My Last Two June Nerd Wards 2 Projects Posted!

Hi again! I'm still trying not to think about getting on a plane to Japan 2 weeks from tomorrow (as much as I'm really looking forward to being in Japan :) which has resulted in my last 2 June Nerd Wars 2 projects being finished. Above is the Frog Hat, inspired by this illustration:

It's from the June 2011 LaLa magazine, which is a manga anthology magazine published in Japan. This illustration is from the "Gakuen Babysitter's" manga. So cute!

Mr. Froggy is made from Woolease in forest green. I used my favourite Lion Brand earflap hat pattern & an I/9/5.50mm hook, just like the Naruto & his Mom Hat. I designed the eyes myself & am very pleased by the way they stand up without any support (hooray for firm crocheting :). The embroidery was inspired by the illustration. I made this hat for the 3-D challenge & it will go to Touhouku along with my dissertation hats.

And this scarf (modeled by Brendan) is for the "I See What You Did There" nerd culture challenge, where we made things that reflect a favourite YouTube video. I chose this video:

It's Inoue Orihime from Bleach, by Kubo Tite. Orihime wears 2 hairpins that are not just decorative. They are her "ShunShunRikka" or "Princess Shielding Flowers" (the "hime" part of her name means "princess" in Japanese). They become little fairies that protect her & allow her to heal others, among other cool things.

You can see one of the hairpins here, from the cover of a Bleach manga.

And are the Rikka, from the manga. I decided to make a scarf using a 6-petal flower motif, so I re-engineered the Splashy Flowers Shawl, which was originally a scarf pattern, changing it quite a bit.

You can see the little flower motifs just like Orihime's hairpins. I used KnitPicks Andean Treasure yarn in the colour "Blue Ribbon" (it took about 3 1/2 skeins) & a K/10/6.50mm hook. It's about 95" long & very cushy.

So now I can work along on my dissertation hats for another week, until it's time to pack! My biggest worry is that I'll be in Japan, with variable internet access, when the July challenges are announced :( However, I'll be in Japan... that's not bad at all!