Crochet + Video Games = Moogle Blankie

I have been crocheting for about as long as I can remember. I've made countless blankets, afghans, bags, hats, scarves, etc. Most of my creations have been given as gifts, but others were sold through craft shows, flea markets, and Ebay. I've recently been toying with the idea of opening a shop on Etsy, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm also beginning to try to write my first original crochet patterns as well, in hopes of possibly getting some of them published. Also, thanks to my husband, I'm addicted to playing FFXI, the online Final Fantasy RPG. I decided to incorporate my love for this game into a crochet project. Thus, the Moogle Blankie was born.

Last fall I took an interest in crochet blankets I was seeing that had characters on them using tunisian crochet, or the afghan stitch. Over the years I had tried making these "image" blankets with single crochet color changes, and also with cross-stitch over single crochet, but was never very happy with the results. I had never used tunisian crochet before, but decided I was going to have to break down and give it a try. I got to work and created a graph for my Moogle Blankie.

I started this project on July 22, and I'm surprised by how quickly it's working up. It was a bit slow at first (mostly because I was being extremely cautious in my attempt not to screw it up) but once i got a few rows in, it seems to be flying by. I'm really wondering why I didn't try this earlier. Here is the blanket on July 23 after 23 rows were worked:



Here's another pic on 07/25/08 with 47 of the 165 rows completed. Looks like I'm going to have to take a little break at this point due to a very hectic schedule, but I hope to complete it soon.



Well I finally have an update. This picture was taken today, 08/05/08 with 75 of 165 rows of the blanket completed. The moogle now has arms and wings, and this has been by far the most difficult part of this project. At one point I was juggling 20+ balls of yarn and trying not to get trapped in my tangled mess. Looks like it's going to be easy going from this point on. :)



This next picture was taken on 08/08/08 with 105 rows completed. As you can see, the moogle now has facial features. He's very happy about this because he can now indulge in that yummy cupcake he's been hiding in the mog house. nom nom nom Moogles love frosting and sprinkles. :)



I've decided at this point not to update with pics until this blankie is completed (which should be in the next few days.) I've only got about 25 rows to go, and a border to add. I'm still debating what color to make the border... I'll probably just make it white like the background, but still not sure. I'm also in the process of getting my Etsy shop set up, and I'm busy taking pictures and such to get everything listed.