The Gorgon Medusa

Every now and then I leaf through an art book, looking for inspiration. I had imagined that I might find some gory painting of a saint. Saint Sebastian will some day rise out of a skein of yarn, I swear. But this time I was inspired by Caravaggio's Medusa (painted in 1597). It is a haunting image of the Gorgon frozen in the moment when she sees herself as what she is. It is horrifying and tragic.

I had no plan (or more specifically, no pattern) for how I might pay homage to Medusa, and obviously I could not hope to replicate the mastery of Caravaggio. I also culled inspiration from Ray Harryhausen's Clash of the Titans, and as I worked I played Clutches "Release the Kraken" repeatedly in my head.

And when it was all said and done, I am pleased with the results. Behold, the head of the Gorgon Medusa (as held by the hand and forearm of Perseus).

Monkey and a banana

It is summer, and who wants to make blankets in the summer? But due to all the babies made during the winter I feel I should make something to celebrate their birth. And so I set to work on a monkey.

It sometimes happens that when you start a project without a pattern the end result might be a different size from your original idea. Upon completion of this particular project it was requested that I hide it, as it caused undue terror every time either my roommate or I wandered into the living room and saw it there. Giant monkeys can be unnerving, even if they are adorable.

The monkey was good, but there was something missing. After a discussion with a co-worker it was determined that it was a banana. The monkey needed a banana. So once again I took up hook in hand and got to work.

I think I needed to make something that was cute enough to counterbalance the Medusa head I've been working on. I think I may have succeeded.

And just in case the monkey and the banana were not enough, I threw in some bunnies for good measure.