Crafted Monsters

If you're a crafter and you love Halloween or monsters in general, hopefully you've already discovered the great selection of monster patterns!

Before Giftmas 2009, I discovered Danger Crafts on Etsy and all of her fabulous knitted monster patterns. I immediately ordered several, although I've only managed to knit one. She's on Ravelry, as well. (The benefit to ordering from Etsy is that you can order a collection and save a little money. The benefit to buying via Rav is that your purchases go into your library and stay there in case you lose them. Oh, and there are some freebies, too. I've made several Monster Chunks!)

There's a new book, too: Big Book of Knitted Monsters, The: Mischievous, Lovable Toys, which I am planning to order next paycheck.

Anyway. I knit Olivia here for my honorary niece, M. Olivia was pictured with a tutu (which I tried to make, but so failed at) and M was into ballet, so I thought she'd get a kick out of it, even though there ended up being no tutu. Well, she loves this toy. It's not necessarily connected, but now she's totally into monsters, so I've been happily planning another monster for her (no harm in planning way ahead when it comes to Giftmas knitting). I didn't have time to knit a monster for her this year, so I got her Little Monsters Cookbook instead.

Have some monster-loving kids in your life? Even big (adult) kids? You? Okay! In addition to Ms. Danger's patterns, check out:

• Knit
• KnitWit: 20 Projects for Beginners and Seasoned Knitters
• Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits (has a section of cryptozoological creatures, plus an Ant pattern, which would be marvelous for a Them! fan).
• Crochet
• If I ever learn now to crochet, I'm definitely getting Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More!
• Fabric
• Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead
• Make a Monster: 15 Easy-to-Make Fleecie Toys You'll Love to Sew
• Closet Monsters: Stitch Creatures You'll Love from Clothing You Don't
• Plush-O-Rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults
• Supplies: Buttons work, but safety eyes are extra special. I get plain black ones at the craft store (JoAnn Fabrics) and fancy colored ones at 6060's Etsy shop

Theme: Zombies

From time-to-time, I'm going to put together a collection of links on a topic and share them here. This time: zombies! There are different kinds of zombies. I will always mean the non-Voodoo version; think of Night of the Living Dead: slow-moving; dumb but deadly. Any George Romero zombie. I'm including a sprinkling of Return of the Living Dead, just because of the "Braaaaaains!" thing. By no means should this be considered an exhaustive list; I could go on & on...

Misc. Zombie Fun

• Haunted Paper Toys has two different zombie sets to print, cut out and stand up: Monsters #5 & Monsters #6. There is a zombie in the Pocket Monsters collection, which makes great bookmarks and, finally the zombie mask.
• The Zombie Hunters is a fantastic web comic (that I'm really behind on)
• End of Days kit (crafty): don't forget to include knitting (or materials for your favorite portable hobby)
• Flesh Eating Zombies Figure Set

Movies
just a sampling; it's not possible to list them all, and everyone has their favorites

• Shaun of the Dead is a very dark comedy using entirely Romero-style zombies. I'm listing it first because it's fun. Gory, yes. But funny at the same time.
• Night of the Living Dead (NotLD) is the classic, black-and-white cult film that really kicked off the horror zombie genre. There were movies in this series: NotLD, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead. Note: I cannot, even a little bit, recommend the remakes of Dawn or Day of the Dead. The latter was so bad that it didn't resemble the original at all. Both had the wrong kind of zombies. Stick with the classics!
• In 2007, Romero began a new series, which (so far) includes: Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead. He has plans for more, each picking up a character (or characters) where Diary left off.
• The Evil Dead • Evil Dead II (really, a remake of the first movie) • Army of Darkness
• Dead Alive (incredibly gross, but funny)
• Zombieland
• The Return of the Living Dead - campy as all get-out, this is the source of the "braaaaains" line that is inevitably uttered when discussing zombies. (Although everyone knows zombies will go for any flesh.) There are several movies in this series.
• Sort-of zombie movies that I like: 28 Days Later and Night of the Comet (apocalyptic-type movies, people acting kind of like zombies, but not rising from the dead)
• Resident Evil Trilogy 1-3 (bears virtually no resemblance the games)
• I asked my husband if he'd add anything to this list, and he suggested some of Lucio Fulci's movies: Zombie & Zombi 2.

Books

• The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. Essential.
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Surprisingly, this was a fascinating read. Very well-done; I found myself forgetting that it was fiction. If real history books were written like this, I think more people would remember what they studied!
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Must be included. I'm on the fence about this one, but it's wildly popular.
• Apocalypse Chow: How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out. Not really about zombies. But if you're preparing your zombie apocalypse preparedness plan, then a cookbook like this could really come in handy. (I am so bummed that it's out of print, but used copies are frequently available.)

Games

• Zombies!!! Believe it or not, my husband and I bought this game, and played it, on our honeymoon. As a game, it's probably better with at least 3 people. There are a ton of expansion packs for the game, but start with just the main box to see if you like it. If the game doesn't' come with it, go ahead and order a bag of zombies. You can use them as cupcake toppers as well.
• Zombie Dice (just reviewed recently)

Treats

• Try these strawberry jam-filled candies (Skull Crushers), or use a brain mold instead.
• Straightforward & simple: cupcakes with zombies from the BagOZombies (wash first) on top.

PS: The "knitting zombie" is yours truly. I was a zombie in a student film that was never finished. I was first in make-up, but in the last scene filmed, so...I stood around like this, knitting. It's too bad the film didn't get finished, but I've gotten plenty of mileage out of the knitting zombie pics, so it's all good.

Books

Yikes! Where does the time go? I fully intended on making regular entries here, but life has been chaotic. And then there was that movie shoot that took me away for 9 days. I'm only just now starting to feel normal and rested again. Time to jump back in!

The Halloween Spectacle
I received this first book as a complimentary preview. I'm glad I liked it, because I'm new at this and it would feel really strange to have to offer a negative review of something I got for free. But hey, I liked it! (Whew!) The Halloween Spectacle, by Lesley Hershman, is geared for elementary school ages (the young hero is in the 4th grade) and it's really sweet.

Jake desperately wants a very pricey store-bought costume, but money is tight. An older neighbor lady offers him some seeds with some very complicated directions, promising a Halloween spectacle. One thing I liked about the book is that it does not have a predictable ending. When I read that Jake's parents were having money trouble, I figured I knew exactly how the story would end. I was wrong. That's all I'll say, except that it was a pleasant change from the usual.

I identified with Jake, who was awkward and out of step. That was me all through school! I cringed for him when his crafty mom wanted to make his costumes every year, and they were kind of lame and sad because they were made from what was near at hand (and did not take his preferences or interests into account). That, at least, I didn't have to deal with. But I still felt for him. I'm a crafter, and learned long ago that not everything needs to be knitted, for example.

Black Plants
If you're a gardener who loves Halloween, check out the book Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden by Paul Bonine. I have a copy and it's just gorgeous. (Also, some of the "black" plants are very deep purple or red, so they're quite striking without being actually black, if the thought of a black garden doesn't float your boat.)

Free books?
It's the time to start reading scary books! I have a collection of favorites that I return to when the mood strikes but, for the last year, I've also been trying to read some classics that I've not read before. Last year, just before Halloween, I read Dracula (for the first time!), among others. Earlier this year, when the mood found me, I enjoyed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. For the current spooky season, I'm continuing that plan: I recently read Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and am currently reading The Turn of the Screw.

A great way to get your hands - quickly and cheaply - on new-to-you scary books is to download PDFs of books in the public domain (as many of the classics are).

I've recommended Google Books in the past, but really... I've had such spotty results (every book I've downloaded has been missing at least one set of pages), so I'd suggest moving them down your list. Instead, check out FeedBooks (link is to horror selection, naturally). If you have a Kindle, many of the books are available in a compatible format. The PDFs that I've downloaded so far are clear and easy to flip through. I linked to them here, regardless of my source.

Another way is to find free books is to use a site like Good Reads (which I use & love), and search for a book that interests you. If a preview or - even better - free download is available, a button is there for you to click. The bonus is that you can, at the same time, add the book to one of your "shelves."