Bride and Groom

I made my friend Denisse jealous when I made my friend Tom the crocheted Jabba the Hutt and Sculpey Boushh/Princess Leia set. My friend Melanie gave me "Creepy & Cute Crochet" and I'd been looking forward to making something out of it. Aha!

Denisse's upcoming wedding didn't really call for creepy, though. Just cute. So I skipped the creepy skeleton ribcage embroidery and just stuck with cute toulle.

Adama and Roslin

The Lords of Kobol dig crochet. So say we all.

This was a gift for my son's preschool teacher. She and I talk about the BSG episode every week when I drop the kids off, and all the other parents look at us and no doubt think, "You're chatting about a show about genocidal robots? At a preschool? Really?" The show is taking a break until January, so I made Teacher Ruth these dolls to get her through the withdrawal.I'm not crazy about how the Admiral's hair turned out (a little black helmet, for crying out loud), but I was pretty happy with the method I used for Laura Roslin's hair (a method I first encountered in "Creepy Cute Crochet"). I went sort of a minimalist route with details. I mean, Roslin wears a black mini and a jacket, and pumps -- no problem. But Adama's uniform? I could totally have gotten carried away with trim and the belt buckle and the boots ... but then I never would have finished!

Pocket Jabba

I made this for my friend Karen, and then forgot to take any photos. Fortunately, she posted it on her own blog (adventuresofcancergirl.blogspot.com).

Twisted
friends

WCK and I hosted our playgroup last week, and everyone once again got a
good laugh at our Mr. Potato Head in the Darth Vader costume. (His official name
is Darth Tater, by the way). I explained that this was a gift from my sister
before WCK was born, and somebody pointed out that I must have some really
twisted friends and family: Every time the playgroup comes over, they find
something bizarre around here that was a gift from someone else.

This is true. I do have twisted friends. Today I opened the mailbox to find
that my friend DeAnna in Minneapolis had hand-crocheted me a little tiny Jabba
the Hutt. I must add that this was a gift for ME, not for WCK. I'm not a Star
Wars fanatic the way Jay is, but I do enjoy Jabba. I wish I could spend my life
lying around, laughing at people, and eating frogs. You don't find a tiny Jabba
in your mailbox every day, so it was a very special afternoon. DeAnna's note
pointed out that his nostrils somewhat resemble Clark Gable's moustache. You'll
have to judge for yourself:

He's so tiny that it was hard to get a decent photo of him, so I posed him
in a variety of locales. Here he is shopping for groceries:

Lounging at the Emerald City:

Hangin' with his good friend Thomas:

"Aloha," says Jabba. "I'm off to Hawaii!"

Finally, attacked by a T-Rex. Fight back, Jabba! Fight back!




You know how I'm always complaining that I never have the time to, say, clean out
our closets or read as many books as I want to, or prepare a fancy meal, or
write the Great American Novel? This is why.

Jabba the Hutt

This took a while to finish! But not because it's all that big -- I just couldn't settle on how to make it. First I thought the way to go was with two strands of yarn and a larger hook, but all that did was consume vast quantities of yarn. Then I started over using a G and Sugar 'n Cream sage worsted weight. Then I tried to make him as all one continuous piece, starting at the end of the tail, so that I didn't have seams, but his head area never looked right. So then finally I realized a seam wouldn't look bad if I sort of hid it under his lumpy torso. (Heck, that's why you can't see seams on MY body, either. They are hidden under my girth.) It ended up looking a little "gathered" as I stitched it all together, but I can live with that.The other end -- the end opposite his tail -- wouldn't snug up very well, so sometimes there's that bump. Argh. Makes it look like Jabba has contracted some sort of abdominal goiter.

For scale:

Darth Vader amigurumi

The latest addition to my Star Wars Crochet family.

A bit closer on his chestplate and belt:

I'm holding him for size perspective, but putting him next to a ruler probably would have been more effective.

Overall, I'm pleased with how he turned out. The chestplate and belt details were a lot harder to embroider than I expected, and eventually I just gave up and settled for this. But the helmet turned out well, and I'm happy enough with the face. I kept notes this time, so I could do another one a little bit better if I want to. For example, the head ought to be another round or two taller, because the helmet needs to sit a bit higher off the shoulders. And I'm pleased with the cape, too.