Two Angry Suns

February went and turned into a stream of sickness and snowstorms, massively hindering my ability to create. Honestly, I'm impressed I got my last post up at all, and I had so many plans for last month! It might not be February anymore, but I was determined to get these done anyway. The February Crafting Con theme was Mario, and while I confess I barely played any of them until I was in college, my husband is much more knowledgeable. So I consulted him and he actually came up with the design of these father and son raglans.

I'll let him tell you about what the Angry Sun actually is...

Super Mario Bros. 3, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, is one of the best Mario games ever made but it also had some weird stuff in it. Some of it just seemed weird to American audiences, such as the references to the tanuki, an animal that has been depicted as supernatural in Japanese folklore. Of course, you could also steal giant green shoes from goombas that are trying to squish you and hop around in them yourself and, in one of the strangest fights in the history of the series, the sun itself will try to kill you. I don't think any culture considers that normal.

The Angry Sun, as it came to be known, only appears in two Super Mario 3 levels (once in World 2, Desert Land, and once in a desert section of World 8) but it the impact it made on thousands of gamers who cried out in unison, "why is the sun trying to kill me!" was indelible. It was later clarified that this enemy is not, in fact, the sun itself and World 6 (Ice Land) is not the Mushroom Kingdom plunged into an eternal winter due to the fact that you killed the sun. Since its debut in Super Mario 3, the Angry Sun has enjoyed only the occasional cameo appearance, including two episodes of the Super Mario 3 tie-in cartoon, and the "Desert Hills" racetrack which appeared Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii. Inside sources report that the Angry Sun has a history of engaging in heated contract disputes with Nintendo executives over pay, especially over possible appearances in Super Mario Galaxy, which many fans believe the Angry Sun would have been perfect for.

... Um, right. I think that's enough. (You'll have to forgive him. He writes a gaming blog). Back to the actual sewing: I made a Grand Slam (yup, another one) for Cyrus, and a Greenstyle Hudson Tee for Patrick. I shortened the sleeves on the Hudson, to make a more year round friendly shirt, and skipped the hood. The Angry Sun is shades of orange and yellow, so it's not a big leap to the orange and yellow raglan. I hoped to have a third shade for sleeve and neck bindings, in a slightly vintage ringer style. I ended up without a good coordinating shade, so I went with the yellow from the sleeves instead.

My first idea was to use the iron on transfer sheet for the sun face. Somehow I ended up messing around with the idea of appliqueing the pixels, but the more time went by, the more daunting that plan became. So iron on it is! And I'm glad I did, because it came out just like I envisioned it should. Patrick actually created the image, and I printed it on this opaque inkjet transfer paper from Dharma Trading. I'm really pleased with how these turned out, and so are the boys! Ellie is, unfortunately, less happy because she didn't get one. Oops. So we'll be adding to the Angry Sun family! I guess that means I have an excuse to buy more fabric!

And just because apparently these needed to happen. I, well... It's his shirt.