You've Got Red On You

So this weekend I looked over at the sadly disconnected body parts of my amigurumi in progress and decided I'd finish him. What held me up was the chain stitching around his middle, for some odd reason. That turned out to be one of the easy parts, though I'm still not convinced I did it right.

I love the stitching while it's happening, but the construction afterward is what slows me down. I want to see what it looks like when it's done, yes, but that involves assembly. Stuffing, sewing, gluing, bleh. It's why, as long as I've been knitting (and I've been doing that for six years), I've never made a sweater. The thought of assembling the pieces afterwards just makes me cringe. I know I'm a process crafter, I've already said that. I like learning new techniques and stitches and trying new things. But once I learn something and know it well enough I just get bored by it or something. Except for socks. I'm addicted to knitting those. But those are all one piece anyways, and you can change up the pattern so you don't ever get bored.

Once I started finishing my little amigurumi though, I could see the end in sight and I couldn't stop. I didn't let the embroidered mouth slow me down, though I had no idea what stitch to use and none looked right, nor could I find any help on the interwebz. The polyclay eyes were surprisingly easy; they've made that stuff easier to work with in the twenty or so years since I last tried it. To be fair though, the first stuff I tried was also the hardest to use. Lesson here: don't set yourself up for failure. Make it as easy as possible on yourself if you're starting a new technique. Use a simple easy pattern for beginners, get all the right tools (not necessarily the most expensive ones either), and make a space for yourself to be able to work. You'd be amazed at how good you can get with proper lighting, tools and space.

I did use a basic pattern from Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haydn, for the Corporate Zombie. But I added my own brilliant idea and made his face all his own. I may add more hair later, but I quite like him.

I'm thinking of adding his buddy Ed later, and a little herd of zombies. And of course a little polyclay cricket bat. I've already had to hide him from my kids who want to play with him.

I might have started the herd this morning except my husband had the day off and we decided to go explore, drive around the city and have fun. The weather cooperated well. I tried my first Jamba Juice ever (Pomegranate), went and breathed in the atmosphere at the See's candy shop, and discovered another craft store that is a smaller chain than the big box stores. They also had a craft item I could not find in the larger store: gears! Granted, they are supposed to be used for scrapbooking, but I'm not a scrapbooker. I am convinced I can do jewelry however since I took a light metals course in art school. I only nearly burned off my fingers once with an annealing torch. Only once!

I expect the gears will make it into some Steampunk jewelry shortly, I have to decide what sort of piece I'd like. Likely a bracelet or earrings. Possibly a choker if I have enough gears. Hmmm, maybe with red coral? I have a ton of that because I like its organic form and had a vague idea for a necklace called "Blood and Bone" with mother of pearl against the bloody coral. Yes, so charming, I know.

That's what you get with a zombie-obsessed person. That and architectural plans to build a fortress for your next house.