2,000 Facebook Fans Contest!

Over the weekend my Facebook page got its 2,000th fan! To celebrate, I’ve come up with a contest to reward a couple of lucky people.

The main reason I started CraftyisCool was to make stuff for my kids. Then every time there was a birthday or holiday, I made something for someone. If you make stuff, you know the absolute feeling of joy that comes from using your hands to make something and giving it to someone you care about. The look on his or her face, the comments, the appreciation: they are the payoff for your hours of hard work.

I’ve been on the other end of this too. I have a big family and now that there are lots of grandkids, we adults draw names at Christmas to buy one gift for one person. Last year my twin sister knit me a pair of slippers. I cried! The sentiment was so touching. I know the hard work that goes into something like that and it just made me feel so special to know someone had spent the time to make something just for me.

So here’s the contest!

FIRST: Like CraftyisCool on Facebook (if you haven’t already)

SECOND:
Post a comment below telling everyone either:
1) the best handmade gift you ever gave to someone and their reaction;
OR
2) the best handmade gift you ever received and how it made you feel.
Also include your email address and your choice of prize (listed below).

On Friday, October 28, at 5:00 cst I will randomly select TWO winners from all of the comments and post them here and on my Facebook page. Each winner will receive a special CraftyisCool amigurumi kit! The kit will include a hard copy of a pattern, the yarn needed (a full skein in the colors I recommend), and any notions (eyes, thread, etc). If you crochet, you’ll get a full project to make for the holidays! If you don’t crochet, this will be the perfect jumpstart! Or you can gift your package to someone you love.

You will get your choice of these kits:

Alice

Oompa Loompa

Assistant Regional Manager

Pee-wee Herman

Conan O’Brien

PLEASE remember to LIKE CraftyisCool and PLEASE include your email address in your comment. I will not be able to directly contact you if you won unless your email address is included in your reply!

Thank you so much for liking what I do! Be sure to let your friends know too.

Conan in NYC!

Today is the opening of the NYC MOCA (Museum of Conan Art)! Two of my pieces are in the show, the Conan Blimp and my little Conan doll! Anyone in New York should get over there. Besides the artwork there is an audio tour starring Conan and Andy, and a Conan “loveseat” that sounds amazing. Who’s going??

Here are the details:

WHEN: October 24 — November 3, 2011, 9am — 9pm
WHERE: The Shops at Columbus Circle in the Time Warner Center, 2nd floor, New York
The NY COCO MoCA exhibit will feature:
•    More than 50 pieces of CONAN fan art in a wide variety of media;
•    An audio tour of select pieces, voiced by Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter;
•    An original, commissioned sculpture of Conan by artist Federico Uribe, represented by Miami’s Now Contemporary Art Gallery;
•    The CONAN Loveseat, Team Coco’s interactive robotic couch sculpture that talks to fans, hugs them and takes a picture for them to share through social media;
•    Numerous chances each day for gallery visitors to win special prizes, including autographed CONAN posters, museum buttons, limited-edition t-shirts and more (while supplies last).

The Conan Blimp and lil’ Coco

What a trip!

I’ve got to share some highlights of my trip to LA last week. When I was asked to submit artwork for the iam8bit show, my husband and I decided to make a trip out of it. As soon as the opening date was confirmed, we booked our hotel reservations, bought plane tickets, and secured spots at a taping of Conan!

Here’s a quick video of me being interviewed by Aaron Bleyaert for the Team Coco Fan Friday! Everyone at Conan was SO NICE. That’s what stuck with us. Here you go…

http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TBS/cvp/teamcoco_drupal_embed.swf?context=teamcoco_embed_offsite&videoId=15685

Instead of boring everyone with a play by play, I’ll just share some photos of the trip. 

Alice has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. So there.

This is something I had to see in LA. It’s a wall that Elliott Smith took a photo in front of for the album “Figure 8”. I stood there and cried like a baby! All the lyrics people had written up there…it was touching.

Here’s a photo of me and “Billy Wins”, one of my pieces in the SUPER iam8bit show featuring Billy Mitchell on a DK skin rug.

I’m playing Galaga, projected onto a giant screen at the SUPER iam8bit show! The high score won the actual game, and I was just a *little* short!

“Dust of Hyrule”, my other piece in the SUPER iam8bit show. It played ocarina music from the very first 8bit Legend of Zelda NES game.

My Andy and Conan dolls were hoping to meet Team Coco!

Paul and I on the set of Conan!

Look! Aaron Bleyaert (Bley) and I after he interviewed me for Team Coco’s Fan Friday!

Oh yeah! Those smiles started to hurt after a while and lasted for hours!

This is just a random RED VELVET PANCAKES shot. The Griddle Cafe in LA: you must go.

Do you know how long I had to wait to take this picture? OK,  two minutes, but it seemed like a while.

It was an amazing trip! I loved LA. Coming from Austin, where the high was 107 all last week, the weather was absolutely spectacular and all of the places we went were beautiful. I’ll go back anytime!

My Salacious and Flaming Creations

Have you heard of the Bear and Bird Gallery’s Stitch Wars Strikes Back? I was honored to be invited to contribute to this year’s show, opening August 12th in Lauderhill, Florida. 

See what I made? Jabba’s annoying maniacally laughing little court jester, Salacious Crumb!

While he may not be the most BEAUTIFUL thing to look at, I think he’s kinda cute. He is fun to play with, for sure, since his limbs, tail, and ears are all poseable. Wanna know how I did that? Check out my past tutorial. This time I used 12 gauge wire because he’s HUGE! I construct everything, then feed the wire through one arm, through the body, and into the other arm; same with the legs.

Tomorrow he’s off to Florida (sniff sniff). My little boys are sad about that! But go see him if you’re able to. The show should be awesome!

Aren’t I lucky?? Salacious Crumb isn’t the only one of my creations that will be in a gallery! This week at Comic-Con, in San Diego, the amazing Team Coco and TBS are hosting a Flaming C exhibit and I was asked to add my crocheted Flaming C to the Coco MoCA (Museum of Conan Art)!

Since I had already given away my original Flaming C, I made another, and I liked this one even better! On the original, poor C didn’t have his Blackberry. This time, there it is, ready for Flaming C to answer very important calls for help. So will you be in San Diego for Comic-Con? Go see my Flaming C and the rest of the amazing artwork in the gallery!

How about that? Being crafty IS cool, and sometimes craft=art!

>Sue, Spies, Star Wars, and a Superhero

>Back in November, I announced that I would have a contest on my facebook page to end all contests.  When I got 500 fans, I said, I would let everyone “nominate” their choice of a new CraftyisCool design.  When all the submissions came through, I would choose ten that were best suited for amigurumi and that I thought fit in with my other designs.  Each would be sketched out, listed on my fan page, and voted on by CraftyisCool fans.  The winning design would be turned into a CraftyisCool pattern, and the finished toy would be gifted to the person who came up with the idea.

The results are in!  After counting up all the votes (OK really I had just had to look and see which had the most “likes”.  There was no counting involved!), the clear cut winner was Sue Sylvester from Glee!  That means that Jennifer Williams will be receiving her own Sue!  Congratulations, Jennifer! 

When the pattern is finished, I will be making it free for a limited time with a $10 or more purchase from either my Etsy shop or my Ravelry shop. 

In other news, before Christmas, a friend of Parker Jacobs, an absolutely AMAZING artist and the art director for a little show you may have heard of, Yo Gabba Gabba (!), decided he needed a mini-me for an extra-special Christmas gift!  Who doesn’t?!  So she ordered him a little Parker, complete with props, sunglasses, and a hat.  He’s in a 60s spy-themed band called GOGO13 and plays the ukulele, so naturally his little yarn-self plays one too.  Did you know Parker’s cool trick is baking special birthday cakes?  He was thoughtful enough to send me this awesome photo! They look alike, right?!

In my family, there’s lots and lots of boys and they all share a common interest: Star Wars.  So I thought I’d heard of all the characters, knew all the story lines, but when my nephew turned 16 and I asked him what he wanted, he named someone I had to look up: Grand Admiral Thrawn.  Apparently he’s a somewhat obscure character that first appears in a series of books by Timothy Zahn.  After lots of Google image searches I came up with a little Thrawn that my nephew thought was pretty great.

So you’re all watching Conan right?  You’ve seen “The Flaming C“, his superhero alter-ego?  I have been making lots of Conan dolls but I definitely needed to make a Flaming C.  Here he is! 

One last thing: Are you all subscribed to the really fun Lion Brand newsletter, Yarnplay?  Every month this newsletter comes with more fun patterns than the last!  You should really subscribe. Really. So..Click here and SUBSCRIBE!

>Custom Amigurumi: That’s What!

>So what did I do all Christmas season?  Certainly not blog, that’s apparent.  Yeah, sorry.  Sometimes I feel like if I don’t have something witty to say I better just keep my mouth blog shut.  But today was an extra glorious day, and I had to sit and relate a little at the end of it!

First, I’ll tell you what I just saw over at my favorite red-head’s awesomely cool website.  Of course I’m talking about Team Coco, and the super spectacular feature they had today about Coco Fan Art!  They picked eleven favorites (and have you seen the Flickr group?  That must have been HARD to choose!).  So anyways, to make a long story even longer, they chose my Conan blimp in their sweet lineup!  Here’s what they said:

Awesome Team Coco fans are not just into 2D works of art – they’re also into art you can hold in your hands! The lovely and talented Allison Hoffman crocheted this orange blimp… Much to Conan’s delight! (http://craftyiscool.blogspot.com/)

Can you see Aaron Bleyart and me have a mutual admiration for the word “awesome”?  I think he and Conan are both awesome too!  Conan art is awesome!  Fan art in general is pretty awesome too, don’t you think??  Somebody get me on a plane to LA!  Seriously!!
 
In other, ahem, awesome news, I made some really cool custom orders for Christmas this year!  I love when people give me their hot ideas.  It makes my job much easier!
 

I made this really fun pair of dolls modeled after Lalaloopsy dolls that were a hot toy this season.  The mother who ordered them wanted their girls to have a more “lovey” version that wouldn’t jab them in the eyeballs or leave scary indentations on their faces while they slept.  So of course, a crocheted version fit that bill!  They were both pretty big, used a ton of yarn, and they each had their own little crocheted clothes and pets!
 
   

I got another custom order for a lookalike doll, which I am loving doing!  This special someone plays a ukelele and is into mod-retro Mad Men-ish fashion, so he got yarn-transformed into this guy.

 

So why haven’t I done any Muppets??  Ughhhh I love the Muppets.  There’s lots I want to do, and I got kind of a kickstart when someone ordered Mew from The Christmas Toy.  He wanted a working puppet, and he got it!  He was a Christmas gift from a *very* loving grandson to his grandpa.  They have watched the movie together every year and he wanted to give him a sweet little Mew.  Isn’t that story even sweeter than the mouse?!  Now can someone PLEASE order a Janice doll?!?!!?

 

 

 

I am really excited to be getting published for the first time in a magazine!  Spool magazine is a new needlearts publication with not just crochet, but also knitting, felting, embroidery, cross-stitch, and needlepoint.  The editor asked me to come up with something so I made this set of nesting penguins.  The pattern is out now in the Winter 2011 issue.  Ask your local yarn store to get Spool!

 

Last of all, I’m going to be teaching another class this month here in Austin at the Knitting Nest.  I love teaching!  We’ll be doing a beginning amigurumi class and making Baby Monsters!  The class is on Saturday, January 22 at 10:30 am.  You must sign up ahead of time.  Call Stacy for the details and to get your name on the list!

 

I’ve had an amazing 2010!  I hope you all have too, and if not, well, 2011 is right around the corner! Don’t feel bad if you don’t have any serious plans for the 31st!  Think of me at midnight.  I’ll be playing Dance Central on Kinect, drinking some Cook’s Brut, dipping into a chocolate fountain with a strawberry.  I WILL master Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison”.  I will.  Or maybe I’ll just crochet. Whatevs.

>CraftyisCool and the Conan Shoutout

>

So like everyone else on Team Coco, for the last 10 days I’d been furiously refreshing twitter, checking for that elusive T-shirt code.  Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.  I don’t know what app you might be using on your phones, but when I use the Twitter app on my iPhone, a tweet that mentions me shows up in blue.  The world stopped spinning when I saw the picture of Conan and that monkey next to a blue tweet.

I made that blimp because I knew the real blimp would lend itself really well to crochet, and because I knew it would be something different that he’d probably not gotten before.  I shipped it off a couple of weeks ago with a letter blabbering on about how he was so great, inspiring, awesome, etc. and I didn’t expect much.  I am pretty sure I asked to just get a picture sent if at all possible, of Conan with the blimp, or Aaron Bleyaert with the blimp.  I just didn’t think they’d get to it, especially with all the hoopla of the new show!  They did, though, and it has been awesome!  There was that tweet, and then the write up on the Team Coco blog!  I got a lot of new friends on twitter, sold a few Conan patterns, and now have frameable artwork for my walls.  It’s a dream come true.

Read the Team Coco blog entry here!

The day after I mailed Conan his blimp, I got an email from the designer of the actual blimp.  He liked my softee version a lot!  So now he’s going to be the proud owner of Conan Blimp #2!  Here I am, in my lucky Zombie Conan shirt (thanks Team Coco!) showing it off!

Not to eat a dead horse (HA that was a Walking Dead joke!) but wasn’t the first night great?  That cold opening, especially the Coco clown–brilliant!  When Conan came out he was dressed just like my lil’ Coco!  Check it out!  Maybe the suit is slightly different.  But hey, same shirt, same tie!  Same pomp!

Thanks to everyone for coming to check out my blog, and I would really LOVE to see your blimps if you make one!  The Conan pattern is still available too, and I’ve got lots more in store in the coming weeks!

>The Conan Blimp!

>

Conan’s blimp.  He hasn’t done anything by the book since being “let go”…ahem…from that network job he had.  Selling out a national tour with nothing but twitter updates?!  Releasing an awesome spoken word LP.  So a blimp?  Why not?  Love him for that.

I made a blimp to go with my lil’ Conan doll, and you can make one too!  See?  Here’s the pattern!

Team Coco Blimp

Materials:
Super bulky weight yarn (I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in Pumpkin)
White felt
Gray felt

Polyester fiberfill

Tools:
Size H hook

Yarn needle

Craft glue

Key:
Inc 1: randomly 2sc in one stitch in rnd
Dec 1: randomly sc2tog in rnd
BLO: crochet into back loops only

Blimp:

R1: Starting at back fin-end of the blimp, make an adjustable ring, ch 1, and sc 3 into the ring. Pull closed.
R2: 2sc into each st (6)
R3: (2sc next st, sc next st)* rep to end (9)
R4: (2sc next st, sc next 2 st)* rep to end (12)
R5: (2sc next st, sc next 3 st)* rep to end (15)
R6: (2sc next st, sc next 4 st)* rep to end (18)

R7: (2sc next st, sc next 5 st)* rep to end (21)

R8: (2sc next st, sc next 6 st)* rep to end (24)
R9: (2sc next st, sc next 7 st)* rep to end (27)
R10: (2sc next st, sc next 8 st)* rep to end (30)
R11: (2sc next st, sc next 14 st)* rep to end (32)
R12: (2sc next st, sc next 15 st)* rep to end (34)

R13: (2sc next st, sc next 16 st)* rep to end (36)

R14: inc 1 (37)

R15: inc 1 (38)

R16: inc 1 (39)

R17: inc 1 (40)
R18-25: sc into each st (40)
R26: inc 1 (41)
R27-29: sc into each st (41)
R30: inc 1 (42)

R31-35: sc into each st (42)

R36: dec 1 (41)
R37-38: sc into each st (41)
R39: dec 1 (40)
R40: sc into each st (40)
R41: dec 1 (39)
R42: sc into each st (39)
R43: (sc2tog, sc into next 12 st)* rep around (36)
R44: sc into each st (36)
R45: (sc2tog, sc into next 4 st)* rep around (30)
R46: sc into each st (30)
R47: (sc2tog, sc into next 3 st)* rep around (24)
R48: sc into each st (24)

** At this point you should insert a locking stitch marker onto the loop on your hook and stuff the blimp firmly. Stuffing should be packed in tightly, especially if the blimp will be handled a lot. When you think you’ve stuffed enough, stuff a handful or two more in. This is a crucial step to the shaping and overall look of the blimp! Continue the next few rows and add stuffing a little at a time if necessary.

R49: (sc2tog, sc into next 2 st)* rep around (18)

R50: (sc2tog, sc into next st)* rep around (12)

R51: sc2tog around (6)
Fasten off and use the yarn tail to stitch the opening closed. Run the tail through the last six stitches and pull tight.

Rudder (Make 4):
R1: ch 6, and sc into the 2nd ch from the hook and the next three chs (5)
R2: ch 1, turn, sc into next 5 st (5)
R3: ch 1, turn, sc into next 3 st, sc2tog (4)
R4: ch 1, turn, sc into next 4 st (4)

R5: ch 1, turn, sc into next 2 st, sc2tog (3)

R6: ch 1, turn, sc into next 2 st, 3sc into last st (corner made)
R7: sc around edge of rudder, working 3sc into each corner, until you get to diagonal edge.
Fasten off and use yarn tail to stitch rudder to blimp as shown.
Repeat for four rudders and align them each symmetrically.

Gondola:

R1: ch 6, and sc into the 2nd ch from the hook and the next three chs (5)

R2: ch 1, turn, sc into each st (5)
R3: ch 1, turn, sc into next 4 st, 2sc into last st (6)
R4: sc around edge of work, 2sc in each corner (18)
R5: sc into BLO of each st around (18)
R6-8: sc into each st (18)
Fasten off and sew to bottom of blimp near the middle, stuffing before you sew the last few stitches.

Finishing:

Either freehand (good luck!) or using your computer, print out the word “CONAN” and the tbs logo. MS Word’s Word Art can create a semi-accurate image of an outlined logo using the LuzSans-Book font. Use the printout as a guide and cut out letters and the logo from white felt. Use craft glue to attach the letters to the blimp. If you’d like the blimp to fly, thread a yarn needle with a light colored strong thread and weave into the top of the blimp in two or three spots, pulling together at the top at one point. Tie off thread and hang as desired. Now set sail! Team Coco!

>Because I am so CLASSY….

>Haha.  Get it, classy?  I’m going to be teaching CLASSES!  Yeah, yeah.  Har har. 

So I get my Moo cards, and I think, I need to give these things out!  They’re adorable!  They have my information on one side, and pictures of some of my creations on the other.  I love them.  Anyway, I get the little box and decide to head over the yarn store down the street (literally), The Knitting Nest.  They are having a class with Franklin Habit, a popular blogger, knitter, writer, comic-drawer (word?), and its Worldwide Knit in Public Day.  The owner was around and I asked her if she’d like my patterns to sell, she said she had seen my Conan and she’d love it.  Long story short, I dropped off a binder-full of patterns to display (just order them on etsy like everyone else! ;)) and a Pee-Wee, a DJ Lance Rock, Michael Jackson (I’ll get to that in a minute), and a Conan!  I also brought along a rainbow of baby monsters, 10 to be exact, that I’m going to show you, blog reader, how to make! (IF you take my Basic Amigurumi class July 8th from 10:30-12:30 OR July 17th 2-4 at The Knitting Nest, in Austin.)

I’m also going to teach a class on a more “advanced” project, which my little boy, 4 (that’s his age, not his name), dubbed “Lovey”.  They’re doing a Monster-making contest for July, hence the monstrous projects.

If these projects don’t look challenging enough and you want to go a step further, there’s the “Make Your Own Monster” (or whatever else you want to make) Workshop, July 25th from 2-5.  When I make all my amigurumi, I start with a sketch, draw all over that sketch with nonsensical (to others) numbers and drawings and chickenscratch, and come up with a pattern.  Then I start crocheting, making adustments as I go.  I’m going to teach you how to do this too, starting with a simple sketch.

The Knitting Nest has every flavor of Cascade 220 wool yarn imaginable.  It’s a little breathtaking when you walk in and see the spectrum of color on the wall.  I’m about ready to toss all the acrylic that is crowding my bins and trade it all in for nicer yarn, but I have to take baby steps.  It really feels different to work with better yarn.   

So if you’re in Austin, I’d love to have you in one of my classes!  If you’re not in Austin, it is a nice place to visit and I’ll see you there anyway!  I’m excited to start and hope you can learn a lot. 

What I was also going to show you was my “yet-to-have-a-written-pattern-for” Michael Jackson!  I wanted to make a Michael for a while and had so many different looks to choose from.  I had to go with this Beat It look, just for that jacket.  And yes, sticklers-for-accuracy, he didn’t actually wear that bedazzled glove in that video, but how could I make Michael and not crochet a tiny sparkly glove?  I shall write that pattern, even if it kills me, which the jacket may nearly do, because there’s so many little details.  But besides the jacket, how about that jeri curl yarn?  Amazing, huh?  Wait for the pattern, dear crocheters.  All in good time. 

So now you’re done reading this extra-long blog post and now you are going to call the Knitting Nest, drop by to see all my work, or email Stacy to sign up, right?

>BOGO for COCO!

>Quick update!  Lucky me scored some tickets to Conan O’Brien’s show tonight in Austin!  Yippeeeeee!  So to celebrate that achievement (and it was an achievement, believe me!) I’m having a sale!

With any purchase from my etsy shop, you can pick any free pattern!  Of course the free pattern has to be the same price or cheaper.  If it doesn’t turn out that way I’ll just send you a Paypal invoice for the difference.  Mention “BOGO for COCO” in the message to seller section when you check out.  We’ll make it last til midnight TOMORROW (Saturday night) central time. 

Get it—-BOGO for COCO?  (….crickets…..)