My Mario Journey
One day I stumbled across the Mario Obsession crochet blanket online and I absolutely fell in love! I can crochet, but I am not very advanced and I didn't want to learn how to do the Tunisian crochet just to copy and make myself a blanket just like it, so I put that project to a side burner in my brain for a while to think about it.
About a week later (or so), my sister-on-law came to visit and she was working on a Disney latch-hook. Watching her sit there and work on it made me want to pick up a latch hook project myself. This was something that I knew I could do! I started looking around online at kits and patterns when all of a sudden the light bulb in my brain flipped on as I made the connection. I could make a latch-hook version of the Mario Obsession blanket!!
I immediately started scouring the internet for information or patterns. I was crushed when I discovered that a pattern was actually not made. How could something so epic not be preserved in pattern format for all to create and enjoy?! It was at this time that I came across spritestitch.com. Lo and behold, it was a treasure trove of just the information and know-how that I needed. It was perfect. With all the wonderful tutorials ideas from others, I decided that, Yes! I could come up with the pattern on my own, then make it into the latch-hook creation that I envisioned.
I started small. Beginning with the first panel/square in the top left corner, I began to create the pattern I needed. Using the KG-Chart for Cross Stitch program along with the individual photos of each square on the blanket, I began. The first one took a while to create. I wasn't very familiar with the program and had never tried creating a pattern myself, so I was actually coloring each individual pixel on the pattern to be the color I needed. Imagine my sense of accomplishment when I was done, though... I had just created my first pattern! Woohoo!
The pattern was only the beginning. I had seen pre-cut latch-hook yarn for sale at the hobby store, so I figured just for my first project I would go ahead and buy the cut yarn I needed. I bought all the supplies I needed and headed home to start my own epic journey.
Creating the first panel went a lot quicker that I thought it would. It looked so cute that I wanted more, More, MORE Mario!
For my next project, instead of the logical progression of moving to the second square next to the one I had completed, I looked to the one that I like the most. I was in total agreement with the original creator. I LOVED the battle scene at the end. I just HAD to make that one.
I knew that I would need to cut my own yarn for this one as it is 6x bigger than the small one I had done before, and the pre-cut yarn would get just too expensive. As it is, it took 2 full skeins of black yarn and most of a red one. I cut my own yarn for the black, white, red, light grey and dark grey. For everything else, I bought the pre-cut yarn since I could buy that in smaller quantities.
I started at the bottom with the red and made my way upward. The bottom part of the picture up to the bridge got monotonous and I got bored with the same thing over and over. I ended up setting it aside.
I knew that I would need to cut my own yarn for this one as it is 6x bigger than the small one I had done before, and the pre-cut yarn would get just too expensive. As it is, it took 2 full skeins of black yarn and most of a red one. I cut my own yarn for the black, white, red, light grey and dark grey. For everything else, I bought the pre-cut yarn since I could buy that in smaller quantities.
I started at the bottom with the red and made my way upward. The bottom part of the picture up to the bridge got monotonous and I got bored with the same thing over and over. I ended up setting it aside.
After a few weeks, though, I knew I needed to work on it some more and drive myself to the finish.
The more I got done, the more it became unwieldy and difficult to work on. I had problems carrying it around because it wouldn't fit into my bag any longer. I ended up having to buy a bigger bag for me to cart it around in.
Then, finally!, that great day arrived when I finally attached the last piece of yarn and finished it!
I'm taking a break from working on the rest. In fact, I think I may end up working 6 of the smaller panels at a time all on one piece of canvas rather than individually, which will make everything easier to put together once I'm all done.
What do you think?
