Granny Pentagon Lapghan
Let's get the less interesting out of the way. Last Wednesday, inspiration struck for another of the Nerd Wars challenges for February. The inspiration: make a granny "square" blanket, but instead of squares, do pentagons, have the centers look like stars, and have the White Star, a ship from Babylon 5, be my inspiration.
I vaguely had in mind that I'd make a lapghan - baseball season is coming up, and I remember only too well how cold night games get in April, I only had one blanket last year, this year I'll be better prepared, I've made a scarf in Mets colors, a hat embroidered to look like a baseball, and now I've got a second blanket. :) But I didn't really appreciate just how long even a lapghan would take to make. For the challenge, I had to be finished by midnight on 2/28, and I worked in pretty much every moment I had available, and finished at 11 pm that night. :)
The blanket has 61 pentagons and 15 triangles. Because of the non-symmetrical shape of the pentagons, the triangles proved necessary to make it all fit together.
49 of the pentagons are in gray, purple and black; 10 are in blue, white and black; and the last 2 are in gray, blue and black, because I ran out of purple when I was sooooo close to the end! The challenge I met, by the way, was the "Prime Numbers" Challenge, hence the pentagons - I used five colors, five sided figures, etc.
At the moment, it's living on my couch, where I think it looks quite nice. And thanks to it, I got rid of two entire large skeins of black red heart, left in my stash from a time when I was considerably poorer and had much lower standards (it's not inadequate, I just don't like how rough it is...).
Alright! With that out of the way, the two amigurumi that no one has been able to guess!!
The Rockin' Rocket Ship Amigurumi
Mid-last month, for another of the Nerd Wars challenges, I had the idea to make a 50s-style rocket ship. In B5, one of my favorite characters, Michael Garibaldi, is very fond of "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century," and so to meet a Nerd Wars "Valentine's Day" Challenge I made him the rocket ship as a "gift." I ended up carrying it to work with me on a day when I was observing an activity at the New York Hall of Science, and randomly enough, the topic that day was rockets (I didn't know ahead of time!) so everyone got a kick out of the first draft (which is posted to Ravelry here). However, if I do say so myself, the second version is much, much more awesome. :)
This is a blast to make. (pun intended. ;) ) I really, really want to make a bunch more of them in different patterns, but I've got so many ideas that it's going to have to wait, for now.
The biggest design challenge was figuring out how to make it stand upright. When I made the first draft I was so worried that it wouldn't work, but it does - the rocket is free standing, and is not leaning against anything in these shots, as you can see! :) More pics on Ravelry.
And lastly, but not leastly, we have...
Jose Estrella, Shortstop for the Oceans - a Starfish Amigurumi
I finished the first draft of Jose Estrella! Like most of the Oceans players, he's inspired by a player on the Mets (Jose Reyes) - but this is the "not in uniform" version. I'll be making the "in uniform" version, hopefully tomorrow. I also have ideas for about 5 other variations on this pattern, so I'll be working on this for the next week or two while I make each type so that I can be sure they all work and I can write the instructions.
To own truth, this is one of those rare times when I get an idea of how to make something and the FO turns out even better than I thought it would. The biggest surprise was that the texture I made for the top meant that the it bulged more than the bottom, which was absolutely perfect for a starfish!
See? I'll be starting a second Jose Estrella tonight, and can't wait. (oh, and for anyone who doesn't know, "estrella" is Spanish for star...). The only real problem with Jose is that he's a little big as compared to the other Oceans players I've made - but since one of the variations I want to develop is easy instructions for how to resize the pattern, I'm not worried at all. :) More pics on Ravelry.
Join in on the fun this FO Friday, and see all the awesome stuff that everyone else has made, over on Tami's Ami Blog! Or, join in in Fiber Arts Friday over at Wonder Begins in Wisdom!
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