Om Nom Nom Studios First Contest - An Amigurumi Giveaway!

I can never apologize enough for how infrequently I blog these days. With The Dalek Project, working on items for my Etsy shop, and raising my little sweetheart Baby Nom, I'm pretty busy these days.

On March 30th, Baby Nom will turn 1. I absolutely cannot believe how time flew. Time obviously must be moving at quite an alarming pace for The Boy because just last night he made it clear that he would not mind another Nom child being on the way in the near future :O

This summer, we feel that Baby Nom will be old enough to enjoy the sites that come with a trip to the beach. Plans are underway to make that happen. As a matter of fact they are becoming a bit of a runaway train with more and more family members wanting to join in on the beach fun for Baby Nom and possibly even one of her even newer little cousins, Tarrin.

Months ago on Ravelry I came across the "On The Shore", a down-loadable pattern by Jana of Just Blocked.

This pattern is available in English and German.

This patchwork blanket is featuring one of M.C. Escher´s great tessellations.

The animals are shaped by various stitch patterns (rib pattern, seed stitch, stocking stitch, twice turned ribbing, garter stitch) and short rows. The tortoises, fish and ducks are completely charted out. So you need to be familiar with reading from a chart to work this blanket. The techniques used are explained in a detailed illustrated appendix. So don´t you worry. This pattern might look complicated, but it really is not. And each step is explained in the tutorials. This includes the seams and cutting/steeking.

Please note: The yardage given above applies to each of the colours. So you will need a total of 12 skeins (= 3871 yds or 3540 m).

Btw - gauge is not crucial. You might even decide to use worsted weight yarn or any yarn of your choice.

After working the animals separately they are then sewn together and the edges are cut to produce straight edges. There is this miracle about this tessellation that there still won´t be any bodyparts of the animals wasted. Instead you will find that both sides as well as bottom and top can be joined to a tube. That tube will be cut length-wise, and voilà, the blanket is perfectly rectangular!

When I saw it I immediately thought it would be a great keepsake gift for my little girls first trip to the beach (most likely to be used for the car ride, as a play mat while we are there, and for chilly beach evenings).

Although I love the look of the original blanket, I'd rather Baby Noms be a different color scheme. With as much as I have going on and the general haze that has settled over my brain meat, I have been having a dickens of a time - YES A DICKENS! Trying to figure out the perfect color scheme. Here's where you come in.

Basically whoever comes up with the color scheme I like best, will win this amigurumi from me.



Extra credit will be given to anyone who not only comes up with a beautiful color scheme but also provides me with
1) An affordable yarn brand containing colors from the scheme
2) A yarn brand AND color names for the colors in their color scheme.
3) Links to where I can buy said yarn at the cheapest online rates.

"Rules"
1) Acrylics are okay, natural fibers preferred. No brands that can be purchased at places like Wal Mart, Micheal's, or Hobby Lobby fall under the category of yarns that I'd consider
2) Variegated yarns and color shifting yarns are totally acceptable for this project
3) Yarn weight must be no smaller than sport weight (5 ply) yarn
4) If you suggest a yarn I appreciate it having a yardage of at least 150 yds. so that I can cut down on having to buy 100+ skeins of yarn
5) Yarn MUST MUST MUSH be machine washable!!!!!!!!!!

I was already considering using yarns from Knit Picks (quite possibly from the Brava collection) but am completely open to other yarns.

Here is an empty chart for the blanket that you can fill in with your suggested color scheme.



Entries should be sent to OmNomNomStudios@Gmail.com. This contest will close at Midnight, Monday, April 2nd, 2012. More than one entry per person is permitted just please feel confident in each entry to avoid a possible onslaught of entries that were haphazardly thrown together.

I Sell The Dead Moment

Still, I'm hungry enough,


I could eat that corpse over there.


What you got there?


Sandwich.


A what which?


Sandwich.


It's food.


Food.


Two lumps of bread with
something in the middle.


It's genius.


Ah, it's queer.


No, it's all right.


You can put anything inside.


What's in it?


Uh, looks like...


Like?


Looks like it tastes
better than it looks.


How did you afford one?


- I nicked it.
- Arthur.


What?


I'll pay them back when I'm flush.


I fancy a bite.


Give it here.


I'll tell you what.


I'll share it with you for
a few glugs of your whiskey.


Done.


Bloody hell.


You were hungry.


You're not having any of mine.

Free Charts for Tiny Owl Knits Beekeeper's Quilt & The Dalek Project

MONTHS ago a good knitter friend of mine started mentioning "The Beekeeper's Quilt". My response to this was, "I had no idea you quilted!" She never corrected what turned out to be an error. So over the next month or so she'd occasionally mention it and I'd just kind of keep thinking, "Wow, she's unendingly amazing and full of surprises." Eventually I decided to search the pattern name on Ravelry and saw what she was talking about*.

I stared at this picture for the longest time thinking about how completely crazy of a task this seemed to be. It was like a lava lamp, I couldn't stop staring. I decided that it wasn't crazy enough that I've been chipping away at Kerin Dimeler-Laurence's Dogwood Blossoms sweater pattern

and have her Aguona Laptop Bag Pattern in hibernation for a while.

I was going to knit this as well.

And as if that weren't enough mine is Portal themed.


The Beekeeper's Quilt (as you can see) is a knitted quilt that is intended to be made using sock yarn scraps that are knitted into small hexagonal amigurumi puffs, known as "Hexipuffs" or "Hexapuffs". This completely insane project has caught fire within the knitting community so it seemed only natural with all the knitted Daleks I've been releasing this month for The Dalek Project that I make a Dalek Hexipuff.

The first of my hexipuff charts was published this morning on Ravelry so that those who would like to make one of their own could do so.

Within the hour I had a request for a TARDIS puff so I quickly whipped up a chart.

If you're interested in other geek hexipuff charts just contact me and I'll see what I can do for you.

And if you aren't following The Dalek Project on Facebook or Tumblr yet you may want to because the first sale of posted Daleks is fast approaching. In early March you'll have a chance to buy Dalek Project items like these hand-painted, knee-high, Converse All Star sneakers (which I was able to make thanks to some guidance from the very talented Acrylicana).

And the official Dalek girl dress created specifically for The Dalek Project by Sweety Darlin' Designs is already available for order.

And considering that she already created the template to make them, I bet Janine Basil could be convinced to make you your own Dalek Project headband like the ones she also created specifically for the project.


*Even though she isn't doing the sort of quilted I thought she was, she's still unendingly awesome.