Crochet A to Z: Nerdicrafts

I’m doing the A to Z Challenge for the month of April with the theme “Learn to Crochet A to Z.” For more details, and to view previous posts, click here!

Man, I really hope this is the right letter in the alphabet, because I don’t know the alphabet that well even when I’m not running on less than 7 hours of sleep. *sings alphabet song in head* I’ve been really excited about this post, though, so let’s forge ahead! 😉

Hello there, lovely followers and friends! Today we’re talking about two of my favorite topics: crochet and fandom! Happy day. 🙂

I absolutely love combining the two together; there are so many ways to do so! There are tons of nerd crafts out there, from books, movies, TV shows, games, and who knows what else. If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you’ll know what a huge fangirl I am…and my favorite kind of craft to do are the ones that are inspired by whatever fandom I’m into at the moment.

 

One example of fandom based crochet would be amigurumi based on the characters. These make fantastic presents. I’ve crocheted Obi Wan, Luke Skywalker, and Yoda amigurumi for several of my Star-Wars-obsessed friends, and they were received with amusement and the obligatory exclamation of, “Did you make that?!” I love giving crocheted things as gifts, and it makes it even more special when the gift is from a fandom the recipient likes. In the picture above, you can also see a crocheted Rey and BB-8, which have both been coveted by the aforementioned Star Wars friends, but they’re not getting them. Rey and BB-8 have a special spot on my bookshelf. :}

Here’s a Baymax keychain I made a while back, from Disney’s “Big Hero 6.” It’s a super good movie, and Baymax is the cutest robot ever. It’s fun carrying around a fandom keychain because it can start some conversations, and although I’m an introvert, I never object to talking about my favorite fandoms!

And because I will never stop fangirling over this picture, I had to include it. I crocheted Iko, a robot from The Lunar Chronicles, and took her to a book signing to give her to the author, Marissa Meyer. She squealed over her and it made me so so happy – I love her books and was absolutely obsessed with them a few years back, so I really wanted to make something for her! She was super kind to be so sweet about Iko, and it was an amazing experience. You can see I’m totally geeking out in that picture, haha. 😀

Another way crochet can collide with fandom is through cosplay. For the uninformed, cosplay is basically a less embarrassing way of saying “dress-up.” You’ll see hundreds of cosplayers at conventions such as Comic-Con, dressing up as anything from Iron Man to Rapunzel. (I’d like to know why WordPress thinks “Rapunzel” is misspelled. How many times have I talked about her on this blog before?!) I’ve only been to two Comic-Cons, but it was really fun to see all the cosplayers – it’s such a cool community!

Anyway, for my first Comic Con I was Olivia Dunham from the TV show “Fringe,” after developing a mild obsession with the main character. If my family members are reading this post, they’re probably laughing at the understatement of that sentence. :} (Fun fact: my middle name is Olivia!) It was super fun, but nobody recognized me (because, sadly, “Fringe” is not that popular of a show, and it’s been off the air for a while anyway). So for Wizard World Comic Con this February, I wanted to go as something more recognizable, and I wanted to CROCHET the entire cosplay.

Because that wasn’t overly ambitious at all.

I actually overestimated my skill set on this particular project. I wanted to be Jyn Erso from Star Wars: Rogue One and I found a really cool crocheted cosplay from The Scarlet Stitch on Tumblr. The blogger was kind enough to give me some details on her cosplay, which was basically that she winged the whole thing, making it up from a mental image. Which is insanely talented. So I ended up digging out a store-bought sweater and crocheting something the same size. It took me what felt like FOREVER. I also made a holster to hold a plastic blaster, and that was really tricky to crochet. But! I’m super pleased with how it turned out, would you like to see?

The costume went over really well at Wizard World, and I actually had people want to take pictures with me! I met a bunch of other crocheters and even connected with one of them online after I got home. It was amazing to meet other like-minded people who also like fandom and crochet.

Here’s a Star Wars family reunion – I’ve never seen a Maz Kenata cosplayer before, I think she did an amazing job! It’s a little unlikely that Jyn would be cheerfully smiling in the presence of Orson Krennic, on the left, but I guess for Comic Con it works. 🙂 And that’s the aforementioned Star Wars friend on the right; he’s as obsessed with Luke Skywalker as I am with Olivia from Fringe. 😛

I think I could write for a thousand more words about fandom and crochet, but I think this will suffice for now. 🙂 I really love crocheting nerdy things, and I’d love to hear about any experience you guys have with it! Do you like combining crafts and fandom? 😀