Guest Feature: Crochet a Yoshi Egg

 

This adorable crocheted Yoshi Egg tutorial comes from my fellow Canadians at Girls on Games. This pattern is for the egg, not the Yoshi (he’s the Amiibo).

From time to time I receive questions about how to get started with knitting or crochet, and my advice is generally 1) ask a friend who crafts or join a community group and 2) Google and YouTube have tutorials on pretty much anything you can imagine. But this is even better! You get step-by-step instructions from Princess Peach herself, aka cosplayer Sophie Jouin, who also created the free pattern :)

If you’d like to make a Yoshi Egg, check out the video by Girls on Games, and the pattern posted on Nintendo’s website.

If you’d like me to feature your project on DIY Geekery, you can contact me by email at diygeekery@gmail.com. Happy making :)

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Dragon Age Heraldry Fingerless Gloves

I turned the Kirkwall heraldry from Dragon Age 2 into a knitting pattern. What? This symbol:

Becomes this:

Very dragony. I made two versions: after trying out a pair of gloves with the large pattern, I thought smaller dragons might look better, so I made a second pair for my sister in some fabulous multicolour blue yarn. The little dragons fit nicely on the back of the glove, and the big ones wrap around your hand a bit. Here they are, with patterns below:

To make the gloves, I used the Simple Mitts free pattern by Kitty Adventures: thanks for the great pattern! You’ll need 50g of fingering weight yarn and 2.25mm double-pointed needles. Although I’ve never knitted gloves before, I found the pattern easy to follow and I think they turned out very well (especially the second pair: my sister’s… I made a few mistakes on mine!)

The gloves are worked in the round, and the rounds where the dragon is made are all knit (no ribbing). Just purl every time you get to a dark square and you’ll make a dragon. Note that you’ll still need to knit around each round: the patterns below don’t cover the whole glove. You can put stitch markers where the dragon starts and ends to make life easier.

Big dragon pattern:

White squares for knit, dark squares for purl. Start the tail on round 21 of the Simple Mitts pattern. The thumb starts on round 41, and the top of the head finishes on round 60. I made the 2 gloves mirror-image, with the dragons both facing in towards the thumb, so I worked the dragon pattern left-to-right for one glove and right-to-left for the other (if this sounds confusing you could make them both the same). Don’t forget to put the thumb on opposite sides of the dragon!

Little dragon pattern:

White squares for knit, dark squares for purl. Start the tail on round 40 of the pattern (1 round before you start the thumb). The top of the head finishes on round 59. I made the 2 gloves mirror-image, with the dragons facing in towards the thumb, so I worked the dragon pattern left-to-right for one glove and right-to-left for the other (if this sounds confusing you could make them both the same). Don’t forget to put the thumb on opposite sides of the dragon!

Making Games from Scratch

And now for something completely different: making your own video games! You might play my game and think: “Hmmm, this just looks like someone spent a few hours goofing around”, and you’d be right. I had quite a bit of fun playing with Scratch and making a simple, functional game. It’s a great place to start making games if you want to get your toes wet.

Click the picture to play (in a new window: WordPress doesn’t accept embeds from Scratch).

I don’t own Portal, Space Core, or Companion Cubes but I hope Valve doesn’t mind me using them for my homework project.

Here’s my sister’s game Zombie in Space: she drew all the sprites, even the braaaaaains! I love that we both independently decided to make space games :)

I’m starting to upgrade my programming skills, which haven’t developed much since I used to make my name bounce around the Commodore 64 in rainbow colours. Ah, those were the days. If you’re so inclined, try out Scratch and make a game too: it’s an intuitive interface and easy to play with, even with no prior programming experience.

Go to the Scratch home page and make a free account to get started…

You’ll notice that instead of typing code, Scratch lets you drag and drop puzzle pieces together to make commands.  The graphical interface is intuitive and relatively easy to figure out.

Pick a background, pick a sprite, and add some commands to tell your sprite how to behave.  There are plenty of tutorials online, but you can also get pretty far just by goofing around.  “If space bar pressed, move 10 steps” means that if you press the space bar, your sprite moves 10 steps.  Nothing cryptic, and no syntax to worry about.  Best of all, it’s free and runs in your browser window!

Happy game making :)

 

Garrus Vakarian Amigurumi/Plushie Pattern

Remember the time I said I was working on a Garrus amigurumi, but I never finished or posted it? Me neither. That must have been someone else who doesn’t get distracted by starting too many projects before finishing the old ones.

I learned that I can’t crochet a turian face with enough detail for a 6″/15cm amigurumi. On the other hand, making an amigurumi base and adding felt details got me this:

  Here’s the rest of him:

I’m not entirely sure whether this is an amigurumi or a plushie, but it’s really easy to make if you know basic crochet and don’t mind a bit of felt sewing. Everything you need to know is in the pattern here…

Mass Effect: Garrus Vakarian amigurumi pattern

The scarred face bits are made with textured felt: you could always distress a piece of regular felt if you can’t find fancy stuff at your neighbourhood craft store. The fringe part stays up with wires, but you could leave that out if you’re making him for young kids, or someone who likes to chew on turians.

What character (gaming or otherwise) would you like to see next? I’m suffering a lack of inspiration due to the beautiful weather, at least in regards to craft-making. Anyone interested in a summer craft exchange?

Geek Meets Bandwagon

Like this blog, but don’t like reading all these pesky words?  Want to see what else I’ve been up to?  I started a Tumblog, since all the cool kids were doing it.  In addition to mini versions of the posts here, I’ll be posting pics of random things I’ve made that aren’t original ideas or patterns, like this oh-so-adorable (and easy!) Bob-Omb from a free pattern by Wolfdreamer.  It was too cute not to make, and with unpopped popcorn kernels inside, it makes a handy paperweight for anyone who still uses tree-derived information storage formats.

I’ll still be posting free patterns and original projects here, but the microblogging format is nice for quick posts.  I’m always on the lookout for blogs to follow, too… the sheer amount of creativity in the world just blows me away :)

F Yeah Cross Stitch

I’ve finally taken the plunge and finished a cross stitch project.  Also, I’m not dead (yay), I’ve just been busy.  I sidestepped the more traditional motifs to stitch up one of my favourite Carl Sagan quotes, along with a slightly wonky – let’s call it artistic – freehand interpretation of the Milky Way using random space-y colours I found at Fabricland.  I love how it turned out!

I’ve decided this craft isn’t for the faint of heart… learning cross stitch gave me even more appreciation for artists like the ones at mr x stitch.

A close-up of the Milky Way, if you like the design…

I’m using it to fancy up my kitchen.

I’m well on my way to geeking out my kitchen: check out these fantastic N7 tea towels Jess made me for Christmas…

More coming as soon as I have time to finish up some projects.  The Large Hadron Collider quilt, on the other hand, is going to be a while yet :)

Angry Birds Green Pig – Ornament Sized

I’ve been busy making Christmas presents for many of the folks on my list – I’d originally planned to give handmade gifts to everyone but unless I find a way to reverse the space-time continuum that simply won’t happen.  I haven’t posted for a while since it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see your gift online before you receive it, but I’ll put up a few things during the holidays :)

However… this little Green Pig ornament from Angry Birds has already found its new home, so I can post the pattern!  There are a few great free patterns online for Pigs already but they’re more in the 10cm or larger range: this little guy is only 3-4 cm high, perfect for hanging on a Christmas tree (or anywhere else you like).

BTW I don’t own Angry Birds, so please don’t sell these or the pattern.

What you’ll need:

• green yarn (worsted weight)
• size F/3.75mm crochet hook
• stuffing
• black felt for nostrils
• googly eyes (or more felt)
• glue (or needle and thread) to attach eyes and nostrils

Head/Body (where is his body anyway?)

• 1) ch 4
• 2) turn, sc x 2, 3 sc in last ch (work around the corner to the other side of the chain), sc x 2 in the other side of the ch, 3 sc in last ch (now you’re back where you started, and have an oval shape) (10)
• 3) *sc, inc* x 5 (15)
• 4) *sc x 2, inc* x 5 (20)
• 5) *sc x 3, inc* x 5 (25)
• 6-9) sc around for 4 rounds (25)
• 10) *sc x 3, invdec* x 5 (20)
• 11) *sc x 2, invdec* x 5 (15)
• 12) *sc, invdec* x 5 (10)… now add stuffing
• 13) invdec around until flap covers hole, FO and weave in tail

Ears (make 2)

• 1) ch 4
• 2) turn, hdc, dc, hdc, then FO and use tail to sew ear to head

Nose

• 8 sc in magic ring, then FO and use tail to sew nose to head, squishing it a bit to make it oval

Now glue/sew on eyes and nostrils, and add a loop of yarn to the top of its head if you’re making an ornament to hang.  You can pull a loop of yarn loose on the bottom of his nose to make a little mouth (see picture).  Quick, easy and cute :)

Mass Effect Volus Amigurumi – Steampunk Edition

A certain someone suggested it would be awesome and hilarious to crochet a volus, so I made one for her (mwah!)  For some reason, it occurred to me that a steampunk volus would be even better than a regular one.  Kshhht.  Kindly direct me to the nearest airship, Earth-clan.  Kshhht.  Now, I’m an avid Regretsy FJL, and I know that gluing watch parts to something doesn’t make it steampunk.  That’s why I sewed on watch parts instead.

Here he is, in all his adorkable glory, although I haven’t come up with a good steampunky name for him yet:

My apologies for the crappy photography… I finished him on a road trip and gave him away the next day.  Here’s the pattern:

Mass Effect steampunk volus amigurumi pattern

It may be a while before I post again: I’m working on a science-inspired quilt, and those suckers take forever to finish.  Can’t wait to see it all come together, but it’s going to take some time…

DIY Super Mario iPhone/iPod Case

Here’s a quick and easy tutorial for an iPhone or iPod case, like this one:

I was inspired by some cross-stitched Super Mario characters I couldn’t resist picking up at the Ottawa Comiccon (I can’t remember the name of the vendor – if by some chance it’s you, please let me know so I can give credit).  How cute are these?  The little piranha plant was the perfect size for an iPhone case.

 

What you’ll need:

• cross-stitch, patch, or other image you’d like to show off on your iPhone or iPod case
• felt
• needle and thread (and a few pins to hold it together while you’re sewing)

Step 1:

Lay your iPhone or iPod down on a piece of felt.  Fold the felt over to make sure you have room to cover the whole thing, with room for a 1/4″ seam allowance.  Cut out the shape, leaving an extra flap of felt on one half.

Step 2:

Sew on your decoration (it’s easier now than later).

Step 3:

Put your iPhone or iPod inside the felt.  Pin and sew right sides together along the bottom and side (your decoration should be sandwiched in the middle).  Make it snug: the added thickness of the decoration will mean you have extra room when it’s right side out again.

Step 4:

Turn inside out (or right side out, really).  Reinforce the free edges by rolling the edges under and running a stitch along them.

You’re done!  Now go rock your nerdy iPhone case.  You could certainly add a snap, toggle, or strap if you’d like (I primarily made this to keep dust and dirt off, and to keep keys from scratching it).

Customizable Commander Shepard Amigurumi

One more Mass Effect plushie for you.  Everyone’s Shepard is different, so I made up a Commander Shepard pattern that can be customized to make male or female Shepards of various appearances.  FemShep shown here:

It would have been a better idea to use contrasting yarn colours for the armour: the details don’t show as well.  I’m a sucker for black-on-black, though (you never have to worry about matching…)

Pattern here:

Mass Effect Shepard amigurumi pattern

Aaaaand… because I worked all night and should never be allowed near a camera when sleep-deprived, I took more pictures.  Mass Effect 4: what do you think?

And why purple?  I have leftover yarn from the Reaper amigurumi, and an inexplicable affinity for purple hair.