My favourite sweater

Hello. Today I'd like to share a project that I made about a year ago.

I want to admit, that this kind of dress like, medieval looking sweater is something I always wanted to have and wear.

And as a not very experienced crocheter I couldn't even imagine how to start making such  thing.

Inspiration and ideas appeared when I started crocheting a bunch of small pentagons for a blanket. I saw that nice shape and I thought "Hey, it would make a perfect bottom of something, a skirt or a dress maybe?

I made and connected 2 big pentagons and they looked really good. Then I used similar pattern to make sleeves (they were almost exactly the same kind of sleeves I wrote about in one of my previous posts).

I still didn't know how to join all the parts, but I figured it out and I made my long, comfy and pretty sweater.

As I mentioned, I made it for myself, so I realize it doesn't look too well on mannequin. I am as tall as my plastic model, but definitely not as skinny and I have a little longer and more proportional arms.

For this project I used about 400 grams of SMC acrylic yarn Bravo, colour beige, which is medium, very soft type of yarn, perfect for knitting and crocheting light, warm sweaters, shawls and scarves.

Anyway, I absolutely love this sweater and I really want to make a few more in different colours, with some interesting motifs and decorations.

I would also love to find some time and motivation to write down a proper scheme and publish it, before I forget all technical details.

Easy crochet cape

Today something quick and easy, a short cape.

It's warm, it's comfy and... looks good with a pretty, holiday dress (a typical scarf doesn't, trust me).

For this project I used one ball (100g) of Madame Tricote Tango yarn and a chrochet hook size 5,5 mm. Tango is a very soft and thick acrylic yarn, perfect for making warm winter outfits, accesories and blankets.

I didn't have any pattern, I just experimented with relief stitches and the whole thing took me about two hours.

After hours, Noctally plays Creativerse (cool holiday contest in game)

Hello.

Holiday madness is here. Xmas season started. 

This is a very weird time for me.

I don't celebrate Christmas, I don't buy much food and stuff for presents. And for all my friends and family members who are deeply involved into all these holiday rituals and procedures I simply don't exist.

It's like almost everyone I know wanted to say "You're not with us, means you are against us. You don't follow the majority and since we can't kill you, we will simply ignore you."

That's fine, I don't complain. Just leave me be, I'll be absolutely ok.

And here I am, with my very simple cheap food, movies, tv shows, books and games. You know, how much I love games, right? So let's talk about the one I've been playing recently.

Creativerse is one of these cute little games, made by a small, independent studio.

I love games about crafting and constructing things with a bit of role playing, collecting items and fighting.

Creativerse has all these things. I don't want to say it's a clone of Minecraft, however similarities are obvious. The world in game is made of blocks, which you can mine and process to gain resources necessary for building new blocks, items and devices from a huge list of recipes.

I don't want to write a full game review in this post, just a few basic informations for those of you who would like to play.

Creativerse is still in early access, so don't expect too much. There are still some bugs and the game mechanics aren't very advanced, yet there's much to do, explore and create. And hey! It's free!

Crafting, farming and cooking systems are well done in my opinion and there are many adorable creatures that you can hunt or tame.

There are two playing modes, single and multiplayer. I highly recommend to all new players, to start adventuring and learning basics in their own worlds, before joining public world or one of realms created by other players.

The game is available for free on Steam. You can download it  and start playing right away (Creativerse on Steam).

There's also an interesting holiday contest with really neat rewards.

More informations here Creativerse holiday contest.

I already made my "small" project and I'm about to record a short video and submit my entry.

If you want to join the contest, you should start collecting recipes and materials, cause there's not much time left.

And if you need any advices about the game, items, recipes, anything Creativerse related, I'll be happy to help.

You can send me a friend request on Steam or in Creativerse, my nickname, as you can easily guess, is Noctally.

Btw, I think I have a few extra spots for friendly visitors in my world, so if you want to drop by and say hi, you are very welcome. Just add me as a friend and send me message, so I'll be able to send you password needed to access my world.

Also, if  you want to start  building your holiday contest project and you need assistance, feel free to contact me. I have tons of blocks and items, which I can share.

And that's all for today. Enjoy the game, survive holidays and stay alive! ;) 

Crochet sleeves

Today I want to show you simple crocheted sleeves, which I made a couple of weeks ago.
Such sleeves are a perfect solution if you like wearing light clothes, such as tank tops and keep your arms warm in the same time.
They can be a unique addon to everyday outfit or a fancy detail for a medieval, steampunk or fantasy inspired costume.
For this project I used Red Hearts Bella acrylic yarn, but if you want to make a lighter, more lacy version of these sleeves, you can use cotton yarn.

For a base of a sleeve you can use any crocheted pentagon, just make sure it's big enough to wrap your wirst. Sew the opposite edges together, using  mattress stitch.

Continue your work simply adding rows and working around until you get a desired length of your sleeve.

In this post I don't present a full, precise tuturial.

I just want to share a few tips regarding my project. 

The type of stitch, patterns and decorations are up to you.

I like simple, geometric motifs and contrasting colours, so I made a black, white, blue pair for myself.

Food porn in the morning and unboxing Faceless lady

Hello. 

First of all I am feeling very tired today.

I don't think I've ever mentioned, that for the past couple of years I've been working night shifts only. I work from home, which has good and bad sides, but it was my choice, so I shouldn't complain.

Anyway, some mornings can be really hard, like today, when I feel exhausted, my eyes are closing and I would like to go bed and sleep for next 12 hours, but you know I can't do that, cause I have things to do.

So, on the gloomy, cloudy mornings like today I need my extra energy boosts, something to make me feel better, more energized...something to keep me going for another several hours.

And here's what I got today. A couple of days ago I bought a pack of tiny, spicy crackers and I completely forgot about them. I found them today and I made these little, hot snacks with peanut butter.

They taste so good!

Why can't I go to sleep yet? Here's the story...

She came to me yesterday and she arrived in pieces from the distant country, known as Netherlands.

Sadly, I was too busy to unbox her right away and welcome her properly, so she had to spend all night alone in the dark, cold box. 

But today, today I gave her all my time and attention, I put all the body parts together...

And here she is. My faceless, silent mannequin.

Someone who never complains, never has bad moods, a perfect model to work with.

Ok, enough poetic horror tales. A few facts. 

I needed (desperately) a mannequin for my crazy crochet creations, a full body, natural size female one to be precise.

I visited local shops, I checked some offers I found in online stores and I got to several conclusions.

First: Mannequins, in general, aren't cheap.

Second: Most mannequins are just weird.

Third: Majority of manneqins I saw has completely messed up body proportions. 

Fourth: All the female mannequins made in Germany look like porn stars (OMG the boobies! And OMG the nipples!)

At this point, my goal to find a cheap, natural looking female mannequin seemed impossible.

But hey, I found her! She's not flawless, but for my purposes she's ideal. 

I planned our first photo session for incoming weekend and I just can't wait!

Crocodile Stitch Leg Warmers with mini photo tutorial

Hello, hello!

Today I'd like to show you another pair of crocheted leg warmers. 

For this project I used 2 balls of Red heart Lisa yarn (acrylic, 50g), colour neon blue, and two balls of SMC Bravo, colour neon yellow (also acrylic, 50g).

A few words about the famous crocodile stitch pattern.

First of all, I love it.

It looks very decorative, especially if you use different colours or shades of one colour or some interesting melange with very subtle and smooth colour transition.

However it's one of the most "expensive" patterns because it consumes much yarn.

The leg warmers I made are like teenager/adult size and I used about 200g of yarn for each pair. If you make leg warmers for a child, you will probably need a half of this amount, unless you want to make them extra long or use some really fancy, 3 dimensional pattern.

Anyway, crocodile stitch is very simple, but I tried several slightly different schemes, before I achieved my crocodile perfection.

You can see the results of my work on the pictures below.

I also made this short, simple step by step slideshow video for those of you who would like to try to make a similar pair of leg warmers.

I'm sorry there is no written pattern attached, I simply don't have enough time to prepare them, but if you really really feel lost and need help, feel free to contact me and I will try to explain you the most difficult parts.

Thank you for visiting my blog and see you soon in the next creative project!

Crochet neon leg warmers

Hello. I made another pair of leg warmers. This one has crazy neon colours, pink, green, yellow and orange. For my project I used acrylic yarn SMC Bravo Color.

You can see results of my work on the pictures below.

I'd like to admit, that I really like SMC yarns, they make very interesting melange yarns, also their neon yarns have intense, glowing colours. I compared SMC neons with Red Heart's neons and SMC seem much brighter and vivid, so I highly recommend SMC brand if you want to make something really visible.

Fluffy crochet pillow

In a free while I decided to finish a pillow, that I started ages ago. It was almost done. I only needed to join front and back and stuff the whole thing. And here it is,  a flower like cushion, fluffy, soft and simply cute. 

For this project I used Red Heart baby yarn (100% acrylic) and some blue decorative Chinese yarn, 

I experimented with the pattern a lot. I tried several different options, cause I had a limited amount of yarns. I hope you like the result. I don't plan to make more cushions anytime soon, but I still have a few ideas that I would like to use in the future. 

60 mins crochet beanie

60 minutes, this is how long took me crocheting this simple beanie. 

Why another beanie? Cause I needed one, right here, right now. I couldn't find my old black one and you know, it's cold outside. Not cold enough to start wearing heavy winter hats, but it's nice to have something soft and warm on top of my head, something that covers my super sensitive ears and protects my forehead. Especially that I have very very short hair and my head always feels cold.

Ok, maybe this type of beanie isn't too pretty, but it's comfy and easy to make and it will keep your head warm. You can wear it no matter if you're boy or girl, young or old. It's good for everyone.

There will be another beanie soon, this time in browns and with a simple step by step slideshow tutorial. I need more beanies, in different colours. :)

Sea gloves

Today another pair of simple, warm fingerless gloves, made by me. I like to crochet gloves and I love to wear them, even when I just sit at home and type or play games.

This time I made something sea/ocean inspired. I really like these cool colours. :)

Fantasy fingerless gloves (mittens), galaxy melange

Hi there!

Today I want to present you a pair of fingerless gloves which I made some time ago.

For this project I used half of ball (less then 50g) Himalaya everyday  rengarenk yarn, a very interesting melange (light blue, dark blue, purple, very deep dark green an white). Sadly, I'm afraid you can't buy this particular yarn anymore, cause probably this is one of Himalaya's discontinued products.

Check results of my work on the photos below.

My gloves aren't very warm, cause of the lacy pattern, but they are still very comfortable. 

If you like this project, feel free to subscribe to post the comments and subscribe to my blog for more crazy crochet projects.

Pumpkin leg warmers :)

Hello :)
Here's another pair of crocheted leg warmers, this time I made something inspired by autumn colours and falling leaves.
I wanted to use a neon orange yarn for this project, but I couldn't find it in the stores, so I had to buy this pumpkin orange one, which looks pretty in my opinion.
Please forgive me lack of patterns or precise descriptions, making them takes much time, which I don't have.
But here are some basic informations, to help you crochet.
For this project I used 2 balls of Red heart Lisa yarn, 50g each, 2 orange and one green, crochet hook size 4,5, but you can use 3 or 3,5 if you prefer. I used bigger hook, cause if you wear your leg warmers on top of jeans, other pants or leggins or on boots, you don't want them to be too tight, so instead of adding extra stitches, just grab a bigger hook and problem solved.
If you have any questions or suggestions for future videos (I'd love to make them as often as possible but time isn't my friend, however I promise I will try to do my best and post at least 2 videos a month) please let me know in comments bellow or send me a message using contact form on main page.
Thank you for visiting.

Crochet leg warmers

Today I'm sharing a couple of pictures of leg warmers I made some time ago.

It's a very simple project and I just tried to make some use of yarn leftovers.

However I discovered that such leg warmers are really comfy, cute, warm and they look good with various types of shoes and outfits, so I decided to make more. I even started working on sort of photo tutorial, but I don't know if I'm able to finish it, cause the software in my photo camera plays weird tricks. Anyway, this is my first pair of colourful crocheted leg warmers.

Noctally plays Stardew Valley, Part 2 - cleaning up, shopping, seeding and meeting people in Pelican Town!

My pixel character woke up on the farm, full of energy and ideas, but virtual Noctally quickly realized that, like in real life, there's much to do and time runs very fast.

In this game time and energy management is a key to success. 

So, let's cut down some trees, break stones, get rid of unwanted weed and make our first vegetable garden. 

First days are really hard, cause we have limited energy and not so many easy ways to refill energy bar. Energizing drinks and food cost money, so we have to start earning as quick as possible.

Just be careful and don't sell valuable materials that you will need to upgrade your house and construct farm buildings. 

Crochet cushion orange & light green

Don't think I've been only playing games recently.

I actually made tons of crochet stuff, but I simply have no time to take pictures of all my creations. Anyway, today I want to show you one of cute flora inspired cushions I made last summer.

I had this huge plan to make an entire collection of such pillows, each one inspired by nature, flowers, seasons and so on, but I quickly realized that I don't have room to store all the items and supplies.

I got 2 more pillows to finish and the rest must wait for better times.

It's a very simple hexagon based pattern. You can easily count the stitches and use this motif to create your own pillows, bags, blankets or rugs. My cushion isn't very big (diameter about 30 cm), but the size is totally up to you. You can sew or buy the pillow base in desired shape and size. For this project you can use any type of yarn. It's a perfect way to make use of yarn leftovers.

Noctally after hours: playing Stardew Valley part 1

Yes I'm a gamer. And I'm a picky one. I enjoy playing games that give me valuable experiences and good energy. I like exciting stories, mysteries, interesting characters plus I simply love crafting and exploring. 

I try to choose games, which aren't too expensive and won't kill my computer.

That's why I decided to kill some free time (which I don't have too much) and boredom of autumn evenings with this little, interesting project known as Stardew Valley.

What is so special about this game?

First of all, the whole thing was created by one guy.

I mean literally everything, the story, code, graphics, music all was made by one very young and creative man. And Noctally loves creative people! 

I don't want to type too much, I'd rather prefer to show you all the things you can do in the game, so I decided to start a series of post including videos of my Stardew Valley gameplay.

So here it is, gameplay number one, in which we will create a new character, make some important decisions, move to a very interesting town and meet some people. We will also start organizing our life space and building a wonderful farm. 

Enjoy!

For more information please visit Stardew Valley official website

I also have a serious  plan to crochet a few items inspired by Stardew Valley lore.

And if everything goes smoothly you will see  my first little  project with a mini tutorial very very soon.

See you!