Magic Screen for Pee-wee's Playhouse

Magic Screen Amigurumi from Pee-wee's Playhouse

Last year when I made Pee-wee and Chairry, and eventually Jambi, I drew a sketch in my notebook of a Magic Screen amigurumi. It didn't seem doable at the time. I didn't know how I would do the legs and everything I thought of seemed really cheesy looking (and the entire screen could not be held up by pipe cleaners!) so I kind of abandoned the idea. (I love that story!)
More digging around at the craft store revealed several non-conventional items that I could use to make Magic Screen, so the project was a go. I made her last night and I couldn't be happier!

Magic Screen with interchangeable screen

More photos after the jump!

2,000 Facebook Fans Contest!

Over the weekend my Facebook page got its 2,000th fan! To celebrate, I've come up with a contest to reward a couple of lucky people.

The main reason I started CraftyisCool was to make stuff for my kids. Then every time there was a birthday or holiday, I made something for someone. If you make stuff, you know the absolute feeling of joy that comes from using your hands to make something and giving it to someone you care about. The look on his or her face, the comments, the appreciation: they are the payoff for your hours of hard work.

I've been on the other end of this too. I have a big family and now that there are lots of grandkids, we adults draw names at Christmas to buy one gift for one person. Last year my twin sister knit me a pair of slippers. I cried! The sentiment was so touching. I know the hard work that goes into something like that and it just made me feel so special to know someone had spent the time to make something just for me.

So here's the contest!

FIRST: Like CraftyisCool on Facebook (if you haven't already)

SECOND:
Post a comment below telling everyone either:
1) the best handmade gift you ever gave to someone and their reaction;
OR
2) the best handmade gift you ever received and how it made you feel.
Also include your email address and your choice of prize (listed below).

On Friday, October 28, at 5:00 cst I will randomly select TWO winners from all of the comments and post them here and on my Facebook page. Each winner will receive a special CraftyisCool amigurumi kit! The kit will include a hard copy of a pattern, the yarn needed (a full skein in the colors I recommend), and any notions (eyes, thread, etc). If you crochet, you'll get a full project to make for the holidays! If you don't crochet, this will be the perfect jumpstart! Or you can gift your package to someone you love.

You will get your choice of these kits:

Alice

Oompa Loompa

Assistant Regional Manager

Pee-wee Herman

Conan O'Brien

PLEASE remember to LIKE CraftyisCool and PLEASE include your email address in your comment. I will not be able to directly contact you if you won unless your email address is included in your reply!

Thank you so much for liking what I do! Be sure to let your friends know too.

Pee-wee for Wildfire Victims

Just a quick post to let you all know I'm selling a Pee-wee Herman doll on ebay to benefit the victims of the recent central Texas wildfires. I live in Austin, just about 30 minutes away from where there has been a LOT of devastation, and I wanted to find a way to help out. All proceeds after listing fees will be donated to the Central Texas Wildfire Fund, so please check out that charity if you aren't able to bid. Thanks for visiting and if you know anyone who would like a Pee-wee, please direct him or her to my auction. Click on Pee-wee to check it out!

*The auction ENDS on Wednesday, September 21st in the afternoon, so please place your bids soon!

Help me help Central Texas!

CraftyisCool's Big Adventure!

So this is how it went down. Big news around town is that Conan and Pee-wee were coming into town for SXSW (South by Southwest). My two favorite people, here at the same time! What are the chances?! As luck would have it, Stacy at The Knitting Nest also loves them, and she wanted to do a display for the store to welcome them to Austin. I took the dolls to the store and she displayed them in the window along with an adorable banner that read "Welcome to SXSW Coco and Peewee!" Then look, she snapped this picture and tweeted it to both Conan and Pee-wee!

Display window at The Knitting Nest with Conan and Pee-wee live on stage!

So after we both tweeted a few times inviting them down to the Knitting Nest, which I live really close to, Pee-wee's people got in touch with our people and long story short, they didn't have time to make it down Congress to the store, but invited us to Sunday night's Comedy Death-Ray Radio with Scott Aukerman at Esther's Follies downtown.

LISTEN to the show! At 56:00 it gets really good! ;)

My husband and I raced downtown and got in the door quick since we were "on the list" :). I spotted two seats right in the front, to the right of the stage, but within 15 feet of where the great Paul Reubens would be sitting. It was already loaded with SXSW badgeholders, and within a few minutes the line of people waiting outside started to trickle in. Finally Paul Reubens and Scott Aukerman came on stage and we were in the greatest seats! Right by the stage, with Paul facing us the whole time! My little Pee-wee amigurumi was sitting in my lap the whole time, and I was really hoping there would be an opportunity to not just fling it on stage like some crazy person but to actually hand it to him politely and tell him he was my hero.

It was an amazing interview! Listen to the whole thing and you'll hear some stuff you never knew, I'll bet!

At the end, Scott thanked Paul for coming and they both stood up and the crowd did too. Lots of applause, and I stood closer and waved the doll around at him, hoping he wouldn't just exit the stage without taking him. He looked at me and I shouted "Can I give this to you?" and he just beckoned me up on stage!

I walked up and gave him the doll, and he held it up for the crowd and told me he'd seen it so many times and loved it (he tweeted about it twice!) and then I asked him for a hug! Ha! I hugged PEE-WEE!!!

So lifelong dream fulfilled, I left the stage and my husband shouted back at him that our kids LOVE him, which they do, they really really do. (We have the whole Pee-wee's Playhouse series on DVD and they want to watch it over and over, and for our oldest son's first Christmas he got a talking Pee-wee. We've gone a little overboard since then, thanks to eBay and my husband's collecting. We have the Playhouse playset and all the figures and they adore them!)

Here's some more pictures of my absolutely amazing night! In the one where it looks like I'm trying to flash the audience (ha), he had asked me about what I had made for Conan (the doll) and I showed him and the audience the picture Conan had posted with the blimp I made him too!

Pee-wee takes the doll and a Knitting Nest Tshirt!

Pee-wee says "I've seen this like a trillion times! Never thought I'd have one of my own!"

Pee-wee tells the crowd how much the fan love means to him.

I show the crowd my Conan blimp shirt under some bright stage lights!

HUG ME!

New Pattern! New Year!

Happy 2011!  It's a fresh start, and I have a fresh pattern!  Jambi has been written for a while, just waiting to be edited and checked over a couple more times, and now he's in my shop!  Available on Ravelry or Etsy for your downloadable pleasure...  He's also available in a brand new pattern set!  All of my Pee-wee's Playhouse patterns together!

Because I am so CLASSY....

Haha.  Get it, classy?  I'm going to be teaching CLASSES!  Yeah, yeah.  Har har. 

So I get my Moo cards, and I think, I need to give these things out!  They're adorable!  They have my information on one side, and pictures of some of my creations on the other.  I love them.  Anyway, I get the little box and decide to head over the yarn store down the street (literally), The Knitting Nest.  They are having a class with Franklin Habit, a popular blogger, knitter, writer, comic-drawer (word?), and its Worldwide Knit in Public Day.  The owner was around and I asked her if she'd like my patterns to sell, she said she had seen my Conan and she'd love it.  Long story short, I dropped off a binder-full of patterns to display (just order them on etsy like everyone else! ;)) and a Pee-Wee, a DJ Lance Rock, Michael Jackson (I'll get to that in a minute), and a Conan!  I also brought along a rainbow of baby monsters, 10 to be exact, that I'm going to show you, blog reader, how to make! (IF you take my Basic Amigurumi class July 8th from 10:30-12:30 OR July 17th 2-4 at The Knitting Nest, in Austin.)

I'm also going to teach a class on a more "advanced" project, which my little boy, 4 (that's his age, not his name), dubbed "Lovey".  They're doing a Monster-making contest for July, hence the monstrous projects.

If these projects don't look challenging enough and you want to go a step further, there's the "Make Your Own Monster" (or whatever else you want to make) Workshop, July 25th from 2-5.  When I make all my amigurumi, I start with a sketch, draw all over that sketch with nonsensical (to others) numbers and drawings and chickenscratch, and come up with a pattern.  Then I start crocheting, making adustments as I go.  I'm going to teach you how to do this too, starting with a simple sketch.

The Knitting Nest has every flavor of Cascade 220 wool yarn imaginable.  It's a little breathtaking when you walk in and see the spectrum of color on the wall.  I'm about ready to toss all the acrylic that is crowding my bins and trade it all in for nicer yarn, but I have to take baby steps.  It really feels different to work with better yarn.   

So if you're in Austin, I'd love to have you in one of my classes!  If you're not in Austin, it is a nice place to visit and I'll see you there anyway!  I'm excited to start and hope you can learn a lot. 

What I was also going to show you was my "yet-to-have-a-written-pattern-for" Michael Jackson!  I wanted to make a Michael for a while and had so many different looks to choose from.  I had to go with this Beat It look, just for that jacket.  And yes, sticklers-for-accuracy, he didn't actually wear that bedazzled glove in that video, but how could I make Michael and not crochet a tiny sparkly glove?  I shall write that pattern, even if it kills me, which the jacket may nearly do, because there's so many little details.  But besides the jacket, how about that jeri curl yarn?  Amazing, huh?  Wait for the pattern, dear crocheters.  All in good time. 

So now you're done reading this extra-long blog post and now you are going to call the Knitting Nest, drop by to see all my work, or email Stacy to sign up, right?

I know you are, but what am I? Amigurumi!

You know how when you're a kid you watch movies or TV shows and you think they're so great and funny and cool, and then you remember them when you're an adult and go back to watch them, and you can't believe you were so into it when you were young and had a completely different sense of humor? Well, watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse totally does not apply.

A few years ago we ordered the complete series on DVD and I swear, they never get old. I have three little boys that LOVE watching right along with me. What is it about that show? It was so fun, with smart writing and totally off-the-wall plotlines, Tim Burton-esque special effects, and the star of it all was pretty dynamic. Who didn't want a Picture-phone or a mousehole full of tiny dinosaurs? Even when Randy showed up or a salesman came knocking, it was still the coolest place on Saturday morning. Who else LOVES Pee-Wee??

I made a lil Pee-Wee doll, and luckily I wrote down a pattern as I went because now you can make one yourself with a little bit of crochet know-how. That gray jacket he's sporting unbuttons and comes off, but unfortunately that is NOT a boomerang bow-tie. It's permanently affixed to Pee-Wee's neck. His sweet white shoes will look great while he's doing the "Tequila" dance, however, so get him to a biker bar ASAP!

(and please click on those links to see some great moments with Pee-Wee!)