Cowboy shirt featuring dragons

I got this old 1970's pattern at a thrift store several years ago, but it has served me well in making lots of awesome cowboy shirts. The most detailed one I made was for Alec's 30th birthday.

Alec is really into dragons, so I embroidered 4 different dragons on the front and back yokes. They're playing musical instruments that he plays. I made the dragons detailed so that they would stand out as black embroidered outlines.

Making a shirt in secret without that person's measurements is a challenge, it helps to have a friend who is a similar size. The only part that I got wrong was the collar size, Alec can't button the top button without it choking him.

Coming soon...

I haven't been posting much on the toy front because I've been in the process of making a bunch of new plush animals and patterns. Here's a peek at a couple.

(Cat) Monsters of Rock

I made this watercolor based on the pinball game Monster Bash for Liz Prince. She has 2 very real and cute monster cats herself: Dracula and Wolfman (depicted playing guitar and drums respectively.) The premise of the game is that Universal's monsters got together and formed the most rockin' band ever, but I made it better by turning all those monsters into cats.

Speaking of pinball and cats, Alec and I just went to the Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham, New Hamshire. They have tons of awesome pinball machines and great 80's arcade games. They also had a pinball machine there I had never played called Bad Cats. I did horribly but I really like the concept of a cat filled game. My favorite pinball machines are ones where they don't have a preexisting license slapped on, instead the game designers were free to make up their own hilarious characters.

Sock-cess

I made my first pair of socks as a birthday present for my Mom. I used this pattern since it was free and used the brand of yarn I had purchased. I had to make some alterations as the pattern didn't state the size that the finished sock would be. I used size 4 (3.5mm) needles, that's what I had, over the recommended size 2. This added more size alterations in the pattern, which I worked out on the first sock making lots of mistakes. By the 2nd sock I got the hang of it, so I aced the 3rd one, making one complete pair.

 

I learned a new stitch during the process: the kitchener. It's a grafting stitch so the end of the toe is flexible and you can't see the seam. It took some practice to get the hang of it, but it felt really good when I finally figured it out. Since I already own way too many socks I'm not gonna start making lots of socks, but it was nice to try out something new with knitting.

Santa Fe Summer 2003

Since I'm deep in winter here in Vermont, I'm posting an illustration that is all about summer in New Mexico. It depicts a wonderful summer in 2003 when I was making a short movie called Dead End with my friends in Santa Fe.

All the places shown are ones that we used to hang out at (and still do when I visit). Aside from a couple places to eat, most of the places we hung out at were free and open all hours. We took full advantage of that, playing four square late into the night at the Water St. parking lot behind the punk rock.

Things have changed a lot in the past 8 years. Silva Lanes bowling alley, where I used to play Galaga, is now gone. Warehouse 21 has moved into it's fancy new building which I have no personal connection to. Video Library also moved to a new space but luckily still retains its disorganized charm. Those are just the places, the people depicted have changed a lot too, including myself. People have moved all over the country, I can't imagine getting everyone back sitting at the punk rock for so many reasons. I think that's why I made this, as a nice time capsule for myself.