Gallifrey One Convention Report (Part II Fiber Arts at Gally)

The one nice thing about Gallifrey One is the sheer number of very crafty people who make their own costumes as well as their own crafty goodness. It's pretty impressive how imaginative people can get. It's so impressive that I left the convention with a bunch of ideas to make -- sew, knit, and make. Even my dear Viking was MUST MAKE ALL THINGS!

Everywhere you walked, you saw people who made something -- either a costume or knitted item. And there are a LOT of knitted & crocheted items at Gallifrey One. There's a Ravelry forum, Who Knits, that's just dedicated to Doctor Who fiber arts.

The biggest knitted item for Gallifrey One is, obviously, the infamous Doctor Who scarf. I made one for myself (albeit using a knitting machine) several years ago. I saw plenty at Gallifrey with some interesting twists.

There were some interesting ways to wear them. I mean, what do you do with a 13 foot scarf?!?

Wear it ala Toga style!

You can turn it into a dress:

If that's wool, she's gotta be really warm!

Of course, you can always turn a scarf into a raglan sweater. (I'm going to need to steal this idea!) Her aunt had made this for her years ago. It's a crocheted sweater out of sport weight with small bits of lace.

The scarf wasn't the only knitted or crocheted bit of goodness at Gallifrey. I saw one crocheted Tardis and a mashup of 4th & 11th Doctor goodness.

There was also an amazing vendor (Hand-Knit Habitat) who sold HAND-KNIT scarves, hats, and knitting kits for those who don't knit, and she sold out of nearly ALL of her stock during the convention. It was awesome to see a successful knitter. I bought one of her knitted bow-ties in support.

She specializes in Science Fiction knitting, which I highly approve!

GallifreyOne: Convention Report (Part I - Costuming)

I'm finally getting to catch my breath again from the whirlwind between GallifreyOne and Stitches West 2014. I've tried to write up my Con-Reports with photos, but I was a bit delayed until I got the photos completed. It's no fun to write up a Con-Report without photos!

I'm going to write-up a multi-blog post on Gallifrey because there was Just. So. Much. If you're not familiar with GallifreyOne in Los Angeles, it is the Doctor Who Convention over President's Day weekend. We have attended for a number of years, and always have absolute blast. There are panel discussions on Doctor Who, interviews with guests of honor, panels on crafting, costuming, and then everything in between. If you ever wanted to geek-gasm about Doctor Who, then this is the place to do it! This year, they had two guests I particularly wanted to see -- Billie Piper (Rose) and Arthur Darvill (Rory).

We didn't think we were going to be able to go this year until the 13th hour (okay, about a month before the convention), but a bit of luck and some help of some friends with the hotel room, we managed it. (Anyways, we shall be attending Gally again next year with a bit more pre-planning.)

The convention sold out its tickets (~3000 people), and some of the evening events were jammed pack, like the Ice Cream Social on Thursday night.

Gallifrey started on a Thursday this year, and LobbyCon (the unofficial part of the convention) was jammed pack on Thursday evening when we arrived.

The convention is pretty costume heavy (nearly as costume-heavy as CostumeCon). A large percentage of the guests were in some form of Dr. Who regalia and a ton of cosplayers as various characters from the show. Everyone was showing their love of the good Doctor.

There were some very good Doctors this year.

And there were a lot of Daleks too....

Some of them were robotic in nature and others were human driven. And others were almost human.

Our friend does some amazing prosthetic work!

And it wasn't just the adults, there were a lot of very young fans cosplaying ranging from really cute to kinda creepy.

This costume was kinda creepy, especially as he kept asking everyone if they were his mommy.

The extremely geeky assistant from "Day of the Doctor" 50th Anniversary was extremely popular this year. In the show, she was definitely a fan girl, which I think many can relate.

It's always good to see the different interpretations of various costumes ranging from a very comfy K-9 to Twin Tardises!

There were also a lot of mashups, costuming-wise. (A mash-up is when you take two different shows/movies genres and mash them together, like a FireFly x Dr. Who.......)

Everyone needs a bandolier of sonic screwdrivers!

This year, we were shangheid(j/k) honored to help out with the Masquerade by judging for presentation (how well did they present their costumes). Our friends were judging workmanship (how well did they construct their costumes). Here's one of the contestants....

Can you bellieve this is her FIRST costume?!?

It was fun to be a judge again, and we got awesome seats (front row!) We've volunteered for judging next year. :-) Hopefully, we'll see you there next year as well.

Ravellenics Victory!

This weekend, I went off to Gallifrey One, the Doctor Who convention. As there was going to be a lot of waiting at the airport, it was a good chance to continue with my Ravellenics project. I brought my I had wound up half of a cake of new skein of yarn, figuring it would be enough.

Here's the sleeve at the airport, waiting for our flight. I'm done with 5/6 cables for the main body of the sleeve.

At Gallifrey, I managed to get some knitting time in at various panels, interviews, and at dinner/lunches. There were some hiccups, including one where I had to drop down 8 rows to fix mis-crossed cable. Plus, I kept looking at the shrinking ball of yarn, hoping I had brought enough. (I also brought my Color Affection with me, so I had plenty of knitting, but I really wanted to finish this sleeve!)

At one point, I actually stopped knitting on this project and picked up the Color Affection because I was very concerned about not having enough yarn. However, I did pick it up again at the airport on my way home, because, at least if I ran out of yarn, I'd be closer to getting it done and I'd be home in few hours.

LUCKILY, I managed to finish all 8 inches (~20.5cm) of lenght with about 12 inches of yarn left to spare!

I have to say, these black airport chairs at LAX are very uncomfortable. I had to keep getting up every 20-30 minutes to stretch out. Here's the entire sleeve, bound off, along with some of my carry-on luggage (filled with knitting, naturally!)

 

 Finished the second sleeve! And by the grace of the knitting gods, it matches the first sleeve.

 

Ravellenics 2014: Close to the Finish Line

 I'm getting close to finishing the second sleeve of my cardigan. You really can't tell from looking at the sleeve, but here's my wonderful knitting app -- Knit Companion.  (See all of the highlighted cable crosses and sticky notes? I love this app!)

I'm at the last cable repeat (5/6). I have 24 more rows in the last cable repeat (3 inches), then the bind-offs, and the final three repeats of the saddle (9 inches) over 8 stitches. I've been watching some of the Olympic coverage while knitting, so it's a win-win.

I've got a good solid 2 hours of dedicated knitting time on a plane for the upcoming US holiday (Presidents' Day Weekend), and I hope to have this last part finished. Then I can move onto my stretch goal of finishing my Color Affection.

DIY: Travel Case for Pens, Pencils, and Knitting Needles

I am about to travel soon to Gallifrey One (the Doctor Who convention). This year, we are flying and I realized that I have to do some safeguarding of my knitting through airport security. Although knitting is allowed on airplanes by U.S Federal rules, whether you can take your knitting on the plane is still at the discretion of the individual security agents. I don't like taking chances, and there are many helpful pieces of advice that many knitters have imparted.

Personally, I like to stow my knitting needles in a pencil case along with a few pens and pencils. I use interchangeable needles, so I take the needles off the cables and stick them with pencils. (I also bring a small notebook for sketches and note-taking despite the electronic age in which we live).

I couldn't find my pencil case, not remembering the last time I used it, so I opted to make another. A pencil case is just single rectangle folded over with a closure (either buttons, zippers, or cord).  It took me about 15 minutes to finish this project.

1. I took a pencil and crochet hook and measured it out  -- 6 inches or ~ 15cm long. I would need fabric at least 7 inches wide (assuming a 1/2 inch  (~1.25 cm) seam allowance).

2. I found some left over fabric when I was making my ditty bags for the holidays. I trimmed it to 7" x 12".
I serged them wrong sides together into a single piece. (Make your pencil case as big as you want.)

• If you don't have a serger, you can baste it together OR
• Sew the pieces right sides together along three sides and turn it right-side out and then sew shut the open side. Make sure to press all seams.
• (I like using the serger in this manner because it's one less step for me to take.)

3. Fold over 1/2 inch (1.25cm) and sew along all other edges.

4. Right sides together, fold over and sew down approximately 3.5 inches (~8.9cm) to form a pouch with a 1/2 inch (1.25cm) seam allowance.

5. If necessary, clip the edges.

6. Turn right-side out. It should be long enough to hold several pencils, pens, and knitting needles.

7. Add a closure of your choice. I used a button, but you can also use elastic or a cord closure.
(Sammy with the finished case)

Enjoy the trip!

Ravellenics 2014: Status!

I'm making decent progress with my Ravellenics project (WIP Dancing!) It helped that I was sick for two days during the week, so I got caught up with my knitting a little bit.

 

The sleeve is about 70% done. I have 1.5 more cable repeats and then to do 3 inches of saddle for the sleeve. (Each cable repeat is about 3 inches).

Ravellenic 2014 Projects

For this year's Ravellenic games, the podcast is joining Team Sasquatch (the podcaster conglomeration) and our primary set of projects is to finish some WIP / UFOs that have been languishing. Currently, I don't have enough bandwidth to start and finish a project, so I'm sticking to more realistic goals.

My primary goal is to finish my Alice Starmore St. Brigid sweater, which I've converted to a cardigan (the Ravelry project link).  I've already completed the back and the fronts.

I've even finished one sleeve.

My goal is to finish the second sleeve. (I'm not aiming to finish blocking & seaming by the end of the Olympics.

I do have a stretch goal, which is to finish my Color Affection. I'm halfway through the three-color section. I don't know if I'll get to it, but I'm hoping.

And, of course, the kittens were VERY interested in lying down on the sweater, despite having their own blankets to lay upon.

Quilting, Yet not Quilting.....

I know that a lot of people quilt, as evidenced by the many independent quilting stores and quilting departments within fabric stores. However, the whole process has never appealed to me, although I am quite fond of the finished objects. (I'm a fan of blankets).

The mother (M) of a dear friend (D)  is a quilter, and she does it rather well. D (my friend) has some amazing funky quilts at home that I covet. I told her as much, and she mentioned it to M. Surprisingly, M offered to make ME one, in exchange for a pair of socks. I was a bit surprised at that, because M is also a knitter, but apparently has never made socks, finding them a complex animal.

I struck the deal, although I felt it was somewhat lopsided in my favor, so I resolved to also give her more than just a "pair of socks". We exchanged information of favorite colours, styles, and the ilk. As M was back East, we became "penpals", and sent each other letters & postcards with updates of our respective projects.

I made her a pair of socks, which kinda looked like these (except, these are mine out of leftover yarn); I forgot to take photos of her socks before I sent them off.

 

I also sent her a handwoven scarf (which she promptly entered into the County Fair, and it won First Prize!)

In turn, M sent me a most amazing quilt. I love it.

    

The backing

The only problem is that it hasn't been actually quilted yet. The whole thing is basted together. M had told me months ago that she was stalled on the actual quilting portion, although the entire thing was pieced and basted together. I told her to go ahead and send it to me, because it can't be THAT hard to actual quilt the whole thing, right? (knock on wood)

Now, I just have to actually quilt the darn thing. (Sammy approves of the quilt)

The Joy of Wearing a Finished Object

I had hoped to have finished my Knit Swirl Coat over the MLK 3-day weekend, but the best laid plans of cats and women always seem to go awry. The seaming of the coat has taken over several evenings over the past week alone. One sleeve took 1.5 evenings to complete.  Plus, there were times I had to redo the seaming in certain places so that I was happy with the results.

Also, unfortunately, the sleeves on the coat were a bit too long. I missed her Technique Tutorial on creating the perfect sleeve length on her website. However, apparently, this problem is common enough that Sandra McIvers has a tutorial for cutting down the sleeves. I had to cut nearly 8.5 inches of sleeve!

I read the instructions and decided to make a few modifications:

1. I used Eunny Jang's tutorial on crocheted steeks. This process allowed for a much cleaner and enclosed edge, which made picking up stitches a lot easier. Plus, it gave the cut-off sleeve portion a finished edge as well.
2. I decided I wanted a slight bell-shaped sleeve, so I picked up more stitches than necessary.

The whole process took a bit more time, but I liked the end result a lot. Now the sleeves are the correct length.(Of course, I repurposed these sleeves, which will be the topic of another post.)

I LOVE this coat. I love the colors and the fit (mostly), and just how it hangs. There are several small problems with it, but it was of my own making. I think picking this project up multiple times over the year changed my gauge or somesuch, but it's not highly noticeable.

I wore it today to work, as the morning was cold. The sweater was cozy warm and I had already received a few compliments on it. My colleague at work mentioned that it looked very Peruvian and was very surprised that I had made it myself.

Also, I know I think I said I would never make another one, but I love this coat so much that I just might be tempted -- maybe not now, but I think sometime in the near future, I might have to cast on for another Knit Swirl Coat. Maybe....just maybe...

Blocking Blues

I finally finished my Knit Swirl coat just before the three day holiday (Martin Luther King, Jr day). It was relatively warm for this time of the year, so I wanted to wash and block it over the weekend. I had hoped to have this seamed by the end of the weekend. (Yeah, best laid plans and all that.....)

I re-read Sandra McIver's instructions (the designer) on blocking this coat. I'm glad I did, because there was some pre-work in finding the center back and center edge points and marking them with a locking stitch marker.

I rinsed it several times in Soak, as there was some dye in the water. It took 2-3 soaks to get the water clear. Afterwards, I laid out my giant blocking boards that I had bought previously. I'm glad for them because it took ALL of my boards, which are 24" x 24" to block this coat.

Here's the coat laid out.

I used blocking wires (which are AWESOME) to stretch out parts of it. Otherwise, I would have had to use a bajillion t-pins. I laid it out around 10:30 am. It took about 45 minutes to block it out correctly --- matching all of the center points and pinning to the schematic measurements. My metal yard stick came in extremely handy.

 

I had hoped it would be dry by that evening, but I guess I didn't towel it dry enough, plus my itty bitty back patio doesn't get as much sun during the winter months. During the summer months, this area turns into one giant oven, which is suited to drying anything within an hour.

It was still damp by 6pm and the sun was no longer up. I didn't want to leave this outside for a number of reasons. Because this thing was so big, I didn't have adequate space inside the house where there would be no kittens helping.

Unlike previously when I laid it out on the floor:

I solicited advice from my fibery friends on Facebook -- should I find room or use the no-heat option of my dryer to dry this sucker. The verdict? Let it air dry. One person suggested using the bed, locking the kittens out of the bedroom, and sleeping on the floor or couch. I was not about to do that, nor did I think the Viking would agree to such a thing.

I had an AHA! moment when I realized that the roof of my car (a MINI Cooper) is relatively flat, and the kittens are not allowed in the garage. With a bit of help from the Viking, we got the whole thing inside and on top of the roof of my car. (The sweater is slightly bigger than the width of my car hood. It amuses me.)

Between the interlocking boards and the blocking wires, we could turn it almost sideways and nothing really came loose, save the sleeves, which weren't really tacked down.

By the time morning came, it was only slightly damp. We took it outside again, where it dried completely. Now, just to finish the sewing portion of it!

Making Domo-Kun Fingerless Gloves

My eldest niece LOVES Domo-kun. He's a mascot for a Japanese public broadcasting company. He's kinda cute.

When she came to visit, we went to Japan town, and she kinda went crazy over the various Domos you can find there. So, for her birthday, I decided to make her some fingerless gloves, ala Dom-kun. Luckily, Ravelry has everything and I found a few patterns. However, the pattern uses worsted weight yarn, and I was using sock weight yarn. Because I tend to make a lot of fingerless gloves AND her hand size is a bit smaller than mine, I just used my "vanilla" fingerless glove pattern.

1. Cast on 40 stitches.
2. Knit 2x2 ribbing for 1.5-2 inches
3. Knit stockinette until it reaches where you want a thumb
4. Make thumb gusset

Then came the actual turning the brown gloves into Domo-kun. First, I cut out a rough template based on the size of the glove.

I picked up some red & white felt at Joann's; they are about $0.40 a piece.

Then pinned the pieces to the glove and sewed them onto the glove using embroidery thread.

To give the mouth a more 3D effect, I crochet'ed a single chain of 50-51 stitches, and wrapped it around the mouth.

Then used some yarn to sew on the button eyes. They don't look "quite right"

But look fine when you put them on your hands.