Category: Uncategorized

So, I’ve decided to start a blanket club. (You can sign up at the link here.)

Okay okay, I know I’ve been a bit quiet on here lately. I am literally up to my eyes in yarn! (Not an exaggeration: I was saved from a near fatal yarn avalanche (yarn-valanche?) the other day when the yarn shelf pitched forward and dumped all the yarns on me. Death by yarn – the best way to go?

Perth and Yarndale: it’s a go!

I’ve been putting everything together, and as it’s my first large show there’s a lot to think about. Check out this post if you want to know what the heck I’m talking about.  
If you come to either of the shows, you’ll see the Tetris mini-shelves I made to house yarn, the Mario themed mystery box yarn shelves, a competition to win a GamerCrafting voucher (don’t worry online only friends, you’ll get your very own competition after Yarndale is over!), Advent calendar pre-orders (mine are SPARKLY and cheaper than the other similarly sized calendars out there), gradient packs, an exciting kit collaboration unveiling, and previously unreleased shades like this one:

There will also be the popular pins from the Etsy shop, introducing three brand new designs. Also, we’re introducing a brand new product: STICKERS!!!! Designed by my talented wife, there are four designs to choose from, for now. More will be added in coming months!
Then, we’ll be introducing brand new Harry Potter themed mitts kits, with yarns dyed with inspiration from each Hogwarts House, and a simple fingerless mitts pattern. You can make two pairs from just one skein, and you can smoosh the sample to get an idea of how gorgeously soft the yarn is.

Even more new stuff

I’ll also have a selection of needles, hooks, and accessories, and patterns by the fabulous designer Anna Nikipirowicz. You’ll get to see the Essie, Yrden, and Nerida patterns in person and buy the yarn + pattern, and the needles/hook if you need it.
I’ll also ALSO have some exclusive tote bags and project bags from the up and coming Nine Pence Bear Designs! These will only be available at shows until she gets her Etsy shop up, so don’t forget to take a sneaky peek. Tote bags will be cheaper when you buy yarn as well, and let me tell you, her project bags are THE BEE’S KNEES. They’re the only bags I’ll use now.
If you don’t see something you’re looking for, please ask! We might have extra stock hiding somewhere, and as we have a small stall everything won’t fit at once!
And now to tick off the other 5 billion tasks on my to-do list, eh? Perth Festival of Yarn, T-7 days and counting! Yarndale is two weeks after that on September 23-24: we’ll see you there!

I got an order a couple months back from a woman who requested to change the shipping address: she wanted me to send the yarn to her friend, who had promised to make her a wedding shawl. I asked her to send me photos, and she did!
Just. Look. At this gorgeous piece of artwork.

 
LOOK AT IT.
I’ll be honest with you all right now, lace patterns intimidate the hell out of me. It seems like my stitch counts always end up wrong, and if I put it down I have no idea what I’m doing when I pick it up again. Me + lace = disaster.
But not this knitter, known to her friends as Dobby and @Dobbyak on Instagram. Her lacework makes me want to cry tears of jealous joy (that’s totally a thing I just made up).
She used this pattern on Ravelry, for any interested parties. 
Look at it again. LOOK.

When I stopped to think about the true weight of this, I felt really humbled, and very small in the whole scope of the universe. Someone loved something I made SO MUCH that she had a friend dedicate hours of delicate knitting time to make something that she wore on one of the most important days of her life.
That’s….heavy. And crazy. And really, really cool.
I launched this series of yarn awhile back, after some interested people asked me to dye up more lace weight yarns. I went for a fun speckle on a fibre blend of linen, silk, and merino wool, and used a Disney Villains theme, because why not?
This shawl was made with 2 skeins of Maleficent: 

Maleficent yarn on Etsy

Like I said, lace knitting intimidates me. So does lace weight yarn, for a matter of fact. So it’s very cool to see it knitted up, and very humbling to see someone wear it ON HER WEDDING DAY. It’s bananas.
Good bananas.

We’ve all been there: quietly knitting, minding our own business, when we realize that we’ve dropped more stitches than Holyfield needed after his fight with Tyson.

I was sitting on the couch, knitting away on the first design for the book. I’m already behind, by the way, no thanks to my wrist injury that is still causing considerable frustration. Sitting on the couch, working on this cardigan, watching season 2 of Mr. Robot (it’s crazy sci-fi but kind of mind-blowing), when disaster struck.

Actual image of me at the time of the disaster

I looked down and realized that my interchangeable needle tip had separated from the cord, and zillions of stitches were swinging freely in the breeze. I could already see the stitches dropping through the rows and I started to panic.
Wife: “What’s wrong? Can I help?”
Me: “DON’T TOUCH ME. DON’T EVEN SPEAK TO ME RIGHT NOW.”
Wife: “So…should I pause the show?”
Me: *incoherent noises of rage”
I was two whiskey and cokes down, but I flew into the kitchen faster than that time my wife announced the tacos were ready. I turned on the overhead lights in the kitchen (three of which burned out last week) and slowly, painstakingly, terrifyingly, rescued the stitches one by one. There was blood. There was sweat. There were (many) tears. And then, there was more whiskey to dull the pain of my ordeal.

You can tell that something happened if you look closely, but I’m hoping you’ll all give me a break this once. Plus, you can bet your ass I won’t be closely photographing the back of this cardigan.
Stay tuned for more tales of book disasters, and follow GamerCrafting on Facebook! Looking for the Etsy store with hand dyed geeky yarns? Click here. 

Over the past week, I’ve seen a lot of people saying they can’t find a crochet pattern to make one of the popular pink “pussy hats” that will be worn en masse during marches and protests on January 21st.
So I created one, but admittedly it’s a little different than the rectangle design that most people are making.
I wanted a hat that could be worn slouchy or with the brim folded up, which meant the ears needed to be mobile. I made the ears separately, and they attach with buttons by pushing the buttons through the holes in the crochet. Note: my buttons were slightly too big, I recommend using smaller buttons and/or measuring the buttons before you attach them, unlike me.

Materials
This is a simple pattern that most beginners can handle. If you don’t like the large ears, you can use a lighter weight yarn with a smaller hook for smaller cat ears.
I used Drops Eskimo chunky yarn in a hot pink shade, and the light pink in the ears was made with some chunky light pink stash yarn that has long since lost its label. (3 balls, 150g, or
6.5mm hook
4 buttons
yarn needle

Pussy hat crochet pattern

Ribbing

Chain 15 and turn.
Row 1: Double crochet (US single crochet) into the second chain from the hook and in every remaining chain for a total of 14 stitches. Chain 1, turn.
Row 2: Double crochet (US single crochet) into the back post of every stitch. This will create a ribbing like texture as we go along. Repeat this row 48 times which should give you 24 “ribbing ridges.” If you’re using the recommended yarn, it was one whole 50g ball for me! Slip stitch the short ends together to make a circle, and turn so the seam faces the inside.

Hat

Starting at the seam where you sewed up the ribbing piece, do one double crochet (US single crochet). Then do two double crochets in between each ribbed ridge around the brim. When you get to the end, do one more double crochet into the final spot where the seam is. You should have 48 stitches going around the hat.
Round 2: do one half treble crochet (US half double crochet) into each stitch around. Repeat this round 13 times or until it measures 4 inches from the top of the ribbing. Now we’ll start the decreases!
Decrease round 1: *Decrease, 4 half treble crochets* Repeat between ** until end of round.
Decrease round 2: *Decrease, 3 half treble crochets* repeat to end of round.
Decrease round 3: *Decrease, 2 half treble crochets* repeat to end of round
Decrease round 4: *Decrease, 1 half treble crochet* repeat to end of round
Decrease round 5: *Decrease* repeat decreases until end of round. Repeat this row one more time.
Sew up the hole at the top of the hat and weave in ends.

Ears
larger ear portion (make 2)
Using hot pink yarn, make a magic ring. Chain 3 (counts as one half treble) and work 8 half trebles (US half doubles) into the ring, and tighten. Chain 2, and turn.
Row 2: 2 half trebles (US half doubles) into the first stitch, 3 half trebles, 5 half trebles into the 5th (and uppermost) stitch, 3 half trebles, and 2 half trebles into the final stitch. Chain 2, and turn.
Row 3: 2 half trebles into the first stitch, 6 half trebles, 5 half trebles into the middle stitch, 6 half trebles, and 2 half trebles into the final stitch. Cut yarn and bind off.

Inner ear (make 2)
Using lighter pink yarn, make a magic ring. Chain 2 (counts as one double crochet) and work 8 double crochets (US single crochets) into the ring, and tighten. Chain 1, and turn.
Row 2: 2 double crochets (US single crochets) into the first stitch, 3 double crochets, 5 double crochets into the middle stitch, 3 double crochets, and 2 double crochets into the final stitch. Chain one, and turn.
Row 2: 2 double crochets into the first stitch, 6 double crochets, 5 double crochets into the middle stitch, 6 double crochets, and 2 double crochets into the final stitch. Cut yarn and bind off.
Sew the inner ear to the outer ear and attach a button to both sides of each ear. Now you can button the ears to the hat and wear it however you like!
Okay, so real talk. This pattern is free, yes, but I urge you to please make a donation to the ACLU or Planned Parenthood, even if it’s $1 or £1. The next four years are going to be difficult and full of problems to solve. These organizations fight for your rights, but they need money to keep the lights on. So please, consider making a donation.
Like this pattern? Pin this:

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I’m working on some new projects, and I’ve found that DPNs work better for them. I’m usually more of a magic loop girl, but sometimes we have to default to the evil DPNs. But I conquered them with washi tape.
I know that some super organized, minimalist, infinitely tidier crafters keep all of their needles and hooks in beautiful bespoke cases in their one small craft box. While I may be (mostly) organized, I’m not particularly tidy, and I can’t keep things in cases, boxes, or drawers because I need easier access. My needles and hooks are in jars on my desk, which meant my DPNS were all mixed up, in a jar, on my desk. It took me ages to pick out all of the right ones for whatever size I was looking for. I was bereft. More importantly, I was annoyed.
Enter washi tape.

I’ve got tons of this stuff laying around, and I’m not even a scrapbooker (anymore). I use it occasionally for weird half formed projects, wrapping gifts when I can’t find the tape, and stacking on my desk in such a way that it’s always falling over and one rolls under the couch and I spend 10 minutes swearing and sweating as I try to dig it out.
If you don’t have any at home, there’s loads on Amazon. You can even get a rainbow set. It’s not expensive and…useful. For…things. Something, I’m sure of it. Pinterest says it’s useful.
To make a long story short, basically, you just pick a color for each needle size and wrap a little bit around each needle, far enough away from the tip that it’s unlikely it will snag. It probably won’t anyway and washi tape doesn’t use any kind of gluey adhesive so you should be fine.
Make a key somewhere, unless you’re one of those people with a photographic memory: in which case, good for you, I applaud you! The rest of us mortals will continue forgetting why we went into the next room and forgetting milk, again, for the third time this week.
Here’s what mine looks like: (note: current needles that I’m using not pictured)

By the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve used washi tape to help me organize my crafting stash: click here to take a look at that.

Like GamerCrafting on Facebook to get helpful tips, free patterns, and exclusive deals on geeky hand dyed yarns!

Okay, okay, I know I said that I was learning to sew, but I’m still a total novice and no one wants me giving advice to other beginners just yet. I did learn how to take in a shirt two different ways last week though, and I felt like a WIZARD. It also means that after losing *mumble mumble* pounds, I don’t have to get rid of some of my most favorite button down shirts. RESULT!
I spent a few hours last weekend going through my closet to weed out things that no longer fit or aren’t my style anymore (hello bejeweled jean skirt, circa 1999). I bagged up three massive garbage bags full of clothes and shoes for the charity shops and made a huge amount of room in my closet. I feel like a brand new woman!
There were a few things, though, that I couldn’t bear to part with – mostly old t-shirts with sentimental or geeky value. Top of that list was my Jurassic World t-shirt that I got from Primark right before the movie came out last summer. I love Jurassic World, okay? I love it. More than any human probably should. Yes, I have the box set. And the Lego video game.
I couldn’t bear to part with it, and it was probably too faded for the charity shop anyway, so I decided to make it into a bag instead! This lightning speed tutorial will show you that it’s super easy, and even a kid could tackle this project with some supervision. Now get out there and repurpose your old beloved t-shirts! Eco-friendly bags for all!

As always, please like GamerCrafting on Facebook for exclusive deals on my hand dyed yarns, and follow me on Bloglovin’ so you don’t miss any free patterns or tutorials. Happy crafting!
Want to pin this tutorial? I have a handy image for that:

Yes, yes, at long last, I finally got my act together to publish this pattern that I’ve been promising for AGES.

Hooray, the pattern is finally live!
After much deliberation on my part and encouragement from my wonderful Instagram followers, this pattern release is a paid one – but I promise it’s not very much, and it includes a video tutorial on how to start the shawl. The pattern also includes yarn recommendations and tips on yarn substitutions, and of course I’m always happy to help if you need it.

Another snap of the finished “secret shawl” which is yet to have a name. What do you think I should name it? I’m in the process of filming a short tutorial on how to start the shawl, which will be available in the pattern. It will be a paid pattern (thank you all for your kind support!) but I promise it won’t be much. So: what should I name this shawl? (Happy Sunday!)

A photo posted by Angie Panozzo (@gamercrafting) on Jul 10, 2016 at 5:12am PDT

I felt inspired by the ombre trend this year, because as someone with an unusually high skill of seeing slight changes in colors, I’m obsessed with it. Blues and greens are by far my most favorite colors (mostly because they don’t clash with my hair, eh?), and I wanted to emulate the delicate gradient of the sea. I might be a pasty woman who can’t take much sun, but I love the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. It’s one of the most calming sounds I’ve ever heard, besides raindrops on the window while you’re snug inside.
For this project, if you want to make it as seen, you will need a 4mm (US G-6) hook and:
One ball of King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK in each of these shades:
Opal
Aqua
Lawn
Grass
Cobalt
The pattern is available for purchase on LoveCrochet or on Ravelry, whichever you prefer. If you make this shawl, please post it on social media and tag me so I can share it!
Buy this pattern on LoveCrochet!
Buy this pattern on Ravelry!
Aaaaaand, as always, please follow me on Bloglovin‘ so you never miss a post – there are some great free patterns and projects on the way very soon! (And like GamerCrafting on Facebook too, just for funsies.)

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