Braaaaiiinnnsssss~~

I finished in time!

Here is my zombie bunny.  I used the pattern for the Big Cuddly Bunny, though not entirely.  I did not knit in the gauge listed so mine is smaller.  I used worsted weight yarn and US size 8 needles.  I also altered the ears some.

I wanted to make one ear look like it had been bitten a few times and the other to look like it had been torn off.  Though it wasn't planned, I'm kind of loving how the drooping eye keeps wanting to stick out.  Extra creep factor!
There are also plans in the mix for making a zombie bunny hat.

I love fall!

I love so many things about fall.  The leaves changing colors and the fact that you get to wear cute sweaters are some of my top favorites.  My absolute favorite thing about fall is the pumpkins.

My mom got me this one to put in front of my house.  Isn't it adorable?  I can't wait for other people to see it and then roast it and make goodies out of it.

I'm also slowly getting closer and closer to getting my shawl pattern ready for testing.  I'm excited for that.  I decided to give two ways to start the shawl, but I noticed something interesting when I was making my samples for that.

At some point this yarn was spun really tightly.  That is the yarn corkscrewing around like a spring.

The other thing I was working on is almost done.  I didn't know how I wanted to finish it, but I think I now know.  It is also giving me an idea for a fun hat.  Only time will tell if the idea will translate to a larger scale or not.

Does this make it official?

I have done it!  I have put my first pattern on Ravelry.  It is a free one, but I'm super excited anyway.  Here it is, the Easy Faux Brioche Hat and Scarf Set.  I thought it would be a nice idea to use the same name for the designer as I used for my Etsy shop.

Here is a picture of it.  I'm trying to figure out how I could also have download links off of Ravelry's site, but I'm not sure how to do it.  Some of the ones in the future will also be listed in my Etsy shop, but you can't list free things on there.
There were a lot more steps than I thought there would be when adding a pattern to Ravelry.  It makes sense, since each of those steps helps to put your pattern under the right categories and makes it easier to find in searches.  I was just so excited that I might have rushed it a tiny bit.  Although, it looks like just in the time it took me to write about it, 8 people have already downloaded the pattern!  So exciting.  I hope they get started right away, I want to see what they make!

And then there was fire.

Before anyone worries too much, the following post is about none of these things:

• Me getting mad and setting knitting or any kind of craft on fire
• Someone else getting mad and setting any kind of craft on fire
• Someone getting mad at the Columbus Day sale and setting something on fire
• Me getting annoyed and setting a customer/item/the whole store on fire
• Mr. Jag's tail getting lit on fire
• Anything having to do with my car being on fire
• Bill being on fire or getting fired
• Me getting fired

Now that no one is worried anymore, here is what it is about.

There is a guy who decided that getting regular exercise was boring but wanted to get out and take more walks.  He decided the way to liven up a normal activity like that would be to play a tuba while he did it.  While I'm not 110% that's how it went, he became a huge hit.  At first people wondered about the sanity of their friends when it was mentioned that they saw a man playing a tuba and walking down the road.  He even has a Facebook fan page where he goes by TubaGuyFairfax.
Well, neither I nor my mom had seen him for a while.  We were wondering why we didn't see him at all, since it wasn't odd to catch him walking down the street.  It was always fun to see what new way he had decorated his tuba.
I had stuck around my mom's house a bit longer to see part of a pilot to a new show.  It didn't look like something I was going to want to watch long term, so I left after the first few minutes.  I was waiting to turn at a red light when I saw out of the corner of my eye that someone was crossing the road.  It was dark, but I noticed through the fog that there was a lot of shine off of metal.  I take a better look and see a tuba.
It is Tuba Guy!  When he looks over I wave nice and large so I hope he can see it.  Then he smiles and turns back.  The next thing I know, fire is coming off the top of the tuba!
There is a good picture of it on his Facebook page.  It is so much fun!

In crafting news:
The hat is done and now I'm working on the scarf.  It is the same pattern row so it is taking forever.  I am motivating myself with thoughts of my next project.  I am going to take a super cute bunny pattern and make some changes.  This pattern is so cute that you can't help but want to snuggle it's widdle face off.  Once I'm done, you will still want to snuggle, but you might think twice before going in.

I Love Yarn Day!!

Today was so much fun!  My mom and I got to Nature's Yarn a little after 10 so we were there when she first described how to do the knitted magic loop cast on, but the nice lady next to me helped me.  Once we got the hang of it we were then kicked out of the back room so people could use that table for making felted leaves.

I got to try Vickie Howell Craft(Ravelry link) yarn.  I love it.  It is made out of 35% milk fiber and 65% organic cotton.  Too bad I leaned that it is discontinued.  I also got to try square needles for the first time.

They were fun to use except that they were a tiny bit too short.  The end was right where the heel of my hand was, so I got a nice red area.
The pattern we used had both the knit and crochet versions on it.  Spice & Clove Knit and Crochet Pumpkins are too cute for words.

As usual, I don't know how to follow patterns.  I added more rows to the body, 14 instead of the 8 it calls for.  I also did not add the segments.  I just pulled the tail from the beginning through the middle and tied them tightly.  Instead of a regular stem I added a crochet spiral as a vine.  Where I tied the vine on looks a little like a tiny stem.

Last year there was a variety of dips and desserts.  This year there was only some donuts, coffee, and cider.  So I was very hungry after making my one pumpkin.  I might have started on the crochet version if there had been more to snack on.

I got two packages of gimbap (aka kimbap: 김밥).  I had it a while ago, but I didn't know what they were called.  The one on the left has the rice colored with wine.  It doesn't change the flavor too much, but I like the nice purple color.
The thing on top is the scarf part of the pattern I am writing.  It will be free, but I need to hurry and finish the samples so I can get a picture.  I can't wait to put it on Ravelry and see all the versions people make!

Tonight was pretty awesome!

Our Monday night knit group's size changes from time to time.  It tends to be bigger in the colder months and around holidays, in general.  There are also some nights we don't get to sit in our regular area because a large party has gotten there first and hasn't left when we start to show-up.  Tonight we were in the second large area, though before too long we spilled over into our normal area of Panera.  Someone who was not in our group was in the last table.  I don't know if the other guy knew him, but some muscley guy came by and ribbed the guy asking if he was learning how to knit.
So the guy with the big muscles ended-up sitting near the part of our group that was in our normal area.  After a bit of time we look over and he has scooted over on the bench and was being taught to knit.  A little bit later he even had one of the ladies take a picture of him with his knitting.
While that was awesome, that was not the only awesome thing that happened.  As we were knitting one of our regular people brought someone over and was talking.  I look up and was not sure I was seeing who I was seeing.  It was Tanis Gray!  She is on Knitting Daily and is also a very good designer(Raverly link).  I was very proud of myself because I didn't go crazy.  When she walked by my end of the table and we made eye contact I smiled and waved to her and she smiled and waved back.

In more news.  I am looking forward to I Love Yarn Day at Nature's Yarn on Friday.  I registered and everything!  If you are in the area I think you should come.  I want to learn how to make both the knit and crochet pumpkins.  I enjoy all things that have to do with pumpkins.

Anime USA 2014 report.

I love anime conventions.  Though what I do at them have changed over the years.  I used to take so many pictures, at least two disposable camera's worth.  Now I only take a few.  Though I never used to go with large groups of people, and now there are a lot of people I go with.  I don't mind the change really, though I would like to go back to cosplaying some more and taking more pictures.

I love seeing awesome costumes like this one.  She was the cutest Toothless I have ever seen!

This is something else I like to do at cons that I never did before.  The Maid Cafe.  I like getting the Omurice because the maid you get will draw on it with ketchup.

We got cute cupcakes this time.  I'm not sure what they used for the ribbon because it didn't taste like ceiling, but I really liked it.

One of the people I help during the con brought one of her new friends to join our little group.  She brought these.  They are good alone but taste even better with banana milk (which she also brought).

This isn't a food thing, but don't worry, we will get back to food soon.  Wait...isn't this a crafting blog and not a food blog...  Moving on!  This is the hat I started while at the con.  It is based on the faux brioche scarf my mom had found that I had figured out the pattern for.  It took me an oddly long time to try and figure out how to do it.  I was trying to picture it in my head and was having some sort of imagination block.  I then tried figuring it out on a piece of paper and it took me less than a minute.
I started this one more than once because the pattern looks like a ribbing so an inch of regular 2x2 ribbing looked like it was a bit much.

Here is more food!  I have seen the Eat Your Kimchi people eat this food and I've also seen it on Let's Eat(a very fun Korean drama).  I also got the kit to make it at home, but I wanted to taste the real thing myself.  Well, I got to!  There is a place called Lighthouse Tofu not too far from me that has a bunch of different kinds.  I dragged my co-worker with me, those are her hands and arms.
I think I really impressed some of the people who worked there.  I knew the egg went into the super hot soup(not shown) and about the rice to the side.  The rice with liquid to the right is the leftover bits of rice in with some water.  They combine together to make some burnt rice tea.  I was also explaining what the sides were to her.

This is a very short video of the soup.  You can see how hot it is.  I got the beef and pork version with a medium level of heat.  Next time I am going to get the beef and kimchi.  It was so good and it was the perfect level of spicy.  It also turned out that the kits were not too far off from the flavor of the one in the restaurant.
My co-worker wasn't too impressed by it, but I found out one of my convention friends now lives nearby.  I know he also likes food like this.  Much eating will happen.