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!

A Puzzling Post

It's been almost 2 months since I've posted.  I made a goal in June during a 6 week challenge to make a post a week, or 6 posts in those 6 weeks.  I did that!  But after the challenge, the habit didn't stick and I faltered again.  I'm not sure how to improve my posting consistency and persistence, but I'm going for 2 posts a week, even if they're small like this one.  I may need to set aside specific time, so it's like an enjoyable chore.  I really do love writing in this blog and sharing German things and crafts.  It's just very easy to get distracted by life.  How do others make sure they post consistently in a personal blog?

Here's a simple post with fun pictures about one of my favorite hobbies...puzzles of course!  I love puzzles, but rarely finish them because my cat loves to attack them.  I'm pretty sure one I've been working on recently is missing many pieces thanks to Spartacus hunting them and then carrying them off.  At least I haven't found any in his water bowl, a place where he likes to drop other toys.

The stalk

The hunt

The theft

The destruction

I have the mat to roll up the puzzle, but as you can see, Spartacus doesn't care if I'm right in the middle of fitting a piece in the puzzle.  Sometimes, I do manage to finish the whole thing with minimal cat interference!  One day, when there was no work to do, my coworkers and I put together a puzzle.  I consider it a great way to build teamwork (great excuse for fun).  After we finished, someone had the idea to put our names on the box.  We had signed another puzzle and framed it, but this one was a family gift and we didn't want to ruin it.  She also wanted the chance to build it again in the future.  So, we signed and dated the box instead.

Finished work puzzle!

That gave me the idea to do the same thing with my own puzzles.  Since then, I've been putting my name and the date on the inside of the box lid.  I like redoing puzzles, so it will be nice to look back at when or if I had done it in the past.  And if others complete it later and add their names, that's even more fun!

Farm/sign puzzle was so fun

One more thing: the dollar store is the best place to find random puzzles to do.  They don't always have anything, but they're only a dollar and sometimes are 500+ pieces!

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!

Easy Ornaments 2: Crochet Snowflakes

Even though Christmas is over, it's still winter and there's still some need for last-minute presents.  I needed something fast but nice for my coworkers' stockings at work earlier this week.  I had ornaments in mind, but knew they'd already seen crocheted ice skates (something for a future post) and my go-to ornaments take a little too long.  This was Sunday evening and I needed them for Monday morning.  I'd seen snowflake ornaments and figured those couldn't take too long.  A few patterns later and I found one that was easy to follow and got me 13 snowflakes for work plus 3 larger ones for other people in just a few hours.

Coworker Snowflakes

I found the pattern at the Attic 24 blog (note it uses UK, not USA crochet terms) and altered it slightly for some of the snowflakes.  The star-like ones were the first 2 rounds as the pattern explains.  The other ones are Round 1 followed immediately by Round 3.  I wanted them all about the same size, but wanted some variation.  One is bigger because I used a larger hook by accident.  I also didn't stretch and set as the pattern suggested because I was short on time, but they still came out pretty good.  At the very least, it's clear what they're meant to be.

The pattern does not make them ornaments (it doesn't have the loop of string to hang them), but that wasn't a hard fix.  There are 2 options:
-Finish off as the pattern says, cut a piece of yarn a little longer than the loop size you want, and tie it to one of the points.
-Do not cut and finish off normally.  Instead, when the last stitch is complete, cut the yarn several inches from the last stitch.  Thread the yarn through the chains to one of the points.  Once it's through the chain at the point, tie the yarn to itself close to the point.
I like the 2nd option because it's all the same thread and it looks neater and more stable.

It's a really fun pattern, and is right around the beginner level.  You only need to know how to chain and single crochet.  Just remember that once the initial loop is formed, the first round is done in the loop as a whole, not the individual chains that make up the loop.
I'd definitely recommend this for anyone who has a basic grasp of crocheting, especially if they are strapped for time and have extra white yarn lying around.

Have fun and a belated Merry Christmas!

A "Blanket" Apology

So, first thing - I need to extend an apology to anyone who has been reading this blog at all over the past half year.  I've basically dropped off the face of the earth this summer.  I hate making excuses, but I've been busy with my Princess duties (the blog about which has also been neglected), 2 jobs (I got a new job, yay!), and many things with friends and family and of course the 2 guys in my life (Spartacus and my boyfriend).  I do have some crafts with pictures to share.
I also apologize for the text and its size in this post.  I've tried editing it through html and the "compose" tab, but nothing will fix it.  If anyone knows how to fix it, I'd love some help!

I'm pretty sure I owe a bunch of craft things and about a week straight of "Musik Monday".  So, here's my promise:  Next week, there will be a new post each day, starting Monday for pseudo-Musik Mondays.  Also, by the time I start up with school again (Aug 20...way too soon), I'll post at least 1 crochet, 1 nail art, and 1 random craft - starting with this post.  It's clever title should give a hint.

Recently, a really good family friend (he's basically like a 2nd brother) and his wife had a baby.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to her baptism and the celebration after.  I knew I had to give my own gift even though my entire family was attending, so I figured that the best thing I could do was crochet.

I scoured the interwebs looking for an adorable, yet unique pattern for a baby blanket - something that a kid can use for a long time.  I came across a pattern for an alphabet baby blanket.  (Warning, the link will download the PDF of the pattern - it can also be found here under "Alpha Magic Afghan")  I took my sweet time from about mid-June, then when it was a week before the Baptism I knew I had to work fast.  I crocheted hours every night after work while going through the whole Once Upon a Time series (shameless plug for an awesome TV show).  I finally finished just in time! 

I'm so glad you can see the letters

*More after the jump*

May the Fourth be with you! (Yoda Crochet)

It's Star Wars Day!  As many a geek will say today, "May the fourth be with you".
According to wikipedia, the phrase dates back to a pun in a London newspaper headline in the late 70's.  There's more to it though.  This was the most interesting (and amusing) part of the article for me:

"In a 2005 interview on German news TV channel N24, George Lucas was asked to say the famous sentence "May the Force be with you." The interpreter simultaneously interpreted the sentence into German as Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen ("We shall be with you on May 4"). This was captured by TV Total and aired on May 18, 2005.^[5]"

In honor of the day, I finished what I started a while ago from this Yoda crochet pattern.  It took a while, but partially because my crochet skills are rusty.  I love amigurumi (making little figures pretty much), but I always run into problems when I'm crocheting in 3-D.  I had to start this over a couple of times before I got it right.

Finished Product - Step-by-step pictures after the break

Barbie's Dreambike

Studying for finals in law school is extremely draining.  Obviously, sometimes you just need a break.  Sometimes that break involves a little pranking mischief.
So, I went to a friend's house and she made dinner for us and both of our boyfriends.  After dinner, they were ready for bed and we all went to our respective homes.  But, my boyfriend and I took a little pitstop at the other guy's shop first.

See, at his shop, he has some vehicles stored, including his motorcycle.  The guys are away this weekend doing track days on their motorcycles, but the bikes were still in the garage of the shop for some last minute tune ups.

With the aide of hot pink spray paint and some painter's tape, we made a major tune up to our friend's motorcycle.

(More pictures after the break)

We were nice enough to leave some of it the original colors

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

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*

Snow-crastination

I really should be studying hard for finals right now (and I am!), but after a few hours it gets overwhelming. Sometime last week I decided to take a break from trying to absorb impossible Federal Income Tax material and made some paper snowflakes! I was inspired by a friend's facebook post about star wars snowflakes. I ended up with 4 that are now in my window.

The Star Wars (Darth Vader) one*:

Vader's head looks a little fat...

The Yankees one**: