beck's blog

Friday, August 28, 2009

It's the story... of a guy named Harry...

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

I've heard from totallee again with more photos!


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Wow! She's really plugging away at this afghan!!!! I LOVE the Drake!

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

I received the nicest e-mail a couple of days ago from an Aussie crocheter named Lee!
Here's some of what she had to say...


Hi there!

I'm undertaking my first 'blanket' at the moment and it just so happens to be Harry Potter themed -_^
I plan to make it in the style of the famous BradyBunch intro - 9 squares featuring my fave characters and when I put the call out for a great snape picture to use, someone put me onto your site and my eyes fell upon your INCREDIBLE Snape afghan!
Talk about the perfect picture to use!! Mysterious to the max!
So with your piece as my inspiration, I made my Snape panel! (see attachments)

4 panels down, 5 to go!! (that's if I can manage to cut down the amount of characters I want to have!! Proving to be EXTREMELY difficult!)

Once again, I''m a big fan of your work Becky!
(Head swelling)
Can't wait to see what you come up with next!!
Much love,
Lee xox.


I've asked her and she was kind enough to let me post her letter and two photos she sent me.
Check out her finished squares so far!!!!! (Click on them to enlarge).


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Aren't they FABULOUS!!!!!!!
What a great idea doing a "Brady Bunch" blanket with Harry Potter characters!!!!!
I LOVE it!!!!

Look at Hermione's hair!!!! It must have been very difficult to do that part. I love the off-centered positioning of the characters. Just like they were the Brady family moving around in their squares looking at each other.

Who will go in the center? Harry? (I would put Snape in there, of course!) LOL!!!!
Where ever she puts Harry, I hope she can put Snape nearby so it looks like he's giving the ol' "stink-eye" to the 'chosen one' forever! LOL!!!

I wonder who else she's doing. Dumbledore and Hagrid most likely, but then who?
I really can't wait to see how it all turns out!

My jaw dropped when I visited her site. Totallee.net
She has done some really great portrait pieces. You really should scoot over there and check out her work!!!!

AND she's posting the Potter portrait patterns to her afghan for free! Yes FREE!

Why are you all still here? Go check out her site!







Friday, August 14, 2009

Everyone's A Captain Kirk - Afghan

Well, naturally I couldn't leave Spock hanging all by himself, could I?
So I made a Captain Kirk afghan as well and then joined them together, (as they should be), and added a Star Trek logo to the bottom as well. (Click the pics to make them super-huge!)

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First off, here's Kirk alone. (I know what you're thinking you Trekkies out there. "Gasp! He's wearing a green shirt!")
Yep, well, as I was looking around for a decent representation of 'The Shat' that I could use, I stumbled upon the fact that the original series uniform for Kirk was actually an avocado, or lime green. Since this was the early days of television, colors were not a true representation of what they actually were. So, I decided I'd get him back in a green shirt. (Although I surrounded him in yellow because we're so used to seeing him in that).

This must explain why the "red shirts" always got killed by the end of the shows.
They clashed with the Captain's uniform! LOL!!!!

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Here's the whole afghan. It was so big I had a hard time fitting it all into the photo.
My hubby wanted "Star Trek" underneath so I found a site that had a graphed logo, (albeit from a later Trek series).
I used that, but, since the afghan was so wide, I had to do the words starting from the side, (It's only 17 stitches across), and crocheting it that way and then adding the piece to the bottom. So, it's a whacky afghan anyways, what can I say?

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Front and then back of afghan.
Since my two youngest sons were home today, I asked them to hold up the afghan. This gives you an idea of the afghan's size.
(My sons are both about 5 ft. 10").

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I leave this post with a link to Nena's 99 Red Balloons
where "...Everyone's a super hero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk..."

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Singapore Snape takes on Cambridge

Singapore Snape and his trusty companion Karen have returned from Cambridge, U.K. with this report! (Click to enlarge pics!)

Hi Becky:

Snape and I are back from our trip to Cambridge , UK and have some good pictures to share. The first Photobucket is from our room at Murray Edwards College (which is surprisingly NOT named after a man named Murray Edwards).


Oooooh, he does look rather sulky and surly there in that photo! Shivers!


I was in Cambridge to present a paper at a conference. Snape submitted a presentation proposal as well, but they thought his title -- “Draught of Living Death: Does This Potion Have Any Real World Applications?” – was some kind of a joke, so they turned him down.
Bwaaaahaaahaaa!!!!!
This meant that he spent the entire conference sulking in our room, and gazing wistfully out the window, as he’s doing in the picture.

The second photo Photobucket is from the top of Castle Mount looking out over Cambridge . Look at how his greasy hair is blowing in the wind! The third photo Photobucket is from the River Cam, where we went punting. Snape might look happy in the picture, but he got a bit seasick in the boat, turning his normally sallow pallor to a greenish grey colour. The man was just not meant for an outdoor life!


Punting. I had to look that one up. 'Moving the boat with a pole.'
I have visions of Venice, Italy and canals with gondolas.
Did Snape try to "help" out by using his wand?


And the last photo Photobucket is when I walked in on Snape after his shower in our dorm. He was mortified. I suggested that perhaps his hair would be less greasy if he washed it instead of just stuffing it into a shower cap.


OMG!!!! This last picture looks like my mother-in-law!!! LOL!!!!
I LOVE it!!!! It would make a great poster!


Hope you like the pictures and that your summer is going well (bad weather notwithstanding). I’ve got 4 more to send tomorrow, including one from platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station. All best, Karen


Too bad he didn't get to speak at Cambridge. I can just picture him up there lecturing just as though he were back in his own classroom back at Hogwarts.

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I can't wait to hear and see more about your trip!!!

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EDIT: I received a second e-mail from Karen today with the rest of her visit to Cambridge!


Hi Becky,

Back to our story. The first picture Photobucket is from a bridge over the river Cam.
Snape insisted on going for a walk to collect some type of rare thistle, and made me go along to do all the fetching and carrying. That’s about all I’m good for, according to him.


Humph! That's so typical of Snape! He looks all smiles and happy there!


The next one Photobucket is from a cow pasture where we got lost, after following Snape’s bad sense of direction.
Seriously, though, why would they put a cow pasture in the middle of town? Anyway, this is my favourite picture of Snape. I think he looks right at home there.


It's so green and beautiful!
He looks like he could just walk into that patch of grass and thistles and disappear on you.


The third picture Photobucket is – obviously – from King’s Cross Station. There was a long line-up of people waiting to get their picture taken with the baggage cart. Snape was quite the hit with them. You should have seen him preening under all the attention.


OMG!!! You actually went there! He looks like "King of the World" on top of that luggage cart!
(I'm so glad you weren't too embarrassed to be seen with your Snape. I'll bet he just LOVED all the attention!!!!!)


And the last picture Photobucket is from the Serpentine at Hyde Park , just after our Full English Breakfast, which contained among other things Black Pudding. Snape told me that contrary to popular opinion, Black Pudding isn’t called Black Pudding because it’s black, but because it was invented by the Black family, which explains why it’s so gross and weird. Wow. Live and learn.

Take care, Karen


LOL!!!! "Snape facts". He should write a book on his little-known truths. Snape-isms.
Thanks so much, Karen, for continuing to chronicle Snape's adventures for us to share!

Monday, August 03, 2009

Spock Rocks Afghan

I've been having a slow summer. I'm always working on something but not everything is interesting enough to post.
Anyway, I've finished something I thought you-all would get a kick out of so here it is. (Click on the photos to enlarge them please).


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Yes, it's old-school Spock! (a.k.a. Leonard Nimoy).

I used a pumpkin carving stencil from Pink Raygun's site. They have several pumpkin stencils of the old Star Trek cast. And they're free stencils. Free is always good.

Then I graphed it at Microrevolt again.


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This is the back of the afghan.

It's not a very large afghan or anything. About the size of a beach towel.
I was thinking of making the Kirk and joining them alongside each other. But I'm not sure I like the Kirk at Pink Raygun.
I Googled and Binged around for a better Kirk stencil but haven't found any other good ones.

Oh well. For now Spock stands alone.

Live long and crochet! prosper!!!!