My friend recently informed me that she's having a baby boy so I immediately went to work on baby shower gifts.  Here is my first completed project for her and her baby boy.





I had fun making it, not completely satisfied with it, but I think it came out ok.

I have a friend who is addicted to the Final Fantasy Series.  She has played every single game for hours upon hours as well as the Kingdom Hearts games.  I learned how to crochet and wanted to make a moogle for her.  I have not played any of the games, so I found pictures on the internet and this is what I came up with:

Front:


Back:


Side View:


Bag:

The bag is removable.

A screen capture
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/b/b8/Mog.jpg

I'm going to give it to her tonight, I am so excited!  I hope that she like it and can recognize what it's supposed to be.

[How to make the earflap hat:]

My co-worker's son goes to a school that has strict rules about attire and hair... so I made him this hat that I am giving to him for Christmas... because he's a little punk 



I got the idea from the pictures of the mohawk hat at http://www.knit-head.com/ it's chrocheted because I can't knit anything other than potholders and scarfs (or anything else rectangular).  This is a very basic hat because I'm not very good at crocheting; I started not too long ago.  Basically I only know 2 stitches, single crochet and slip stitch.  This is my 6th crochet project and the first time I've ever felted anything... so if anyone has any suggestions on how I could improve this project if I were to make it again, they would be much appreciated.  Thanks for looking!

How to make the earflap hat:
DISCLAIMER: I didn't use a pattern, but I will try to explain what I did.  Again, I've not been crocheting for very long (only about 6 months) and I learned on my own, so I hope this makes sense.  If not, please ask me questions and I will try to explain and update the instructions below.

I don't know if this matters or not, but I used an I size crochet hook.  The hat was made out of acrylic yarn so it wouldn't shrink when the mohawk was felted.

1. I started out with a magic circle with 6 sc.
2. 2sc in each stitch (total = 12 sc)
3. 1 sc in first stitch, 2 sc in the next, repeat (18 sc)
4. 2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in the next 2 stitches, repeat (24 sc)
5. 1 sc in first 3 stitches, 2 sc in the next stitch, repeat (30 sc)
6. 2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in the next 4 stitches (36 sc)
7. 1 sc in first 5 stitches, 2 sc in the next stitch, repeat (42 sc)
8. 2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in the next 6 stitches (48 sc)  -- if making for a child, skip to step 15
9. 1 sc in the first 7 stitches, 2 sc in the next stitch, repeat (54 sc)
10. 2 sc in the first stitch, 1 sc in the next 8 stitches, repeat (60 sc)
11. 1 sc in the first 9 stitches, 2 sc in the next stitch, repeat (66 sc) -- if making for a woman, skip to step 15
12. 2 sc in the first stitch, 1 sc in the next 10 stitches, repeat (72 sc)
13. 1 sc in the first 11 stitches, 2 sc in the next stitch, repeat (78 sc)
14. 2 sc in the first stitch, 1 sc in the next 12 stitches, repeat (84 sc) -- Men's size
15. 1 sc in every stitch, repeat until hat is long enough to go down to the person's eyebrows.

After the hat is long enough to cover their head, it's time to make the ear flaps. 
The easy way to do it is to cut the yarn here with a tail to weave in later then start at one earflap 1/6 of the total stitches from the center of the hat (you can kind of see the hat broken into 6ths from the top of the hat, if not then totalNumberOfStitch es/6 = x, find the front-center, count x stitches out and start from there.
What I did (because I for some reason don't like tails) I left the last stitch that I made hanging, left enough slack of yarn to go to where I was starting the earflap and started crocheting, when I got back to the loop I left hanging, I sc in that stitch and continued on.

To make the earflaps I no longer crochet around, but back and forth obviously.  To make the earflaps I SC in every stitch for 4/6ths of the hat in the first 2 rows.
In the next row, I decreased one stitch on each end by picking up 2 stitches and sc them together (I hope this makes sense because I don't really know proper terms as I kinda learned how to crochet on my own). -- do this in every other row.
In the next row, SC in every stitch.
repeat until the hat is long enough to cover the back of the person's head or however long you want it to go.

I finished it off making the cord off one of the ear flaps by chaining 50 stitches, then go back and sc in every stitch until you get back to the earflap, sc 1 into the ear flap then sc back to the end of the cord and back to the ear flap again,then joined the edges of the cord together with chain stitches.  Repeat to make the cord for the other earflap.

How to make the mohawk:

The mohawk is made up of several 4" strips of wool yarn that is felted after it is attached to the hat.  The easiest way to do this is to cut a piece of cardboard up so that it's 2" wide, wrap the yarn around the cardboard, then tape across the wrapped yarn, then cut across.  These strips are then attached kinda like ruffles/tassles at the edge of a rug.  Fold the yarn in half, pull the loop through a stitch in the hat, then pull the ends through that loop, I hope this makes sense.  After you make your mohawk, the hat is then felted.

How to felt your project:
Before this project I had no idea how to felt anything.  In case you don't know either, you put your project in a pillowcase and tie the end (this is important because if you don't you could damage your washing machine).  You then place the pillowcase with your project into the washer and wash your project in hot water.  The hot water and the agitator will felt your project.  Note that acrylic or synthetic yarn will not felt.  I washed my hat for 5 minutes.  Do not let your washer go into the spin cycle while your project is in it.  After you remove your hat from the washer, rinse it in the sink if you used detergent to wash it.  Then gently squeeze out excess water, then roll your project in a towel then lay out to dry.  For this hat I let it dry on the styrofoam head, but I have heard that bowls will work well for drying hats if you don't have a styrofoam head.

I work at a Biotech company where I work in a lab.  I dress up every year for halloween and always choose such obscure characters that nobody ever knows who/what I am and I have to explain my costume to them.  I decided this year that I was not going to do that... I wanted it to be recognizable, something that appeals with all the nerdy people that I work with.  I chose Beaker from the Muppet Show.  I made his head out of foam.  I used styrofoam balls for his eyes, and a styrofoam egg for his nose.  I used red mesh for his mouth portion, so I could see.  I used a few feather boas for his hair.  Unfortunately I could not for the life of me find an orange feather boa... so I used a red one instead... didn't seem to bother most of the people who recognized me.



Of course it turns out that most of the people that work in my department have no idea what the Muppet Show is, or who Beaker is... what is wrong with these people?  However, when I went walking through the other buildings at work, lots of people recognized me and wanted pictures and complimented me on my costume.  So I felt a little better.



In this picture you can kinda see the nametag I had to make because so many people were asking me what I was.  I was so disappointed to be called a capped test tube (our company has a couple of "mascots" that are capped test tubes... and the costumes are horrible) by a few of my co-workers.

I've wanted to paint a pair of shoes for a while.  I found these shoes on sale and picked them up.  I decided to paint them for my co-worker's son to wear to Comic-Con this year.  I just finished them... just in time... I'm such a procrastinator... I've had the shoes for over a month!  Anyhow, I got them done, that's all that matters.

I've never played Halo, so I had to work from pictures I've found on the internet and things that my co-worker's son has told me.  I think that they turned out pretty well... a lot better than I thought they would as I haven't done too much painting lately.  I sealed them with Scotch-Guard, an idea I got from someone else on this board.  Anyhow, here they are: (click links for larger images)


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/neosynthesis/crafts/IMG_0584.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/neosynthesis/crafts/IMG_0583.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/neosynthesis/crafts/IMG_0579.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/neosynthesis/crafts/IMG_0585.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/neosynthesis/crafts/IMG_0582.jpg

I made Yoda for my Star Wars crazy friend. I was kinda bummed that I didn't have better paper for it, but I think it turned out well.
Front:


Back:

You can make him too, the instructions are here (.pdf file)
http://www.pajarita.org/aep/internacionales/intern2-1.pdf

I finally finished this clock for my friend's b-day



My friend loves the Misfits and I hope that he likes this.  He recently moved into a new place, so it's also kinda a housewarming gift.  Whaddya think?  Any suggestions?

Oh, the hands (or should I say fingers) glow in the dark

My co-worker gave me a cymbal he found in the trash.  It was all tarnished and even a little rusted.  I didn't think I'd be able to clean it, so I thought... it would make a great clock!  It was a little harder than I thought.

I wish I had pictures of the cymbal before I cleaned and polished it because it looked really bad, and it took me a few days to clean and polish it.  I think it looks great now.  I decided to make it for my neighbor, who loves Metallica, hence the Metallica ninja star.

It was really hard to find a clock with a stem long enough to extend through the bell of the cymbal.  I looked in a bunch of thrift stores for a clock that I could disassemble to use, but I was unable to find something that would a) fit in the bell and b) have a stem that was long enough to extend far enough that the hands would be on the face.

Anyhow, here it is in all its glory.





I'm really excited to give it to my neighbor.
Oh yeah, I tried to create a topic in the recycle crafts section, but it wouldn't let me    I figured it would fit in fine here...

This is my first project posting, I've been a lurker for a while, and commented on a few people's projects.

I went to a concert on Thursday that inspired me to make a t-shirt.
Here is my first fabric-paint hand painted t-shirt:


Yay!  I can post pictures now!

This graphic is centered on the back of the t-shirt.  The names around the outside are the band members (Art, Dave, Jo).  The t-shirt is a white dickies front pocket t-shirt and I plan on painting either the NASA logo on the pocket, or a modified NASA logo (to say NOVA) on the pocket.  I also plan on painting an American flag on one of the sleeves. I decided that I like the way it looks right now, so I chose not to put the flag on it.

The graphic is a modified STS-8 mission logo.  The Challenger STS-8 mission was the first NASA space shuttle night launch and landing mission and for that reason I thought it was appropriate.  

Edit:  Finished!

Front:


Pocket Detail:


Back: