I've got your soft dreamy layers right here, pal.

The sweet UPS guy just delivered my order from Purl (which got here so fast), and it is full of glorious random items.

Sure, I'd gone to Purl to buy a magazine for a particular pattern, but while I was there, it seemed only reasonable to get some stuffing for a someday pillow, some tester sizes of the soap that people love for their handmades, and three Robert Kaufman fabrics - berry, coal, and cocoa - also for the someday pillow. Right? I don't want to make a big plane fly and a big truck drive all the way here just to hand me a magazine.

I am overwhelmed with excitement and confusion.

What will become of me and my dreamy layers?

Aaaarrghh!

Approved!

The designer and creator of these awesome slippers gave the go-ahead in yesterday's comments to post photos of said slippers. So here they are!

I did not make these. But I want to make them. Real bad.

So cute!! Want the pattern? Click here.

Want to go to Superbuzzy, who has shipped my bird fabric and made me all atwitter with anticipation, and who alerted me to these slippers in the first place? Click here.

Now. Here's the next question.

Do you want some awesome/geeky/clever/great badges that would look really cute on some slippers if they really existed as badges? I know the answer is yes.


The Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique has constructed many, many super kick-ass nerdy badges, including an arts and crafts badge. The duck pictured above is the "destroyer of quackery" badge:

"In which the recipient never ever backs down from an argument that pits sound science over quackery."

Click here and look at all the glorious badges. If you're a hard-core nerd/geek/cool/hip kid, you won't be disappointed. (via BoingBoing)

Hey! After you look around, come back and tell me:
(1) which badge(s) you think you deserve, and
(2) which badge(s) you would get in that other life you didn't get to have because you were so busy having this one.

Badges and patches are cool!

Crochet redeems itself. For a moment.

I don't know that my overall position has changed on crochet (read about my overall position here), but these *cursing* *cursing* slippers really go a long way toward elevating the form.

Click here to see. They are called Babushka ballerinatofler. [I would've put the photo here, but they said right there I couldn't, so I didn't. Just go look and come back.]

Did you see those little iron-on patches?!

And the soothing shape of the slippers themselves?!

Yeah. So, I'm looking at these things, I'm punching stuff because they're so cute, and I realize I may have to re-give in to the crochet.

I'm guessing the designer is trying to win a toaster for recruiting crochet skeptics (or she's just a kind person), because she graciously shares her pattern here. In two languages!

Never let it be said I'm not flexible or willing to reconsider the merits of something. You can fairly say I'll be grouchy about it, but you can't say I won't do it. Because I will. This post, if nothing else, should demonstrate that.

(These slippers are via Superbuzzy, who - for some reason - thinks I live in an area not served by the US Postal Service, and so will not let me order that godforsaken bird fabric already. Yeah. Just a little grouchy.)

Crochet!

Edited to add: Problem was not with Superbuzzy, but with the USPS. The lovely people at Superbuzzy responded promptly to my concern, and my order is officially placed! Woo-hoo! Bye-bye, grouchies. Hello, bird fabric!

Vote for Softies!

Looking for something quick, fun, and inspiring?

Go vote for The Softie Awards. (Scroll down to the March 22, 2007 entry to get started.)

People are so amazingly talented. You will not be disappointed. (I have a feeling my SIL and Leopold will be particularly interested.)

I don't want to sway any votes. But if you go over there, come back and tell me your favorites, maybe I'll tell you which ones I particularly fancy. They are SO good!

(via not Martha)

All debacles. All the time.

In theory, this should be a cute hat. The color is really lovely, and the yarn is super-soft. And who doesn't love soft things? No one.

But this hat is not cute.

It really isn't.

I'm considering adding a hip little brim to the front part. (What is that called? A "brim"? No. That can't be right. You know, the front part of a cap. Wow! Not a "bill". Sheesh.) Anyway, I have this much yarn left.

That could be enough yarn to make the front part, and then it might look hip and cool, and not like gramma's bathing cap.

You know I like to learn from my mistakes. And I think the lesson here is (oh boy) I don't like crocheted items. Don't be mad. I think they are really cute on other people. And I've seen some really cool crocheted things out in the world. In fact, when I was watching my beloved Uncommon Threads, there were some women on there who inspired me to crochet this hat in the first place. And crochet is so fast, it makes it really appealing.

I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or anything, but I think crocheted items are quite fun to make, but rarely (not never) -- in my experience -- cute. Oof.

But, hey! You know what? I've really made Debacle Week a huge success! Right? Huh? Who's with me?

Debacles for everyone!

Knit animals (and robots) hurt my teeth

If you also have sensitive teeth when it comes to adorable things, go get yourself some kind of tooth protector before you proceed here. (I don't know how Meg over at Cute Overload can stand it. Maybe she has dentures.)

I kinda want to make this:


For some reason, I thought it was crochet at first, and then I looked more closely at the free pattern, and saw it's just garter stitch. Knit, knit, knit. Simple!

And then there are all the Jess Hutch items, like this pink bunny, for example.
The also-free pattern is here. I'm so sad that her book of patterns is no longer available. She truly takes the cake when it comes to adorable creatures. When you're the mastermind behind adorable knitted robots, you are pretty much the most genius genuis of all times as far as I'm concerned.

Kate, the cat with britches from knitty - also tooth-achingly cute with her little striped sweater and solid pants:


Cute, right?

Bear, bunny, and kitty. Free knitting patterns. Awesome.

OK. So, what I'm gonna need you to do now is just relax. Just calm your mind. Take a deep breath. You might feel a little pain here. Just breathe.



Ouch. Ouch! OUCH! Look at that frackin' MONKEY! His name is Cedrich. And Winston and Radley? Equally cute! Those muther...AARGH! How did they make crochet so SO CUTE?! That pattern is gonna cost you a little money, but it's for all three of those. Where is someone so I can sock them in the arm with how cute these are?! DAMN IT!

Oh, in addition to my teeth hurting, I sometimes also feel the need to smash things when I see something cute. I don't actually smash things. I just feel the need. But, I have a frontal lobe that assists me in higher-order thinking, so I rethink the smashing and generally just lie down.

A final note: I don't recommend eating a chocolate croissant (a.k.a. a candy-bar sandwich) while viewing these items. It really kicked it over the top for me. Now I go night-night. (The fact that it's 10:45 in the morning may make it challenging, but I'll do it. I'll close my eyes and go to sleep and then you'll see. You'll all see.)

Where it all re-began

My great aunt taught me to crochet when I was little. I remember being at her house, watching Luke and Laura get married on General Hospital, and working on some crocheted item that I'm sure was GORGEOUS. And that was pretty much that.

Then, a few years ago, a woman at work mentioned in passing that she'd been crocheting. Having had fond memories of it, I accepted her offer to go over to her place for a crafting afternoon. It was very low-commitment, made better by the fact that my wasband had some supplies he was willing to give me. (He'd thought crocheting would be an easy thing to do on movie sets while waiting around, but it wasn't really his thing. Not enough quests or mana.)

At our crafting afternoon, my co-worker had a book of afghan patterns, and she encouraged me to try to make one. I'd never read a pattern and hadn't crocheted for decades, so naturally I thought following a pattern to make an afghan was a great idea. Because that's how I roll.

So, all I had to do was crochet 162 motifs (each one a six-sided piece with a flower in the middle) and 16 half-motifs (half-flowers). Then crochet all of those pieces together. Then crochet an edge around the whole thing.

I'm pretty sure I didn't see the 162 and the 16 until the project was well-underway. That's the only thing I can figure, because I just don't think I would've signed up for such a thing with that information. I made a spreadsheet. I watched a lot of bad movies with my wasband. I made an afghan.


Here's a picture of the afghan doing its best Quiltie imitation:


After finishing this afghan, it didn't take much research to realize that some of the coolest patterns were for knit items, and then that lots of knitters were also sewing, and that people sewing were also making quilts, and the quilters were also embroidering... you see how it got to 94 hobbies up in here?

Take-home lesson? Crochet is a very serious gateway craft, not to be undertaken lightly.