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.