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Seriously, the Perler love does not quit.

Materials: Obviously: assorted Perler beads and 29x29 square pegboard. 6 pre-cut cork coaster squares. Tacky glue.

Time: A weekend of intermittent TiVo viewing.

Cost: Maybe $30, but we went all out at Hobby Lobby.

I've always loved Perler Beads. Inspired by stumbling upon some products at Etsy, I discovered the Perler Nintendo underground. Pete was similarly entranced, and the next day we raided the local Hobby Lobby for a 29x29 square pegboard, cork coaster backing, tacky glue, two divider-filled bead boxes, and of course whatever solid-colored (i.e. non-neon, non-glittery) Perler beads we could find.

Hobby Lobby seems to have the biggest supply of Perler beads of all the craft store chains in my area, but if you're really interested in making similarly Nintendo-inspired Perler projects then eBay is the way to go. There are several really good stores devoted to selling single-color bags of Perler and Hama (an interchangeable brand with a wider color selection) beads, as well as the desirable 29x29 square interlocking grids. It's also a cheaper way to go, and you won't find all of the colors you need, in the quantities you need, in your average assortment.

This Flickr set is a good place to start for inspiration. However, I also started making my own grids from some images of sprites and other game graphics online -- Googling for "Nintendo sprites" and a working knowledge of a graphics program are all that you need to begin.

Simplicity 3835

Materials: 2 yards printed cotton (for each top) from Reprodepot. Pattern: Simplicity 3835, cut in size 12 (ah, the questionable reality check of pattern sizes).

Time: One evening cutting, one evening sewing.

Cost: Less than $20 each.

I made something other than a skirt! These tops are my concession to the maxi-dress, empire-waist, shapeless-sack tunic vibe sweeping the nation right now.

The only change to the pattern that I made was to add darts in the back, which are printed on the pattern for one of the dress versions. They took in some of the extra fabric, without making it too tight. You don't want to try and make this top -- as loose as it is -- much smaller than your recommended size, because then the armholes will be too tight, and it will also be extremely difficult to wrestle on and off. I can see why knits are so popular for tops now. (You could perhaps also alter this pattern with a bit of a keyhole and button/loop in the back neckline to make it easier to take on and off over the shoulders, if it's a problem.)

I think that I've mentioned my recent fascination with Perler Beads on these pages before. It rose to new levels today, however, when I stumbled across these two projects that have inspired me to purchase the big bucket o' beads while also taking care of the coaster shortage in the office. (I would really not be surprised if the latter similarly inspired Pete to engage in surprisingly elaborate reenactments of 8-bit Theater, however.)

Reclaiming the Grandpa cardigan.

Materials: 7 skeins Peace Fleece worsted weight in Buffalo Brownski. Pattern: Knitscene's Central Park Hoodie.

Time: Months!

Cost: $55.

Man, this project sucked. Not because of the pattern, or any kind of technical difficulty, but because I'm stubborn and wanted it to work with the yarn that I'd bought.

I'd wanted a brown cardigan, and the color of the Peace Fleece Buffalo Brownski is beautiful: flecked with rust and tiny bits of pink. Like most Peace Fleece, you really wouldn't want to wear it against the skin. But it'll wear like iron and keep you warm in the winter, which is what matters. Unfortunately, I also had a really, really hard time getting gauge with it. So difficult that I insisted on using teeny-tiny needles with it that made my hands ache, and blocking the heck out of it to make the finished size match up. In retrospect, I really should have adjusted the pattern -- it would have been easy enough to do. Oh, well.

The only modifications that I made to the pattern were grafting the hood closed, and adding a button band in case I want to close it up to keep me warm. I doubt that I'll wear it that way very much, though, because in true bulky, unshaped cardigan fashion, it makes the wearer look about 15 pounds dumpier. At least now I feel a bit more justified in my recent inclination towards sweaters knit on very small needles!

One for DPNs, one for Options.

Materials: Lots of random cotton and upholstery fabrics and thread. Interfacing. Cord / rick-rack. Buttons. Grosgrain ribbon. Pattern: loosely based off of the Roll-Your-Own Needle Case in Stitch 'n' Bitch.

Time: One day.

Cost: $20 for the fabric, maybe?

One reaches a point when a Ziploc baggie stuffed with miscellaneous double-pointed and circular needles becomes an extraordinarily ineffective storage solution. I figured this out right at about the time when I fell in love with KnitPicks' Options needles, which only added to the clutter and confusion. I find their default case to be ugly, clunky, and overpriced, so I figured that some custom-made holders were in order.

Cataloging my Ziploc revealed that I owned multiple sets of needles in some sizes, none in others, and a bunch that I'd completely forgotten about. As much as a gigundo holder that would fit everything initially appealed to me, it would be big and impractical. After some more thought and a judicious amount of surfing the web, I decided to make one small holder for my DPNs and a larger one to hold my nickel-plated circs of all sizes (both one-piece smaller sizes and interchangeables). I roughly followed the directions for the Roll-Your-Own Needle Case in Stitch 'n' Bitch, but spent some quality time with a ruler, my needle stash, and a calculator, and made a bunch of sketches and schematics to custom-size and position the pockets to fit the needles I had (or planned to someday have).

I had plenty of spare fabric, so I decided to place a certain amount of faith in my schematics and see what happened -- I could always make new ones if they didn't fit, or if my space estimates had been all wrong. This was actually the case with the DPN holder pictured above. I forgot to incorporate a part of the seam allowance, so the needles poked out half an inch above the top of the holder -- and it's not a good holder if it only works in an upright position. So, I improvised using a thick strip of grosgrain ribbon to attach the flap to the holder itself. It's snazzy, and works perfectly.

Here you can see how the pockets are sized in proportion to the needles. I also used my machine's embroidery function to label the size on each pocket. It's not the most elegant (note loose thread ends all over the place), but definitely does the job.

The Options holder took more conceptualizing. It had to hold circs of varying lengths from sizes 0-4, cords of various sizes, ends and keys, and needle tips. My original drawings also had it as, like, two feet tall, which was ridiculous. With a little schematic rejiggering I ended up designing it to fold in three, which makes for a surprisingly compact package.

I spent some time playing around with lightweight vinyl pockets. I'd heard awful things about how horrible vinyl is to sew, but with a walking foot and the proper needle and thread sizes it wasn't too bad. I did, however, have a very difficult time cutting the stuff evenly, and I'm impatient. After a bit of experimental tugging, it seemed likely that the lightweight vinyl would stretch and perhaps tear, so I decided to go with less fancy but more serviceable cotton pockets. Because there's so much going on with this case, I sandwiched an extra layer of iron-on interfacing in the middle.

Can you tell that I tend to work mostly with small needles? I plan on filling in the empty pockets eventually, though I have a hard time imagining what I'll use the size 17s for these days.

Storage solution: complete!

Snazzy protection from winter winds.

Materials: One skein Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool in Thunderhead. One skein JaggerSpun Heather Edelweiss. Pattern: Anemoi Mittens by Eunny.

Time: A couple of months?

Cost: $25.

I've gotten a lot of wear out of my Selbu Mittens, and even when I made those I'd been thinking about making another pair using a variegated yarn as one of the colors. When the Anemoi Mittens emerged, I was smitten. Even though I like the subtle earth-toned thing, I immediately decided that I wanted to take advantage of Mountain Colors' fabulously subtle color selection -- the color changes aren't so dramatic that they'd detract from the pattern. And so, I eagerly begun a new project.

I've done charted colorwork before, so the only thing that really threw me off here was the sizing. For starters, there's often some discrepancy between the more precise metric needle measurements given in the pattern and their translation into US sizes, and my first attempts were way too snug, despite having taken fairly careful knuckle measurements. I think that I'm also used to fairly loose mittens (like my Selbus). So, for once in my life, I -- the knitter who normally has to go down two needle sizes from the recommended -- actually had to size up! Fortunately, the yarn was thick enough for this not to be a problem. I also used the KnitPicks Chart Keeper for this pattern with great success -- there are lots of little rows to keep track of. I did, however, knit most of these while watching Cyclism Sundays.

Did I mention that they fit wonderfully? And they're pretty?

Boy, do I ever have a backlog of projects to add to this page. Part of the problem is that I don't have a photographer for the wearable finished products, so I might just lower my standards and post pictures of them on hangers. The other part of the problem is that I'm lazy. Because, apparently, getting dressed on the weekends is hard.

Before I start uploading and updating, though, I wanted to draw your attention to 2005's Baby Aran, which -- at the bottom of the page -- has been updated with an action shot! I chose to knit a fairly large size, so I'm not sure why I didn't just name it the Adorable Toddler Aran.