It's Over Nine Thousaaaaaand!

I screencapped that just now, because it amused me. And, while I've never watched a single full episode of Dragonball Z, I can appreciate a good meme as much as the next weirdo.

This Over 9000 feat is a pretty big deal for me, when you consider that my 14 followers have visited this little old site almost 650 times over the last four years. You guys are so dedicated! As a thank-you, here are some photos of the happiest of puppies!

In full disclosure, I basically just went to Google and searched for "happiest of puppies" and copied the image URL for each of the pictures except for the last, which I saw on Reddit today.

And, speaking of Reddit, I'm fully aware that I really couldn't have gotten over 9000 views without having linked this blog to the My Little Pony subreddit. So, as a thanks to all my bronies, here's a few pictures of ponies!

Yay.

Dear Everyone Coming Here From Purebloggers.com...

Hi! What brings you here?

Seriously, guys. Why am I getting traffic from this source? I tried getting an account there, but I couldn't figure out how or where this blog is linked. I'm just curious. Honestly. I hope everyone coming here from purebloggers.com has a nice time, though they probably won't. This isn't that great a blog.

In other news... I've got nothin'. I thought it would be a good idea to do a post about more than just perplexing web traffic, but I don't have anything to talk about. This is a problem that has plagued this blog for several years. I doubt anybody is surprised at this point.

Rainbow Dash is ready to hit the skies! [UPDATED]

RD Complete (13)
Originally uploaded by Aarlone

If I crochet another Rainbow Dash, there are a number of things I will do differently. Her ears are not too well-spaced, which makes her face and head look kind of weird. The eyes also don't look too great... they need to be a bit more even and smooth-looking, I think.

The wings were rough. I need to devise or discover a new pattern for the wings. If I do a Fluttershy, I'll have her wings closed, which will be a lot easier to do, but that just doesn't work for Rainbow Dash's character. Also, I'm a terrible nerd about this.

Final pet peeve: I need a better way of layering her mane. It's probably too thick on top, especially when compared with her tail. But at least it was easier than Rarity's mane, which will give me nightmares before it's complete.

The final decision I have to make is simply: Etsy or Ebay? Hmmmmm...

UPDATE: I decided to go with Ebay. Here is the link to the listing.

I Have So Much More Respect For Crafters

It is a little-known fact that I've known how to crochet since I was fairly young. I remember my mother teaching me how to crochet a blanket when we were still living in our first house - I was probably around 8 or 9, because we moved shortly thereafter. And so, for the past (ye gods) 20 years or so (holy shit now I feel old), I have, on occasion, gotten out a hook and yarn and worked on an unfinished project. Because for all of those 20 years (sweet hibbly jibblies) I really only knew two stitches. The one to start the blanket (what we hookers (hehe) call a chain stitch) and something called a half-double crochet. It sounds fucking complicated, but it was what I learned, and I got to be damn good at making enormous blankets while I watched television. It was the best way to survive winters in South Dakota - not only did I have something productive to do, but it kept me warm while I was doing it!

Aaaaanyway... I eventually got sick of making enormous blankets, and normal-sized blankets are boring, so I wondered how I could keep crocheting, but not have to lug around a project for three years until it's finished, and I can give it away to a properly-unwitting friend. Then I saw this blog. Go there. I'll wait.

Ponies. Crocheted ponies. I did a little more searching, and discovered that you can crochet a whole butt-ton of things, but mostly things that are cute.

"Damn, that looks complicated," I thought. "But I've been crocheting for 20 (*sigh*) years, I'll bet I've got enough of the basics to be able to pick it up easily enough."

I found a good tutorial (you want good amigurumi tutorial? You go here. You go here now!) and watched the videos, and found a beginner pattern and went to town.

That was project one. Some random enormous-headed blue person-thing. Look how proud of myself I look.

Project two. Curious Alien. This thing's feet were sons of bitches. It is my least favorite. Also, variegated blue was not a good yarn choice. Check me out hiding behind it. I am so ashamed...

You ready for project three? Because it's fucking awesome.

Remember what I said about being able to crochet practically anything, but especially cute things? I ended up making two Hobbeses, and I didn't even keep either one of them, because I am a chump.

Projects three and four. Guess which one was a gift for a coworker, and which one is on the top shelf of our enormous DVD tower.

Cthulhu is hard to see, because he pretty much absorbs all light around him. Possibly because I chose a variegated dark green. Regardless, I have no good pictures of Cthulhu. Also, why don't I have a completed photo, with his wings that drove me mad? Mad, I tell you; mad! Also, pink elephant. I put googly eyes on it, too, but I don't have a photo of that, either. Probably because Cthulhu made me so crazy.

Here are projects five and six. And you know what? They're ponies. They are still in progress, because the original blogger that made the ponies in the first place has yet to release a pattern, so I just went off of the photos there, and did the best I could with what I already knew about crocheting cute things. As it stands, the bodies for Rarity and Rainbow Dash are fully constructed, and now only need detail - eyes, mane, tail, and cutie marks, basically.

I'm sure I'll tweak the pattern I've devised a little bit when I start working on Applejack, and if I ever want to do Fluttershy, I'm going to have to come up with a new wing pattern because that made me almost as crazy as Cthulhu's wings (PS, did you ever think you'd see Fluttershy and Cthulhu mentioned in the same sentence... twice?), but by and large, I'm fairly happy with the pattern, if not my current ability with the details. I have no idea, for instance, how to not make Rarity look completely derped, but this is a learning process. In spite of the fact that I've been crocheting as long as I have (oh, so long ago), I'm still not much of a crafter. Anyone who can do a lot of this type of thing has my respect.

That said, I'm a little tempted to keep Rarity's eyes the way they are, put her on Etsy, and see if I can't get featured on Regretsy. Because that would probably make my goddamn day.