Viva Forever

Completely on a whim, I crocheted a snail.

It was fairly easy to make (though the pattern instructions were a tad bit confusing), started on Friday afternoon and finished yesterday night. I love his little antennae, though the photos make it look like it has tiny cat ears. Oh well! :3 I’m thinking of making him a little beret and/or scarf.

Well, not really finished, as he needs a face still! Below are the ones I’ve come up with (badly photoshopped, mind you :P). TELL ME WHICH ONE YOU PREFER! Of course, completely new suggestions are more than welcome! Note: I can’t guarantee that the end product might look anything like the pictorial representation (I have non-existent embroidery skills at the moment) but I’ll try! Currently my favourites is the one with the moustache and the first smiley one. :)

Oh btw, his name is Oscar Gou. COME ON, IT’S A PUN!! *is lame*

Semester is basically over for me, no more classes but final assessments are looming. Argh stress. Anyway, I’ve been productive today! Here’s another quickish crochet project I finished:

It’s a cactus pincushion! I made it for my mother when she expressed she wanted a pin cushion as she’s starting a big embroidery project. The first picture is when it’s still not sewn together yet, but I took a picture to show how the unfortunate positioning of the pins that keep the top and bottom together meant that I was in a prime position to get pricked if I was to graze by it as I hold. This happened often. ¬_¬

Anyway, I’m sick of this layout already! I might recycle another layout that I had up before and liked and maybe close a site. See how productive I get when I’m supposed to be doing assessments?

Oh yeah, nearly forgot! The other day I had lunch with Eileen. It was pretty cool, we had pancakes and I basically bombarded her with questions about the US education system. GOD, EVERYTHING COSTS MONEY! I was flabbergasted to hear that college APPLICATIONS costs money! What the? :O

Usually I don’t do much for my mum for Mother’s Day, but this year, I decided to make her a little something. It’s a little crocheted “egg” that’s supposed to represent myself, the little egg that she had nurtured into this 21 year old chick.

… *is lame* :P Anyway, pictures here (are we allowed to direct link to flickr? O_o):

Interesting family-history tidbit: My great grandfather (on my mother’s side) was lynched to death by a bloodthirsty mob of peasants during the rise of the Communist movement in China. They were incredibly against the idea of anyone being a “landlord” and would violently seek out those who owned land. It was unfortunate that my great-grandfather was caught in it all as all the land he owned was a shabby little shop that sold timber to people.

Beware! It’s a Dragosaur, a half-dragon, half-dinosaur, a creature so frightening it would surely haunt your dreams! Luckily, the rare footage shown here is of an unfortunate, deformed baby dragosaur, most probably abandoned by its fearsome parents. Scientists who stumbled across this pitiful creature decided to name it “Spatchy”; a compromise between the names “Spot” and “Patchy”.

(Actually if you look closely, it’s not actually a real creature at all, but another unfinished crochet creation. Undoubtedly I must have had you fooled! Right, guys? :P)

*Cough* But yes, Spatchy has been sitting unfinished on my desk for a good month now. I haven’t had the opportunity to buy eyes for it yet. Might give it a bit of a mouth too, spines on it’s back and possibly ears. I haven’t decided whether it’s a dragon or a dinosaur. I’m pretty sure neither one has visible ears. And yes, I got it from a free pattern, I’ll dig it up later.

Soooo tired now from writing a torturous essay, gonna go to bed now.

Still no games yet but WOOT! I received my Japanese book “かぎ針編みパターンブック300″ (or “CROCHET PATTERNS BOOK 300″)! Before anything else, here are pictures (all clickable for bigger versions of the image).

Squeee!! OMG where to start! I bought it from Yes-Asia. I was incredibly nervous about buying it online even though the price was so affordable (for a Japanese book) PLUS free shipping (AU$35!!). I thought there had to be a catch! I went to Kinokuniya to make sure that I couldn’t get it there instead but the price listed was AU$47. On a whim, I thought what the heck and bought it. With a coupon I ended up ordering the book for an awesome price (US$25, AU$32). Many common and mediocre English crochet books (not like there’s that many anyway) costs more than that and this one is shipped from Japan.

The order was made on the 1st February and shipped on the 15th and I received it today so the time it took was reasonable (given the the headquarters were apparently in Hong Kong and that the book wasn’t readily on hand). I was flabbergasted that for FREE economy shipping, the extent to which they wrapped the book was so thorough. It was in a huge, sturdy, grey bag, with a layer of bubble wrap encasing over two rigid cardboard pieces that was on the front and back of the book and the book itself came in a lovely plastic wrap. The book was in PRISTINE condition (see first picture)! One of the best purchases I’ve made!

And onwards to the book! I still haven’t had a detailed look at it yet as I had gone out after opening the package, but the lack of Japanese and abundance of diagrams and pictures is really relieving. This is a book about patterns and that’s all there is, pure and simple. There are no boring repeats from a flick I’ve had; the patterns range widely from the very lacy (see 4th picture) to the more sturdy but unusual (see 5th). All the photos come with what seems to be internationally recognised crochet diagrams and I’m sure with a bit of studying, I could get to knowing how to read it properly. Fortunately there are quick mini-diagram tutorials at the end of the book describe what each type of diagram represent which kind of stitching. COOL BEANS! All pages are glossy so do excuse the glaring circles in the photos. I’m can’t wait to start creating something from the diagrams!!

So yup, I’m really happy with my purchase. I don’t usually buy many things, but this seems to be a solid investment. :D