WoollyRhinoCrafts

I mean Gearbox Software, the development company behind the Borderlands video games, which have been some of my favorites for their unhinged tomfoolery and general ridiculousness, but then also profoundly deep moments for stark contrast, of course.  You may be familiar with my crochet Claptrap pattern. See it. It's extremely detailed. Not for the faint of heart. It is so much assembly. So many parts. Takes so long. The pattern has been around for a while (since 2012, I think). I've made a lot of improvements over the years and recently added videos to help with the buckwild assembly. It was even featured on some official Borderlands social media back in the day. Back in the day when Gearbox was cool with fans making stuff. What do you mean, Michelle? You might be wondering. Well, well, well. I got a nice lil cease and desist notice from Gearbox the other day and the pattern was removed from Etsy. Shit happens. And they have the "legal" right to do this. It is, in fac...

FINALLY! I finally updated this thing. I knew it would be an incredibly daunting task because, come to think of it, this is the first plushie pattern I ever wrote - and oh my goodness, it was a doozy. I daresay my pattern writing has improved dramatically since 2016 so the new version is MUCH better. It's a 29-page extravaganza now! I made the pattern more readable and the descriptions more clear. So many pictures! Also videos. You all know I hate making videos, right?  I also simplified a few parts because I figured out better ways to do them than what I originally did. Yay, learning! Anyway, crochet yourself a Claptrap! Get the pattern on Ko-Fi or Ravelry ! It is on the pricier end of the pattern spectrum but it's seriously a heck of a pattern. And it was a 5-day, 8-hours/day O R D E A L to update. ORDEAL, you hear me?! Err...read me?!?! Happy crafting! XOXOX p.s. I've got some cool stuff in the works for my Etsy shop and also upcoming FREE patterns planned!

UPDATE 2/7/23: Made some changes/corrections to reflect the present day.  Everyone's favorite most hated robot on Pandora (and Elpis) is now available in an adorable 13" crochet version...made by me, not by Hyperion! And made of yarn! For cuddles?! He's supposed to be a general purpose robot, but we all know he's a useless piece of garbage! A crochet Claptrap is just as useless, but at least he doesn't talk, so that's an improvement. Made-to-Order Crochet Claptrap $90 + shipping 1-2 week production time, but I will try DAMN HARD to do it in under a week, especially with the holiday season upon us...I will also do colors other than yellow! If you'd like me to make you a Claptrap, contact me about a custom order! My commission status is in the announcement at the top of my Etsy page ! Claptrap Crochet Pattern Includes charts and other junk in an attempt to help you understand my brainprocess. I do intend to have some ready-to-ship Claptraps (ava...

UPDATE 2/6/23: Fixed weird formatting on this post from my theme change. Making this weird comment at the top so I know I have been here. Great Blog Fixing of 2023. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I have in years past and some of these were taken by my pseudo-handler and water-carrier, cats_and_critical_hits . If you stumble on this page and see yourself, please send me a message so I can give you the wonderful credit you deserve for being awesome. I'll also include links to your page(s) or whatever if you want, just let me know! XOXOX If you have burning questions about my crochet Sailor Saturn cosplay, check out the FAQ post. Thursday! Thursday night was pretty hoppin' so I put on Nisha to roam around and pick up my earrings from Eric ( Southpaw Engraving , Jarman Props ). Ran into a doge cosplay and died then we screwed around with Eric's kantus head. I forgot the earrings I was going to wear with Nisha so I decided to just use my Saturn earrings bec...

UPDATE 2/6/23: Corrected some formatting issues and putting this here so I know I checked this post! lolol After DragonCon I hope to get back in the grove of Free Pattern Friday for real - at least a colorwork chart each week if not a complete pattern. I wrapped up both of my cosplays this year way early, but I've mostly just been working on stocking the shop for the impending hat season(!). This means I'm not really making any new or interesting things at the moment. I'm taking it easy until after the con, you see. Following this year's adventure, I'll be doing a full write up for both Sweater Saturn as well as Nisha for my main website  for those of you interested. I personally enjoy reading about other peoples' processes for ideas, etc. etc. My write-ups are pretty fun because I screw up a lot and they often contain many hilarious DO NOT DO THIS LIKE I DID tips. lololol Until then, here's a quick summary of the final parts of my Nisha costume and...

UPDATE 2/6/23: I'm actually kind of jazzed to start making videos again. They're just so much effort. And tedious. People don't realize this until they have to make a video. Feast thine eyeballs on this time-lapse video. I rounded up an old-as-dirt tank top, shoved some cardboard inside and then painted Nisha's shirt. Boom! In real-time this took me about 2.5 hours - give or take. I used Jones Tones Stretchable Fabric Paint in magenta, black and white. I drank several cups of coffee. Yes, I free-handed this whole thing. I started by making a few important marks with sharpie in order to position everything and then I went for it. I'm such a remarkable waste of talent. A big thanks to Gearbox for releasing extremely handy cosplay reference guides . If only I had these for my Zer0 cosplay. I wouldn't have had to take pictures with my cell phone from my television of my actual Zer0 character. lololol I'm unsure what else to say about this. Here are some...

UPDATE 2/6/23: Corrected some weird formatting. I don't feel like I need to bulk up these posts. These were all good posts. Crochet Sailor Saturn I'm trucking along at an incredibly slow pace. I got the sleeves done and I did the detailing on the bodice (the latter is not pictured, but I plan to do a bigger update on this soon). The first sleeve I made, I hated. I took it apart and didn't even take a picture. It was too floppy, which simply wouldn't do. The sleeves look better with the bodice on me than they do laying on the ground. I'll put it on myself and take some pictures soon-ish. I want to get the gloves done so that I don't bombard you with too many images of my stupid face. I picked out a pattern that I'll be modifying in order to make my gloves. Right hurr . It's free. I'll have to do some tweaking in order to do the colorwork and then do the purple piping. If anyone wants to hassle me for choosing to do fingerless gloves then go ahea...

UPDATE 2/6/23: Corrected some weird formatting. Bringin' The Law! Nisha's glove doesn't have any pink on it, so I went ahead and painted it. It only took about an hour. You know I love progress pictures so here, look at this: It looks much better on my hand and finished. Ignore my stupid face. It looks like I'm surprised I have a hand. I'm so bad at selfies. I ordered the other paint colors I need (as well as fabric glue) and I'm going to cut out the boot armor pieces, belt buckle, etc. from cardboard shortly, so that I can attach all of them and get started painting as soon as the stuff comes. I don't think the painting will take as long as Zer0. At least I hope it doesn't... Mainly because I have hundreds of hours of work left on the Saturn suit. Sailor Saturn's Bodice The bodice (sans sleeves) took about 80 hours, give or take. I'm still not quite done with it. I need to go back and add needlepoint detail stuff and the sl...

UPDATE 2/6/23: You can tell by the detail of my posts which projects I really cared about. The difference between these posts and, you know, the mood blanket challenge, that I was doing at the same time is very stark. This re-reading and checking the formatting that I'm doing has seriously been wild. Finally, some headway with my Nisha cosplay! I predict that this will be one of my daytime costumes at Dragon*Con this year as it's probably best that I don't prance around the 90-degree daytime heat in Atlanta in my crochet Sailor Saturn. I believe this will be suitable for daytime? A while back I went through my closet and rounded up things I already owned that I could potentially use. This included: a 10-year-old pair of jeans with a big hole in them a brown corduroy jacket almost as old as the jeans Uggs, because who doesn't have a pair of these in the back of their closet? a very old, real leather hat that belonged to my dead mom that is probably from the 80s ...