Friday, January 14, 2011

Real Life Crossovers!

I have mentioned before my love of fan fiction, and I think I have also said that one of my favorite aspects of fan fiction is the possibility for crossovers--when characters from one show or franchise appear on a totally different show or franchise.  It's fun stuff.  Every once in a while we'll get those on actual television shows, but usually within shared universes (the various Stargate franchises, Buffy and Angel, Torchwood and Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane adventures).  In fan fiction though, you can have The Sentinel and Stargate, Firefly and Star Wars, Harry Potter and Star Wars.  I once read a massively epic fan fic that retold the entire original trilogy as if Harry, Hermione, and Ron had somehow gotten sucked into the Star Wars universe just as the story was getting going.  It was pretty freaking spectacular. 

Anyhoo, I like to think of "real life crossovers" as events where I can take two completely different aspects of my life and mix them up with each other.  I am talking, of course, about genre-inspired crochet and knitting projects!  I have quite a few in the pipeline for this year, so I thought I would tell you what's coming up!

First up, after I finish my current crochet project, is, of course, the Doctor Who scarf.  Even if you are not too familiar with Doctor Who, you probably know about this scarf, as it is rather legendary.  Fourth Doctor Tom Baker's costume included a ridiculously long scarf made up of many colors (and different kinds of yarn, I think).  There are many stories about how this scarf came into being, and there were several different versions of it over the course of his time as the Doctor.  There are many websites devoted to recreating this scarf.  It is a nerd knitter's badge of honor to make this scarf.  Many Whovians (fans of Doctor Who) teach themselves to knit specifically to make this scarf.  Many then fall in love with the craft and continue to knit ever more while some, regrettably, do not.  The pattern I would like to make is based (color scheme and length) on the original scarf, that appeared in two episodes. 

You can check out the pattern for the one I am going to be making here:  WittyLittleKnitter's Season 12 Doctor Who Scarf

The yarn for this scarf actually came yesterday, and I was so excited!  Well, most of it did.  The box was full to the gills and was actually one skein short.  But I mailed the site and they responded that they would get the missing skein out to me right away.  I am not overly stressed about this, because I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever packed the box just chose one a bit too small and accidentally left the last skein out without realizing it because the thing was so darn full.  I would probably be more annoyed if I wanted to start the project immediately, but I am working on something else right now, so all is well.

The other Doctor Who project I would like to do this year is also by WittyLittleKnitter (her handle is actually a Doctor Who reference).  She whipped up a lovely lovely pair of TARDIS socks.  The TARDIS is the Doctor's time-traveling space ship (it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space).  One of the reasons I wanted to teach myself to knit was so I could make the Doctor Who scarf, I'll admit it.  But the other was so that I could make socks.  So this works out perfectly.

You can see them here:  TARDIS socks

I will probably wait until later in the year (once I've got some other knitted socks worked up) before I try this pattern, but it is definitely in the queue.

Doctor Who is of course not the only genre I will be knitting (or crocheting) in.  After the scarf is made, my next genre project is to crochet some (several) amigurumi Super Mario Brothers mushrooms.  I can think of several children (and grown-ups) that need these, and they seem like they will be a quick and simple little project.  If I get ambitious, I may attempt to modify the pattern to make a giant one as well.

WolfDreamer's Mario Brothers Mushrooms

Then I will jump back to my Browncoat roots to make Jayne Cobb's hat from the episode of Firefly titled "The Message."  This hat, that appeared on screen only briefly, has come to be just as big a nerd badge of honor as the Doctor Who scarf, actually.  My goal is to get this done before June, when Browncoats the world over celebrate Joss Whedon's birthday with charity screenings of the movie Serenity, because I will totally wear it to that.

The Jayne Cobb Hat

Of course, what kind of Star Wars fangirl would I be if I didn't make some amigurumi for that fandom?  Etsy seller Lucyravenscar has patterns available for many different characters, and I purchased this set of ten.

Star Wars Mini Amigurumi

I am most keen to make R2D2, a stormtrooper, Yoda, and an Ewok.  Once I get the stormtrooper pattern down, I may play with it a little to make my own little stuffed Omega Squad from Republic Commandos.  Just because.

My last genre project will probably definitely not get done this year, but I do think I want to start trying to plan it.  I had toyed with making this in crochet, but it just didn't seem feasible--but I think knitting might make it possible.  What I want to make is a blanket that has on it an accurate depiction of a Pegasus Galaxy stargate (from Stargate Atlantis).  There are different versions of the gate for each series (explained as basically different generations of the same tech, like the different generations of iPods), and I am, of course, partial to the version from Atlantis.

Here's a shot of the gate activating:  Stargate Atlantis Gate Dialing

The thing that makes it so complicated is the glyphs around the inner wheel of the gate.  There are 39 or 36 symbols, and you dial a combination of six plus your "point of origin" symbol to make a connection to another gate.  Each symbol is a representation of a constellation.  That is going to take a lot of planning, and graph paper.  But the color-work possibilities on knitting might just allow for this.  Also, I would probably want to make it with the "puddle" or vortex in the middle that you get with an active gate, and that will be tricky.  I am going to need to find the right variegated yarn or the right combination of two colors worked at the same time to pull that one off.  But I think it can be done.  If I can make that, well, I will consider myself queen of the knitting nerds--at least in my corner of the world.

Heck, I didn't think I would be able to get my Yoshi blanket done in nearly as much time or awesomeness as I did, and look how that turned out:

Yoshi Blanket by Cori 2010 (crochet)

Baby Girl approves.

It is amazing what a determined nerd/yarn-crafter can do when she puts her mind to something, isn't it?

Have a great weekend folks.  Don't forget, new Gronk! Today's guest strip features nap-time teamwork

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