Since it has been so long since I've offered up a Follow Friday and these two fit so well together, I'll give you a two for one deal.
I am not a parent, but I am a geek with a special interest in children's media. These two blogs are a perfect fit for me because they are intended for geeks who are immersed in children's media.
I discovered Geek Dad just after grad school and I've been an avid reader ever since. It is a great resource for updates and reviews of gadgets, games, comics, movies, books and Phineas and Ferb!
I confess, I was leery of Geek Mom when it started. It is a spin off from Geek Dad and my initial thoughts were that separate is inherently not equal. Women were posting on Geek Dad for as long as I had been reading, so I didn't really find Geek Mom necessary. Geek Mom seems to have some extra parenting tips, education related discussion, and healthy food ideas, but overall it is just more great information. There is a little bit of cross posting with Geek Dad, but they do a great job of organizing theme topics without having overlap redundancy.
There it is. it is a novice mistake of a professional magician. They are not supposed to share their tricks, but clearly Sam here hides the bunny in his travel mug before pulling it out of a hat. It is pretty brilliant. No one has ever search my mug for rabbits.
Where Are They Now? - Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity. There are a lot of different aspects to look at when looking back at a knitting project and it can make for interesting blogging, as much of the time we blog about items recently completed, new and freshly completed. It is not so often that we look back at what has happened to these items after they have been around for a while.
I decided right away which project I wanted to hunt down and find out about. This bunny was a gift to the new son of a friend from college. He is now a year old, and part of one of the sweetest, funniest and most generous families I know. I can always count on my friend Rikki for a smile and unique advice. She has promised me some pictures of Sam and his bunny, but I haven't gotten them yet. I'm sure they will come, but until then, you will have to enjoy this baby video.
Did you see that comedic timing? How could that bunny not be loving life in that house? It is not possible. Everything is good for him.
This time yesterday, I wasn't even considering writing a comic review, but I am so smitten with Axe Cop, I can't resist. I am certain that I'm late to the Axe Cop party since it has been a web comic for the past year, but I'm happy to be in the know now. Yesterday I didn't have one of my regular comics to buy so I was looking for something new. Geek Chick Daily recommended Axe Cop, and I was drawn in by the artist story. This comic is written by a 6 year old and drawn by his older brother. While goofing around and playing together they create Axe Cop and now they are expanding off the web and into Dark Horse publication with Bad Guy Earth.
Who is Axe Cop?
Axe Cop is an unconventional cop who prefers his axe and sweet fighting moves over the standard issue gun. He and his sidekick Dinosaur Soldier are very good at what they do. Inevitably, that irritates the normal cops so they want Axe Cop out of the way. Axe Cop has a full origin story, but his time in the police academy summarized everything that I needed to know.
Story by Malachai Nicolle
Pencils, Inks and Lettering by Ethan Nicolle
Colors by Dirk Erik Schulz
Bad Guy Earth Issue One is about Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier saving the world from the growing planet that squish the earth. Along the way, they broke the rules, rocketed into space, got some new inventions. There are surprising plot twists on every page, and I can confidently say there is nothing predictable about this story.
Who will like it?
I love this comic is because it has absolutely no creative limits. If you have ever heard a kid make up a story, you know that anything goes. If you are willing to believe anything and laugh, then this story is for you. The art adds a whole new layer of humor. It lets us take everything literally and embrace it fully. At the same time, we secretly smile at the absurdity of it all. I can now have a visual reference for power-ups, a tyrannosaurus rex with machine-gun arms and fire breath, and robotic chicken brains. For that, I am grateful. If you want to get goofy and watch a rebel save the world, then you will like this.
I originally picked this comic up solely because I wanted to support the creative writing of a 6 year old. If that was a selling point for you, then I have a couple other recommendations. Please check out 826NYC (or your local chapter.) This non-profit organization works to inspire creativity and help elementary age children write. Our chapter walks each kid through a super hero supply store on their way to tutoring. It would be a great place to find the next Malachai Nicolle. You can start with The 826NYC Review: Issue 4. While I am recommending Axe Cop to adults, if you have kids I recommend The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. This was written by Robert Rodriguez's son and is full of jokes that I know would have had me in stitches when I was in 4th grade.
I am happy to announce that after a year and a half, Reid is done! Last week was crazy at work. As soon as I finished on Friday, I dove right into social mode. A friend came in from out of town and I spent the weekend eating and playing. I had a great time, but I am exhausted and very little knitting was done.
The exception to that was finishing Reid. I seamed it together during my snow day on Thursday and only had the crochet boarder left. This is the second time I've ever crocheted and I'm proud of the results. The last time I tried, I had difficulty keeping my loops loose enough to really do anything. This time I made a effort to keep it open and loose. I was worried about not being consistent and having really loose sections when I was paying attention and tighter sections when I was distracted. My fiber comfort must have grown, because I didn't have any troubles at all.
Really the only issue is that it is backwards, or inside out... I'm not sure which. I think I followed the directions correctly, but to do that i was hooking it on with the wrong side facing me. There is a slight difference between one side and the other, but it is not enough for me to want to rip it out and start it over. In fact, the only reason I noticed is because a lady I work with has some great knitting/crochet skills and she let me know. You can take a closer look so you can notice:
I think this sweater is adorable. I am very happy with it. Now I just need to find a little girl to wear it.
This is a crazy week at work, so I haven't been knitting at all. Fortunately, these are just the occasions the Queued idea was created for. There may be a couple more this week.
Boys Can Wear Pink was designed by Kate Oats. This is such a cute sweater and that little boy is melting my heart. Don't be confused by the fact that I have queued this boy's sweater or that I am making Reid. I do not have any children. I love kids and I love little things, so I am drawn to kids clothes despite the lack of people to wear them.
Really, look at him. Look at that cute tie. How could I resist that? Here are some others that Ialsothinkarefantastic. (Rav Links) To be fair, I think the charismatic young men in those photos might have a lot to do with promoting this pattern.
Reid is pinned down. Over the course of knitting various project, I have learned a lot. Finishing this project really made clear what that I hadn't learned when I started. Two of them became very evident today. First, I usually highlight the size instructions or take notes on my pattern now. I hadn't done that for this project, so when pinning these down for blocking, I had no idea which set of measurements I was supposed to use. I easily could have pinned these at the largest size listed, but then I ran into issue number two. I did not use a very stretchy bind off for the first four pieces of this sweater. So, restricted by the edges, it looks like this will be a long medium.
For the fun of reference, here is the lace pattern opened up:
Thank you to those of you who made it all the way through my Project Planning post and voted in the poll. I now have an action plan. When I started writing that post, I thought that I would want to be casting on my Seattle Socks, but after working everything out, I've found myself going a completely different direction. Instead of cabled socks, I'm going for lace sweaters. I've decide that first, I am going to finish Reid.
I've done a little bit of work on it, and there are only 6 rows of knitting left. That's it! There is still a bit of finishing left to do. I'll need to block the pieces, seam them together and then put the cute edging on. I think that there is going to be a perfect overlap of finishing this and starting Myrtle. While my blocked pieces are drying I can start swatching, and since my swatch will need to be washed and blocked, that will be a good time to do the seaming. Then I'll either need to redo my swatching or I'll be able to read up on other people's modifications and comments on the Myrtle pattern while I finish up the edging. Once I finalize Reid, I will be completely ready to go. I'm also hoping I'll learn a few extra lace sweater lessons finishing up this child size sweater before I dive into one big enough for me. My goal for the weekend is to finish, soak and pin out Reid.
And just because before and after pictures for lace blocking are the best, here is a good look at Reid:
I started this project back in June. The knitting was fun and went by pretty fast, but it wasn't until last weekend that I turned this
Into this
I know that makes it hard to believe me when I say, I don't really mind seaming.
In fact, I kind of like mattress stitch. The reason this was neglected was because of all the little pieces. I do most of my knitting on the subway, and I just didn't want to see an eyeball fall into the tracks. He got set aside until I could find some time at home to focus on him. Then we moved, so he was packed.
Excuses aside, he's been rediscovered and stitched up.
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) Notes: For the top of the dragon, I knit holding both the Meadow variegated yarn and the Leapfrog at the same time. For the bottom, I alternated between Leapfrog and Grass. I wanted to use the yarn double thick on the top and single on the bottom. In my head this meant that the top would be bigger/fuller and be a bit more substantial than the bottom. In turn, the belly would draw in a bit because it was smaller. It kind of worked, but it also caused a tiny problem.
Being bigger also meant being longer. I kept the row counts of both pieces the same (because that is ideal for mattress stitch), but the top had about an inch more than the bottom. I was still able to put them together, but it is not quite as perfect as I would have like. It is doubtful that the young man this is going to mind. Even I don't mind.
What I do mind is the lips. I think it looks like this dragon is wearing lipstick. It is my own fault. First, I didn't add the felt teeth like the pattern recommended. They probably would have made that seam between the red and the green more elegant, but I just don't have any felt lying around. Second, I probably could have tried another seaming method for putting the mouth in. I used mattress stitch because I like how invisible it is, but something a little more visible might have been less rounded. If that seam was flatter, the mouth would look more inset.
Now that I've aired my complaints and been my own critic, I have to say, I LOVE the nostrils. It is not a sentence I have occasion to use often, but they are my favorite part. They are just so cute!
