic eggs on one of the trees out front every year.

I love when traditions from other cultures are brought to America.  I'm glad I've experienced both the German way and the American adoption.

The family Egg Tree

Egg-cellent Easter Part 1

Like many families, we have a tradition of dying eggs for Easter.  I put much more work into it than most do.  We usually do a "hunt" on Easter morning even though I'm 23 and my brother's almost 28.  It's a big deal (since I always beat him by 1 or so).  This is the first year we didn't do the hunt, but I still made some awesome eggs!

The prep: Primary colors + green

Finished Product
Left to Right (top): green, red, orange, teal, rainbow, everything (aka dino egg)
Left to Right (bottom): blue, yellow, purple, mint green, drizzle rainbow, yellow w/ blue details (was going for plaid, got lazy)

Best egg tree ever

I was looking up some info on Easter egg trees and I came across one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life here:  http://whatthecool.com/post/3485347978/easter-egg-tree-in-germany/

It's an article about an actual tree that a family in Germany decorates at Easter time with almost 10,000 handpainted eggs!  We've always had an Easter egg "tree" at home, but it's some pussy willow branches with out handpainted eggs on them.  My mom's are always the best, but my art skills have definitely improved from the ones I did at age 5.  I need to figure out what to paint this year.  It's like a Christmas ornament, but for Easter, and more personal because it's handmade by us.  I'm excited with the anticipation!

Here's some of the pictures from the giant, insanely impressive German Easter egg tree:

St. Patty's Nails

I may be the crafty German, but I've got a little Irish blood in me. So, I have to have a little green for Saint Patrick's Day. I have a shamrock covered scarf in my hair, but that's not enough. So, after several attempts, I came up with some Saint Patrick's Day nails.

They're not perfect or up to my standards really, but I'm still pretty happy with them. I intended to have the design on the thumbs on all the fingers except the ring finger, but when the clovers started looking like hemp leaves, I just painted the whole nails dark green. So, 3 fingers green, ring gold, and shamrocks on the thumbs.
For colors, I used

• N.Y.C. "French White Tip"
• N.Y.C. in a New York Color Minute Quick dry "Flat Iron Green"
• Claire's "14 Karats"

Again, not my best work, but I'm overall satisfied with the end product - I got a couple of compliments so that's some nice reassurance.

Left hand

Pi Day 2012!

It's Pi Day!  Almost the ides of March, but even better.


Some not-so-nerdy people may not get it.  March 14 is also 3/14 or 3.14, which equals Pi (π).  So, some of us geekier people find it important and necessary to celebrate the day.  Tonight, I'm "baking" a pie for Pi Day!  I'd have done it earlier, but I was too lazy to get ingredients and then was at a basketball game until tonight.


I ended up making a pie out of my Costco cookbook called "Chocolate Peanut Butter Mouse Pie" by Eagle Brand/Jif.  It uses a premade graham cracker crust, which made my life easier since I have no pie pan.  There's a layer of sweetened condensed milk/melted semisweet chocolate chip mixture over the bottom of the pie crust.  On top of that is a layer of:

Rummelpott

This post is quite late considering New Years was a while ago, but I still wanted to share my awesome German New Year's experience with the blogging world.

My parents were kind enough to bring me to Germany during my winter break so that I could see family and enjoy Berlin once again.  My family on my mom's side lives in the very north of Germany in Schleswig-Holstein.  They're either on the North Sea coast on the mainland or on the Island Föhr, which is part of the Frieisan Islands in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark.  The island itself has actually changed ownership between Germany and Denmark several times.  I'm not intending to give a history lesson though (at least not now).


So, I got to spend New Year's with my family and enjoy the North German tradition I've never experienced before!


Here's some of what I saw leading up to New Year's:

Clover plants with different lucky symbols such as chimney sweeps, pigs, mushrooms, and more

Leftovers from Christmas, but who can resist a picture of Santa in a Captain Morgan pose?

Cocktails!  All along the Main street there were booths with drinks.  They're set up at least a week before New Years.  A bunch of them are given awesome regional names.  I went for the Foehrer Fischer Punch and my mom got the Wyker Wahnsinn...hers was better than mine, but both tasty!

A very geeky Christmas

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I've got an amazing boyfriend.  We decided to not spend much on gifts this year and he still found me the perfect present.  He got me the Planet Express shirt (Futurama) from thinkgeek.com!!  First of all, favorite show.  Secondly, one of my favorite websites.  Thirdly, I've been wanting this shirt since I first saw it years ago, but they never had it available.  Amazing.

I took a picture with my Halloween craft, Nibbler.  I was Leela for Halloween and needed a Nibbler with me to complete the costume.  Thinkgeek has the most adorable Nibbler stuffed animal, but they were out of stock and I needed something that week, so I decided to make my own.  After a failed attempt, I saw a craft kit for a big spider and bought some white, black, yellow, red, and peach felt.  Lots of cutting and scraps later, I ended up with something I was super proud of.  I'll post more of my Leela costume another time.  Until then, enjoy my awesome Christmas present with my awesome homemade Nibbler:

I kind of forgot the whole backwards text in the mirror thing

Simple Scarves

The lack of posting is due to school keeping me a lot busier this semester than expected.  I'm sure there will be a few huge breaks in time between posts.  Apologies in advance.

This post has a great scarf pattern at the bottom to show how sorry I am :)

Anyway, I realized that I needed to get something for my boyfriend's family for Christmas.  This was a lot closer to the holidays than I'm willing to admit.  I'm pretty proud of what I gave his brother's family: A Where's-Waldo-esque book but with the Characters from the Cars movies for his nephew, booties and a little headband I crocheted for his niece (I wish I had taken pictures, I was so proud of how they came out...and that they fit her), and for his brother and sister-in-law a precious moments figure of a little blonde boy next to a box of tools screwdriver in hand working on a snowman with a John Deere hat on - it was such a spitting image of their son that I couldn't resist.

I made the reindeer ornament in another post for his aunt...then realized I had nothing for his sister and brother-in-law!  I didn't find anything in stores and time was running out.  Then I thought, "duh, you taught yourself to crochet.  Use that craft little brain of yours!"

So I did.  I made 2 scarves using the same stitching pattern.  They came out (thankfully) looking pretty different though.

Pictures and pattern below:

Laid out next to each other.  I made them pretty long since nobody in his family is short I knew I could.

Easy Ornaments 1: Reindeer

Christmas is right around the corner.  Actually, at my parent's house, it's tomorrow.  We follow a lot of German traditions for holidays (as does most of America actually without even realizing it), including going to church in the evening, opening presents, and having our main Christmas celebrations all on Christmas Eve.  I've got a lot of last minute shopping to get done today, so I'll save all the German Christmas tradition stories until later when I have time.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a rather simple craft that pretty much anyone can make for a small amount of money and a little bit of effort: Reindeer ornaments.  The great thing about these is that they come out looking a lot more "effortful" than would be expected considering their cost and simplicity.  They're made of clothespins and embroidery floss!  I came across the pattern on one of those free leaflets at Michael's crafts years ago and loved it. (I tried finding it on their website, but it's not there).  So, what follows is my pattern from memory, inspired from that leaflet.

*Feel free to make this as a gift, for yourself, or to sell, but please do not sell my pattern or copy it without linking here*