Star Trek Beer Cozy = Awesome + Win

Mr. Spock Season One Beer Koozie
Originally uploaded by lizzylaws

Lizzylaws has created a fabulous beer (or other bottle) cozy based on the Star Trek uniforms from Season 1 of the original series.
I love the details - the rank stripe, the delta-shield insignia with the science device.
Super nifty.

Even better, she's offering it as a finished object in her Etsy shop, LizardKnits or for the knitting-abled, as a pattern for sale on Ravelry.

Given my fondness for Star Trek, knitting, and root beer and ginger beer, I am an enormous fan!
You can find out more at her blog, too!

Merrick, The Elephant Man

Merrick, The Elephant Man
Originally uploaded by MrFoxyy

Very cool amigurumi of John Merrick. Interesting topic, and another example of the very interesting mouth technique that Mr Fox has demonstrated with other pieces, like Mr. Bunnyford, one of the ultimate marriages of cute and nightmarish I've seen.

Patterns and finished items available at Mr. Foxy's Toy Emporium.

Latest Project

It's a re-usable/washable duster sleeve for a pronged hand-duster that might rhyme with "sniffer."

I used Sugar n Creme cotton (which you can't see it this super lazy photo I took with PhotoBooth) and Lion Brand Fun Fur and followed this pattern.  See here if you aren't on Ravelry.

Nifty coolness.

Presents!

To the right you can see the product of my hard labor with the sewing machine: a laptop sleeve for Tom's new MacBook Pro. I used the really awesome pattern from Sew Mama Sew with a few modifications. I couldn't find fusible fleece, so I would up using double-sided sewable fusing to stick quilt batting to the appropriate pattern pieces. I used a cigar patterned quilting cotton for the lining and black twill for the exterior.

It's a nice, snug fit and pleasantly soft without being too fluffy.

For the motif on the exterior I found a photograph of a bannerstone, did a basic automated trace of it in Inkscape, printed it out, traced it onto half of a manilla file folder using graphite paper and then cut out the outline using an Xacto blade to make a stencil.

I stuck a good-sized book inside the finished case, put a washcloth over it just in case there was any bleeding from the paint, and then pinned the stencil to the case with a multitude of pins.

Then I used white textile paint and a sponge brush and filled in the stencil and went over it with some pewter textile paint and a smaller sponge brush to get the look of veining in the stone.

I really enjoyed this project and am very happy that Tom likes it and it turned out so well.

The only major snags were the lack of a free arm on my sewing machine, which made stitching around the opening a huge pain and the fact that the basting spray I bought to stick the batting to the lining wound up not having a spray nozzle. I wound up with the double-sided fusible, though, and I think it worked out much better in the end.

For my presents, I got more sock monkey jammies and matching slipper socks (aren't they fabulous?) and one set of double pointed knitting needles with the instruction to buy a set of multiple sizes of my choosing. I went with these from Amazon. This means I'm a step closer to knitting socks!

I also have cash to do something with. I'm considering a new low-end sewing machine with a bit more funcitonality - buttonholes, more stitches, more presser foots, and a free arm. Nothing particularly fancy.

Oreo got some new treats that are supposed to be good for his joints and a rubber squid thing with long felt tentacles.

So, a wonderful Christmas all around.  I hope everyone else had as nice a day!