How to make a wearable TARDIS real quick

As Whovians around the world know, Saturday is the big day - the day the Doctor turns 50, although he is technically nearly a thounsand years old, of course. Depending on which incarnation, which current time and which wibbly wobbly stuff you're adding to the sum, or something like that. Anyway - my beloved husband secured us some tickets for the big show in the local cinema and I have been wondering what to wear. I thought of spinning and knitting something wearable for the occasion, but there is not enough time. Also, alas, TARDIS blue is not really my colour. This morning I had a sudden inspiration, though, and I am going to show you what I did.

Here's a list of what I used

• one (piece of) elder branch or any other wood with a soft core
• a saw
• a knife
• fine sandpaper
• acrylic paint in blue and white
• brushes
• a very thin metal knitting needle or something similar
• something you can stick the knitting needle in (a flower pot filled with soil will work)
• wire - silver plated or what you like
• a white glass bead
• wire bending equipment

I took an elder branch and sawed off a piece of about 4 cm in length. You can use any other wood with a soft core, which will be essential later on.I removed the bark with a carving knife and I sandpapered the whole thing, wiped it with a wet cloth, and let it dry.
I stuck it onto the knitting needle to make a hole and to be able to paint the whole thing in one go.

I painted the TARDIS-to-be with blue acrylic paint and stuck the knitting needle into my incense holder / fragrance lamp thingy. A flower pot should  also work, or just stick the knitting needle in the grass outside if the weather is good.

I waited about 50 minutes for the paint to dry, but I guess that depends on paint brand, room temperature and other things, so just make sure the paint is completely dry. You don't want the white paint to merge with the blue.

When the blue paint had dried completely, I painted the windows and the sign on the door with white acrylic paint. My only good and fine brush was sticky and disgusting, so I had to use a fat one which was also not the best choice overall, so the windows are a bit blotchy. It looks okay from a distance, but a little raw when you look too closely.



Then you can also mess the whole thing up by spraying on clear coat, not shaking the can for long enough and ending up with some kind of snowy surface... I don't recommend this! I'll go through with the plan, though.



Now for the wire stuff - the thing needs a hook or something, so it can be worn around the neck, dangled from a purse or displayed otherwise.

I chose a white glass bead with a silver core to go on top, as the TARDIS light. The wire I used was 0.8 mm and I tried to make the bottom piece nice and flat, so the TARDIS can even stand on her own.

I think the whole process took only about half an hour of active time, plus some time to let the paint dry. Maybe I'll make another TARDIS charm as this one really is kind of snowy on the surface due to the clear coat incident... I'd probably make the next one a little less tall, as the proportions don't seem ideal.

If you try this, please drop me a line and a link, I'd love to see yours! :-)

Christmas Special: Stitch Marker Candies

As Christmas is nearing I thought about some specials I could offer, one of them being the gift set option I already blogged about recently.

And now there is another special - a free gift with every purchase: From now until Christmas Eve, you'll get a free stitch marker (same as in our Stitch Marker Surprise) for every skein of yarn you buy from our shop. I sewed each of them into a cute little candy pack for the occasion, made from decorative paper and sometimes maps (there are a few I made from a map of middle earth, for example).

I only hope they won't be squashed flat when I ship your parcels. This thought came only when I had already finished them, of course ;-)

Shopping for Christmas? The Gift Sets are Back

I have been busy participating in the Etsy Holiday Boot Camp and preparing the shop for Christmas. That's the strange part about owning a shop of any kind - you have to think about Christmas before the leaves even turn red. 

The past few years, I offered gift sets - each containing one art yarn, one handsewn project bag in a matching colour, and a set of stitch markers, usually also in matching colours.
This year, after consulting with Twisted, I decided on a different approach: there will still be beautiful, handsewn project bags and equally beautiful (equally handmade) stitch markers, but they won't be tied to a specific art yarn. I will list gift options containing a project bag and a matching set of stitch markers instead, so you can choose which yarn you'd like to pair with which set.

I have made eight sets in different colours, and there is no doubling - so be quick if you want a specific one ;-)
As always, each bag is adorned with two charms attached to the cord. I tried to decide on favourites, but it's hard. I love the black one with the raven charm and the black faceted bead, but also the turquoise one with the silvery bead and the seahorse. Oh, and the white one with the silvery bead and the snowflake charm, I really love snowflakes... I will list these beauties as soon as I can :-)

How The Princess Saved Herself

A few days ago, I posted a photo on my private Twitter account showing a batt I had carded that day. A very, very pink batt I thought of naming Candy Overdose once it was made into yarn, as I wanted to stay away from any stereotypical attributions.

I briefly considered doing something with skulls and swords, but as I had already used these add-ins with another (pink and black) yarn on the same day, I thought it might be boring. Also, I ran into kind of a dead end when I thought about it. It all went very fast and quite subconsciously, and it's a bit hard to reconstruct, but it went along the following lines: I could use these things to bend the gender stereotype, but in doing so I would also imply pink was girly while swords and skulls were not and therefore contribute to the stereotyope - and I really hate this kind of thing. As I said, my brain went through this very quickly and it seemed to happen in the back of my head without me really noticing the details.

But then, my dear friend Twisted saw the photo and twittered (in German, so I am going to translate here) "I want to see swords in the yarn! And skulls! And then you'll call it "The Princess Saves Herself"!".

And it clicked.

I could actually do some stereotype bending without contributing to the stereotype, although I still had to use the stereotype to bend it, of course - and here my brain went all fuzzy again. I have to think about this some more, and I can't pinpoint exactly why this title makes the idea work, but it does.

In fairy tales, movies and all sorts of stories princesses are traditionally weak (and in distress) and need to be saved by a prince. This trope can be applied to constellations other than princess/prince - and the underlying pattern and implication is that women need to be saved by men (please also watch Anita Sarkeesian's Damsel in Distress series for this, which is a must-see, in my opinion). I have resented this idea for a very long time, and I get angry and frustrated whenever yet another movie/game/story uses this trope. It gets old, and it's been old for decades now.

By taking swords (traditionally used by the prince and attributed to men - also just look at archaeological interpretations, but that's a topic for a different blog post) and skulls and spinning them into a pink (recently-traditionally attributed to women and overused with princesses) yarn I combine elements that are attributed to two different gender groups, merging them - and with the title I let the princess take an active role, making it clear that she uses the swords herself, and that she can stand for herself and be her own rescuer. I use existing stereotypes and I challenge them.

There is also a single dragon in the yarn, by the way, for - I think - obvious reasons.

As a side note, I came upon a webcomic the other day, telling the story of two princesses. It's called Princess Princess, and I enjoyed it very much. It's funny and creative, and it's untypical and untraditional. It's free, too!

While writing this article I realized that using stereotypes in a way that bends them doesn't mean contributing to said stereotypes. This is actually quite obvious, but as I said, I thought myself into a dead end, and I seem to have needed to write this down in order to organize my thoughts. I also realized that sometimes I have to use stereotypes to challenge them.

Time is running

...and Halloween is only one month away. I love spinning Halloween art yarns, but somehow I always start too late. Also, August and September have been incredibly busy the last few years. This is why I have only a few themed yarns, not all of which are listed yet. I'll try my best to put them in the shop over the next few days so they will arrive in time for a Halloween knitting party - or a Halloween party you just take your knitting to ;-)

Bats and Pumpkins

This one features the traditional colours and also bat charms and pumpkin charms. It's 168 m / 112 g

Gotham Night

 This one is already listed, you can read about the details here.

Also, there are these two - not Halloween yarns as such, but the colours fit the theme somewhat and I'd like to show them because I like them a lot :-)

Gallifrey

This one features hand dyed bluefaced leicester wool and silk as well as merino wool - and semi-precious stones (fiery red agate, carnelian, and citrine) strung onto a shiny orange thread. 251 m / 113 g

Friends of Slytherin

 

 This is one of my recent favourites - I absolutely love the snake charms. I've been meaning to spin another Slytherin yarn for a long time now, but it took me a while to find suitable add-ins. This art yarn is sparkly (silver angelina) and features wild silk, alpaca, linen and merino wool. Also, I spun in silk fabric strips and beads. 112 m / 95 g

I shrank the TARDIS

Long time, no blogging... I am sorry I've been so absent, there was such a lot going on. I've been writing job applications, we're still renovating, I had to go to the hospital in July, and somehow now it's nearly September already.

But let me tell you about my recent craft activities :-)

A few months ago, I was asked whether I could spin a Doctor Who yarn with TARDIS beads in it. I went into research mode instantly and went looking for TARDIS beads or charms on the internet. There were not many to be found, and the ones I did find were handmade and (rightly!) quite expensive. As I need several beads or charms for a yarn and have to stay within a certain budget, these were out of the question.

I kept thinking what I could do. Making some from polymer clay myself came into mind, but that would take so much time that it would blow the budget, too. I finally remembered to have read about shrinky dinks - you all probably know it, as it seems to have been and still be very popular. But for those of you, like me, who have never heard of it, let me explain. It's a kind of plastic sheet which you can colour and cut to your liking and then heat in the oven where it will shrink to harder, thicker plates. It's used for jewelry making and I thought maybe it would suit my purposes, too. I ordered a few sheets at once and tried it, but it took me some time to find the right size for my TARDIS.

Today, I succeeded. I made nine TARDISses (and some other stuff from the scraps, just to see what can be done) and I am really looking forward to spinning the yarn!

As the potential customer asked for a yarn inspired by the eleventh Doctor, I'm thinking browns and beiges (tweed suit), a bit of white (shirt) and some red (bowtie, fez) or maybe even small fabric bowtie-y things. I think it will be rustic in a very charming way.

Silence in the Library

Let me introduce one of my latest creations - another Doctor Who yarn, inspired by one of my favourite episodes. Even from one of my favourite favourite episodes, as I like so many of them a lot ;-)

For those of you who don't know Doctor Who or haven't watched a lot of it yet, let me quote the person we are introduced to in this espisode: SPOILERS! (not many, but read on at your own risk)

The colours of the yarn were inspired by the library itself: brown shelves and furniture, with late sunlight falling in (represented by coppery angelina). I spun in silver book charms to represent the actual books (of course), also known as the forests of the Vashta Nerada. I added six strips of white silk fabric to represent the space suits of River Song and her team. Each of the silk strips is accompanied by one or two large green glass beads which stand for the green light of the communicators which are located at the collars of the suits - and which, as we know, tend to Data Ghost, resulting in Ms. Evangelista repeating "Ice cream, ice cream" in the end.

This yarn hasn't made it to the shop yet, but I hope to list it this week, along with some other new ones. Aquamenti (Harry Potter inspired) and Praios (from the RPG system The Dark Eye) are already up for sale, and then there are others, like Nemo, Thank You For The Fish, and Black Widow, which will be listed shortly.

It is good to be back :-)