Link to the Past

posted by Diana

Video games have been a part of my life almost ever since I can remember, so I think it's about time I came out on the blog as the giant nerd I am... 

I don't think my own boyfriend knows just how far the rabbit hole goes.

When we were younger, Emma and I would stay up all night playing video games. From Pokemon to Super Mario to The Sims, we would spend hours taking turns catching them all, saving the princess, falling in Sim love, and making weirdly nostalgic computer and Nintendo-based memories.

One of my favorite video games of all time is Link to the Past... mostly because I have such fond memories of it (again with the memories...). Way back when I was young and uncoordinated, my mom brought home the Super Nintendo and set it up in the living room. Since I couldn't play it myself (again... too young and too uncoordinated) I would watch her play for hours while she fought bad guys, collected items, and transported back and forth from the Light and Dark Worlds. 

So it was a no-brainer when I decided to be Link for Halloween a few years ago.

I knit the key pieces myself (gauntlets and a floppy hat) and dug through my wardrobe for a green tunic. 

The man himself.

This is an approximation of my Halloween costume from a few years ago. I wore the same Old Navy tunic--it's olive green and something I already had in my wardrobe. Instead of the black undershirt and black leggings I'm wearing in the photo, for Halloween I wore white long-sleeved undershirt and white leggings to look more like Link.

I'm also wearing a necklace I purchased online from Flea Market Girl. It's just a necklace with a long chain and metal Triforce pendant. It wasn't marketed as a Triforce necklace, so I picked it up for super cheap!

The best part about this outfit? It's WARM. Halloween is always freezing where I live, so I was grateful for the thick knit hat and long gloves.

 I even have a real Ocarina of Time! It's from Songbird and is awesome. Want to hear Song of Storms? (Which means I didn't dress as the Link from my nostalgic youth... but I got to play ocarina all day!)

For my hat pattern, I followed Link's Hat from Crafty Chic. I knit mine up using Caron Simply Soft held doubled. I went the cheap yarn route because it's a novelty look... even though I honestly thought I would wear this hat aside from my costume, but it's seriously huge and a bit ridiculous to wear in every day life...

These are the fingerless gloves I wore. Even though they reach from my elbows to my fingertips, they didn't take very long to knit up. I used Emily Hasting's Link's Gauntlets pattern. Like for my hat, I went the cheap route and knit them out of Caron Simply Soft. I probably should have knit them in brown to look more like Link, but I rarely wear brown and like gray more anyway. I also left off the knit knuckle part of the fingerless gloves and left them tube-like at the top...

Here's a close up of the intarsia Triforce. 

I also knit a second Link hat at some point. Why? Because I guess you can't have too many floppy green hats. This look is more of an "Everyday Cosplay," or a more subtle look that could be worn in public and not glanced at twice. AKA--you sort have to be "in the know" to recognize the character from a not-so-obvious costue. In this photo, I'm wearing an olive dress I picked up from Target for about $3 this past spring (thank you online purchase returner!) and that same necklace from Flea Market Girl.

I knit this hat out of some bright green acrylic yarn I had and made the Triforce out of craft felt. The hat itself is a simple roll brim beanie that I made up the pattern to as I knit. Surprisingly, these aren't the only Link hats I've made... there are a few more floating around I've given as gifts. 

Want to make your own Link outfit? There's still plenty of time before Halloween!

Happy making!