20 Weeks. Almost half way!

40 days after my 100 days post, I am at my 20 week mark.

I have made so many things I never thought I could, shared my love by teaching others to crochet, and have grown tremendously in these past couple of months, so here is some well deserved bow love for you! Thank you for all the support!!!

{ >(Bow Love!)< }

- Bow Girl

Bows, Booties, and R2D2

Here they all are!
2nd generation bow pattern with zig zag stitch from bible! Made it this morning.
Close up on zig zag.
1st generation bow on half double stitch band (mix of old and new).
Ribbon style bows.

Finished booties!
Closeup!
Finished R2D2 hat! Many angles and models in lab.

Enjoy the pictures (finally)!

Bow Love!

- Bow Girl

So much to catch up on.

For those of you who didn't know, my computer died. It is back and is as good as new (and I didn't lose all my data!).

Since I had limited technology access, I've crocheted kind of a lot in the last week. Monster posts coming up!

- Bow Girl

Confession and Photo Leakage

I have a confession to make... I have NEVER seen Star Wars. Ever. Not the old ones, not the new ones... I haven't read any books. Nothing.

So when I was asked to make and R2D2 hat, I was pretty scared. I thought that it was a robot... I guess I was slightly correct, even if that is not the proper name for R2D2, because I came up with a lot of images like this (below) on Google.

So the person requesting the hat bought me some yarn to make it, and I got working.

Since I am not quite done yet and I am stalled due to work/packing/life, I decided to leak some photos early.
The top of the hat.
My lab mate trying it on for size.
Side view.
Front view.

I think I am doing a pretty bang up job considering my lack of Star Wars knowledge. I didn't use a pattern. I just modeled it after pictures from the web. I hope this whets your whistle for now!

Bow Love,
Bow Girl!

2nd Bootie

I've just started it. It is going well. I am about 1/2 way done with the sole. I am very tired today. I had a bit of an exhausting mini-debacle yesterday, and I am still recovering. I can't wait to have these booties to wear on my trip to New England. They are the perfect fair weather slippers (hopefully!).

Bow Love and pictures to come (I promise!) as soon as R2D2 is done (it almost is).

- Bow Girl

PS: Can you believe it is week 18/day 128?

Bow-tivation

I am working on my R2D2 hat but I am trying to get into shape... Thus my exercise has become a bit of a priority over bows. I also have a bow to match everything as of now... so I am on a small bow hiatus. Stay tuned for the R2D2 hat. It is almost done!

Bow Love,

Bow Girl

Being a nerd...

Before I reveal the R2D2 hat for Laura, I want to finish it. Thus, I will satisfy your nerd craving by posting some pics from my suite's Harry Potter costumes. I decided I wanted to pay tribute to good old Hedwig. We couldn't figure out who my friend Deb should be, so we said she should be Rita Skeeter. Literally, everything she is wearing is mine... skirt, shoes, shirt, and the blue Juliet cap I made a while back. Finally a use for it! And it just happened to go with the shirt. Such a win! It looks like such a cute fascinator on her if I do say so myself.

Smiling!
In character.

I made this triple stitch hat starting at 7 PM and finished around 9 PM. Now I have a new hat to go with this purple coat I bought off season for ~75% off! Double usage win.

Due to the fact that I established my Bowstravaganza to be kind of flexible, my bow terms and conditions state that I will wear a crocheted hair ornament at all times in public for a year, so I let the hat count. Yay for bow flexibility! Thus, I have not broken my bow bond.

I have good features for being an owl, according to... just about everyone. Beaky!

Harry Potter /double-usage bow love!

-Bow Girl

Teaser.

I am making a hat that resembles a Star Wars character for a grad student in my lab. Get excited!

-Bow Girl

Bow-to Shoot!

Today I put some bow picks on my Flickr. My Flickr name is Bowstravaganza1112. As is my YouTube account name.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62434947@N03/

There it is.

Also! My friend took some awesome glam shots for me. I am so thankful to finally have some nice, current shots of myself in a bow!

She also did my eye makeup for me! She's a makeup artist for our whole apartment suite. Thank you, Deb, for everything!

Bow Love!

- Bow Girl

Being a Bow Girl is rough sometimes

Today I went to Six Flags St. Louis. I love roller coasters, but I was terrified about losing a bow on a ride. I used this trick: I clipped the bow in with Goody Nicky clips (below), and then I pulled out some hair so the bow was between two layers of hair and trapped it into my hair with a ponytail.
Being a Bow Girl requires creativity in more than one sense, I suppose.

Roller Coaster and Bow Love!!!

-Bow Girl

Ms. New Bootie

Yesterday I mentioned a new project. Today I shall reveal HALF of it. Just half (because that is all I've done so far). They are purple, as promised. The laces are too long but that is easily fixable. I can't believe they actually fit. I modified a baby bootie pattern to make this work.

Behold:

I love the ankle scallops too. Don't complain too much. At least there is a bow in the laces!

Bow Love!

-Bow Girl

Out of nowhere...

Out of nowhere, my big yarn bag with the trees on it fell out of my closet and onto my head. Luckily for me, I didn't get a concussion. Only kidding. But seriously, it was great incentive (as the rolls of yarn unraveled) for me to rewrap the spools and organize my yarn. So I did.

And it takes up about 2/3 of the space it used to. My open-doored closet looks so much better. For pics, see earlier posts.

Also, I started a project out of nowhere since I am in no rush to finish my other projects (peacock project, panda project, etc.). I am making slippers. They're purple. They will have a bow on them when I finish.

Pictures to come!

- Bow Girl

My first student!

Today I taught one of my lovely lab mates to crochet. She learned really quickly, so I quickly formulated a pattern for her to be able to make something cool. Check her work out!The bottom brown object is her learning sample.
It's a flower!

I think teaching was equally satisfying as learning was for her. It was awesome passing on a bit of my skill.

Bow Love!

- Bow Girl

Bow Self-Esteem

Today is the start of week 16... Day 112 of my bowstravaganza. I have been wearing a bow for 30% of a year.

I have been taking some time to ponder my self-esteem. Sometimes I am very self-conscious while I wait alone for the metro. Even with my bow. I am not a fan of feeling like I am being watched. Which is, I guess, ironic. I wear a bow... The first conclusions one would probably come to are that:

1) That girl is wearing a bow. She must be different/quirky.

2) That girl is wearing a bow. She must want attention.

I guess there is some truth to that, but sometimes I am self-conscious and don't want to be looked at. I assume this to be a fairly common human experience, but I am not really sure. It won't lead me to de-bow my hair, but sometimes I just want my bow to be in my heart instead of on my head. I think it's natural to feel like that a small percentage (~1 to 2%) of the time.

Here are some bows and headbands I am slightly self-conscious of. Enjoy.

I expected this brown headband to turn out a bit more... jazzy than it did. It is very subtle and nearly invisible in my hair. It is also not very even upon inspection.

This one looks blue above and purple below. It is uneven looking to me, which makes me question its craftsmanship.

Uneven loops... I didn't even tie it off.

I wear this in my bike helmet. To solve the dilemma presented in my "Bows and Bikes" post. I guess the loops could be more even...

The point I am getting to... just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean I should let it lower my self-esteem. Or make me self-conscious about presenting it to the world. Sometimes the beauty is in the imperfections. Hand-crafted and perfect are not often synonymous, and I have to make that okay for me. I bet most people wouldn't have noticed anything wrong with these bows...

Bow Contemplating Love!

- Bow Girl

I bleed red, white, and blue.

So I don't know if you know this, but I love Americana... See my "Patriotic Project." and Flag Day bow.

Here is the bow I originally wanted to make for flag day. I found some thicker white yarn and went for it. I hope my two posts in one day makes up for my lack of picture posts earlier...


Happy 4th of July weekend!

- Bow Girl

Whoa, it's finally a bow!

Here is a headband I made a while back, so I made an Irish Rose for it and then put it in my hair. It is a shell-based pattern, but it came out a bit tighter than expected, so it made a very good headband (despite my initial uncertainty while working the pattern).
Irish rose in process...

Fini!

This is a rare glimpse, as you know, of me in glasses. Hope this tides you over for a few hours... Sorry for the bow-cation this past week.

- Bow Girl

Bow ruts...

I haven't crocheted in a long time. More than 5 days, to make a guess. I guess that would sort of put me in a bow rut. I have taken a ton of naps. Sometimes even bow girls need crocheting breaks. I am working on personal stuff. I will get back to the norm soon.

Bow Love!

-Bow Girl