Geek Crafts

I mentioned in my introduction that you would be meeting some of the people who helped fire up my interest in ‘geek crafting’. One of the very first was my dear friend, Rosemary Waits, or Quietish as she is known on line. We first met on line in 2000 and lived over one thousand miles apart. As the fates would have it, I ended up moving only three and a half hours away from her and we would occasionally see each other in person.

It was Quietish who referred me to a couple of on line crafting groups for Harry Potter and, later , invited me to help her and another friend at an area event, Mugglefest. Two weeks before, she mentioned she was working on a Gryffindor scarf to wear that day. I barely could knit garter stitch at this time. There was no way I could create a scarf for myself in that time. Searching links, she sent me one for the sweater I mentioned last week and that was it.

There’s been many Harry Potter moments and crafts since there between us, and other friends, but one of my favorites is her HP House Fair Isle Pouch Bags which she shares here along with a link to her PDF pattern for all four houses found on Ravelry. With it’s flat style construction, the bag serves as a nice starting point for a knitter wanting to begin including pockets in their work. The pattern is a Fair Isle and is knitted in the round and includes a bit of basic crochet and some simple sewing to finish. The bags are lined and the pattern contains the graphs for all four house mascots.

If you’re not a member of Ravelry, membership is free and there are many patterns both free and for purchase available there.

• Quietish Fair Isle Introduction
• House bags pdf on Ravelry

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With the holidays fast approaching, it’s understandable that we might all be getting a little excited, girls and bots alike. (Come on—you can’t tell me Data didn’t want to put Spot in a kitty-sized Santa hat.)

So here’s one for the robots in the crowd—or at least the robot aficionados—who want to deck the halls in a suitably festive fashion for this human holiday known as Christmas.

First up is a binary stocking, appreciated by androids and the technologically inclined alike. Oh, and if you’re multi-talented, you can knit one yourself with n2 Imaginations Design‘s pattern.

Next we’ve got a stocking by AnimationsDesigns that may outshine even Rudolph’s nose. Robots? Check. LEDs? Check. Awesome? Definitely check. And look at all the detail—each little robot is different.

If you want something a bit more understated than an illuminated stocking, My Imaginary Boyfriend has a slightly more traditional, rather rustic design (as rustic as robots get, I suppose).

And finally, I had to include this adorable stocking stuffer robot ornament from Sleepy Robot 13. I know, it’s not a stocking per se, but he’s holding one, so it kinda counts, right?

• Binary stocking
• Binary stocking pattern
• n2 Imaginations Design’s Etsy shop
• LED robot stocking
• AnimationsDesigns’ Etsy shop
• Red robot stocking
• My Imaginary Boyfriend’s Etsy shop
• Stocking stuffer robot ornament
• Sleepy Robot 13′s Etsy shop

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Well, maybe not with discounts but I’m definitely the Senior Citizen of this crew at 57!

I’m Mary, usually known online as Lady Dragonsinger. Currently, I reside in the eastern side of Oklahoma with my pastor husband, who I refer to on line as ‘Sir Dragon Preacher’, and our two dogs, Rowan (a german shepherd who thinks she’s a norfolk terrier) and Piper (a norfolk terrier who thinks she’s a german shepherd). Together, we share a geeky fondness for the medieval period, all things celtic, Renaissance Faires, reading and exploring various places including but not limited to museums, used bookshops and ops shops (aka thrift shops). Most of my time, I have my crochet in hand which is something that was taught to me by my grandmother when I was nine. Knitting is one of the crafts I’ve learned with some assistance with  from talented friends and have been doing that for about six years. Over the years, I have also worked with counted cross stitch, needlepoint and a few other crafts.

My first geeky fandom was the Dragonriders of Pern series by the late Anne McCaffrey. Dragons have always fascinated me and it only took seeing the word in the title of her book to result it in being checked out and read as fast as I could. From there, it was a neverending love of her work, with the Dragonriders always holding the top of the list. It’s no surprise, that eventually, I would start to read the Harry Potter series and never leave it. Thanks to that series, I have made some amazing friendships both online and off. I’ve also really come to know my geek crafting. The first true geek oriented item I ever made was the Molly Sweater from a pattern available here.

When not working or crafting, you can find me writing drabbles for The Petulant Poetess or character rp for Wizards Without Boundaries.

Hopefully, when we meet up each Saturday, I can share some of the wonderful geek crafting that led me to join in!

• Molly Sweater Pattern @ Crochet Cabin
• The Petulant Poetess
• Wizards Without Boundaries

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I wrote about Sock Summit coming to town last weekend, and there was a pretty amazing element this year: a live-action race to card and spin a batch of freshly shorn wool and knit socks from it!

From the article:

Three lambs huddle in a makeshift corral inside Portland’s Convention Center Sunday morning. In a few hours, Heel Flap, Gusset and Instep will submit to the first shearing of their lives, and the Sock Summit‘s Fleece to Foot competition will be under way. For Sunday’s competition, six teams – five  members each – will rush to card the freshly shorn fleece, spin it into thread, ply two strands together into yarn and knit the first pair of socks by 3:30 p.m.

Worldwide Mash-Up, an international team from Canada, California, Washington and Iowa, won with the most knitting completed, earning $300 for Doctors Without Borders! Very cool.

• Race from Fleece to Foot

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Sock Summit 2011 returns to Portland this weekend with tons of classes, events, and even a sock history museum (“a real-live exhibit of historically important and accurate sock replicas from the oldest pattern we can find, right up to the current time, all knit by people like you.”).

I went in 2009 and it was epic – there are a million vendors selling interesting yarn and knitting books and tools, and the museum is pretty cool too! Highly recommended, and not just for the excellent Star Wars subtitle…

• Sock Summit 2011
• Online Sock Museum (with interactive timeline)

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These great wrist warmers were designed by Ravelry user Christina Slattery.  Based off of wrist warmer’s worn by the doctor’s companion, Rose, on Doctor Who.  The pattern is provided by Slattery on her website, where you can also read about her knitting and spinning.

• Rose’s Wrist Warmers
• Ravelry
• Christina Slattery

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