Sweeney Todd knits

I am a really big movie fan, and since learning to crochet and knit I have started to pay a lot of attention when knit and crochet designs appear in movies, and to costume design in general. During my second screening of Sweeney Todd last night I paid particular attention to some of the designs in the hope of replicating, or at least emulating them.

My Blackbird Mitts (several posts below) were at least indirectly inspired by Sweeney Todd. I had been toying with the idea of fingerless gloves in my mind for a while and then seeing the movie made it absolutely imperative that I make a pair…in charcoal grey of course. The pair that Sweeney wears in the movie are I believe knit in seed stitch, but crochet is more my style.

I also really liked that thin scarf/neckwrap thing Sweeney is wearing in the above picture and am currently working on one now. Mine isn’t going to be exactly like his, obviously, especially because he never takes it off so it’s hard to tell exactly how it is made and even if it’s knit at all. I’m knitting mine on size 9 needles in some leftover Bernat Cashmere in charcoal, and I plan on adding a border, either in single crochet or some kind of sewing stitch.

Those were my favorites but I also noted a nice (again charcoal grey) scarf that Antony wears that looked like seed stitch again with some kind of possibly crocheted border. My sister found it abysmally geeky of me to be pointing these things out to her haha.

I only wish that Mrs. Lovett wore some more knitwork, though I adore her dresses. I’m thinking maybe of making a stole or even just a scarf inspired by some of her fashions. I really liked all the lace and fur and sparkle added at the neckline of one of her dresses, and I love the hat she wears during the market scene.

Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it already, the film is FANTASTIC. I am very reluctant to pay for movies, due to my limited income, but I actually paid to see this twice already and wouldn’t write off a third theater viewing. It is totally mesmerizing, with outstanding performances from Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as well as the rest of the cast. It’s undeniably bleak, as there are only basically three innocent characters (Joanna, Toby and Joanna’s mother/Sweeney’s wife) and all three of them end up corrupted by the end. The only sort of sense of moral justice is I suppose that at least the wicked or partially wicked were “punished for their sins” so to speak, but the fact that innocence was killed along the way is not particularly uplifting. But the darkness is brilliant and at times hilarious, and the ugly world is painted with such detail it becomes beautiful.

some more finished and unfinished business

Well I finished those mitts I posted an unfinished picture of and I am SO happy with them. They are super super soft and furry, plus the colors look amazing together. I rather begrudgingly listed them on Etsy but I really want to make another pair for myself to keep.

I really like this photo on my dad’s Frank Zappa poster.

I’ve also been busy making another pair of mitts like the Blackbird Mitts at the top of the previous post, only this pair is done in dark chocolate brown with a sort of deep teal blue bird. I do believe that I will be posting the pattern very soon. My first original pattern!

I also may post a pattern for the leaf motif I used for my “Leaf Whimsy” collar/scarflette. I’m going to use it with some variegated green cotton I have in my stash to make washcloths.

I’ve also begun knitting one of the fabled “Mark” (from Rent) scarves for my sister, in exchange for a beautiful necklace she made me several weeks ago. It’s very dull to knit, just 1×1 rib in thick stripes, but it is coming along quickly enough. I’ve started another long term project that I plan to write extensively about as it progresses because I am really proud of it. I’ll save that for later though, once I have some photos to illustrate. I will just say that it incorporates tapestry crochet and intarsia and runs the risk of becoming a hopeless tangle!

I have been craving crochet projects using large hooks lately, I think because I’ve been doing the exact opposite so much; those blackbird mitts and the doll body used a G and I am making her clothes using an E, which is so small! The new scarf uses an N though, with two strands of worsted weight, and the furry monster mitts used I think a J with a worsted and a sport weight. I love the way that large hooks feel in my hands and the speed at which things work up when using them. I lose myself in the rhythm of it. It is a much more bold, striking way of working compared to the subtlety that comes about using a small hook. I’m being pretty philosophical about my crocheting apparently

Once I get some more project space for something else I intend to make some more things for the gentlemen to sell. I posted around asking my friends to help model things for me and realized that I could only use girls because I have nothing for guys! That needs to be remedied I do believe.

finished and unfinished business

I was worried that with school starting again my creative project productivity would suffer but I think it’s actually helped. I don’t have the time crochet until my hands and wrists ache anymore, which is actually a plus, and having other things to work around makes me more productive in the hours that I do spend crocheting/knitting/otherwise crafting.

Just today for instance I read all of “Antigone” but I also finished one project, finished one phase of another project, took and uploaded photos and look! Now I’m even updating my blog!

I have been experimenting with fingerless gloves/mitts lately, and after tearing up two and a half attempts I finally got a pair to work out and I added my becoming-signature blackbirds to the back. I’m going to make another pair using the same yarn (Bernat Natural Blends Cashmere–inexpensive enough for my budget but comes in lovely neutral colors and is wonderfully soft and nice) in brown with perhaps a blue or a red bird.

I’m also working on another pair using some Moda Dea Dream (which was a lovely Christmas gift) in “Plum” stranded together with some acrylic (but soft) sport-weight yarn in “Jade”. Something about the purple of the Moda Dea had me thinking of monsters, like the cute kind in kids movies, and when I was searching in the store for something to run it together with this pale aqua sort of color totally struck me as the perfect complement. Then last night while I was finishing up the first one my sister came to take a look and exclaimed “They look just like Sully from Monsters Inc!” And she’s totally right. I think I was subconsciously channeling that as my inspiration. The colors aren’t so great in this photo but you get the idea.

I’m also working on a more “art” project of another doll. I didn’t give her individual legs like my first doll because I determined they weren’t really necessary for what I’m going to do with her. She’s going to have much more meaning and be kind of stranger and more abstract than my first doll, or really than any of my other projects so far. I am really excited to get started on her “clothes”

I’m going to use some Lion Moonlight Mohair for her hair. I have always adored that yarn but never bought it because it’s kind of expensive for just little ol’ Lion Brand, but then it was on sale for $2.00 a skein yesterday so I snatched up three! I also got a good deal on another skein of that Moda Dea so I don’t have to fear running out mid-project, plus Paton’s Grace for the doll, the Bernat sport-weight, and the Bernat Cashmere for another pair of mitts. I got all that for $19! I’m usually not at all into semi-gratuitous purchases or bragging about good deals, but that was such a stroke of good fortune! And it all does have an intended project in mind…kind of…

the beginning

This is my all-time favorite project. (She may be surpassed by the cat I’ve been neglecting whenever it gets finished, but for now she’s tops)

(more photos on my flickr)

My sister says she looks a bit like “Sally” from The Nightmare Before Christmas but that was really not my intention. I was inspired in part by a “self portrait” doll someone else posted to a community I am in and then by the autumn season closing in on me as I was making it.

Her body is crocheted all of one piece, well, with one join. I should really take photos of beneath the dress so you can see her legs, I’m very proud of how I did them. The shape was entirely improvised and could use some refining if I make more dolls in the future (which I do plan to do) but I am happy with her curviness and especially the shape of her head.

The dress was hand sewn. I am by no means a seamstress, but I do really love the fabric against the color of her body and with her hair.

Oh, and her armlessness is deliberate.

Hats, Oh My!

Well I am no good at all at keeping up with this blog, I blame this on several things: 1. I have a personal livejournal that I write in constantly. 2. I now keep up really well with Ravelry 3. I opened up my Etsy!

But because of those last two things I am absolutely diligent about uploading photos and descriptions of my work, just not to a blog page. But I’m going to work on that. I’m really backed up so I’ll do things a little at a time.

First off is hats. Hats have become mostly a stash-buster sort of project for me. I went up to visit my 95-year-old Great Grandmother 3.5 hours away and brought with me a collection of odds and ends of leftovers from other projects in complementary colors. By the time I got home I had this great cross between a tam and a beret I dubbed “The Slouchy Hat”. I love projects that change stitch patterns frequently (otherwise I get boooored) the way this one does. It becomes sort of a mood map, as I can just do whatever my mood wants.

I also knit (an aberration and a shock) a hat! After seeing “The Golden Compass” (which I did not really dig despite obsessing over the books) I was super inspired by all the fantastic knits. One of the outstanding things was the beige/cream hood-style hat Lyra wears for a bit. I decided it looked like a knit project I could feasibly manage so I bought some bulky wool yarn and sure enough, I had a hat in no time. I’m working on adding a flower to it (there was one yesterday but I nabbed it for another project, long story) and I have to take better pictures, but you get the idea.

But there have been more hats this month! I have several different colors of Lion Brand Homespun yarn floating about and one night I just wanted something to work on so starting improvising a hat shape. I ended up with this great slightly pointy, slightly baggy design which was just begging for embellishment. This turned into the Blackbird hat and the Weird Fishes hat a few days later.

I think I have always been rather uninspired by hats because I never wear them myself (I have this enormous head…yes) but lately my hats have been some of my proudest works. Maybe I need to give them a better chance. They make such an interesting canvas for embellishment, much more so I think than scarves, and I have been getting really into making flowers, fish and birds and things.

Check back soon for the big ‘ol scarves post!

Greek Faces Neck Warmer

I’ve been making some neat stuff, but for some reason this is my absolute favorite. I didn’t think I would like neckwarmers at all…I found the idea kind of stupid. But then I made this as a way to use up some yarn I’d had floating around and try out a new stitch pattern and I ended up falling in love with it.

I think I mostly just love those buttons.

phew

You know? My hands actually hurt. I’ve been working for like 3-4 hours off and on on a neck warmer.

I’m not so good at adapting to having new internet things to keep up with, plus I’ve been horribly behind on taking photos of my work. I’ve completed a scarf and another neck warmer since the bird. Eep! I need to catch up!

this is new

So here I am. I’m going to be back home soon, and hopefully once there I’ll have more time and energy for creative projects. I’ve decided I’m going to try to log my projects, maybe to encourage me to do more, at least to help me look back and feel like I’m actually doing something…

I like making things. Making things is really the only thing that makes me feel alive, no matter whether it is music or crafts or art or photographs.

This bird made from this pattern, with vintage buttons semi-stolen from a friend.