hello pineapples

Jenny Hart is Awesome

Canada Day and the Fourth of July are both around the corner, so hooray for Jenny of Sublime Stitching for sharing this free pattern. You should follow Sublime Stitching on Twitter and/or Facebook so you're in the know when Jenny has something new to share.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some stitchin' to do.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, June 26, 2009 1 comments  

filed under: awesome crafters, embroidery, free pattern friday

Things I found on the internet today

Sifting through Craftzine in my feed reader, I found a few things that I want to make, that are pretty and that are inspiring.

To Make:

Cupcake Cones



YoYo Blanket (I'm hoping it'll crochet up faster than the knit baby blanket I like to make for new babies...who end up getting them when they're closer to the age of 2):



Pretty/I'd like to make it (but let's face it, I probably won't...too many crafts on my plate to really start quilting. I do admire quilts/quilters though):

Sparks Baby Quilt by Alissa



It's pretty adorable, non? I like the off-centeredness of the squares. Gives it a touch of whimsy, which is a nice touch for a baby's quilt. I found this via a list of free quilt patterns collected by WhipUp.

And last - but not least:

Inspiring:

Embroidered note by katie.cupcake:



I'm still heavy on the embroidery these days. I'm working on another baby shower quilt - still early days of embroidering the squares. This note is just fantastic. It's one of those things that when you see it, you think: oh man! why didn't I think of that! And it's a total mix of jealousy and admiration (more parts admiration than jealousy).

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 0 comments  

filed under: free pattern friday, inspiration, roundup

Happy Pancake Day! Celebrate with a free pattern!

It's Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), which is all about the Pancakes for me. My friend J.Lau and I whipped up a batch for dinner and they were awesome. We made regular pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and raspberry/chocolate chip pancakes. We then smothered them in butter and real maple syrup. The raspberry/chocolate chip were the favourite.

A few hours later, I'm still feeling stuffed on pancakes. But I don't want the day to pass by without sharing Urban Threads' awesome one day only free Mardi Gras design. You have until midnight Minnesota time to download the image or an embroidery pattern (for machine or hand). Or download them all. It is Fat Tuesday after all, which is a day that is about excess (or cooking up fat and eggs before lent. or flashing strangers for plastic beads. whatever).

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 0 comments  

filed under: embroidery, free pattern friday

Happy First Day of Winter: Time for Mittens

It's the shortest day of the year and quite frankly, feels like the coldest. I know it isn't actually the coldest, but it's seriously chilly here. I'm really not a fan of the cold. Days like today, when I'm out freezing in my down parka, are the days when I dream of someday living in California. I envy my parents and their desert living.

The onset of winter and cold means that I need to start knitting some mittens. I lost a mitten last winter and have been wearing fingerless gloves since then. They were knit for use in a cold library, not really outside weather. With all the stuff I've had on the go, I haven't had time to start a pair of mittens until now. I also couldn't decide what kind of mittens to knit. My last pair had a cable and were knit in Cascade 22o. They were good, but it is time for a change. And then I saw these:



They're the Kate Spade alpine norwegian mittens. I can't really afford them (although...I just noticed they're on sale now...), but as a knitter, I can never justify buying anything that I know I can knit myself.

Mine are being knit up as a solid purple in Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (acrylic) rather than lambswool. I usually use Kris Percival's Warmest Mittens pattern from the Knitting Pretty book (which was my first knitting book) as my base for any mitten I make. It's a good basic pattern and it's free. I might make another pair in a slightly more luxurious and natural fibre once I figure the pattern out exactly. Until then, I'll just be happy to have mittens that cover my entire hand.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Sunday, December 21, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: free pattern friday, knit

Free pattern Friday: Make your own Monkey!

I've been meaning to get a decent tutorial put together on how to make a sock monkey. Sometimes, I think I'd like it if how to make a sock monkey was some kind of state secret and the only way to get one is to buy one of mine. Then I could be a Professional Monkey Maker. But truthfully, I'm happy that the how-to of monkey making is out there for the whole world. If it wasn't, then I wouldn't have had a guide to make my first monkey.



So in the spirit of sharing the monkey love, I'm going to link you to a fantastic tutorial on Urban Threads. That's pretty much how I do it. Of course, I'm still very new to the sewing machine technology. All of that sewing can be done by hand (I recommend using a doll making needle - they're crazy long, but make it easier to sew these creatures by hand).

You can use the pattern that is provided by the folks who make the original Red Heel socks:



That pattern was all I had when I did my first monkey. Somehow, he ended up without a tail. oops.

I've even given my monkeys some embroidery tattoos like the ones in the tutorial. Actually, I recommend the embroidery as a way of covering up either writing on the sock (like a brand name) or unsightly holes.For example:

hole in toe? (what you see here is the tip of the tail)



flower!


accidentally make a hole in the front of the monkey? (seam ripper accident)



now he's all heart!

Next time, more ways to embroider your monkey...like tattoos or monograms.

xoxo.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, October 10, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: free pattern friday, sock monkeys

Free Pattern Friday (Finally!): Dover Samplers

I have a bad habit of signing up for mailing lists online and I end up with all sorts of junk mail that I totally asked for. I get notices about shops I can't afford (like a local fancy-pants department store or net-a-porter), about ebay searches and academic conferences. Sometimes it's a bit much. But the one thing I've signed up for and actually really like getting is the Dover Free Sampler.

Dover is a publishing company that you might know for their odd assortment of paper doll books (like fashions of the 70s, famous child stars or the Queen Mother), colouring books, little books of stickers and "tattoos", and "stained glass" colouring books. Some of my favourites from their collection are the political paper dolls. You can get both Bush presidents, the Clintons and now McCain and Obama. You can totally re-write the American political landscape with your own set of dolls (actually, you could re-write American history with a collection of paper dolls from Dover).

They also do CD-ROMs of clip art and fonts. Some of the clip art collections are a bit lame in my book, but there are others that I totally dig. It's all royalty free fun for "professionals and hobbyists alike" (their words, not mine).

So where does the free pattern come in? Well, some of the free clip art that comes in the Friday sampler are things that I want to use as embroidery patterns. Check out some of my favourites:

US States colouring book:


Early American Design motifs:



Both of these were found in the sampler. And best part? You get the full size image, so you can play around with the size.

And then there is the clip art for which I no use right now, but I like them and file them away under the category of "inspiration" for future projects:




You also get e-mails about sales or deals, but so far, my budget doesn't allow buying anything like that - especially when I can get some of it for free. It's worth signing up for and even if embroidery isn't your thing, you're probably crafty enough to find some use for them.

Happy crafting and I'll be back soon-ish with more finds. And with some projects that I've been working on lately (I've got a couple of embroidery projects happening that I'm a little bit in love with).

xoxo.
pineapples.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, September 12, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: arts and crafts, free pattern friday, good ideas

Free Pattern of the week: Happy Pride Week Halifax!

Halifax's 20th Pride Week came to a close today, so I thought that I'd make Pride the theme for the free pattern this week (late, as per usual). I was able to go to the parade this year and the weather was fantastic. Despite Environment Canada's threats of rain, it was sunny and hot and made the parade that much better. Aside from a gap mid-parade, it was long (lots of floats) and fun to watch. I capped the day off with a stop at a friend's pride party, which led to me mixing drinks like I was 18 (this morning, I remembered why I stopped drinking rye. Why I stopped drinking most dark booze).

In my search for pride week related patterns, I came across the Craftzine.org entry on Liz Collins' Knitting Nation 4:



Impressive, non? Knitting Nation is an "ongoing, collaborative performance and site-specific installation project" created by Collins, who is an artist and a professor at RISD.

As impressive as it is, it's a bit much for your average knitter. We can leave that to the professionals. Instead, I offer you something a little more manageable:



The "Knit Your Mind Felted Bag" is designed by Donna Druchunas for her Subversive Knitting site. The site is dedicated to charity and activist knitting. So, while not on as grand a scale as the activist knitting seen at Knitting Nation 4, it is activist and a reason to knit yourself a new bag. Druchunas features knitting charts for a number of themes, including a pride flag.

And with that, I wish a Happy Pride to all, and to all a good night.

xoxo.
Pineapples.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Monday, July 28, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: felt, free pattern friday, knit, renegade crafts

Free Pattern Friday: Water water everywhere

I've been having some water bottle issues lately. Part of me feels as though it would be a complete faux pas to show up with a nalgene bottle. I feel like everyone who has already switched a aluminum (or whatever) would be judging me and my possibly carcinogenic water bottle. Bottled water from the store is even worse: it's just headed to the landfill (or maybe the recycling depot, depending on the bottle and whether or not my recycling bag i has been torn open in search of pop cans).

So what's a girl to do? Apparently aluminum drinking bottles are all the rage these days, but I can't justify the expense with my meager income. What I can do is get crafty and share it here on the ol' blog. And until I do get the better drinking receptacle, I will just have to make myself one of these cutees:



The "On-the-go water bottle holder" from Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful. I was really impressed to see that it was a featured free pattern from Mr. Funky and My Craftivity. Kudos to them for the free pattern! There are other free patterns available as well, if crochet water bottle holders with faces aren't your bag (no pun intended!). I signed up for an account over at My Craftivity awhile back, but haven't really done much with it. I think I should start looking around to see what it's about. It could offer even more free patterns and I've been missing out.


That's it for me today. I'm falling asleep as I type this up (went for a swim this evening at 'Tea Bag' Lake and I'm totally wiped out...even bailed on going out for a drink with a friend). Apologies if there are any glaring grammar/spelling issues. I'll check back in for that tomorrow, when my contacts aren't feeling like they may fall out of my eyes.

Happy Weekend!
xoxo.
Pineapples

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, July 11, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: crochet, free pattern friday, my craftivity

Free Pattern search: Hooray for Canada Day!

Actually, as much as I dig my country, I'm not a huge fan of Canada Day. That sounds worse than it should. As Sloan sings in Coax Me, "it's not the band I hate, it's their fans" (a quote that the mister and I often apply to just about every imaginable situation). Canada Day would be much better if it involved less face painting, bad t-shirts, and novelty hats. Out for ice cream with J.Lau and Mr. Pineapples today, we saw an entire family dressed in red and white, complete with face paint; a couple wearing matching Canada t-shirts: hers in white, his in red; a mom and her son in Canada day t-shirts that were recently sold at the grocery store. I'm all for loving one's country, but I wish it was possible to do it with a wee bit more style.

Having said this, I thought I would attempt to celebrate the day with a free pattern (seeing as I missed the most recent Free Pattern Friday due to a new job, sale at Mexx, a board meeting, and playing Wii with J.Lau). The plan was to offer up a pattern that was something Canadian. This vague plan was easier said than done. A google search for "Canada Day crafts" or "Canada crafts" led me to crafts for children that involved items such as poster paint, streamers, and paper plates. Not that there isn't a place for such a craft, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for.



Truth be told, I really didn't know what I was looking for. So I tried looking for patterns/crafts by Canadian crafty types. This led me to crafts for kids by Arounna of Bookhou. I liked these because while they really are meant to be kid friendly, they're things I want to try doing and they are way more interesting than painting a paper plate. It also led me to the website of one of Canada's favourite knitters, the Yarn Harlot, which does have some free knitting patterns. But still...not quite what I wanted.

I then tried looking for something that involved one thing that embodies Canada for me: the CBC. Despite some of it's flaws (usually on the TV side or involving Jian Ghomeshi), I adore the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Every radio in my apartment is tuned to the CBC. Since there is a Ravelry group for CBC fans, I figured I might find some CBC themed patterns. Alas! This too proves to be easier said than done (If you can prove me wrong and are aware of CBC craft patterns, please let me know). So I'm going to improvise:

From those dark days of the CBC lockout comes a pattern that was knit into headbands:




I think that could easily altered in order to have a CBC logo embroidered/knitted into your project: just take off the part that makes it look like a lock and you're good to go.

Or, you could get really fancy and check out knitPro from microRevolt. All you need to do is upload a picture like this awesome retro CBC logo:



and knitPro will spit out a PDF pattern for your embroidery or knitting. Très awesome, non?

And finally, I'll finish this post off by sharing a link to the CBC's web archive on "Handmade in Canada: the Art of Craft," which features 13 television pieces on craft in Canada. I link to this because it is how I found a radio interview by Peter Gzowski from 1983, where he learns to knit over the radio (he's in Toronto, she's in Halifax!). While he doesn't actually learn to knit, it's well worth the listen.

Well, now it's July 2 and no longer Canada Day, but I do hope you were able to enjoy the holiday (if you're Canadian, otherwise I guess it was just another Tuesday for you). I know I did - it was sunny and hot and we spent the afternoon with ice cream on the waterfront, sangria and wine on a patio on Argyle Street and fireworks on Citadel Hill (sort of. there were buildings between us and the fireworks) - and that's why I'm posting now rather than yesterday.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: arts and crafts, embroidery, free pattern friday, knit, patterns

Free Pattern Friday: Pimp Stitchin' and some crochet hookin'

I know I mentioned Pimp Stitch last week, but it gets a headlining mention this week because I tried out one of their patterns today:





It's a shrunken down version of their first free pattern, "Let's get this party started". I made it as a card for a friend, so I resized it in photoshop. It was my first time doing embroidery on paper and it was not without its challenges. Not helping the matter was my crappy transfer pencil that didn't seem to want to transfer anything. (although, it could be me. I've never used a transfer pencil before).

It's week two of a four week pattern giveaway over at Pimp Stitch, so you should keep an eye out for more adorable designs to come. I'm really enjoying the party theme they have going on right now and am looking forward to the next two weeks of patterns.

And if embroidery isn't your thing (which is too bad...I'm really hooked on it right now), I did find a great resource for free crochet patterns, courtesy of Crafty Carolinagirl. She's put together an amazing list of free crochet toy patterns. Some are free with purchase, and some are direct links to a pdf download (which isn't necessarily bad, but there doesn't seem to be a warning that you're about to download something).

In non free pattern news, I'm super excited about tomorrow being WWKIP day! (WWKIP = world wide knit in public). According to the official site, there are 779 KIP days being held tomorrow! That's awesome. You should check to see if your hometown will be having a large gathering of folks knitting in a public place. Even more exciting that knitting downtown is the photo scavenger hunt. I started my photos on Wednesday, but I've fallen a bit behind since I forgot my camera when I headed to campus today (although I did remember the knitting).

That's it for me. I'm wiped out from an evening of Wii and BBQ and the cats are looking for food.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Saturday, June 14, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: crochet, embroidery, free pattern friday

Free Pattern Sunday: dust bunnies and party time embroidery

I hadn't forgotten about the free pattern on Friday, but I was out of the house most of the day. I brought my sea creatures to the Loop, did some work at Starbucks, retrieved my cellphone/visited with a friend, went to help out with the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life and then drinks with friends. I also managed to sew with my sewing machine over the weekend! This is quite the feat. Still no camera cord, so pictures will have to wait, but I made a blanket/pillow for my cat to take to the vet. The poor little dude has to stay at the vet for the next week while he recovers from his radioactive iodine. The husband likes to make Hulk jokes; one friend has decided that kitty's radioactive blood will make him SpiderCat. I wonder if "superhero powers" are one of the side effects.

The free pattern is a bit of a "cheat" on my part, but since I was out of the house all Friday, I didn't have as much time to spend on looking for the right one. But there is a method to my madness. This week is Mochimochi's dust bunny, which is free with purchase (there's the cheat). But it is so darn cute that I had to share. I also had to share because my apartment has some dust bunnies that are threatening to take over.



Seriously. They are the cutest. I'm on a pretty tight budget, but I'm thinking I need to purchase something for that pattern.

Having said that, Mochimochi does have some of the cutest free knitting patterns online. And, Mochimochi is having a photo contest. You knit up one of the patterns (free or purchased), take a picture, submit it on Flickr and maybe you'll win cute stuff.

The other free pattern is from the new and fabulous Pimp Stitch:



If you read other crafty blogs, you have probably already caught on to Pimp Stitch, but if not, enjoy the free patterns they have planned. I know I will be. The site looks like it will be an awesome pattern/idea source for embroidery fans.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Monday, June 09, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: blogs, embroidery, free pattern friday, knit

Free Pattern Friday: Random Cute Crochet

I put down my socks yesterday in order to work on a different project (yep, I'm still alive). I really want to add something to the EAC Stitchin' Fish Sea Floor at the Loop and I'm almost out of time. So, last night I took out the plastic bags, put on some Degrassi and started to cut. Why the plastic bags? For plastic sea creatures of course! My original method of cutting was something like the "continuous strand method", which I had seen as a technique for cutting fabric for rug hooking (which is on my list of crafts I want to learn). A friend had mentioned cutting the bags would be tedious and I was inclined to agree, that is, until I realised there was a much easier way to do it. Despite the claim on Gooseflesh that it is time consuming, I thought it was a breeze after my previous method.

Since I was crocheting today, I thought I'd share with you some crochet patterns. I usually like to have a theme, but not so much today. Unless I say I'm going with the theme of crochet. Or darn cute.

First up, since I'm working on a jellyfish, is this adorable fellow by Ana Paula Rimoli:



If you like this pattern, you can buy her other adorable patterns on etsy (my favourites are the mushrooms) and you can read about her work in an interview on Plush You.

From sea to land with a crazy cute set of acorns from PlanetJune:



Personally, I think I'll make one small change to the way the acorns are put together - I've always seen acorns as having hats, so I'd need to turn those acorns upside down.

And finally, another thing that grows on trees (you see, I'm stretching to make these things fit together): A frakking adorable pear by Amigurumi Girl.



I can hardly handle the cute.

So that's it for tonight. I'm going to get back to my jellyfish and watch those handsome Winchester brothers kick demon butt. I'll share photos of my jellyfish once I reunite my camera with my camera cord.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, May 30, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: amigurumi, crochet, free pattern friday, yarn

Free Pattern Friday Sunday Night

Friday didn't happen as I was off bbq'ing with friends in the North End. Lots of red wine and cake and this hilarious game called What? (try googling that...almost impossible to find it that way. Far too vague a search). All in all, a really nice night out with some of my super friends. Saturday was no go on the free pattern as the Downstairses needed help cleaning up their apartment. We got them all cleaned up and out the door and off to the airport by late afternoon. Now I am downstairs-neighbour-less, which is really quite sad. They've been there for three years and the two years prior to that, it was home of the Gerkins. Now it is sad and empty.

So, what have I got for you today? Well, I've found a lovely blog birthday contest (found via Average Jane Crafter) that is not only offering up a fantastic prize, but everyone who posts gets a PDF copy of an applique and embroidery pattern.



Isn't it lovely? I'm looking forward to trying it out as embroidery. Ever since my visit to California, I've had pretty little birds on the brain. So many colourful little birds hang out around my parents' house. Like this little guy, who was one of the regulars at the feeder:



Of course, all embroidery must wait because....I'm still alive in Sock Wars III!! Seriously. WTF? My assassin must be as slow as me at this game. I've turned the heel and knit through the gusset, but then had to frog 'er back to the heel - I was a few stitches too many when I finished the gusset. I spent this evening trying to get stitches dropped in the frogging process back onto the needles. Unfortunately, the end of the TV season means the end of something to watch while I work on projects. I'm surprised I managed to keep focused on my knitting, I was rolling my eyes that much during The Forgotten that it was hard to know if I dropped a stitch or not.

I'm pretty sure I've screwed up the pattern. I'm one of the 8-stitch repeat people in the pattern and it appears that the 9-stitch repeat is the way to go. Oops. They still look pretty enough. And it seems that there is no official ruling from the Supreme Commander as to whether one is right and one is wrong. *la sigh*. I'm kind of hoping that tomorrow will bring me a pair of socks and my death in this game.

Now, off to bed with me! I meant to be in bed an hour ago!

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Monday, May 26, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: blogs, embroidery, free pattern friday, frogging, sock wars iii

Free Pattern Fridays: Under the sea..

It's been a week since Sock Wars III started and I am miraculously still alive. My hopes are not up for being a terribly successful assassin, seeing as I've barely managed to knit the cuff of the sock. I have frogged the frakking thing too many times to count. I've really been struggling with the patten for the leg of the sock and screw it up just about everytime. I'm hoping that after trolling through the Sock Wars forums, I've figured out how to get it right (although, no clue as to what I've been doing wrong. And don't even get me started on the teeny needles and skinny yarn).

Despite my distaste for skinny yarn in general, I am impressed with the choice of yarn for this year's war: Tofutsies by Southwest Trading Company. The crazy thing about this yarn is that it includes chitin as part of the fibre, which means it is made from crab and shrimp shells! WTF? (Apparently this stuff makes it naturally anti-bacterial).

Since there are sea creatures used in creating the yarn, and there is a local environmental group, along with a favourite yarn store, working on a project called Stitchin' Fish, which is a knitted/crocheted sea floor (similar to that of the Institute for Figuring's hyperbolic coral garden), I thought I'd find some patterns that would help to create the sea creatures on their wish list. While both The EAC and The Loop's blog do offer you free patterns, I've decided to hunt down a few with the magic of google.

If you've been following along at home, you may be familiar with my posts about octopuses, crochet octopuses, and other sea creatures to knit. Sea creatures are something I really dig when they are made of yarn.


So here are the patterns:
A Coral Reef from Lion Brand. The only trouble with Lion Brand is that you have to sign up in order to access the free patterns.


Hyperbolic knitting. And from the same person, a copy of the pattern to make a small jellyfish (a Christmas ornament, but totally do-able as a small submission to Stitchin' Fish). Or there is the jellyfish made from recycled grocery bags, which is an awesome way to get a few plastic bags out of the system.

Finally, there is the sea anemone.

As soon as I finish these socks/get assassinated, I'm starting in on some deep sea knitting.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, May 16, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: crochet, free pattern friday, good ideas, knit, sock wars iii

Free Pattern Fridays: Get your stitch on

After weeks without free patterns, I'm offering up a few sites with some nifty embroidery transfers and tutorials:

The transfers

Floresita has a blog devoted to her vintage transfers. I'm of two minds when it comes to vintage transfers - some are the kind of kitsch I love, but many take that step beyond kitsch and into the land of hokey. But to each their own. What I do like about these transfers is that Floresita occasionally photoshops them up to make them awesome, like the Saucepan Sabotage transfer:



Awesome, non? (you can get the full size transfer here)

Some of the finer embroidery bloggers have pooled together their vintage transfers in the flickr pool, Hoop Love. With 645 pictures in the pool, I'm sure one of them will fit your embroidery needs.

Needlecrafter.com also has a great selection of transfers, many of them vintage and a lot of those seem to be from old Vogart collections. I haven't looked closely enough to know for sure, but you may find some overlap in Vogart transfers within the various vintage transfer sites. Needlecrafter also offers an insane glossary of stitches, as well as articles, links, and more. Even if the vintage stuff isn't your style, there is probably something useful at Needlecrafter.


the tutorials

Found this tutorial for Japanese Sashiko embroidery via a post on Feeling Stitchy. The Purl Bee claims that Sashiko only looks difficult. I'll have to wait and see about that - it does seem to require some special materials.

the not so free

These patterns by Peapies aren't free, but they're so darn cute that I have to share them:



There's a good chance I'll be purchasing at least one of those designs in the near future.

the inspiration

In need of some embroidered inspiration? Then check out Feeling Stitchy's flickr pool. There is some amazing work to behold in that pool.

and finally...
the just plain old awesome

Have I mentioned Feeling Stitchy before now? It's a recent find for me and I might be in blog love. They have a number of fantastic tutorials, including one on needles - something I could use since I (a) haven't a clue about which needle to use when; and (b) I broke a needle while working on my quilt the other evening (snapped in half!). And if that weren't awesome enough, they also have the Crafty Blog School tutorials. That's one I'm intrigued by since I'm still new to the world of blogging (unless you count my time on LiveJournal a few years ago...but that didn't have much of a focus).

Purl Bee, the blog of Purl Soho, is another great stitchy crafty resource. I was excited to see that the most recent post is on thimbles. It's a bit of serendipity for me, seeing as it was only yesterday that I was complaining to le husband about needing either a callous or a thimble for my thumb (a thimble would be preferable). That pain in the thumb is from holding onto the needle and trying to pull it through the fabric; I also need one for pushing the needle through or for general poke protection.

-----


So that's it for today. Happy Weekend and happy crafting! I picked up my tofutsies yarn from The Loop (one of my LYS) today. Why the tofutsies? For Sock Wars III! My dossier arrived via e-mail at noon and I've got to get my knit on tout de suite. The only trouble is: I detest working with eensy needles. Even 4mm needles are small by my standards and this stuff (like a lot of sock yarn) calls for 2.75mm needles. Teeny needles and dainty yarn will be my undoing in this war. Regardless, I will be giving it the old college try.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Saturday, May 10, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: embroidery, free pattern friday, patterns, sock wars iii, yarn

Free Pattern Friday: Lobster time

My latest plush creation, which took frigging forever (well, just over a week really), was a felt lobster. He's off in the mail to his owner from a plush swap.



(please ignore my messy fridge)

I enjoy lobsters. That is not to say that I enjoy eating lobsters, but that I enjoy lobsters as a concept. You could say that they are my favourite crustacean. I've never actually eaten a lobster, which is sort of odd seeing as I live in a place where lobster is king. It is actually one of the few places on earth where you can buy a McLobster in the summer.




Seriously, I can only imagine that it's as gross as it looks/sounds. I'll try lobster one of these days, but it'll be fresh and not from McDonalds. And I probably won't be able to cook it myself.

My amusement with the lobster has even led to travels with a bobblehead lobster:



(Sadly, this is not one of the best photos I've taken of the lobster. Many of those were lost in the Toshiba Crash of '06).

Anyway, my lobster is not today's free pattern...but that's because no pattern exists. If I ever manage to make a pattern, I'll share it. Today's is for this guy:




A knitted lobster!

Words fail me. It is one of the cutest. The creator of this charming plush crustacean also has a pattern for a knitted buoy. I really enjoy the Maritime theme to her knitting. It speaks to the faux-Maritimer in me (I am technically what they would call a "come-from-away" or a "CFA").

Happy weekend!

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Saturday, March 08, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: free pattern friday, knit, patterns, plush, show and tell

Free Pattern Friday Saturday: Cozy Coffee

Recently, le husband has begun to use a french press at his office. Since there is already a kettle there, I guess it's easier than a regular coffee maker. I was a bit surprised when he expressed an interest in having a french press; he had been off coffee for some time now. But I guess the long dark winter semester and his upcoming thesis mean that coffee is a necessity.

So when I saw this pattern on design*sponge on wednesday, I was pretty excited. I think it will be queued up on ravelry as my next project (I'd start it right away, but it is still very much winter here and I need mittens). Apparently non-knitters can make something similar with an old sweater - or so says a commenter at design*sponge. Check out the videos at the CBC site for Steven and Chris to see what's up with that.



On the subject of coffee cozies, I've also found free patterns for coffee cup cozies at the blog Carissa Knits. She has two there, the Starbucks cozy and the Poison! cozy.

Of course, if knitting is not your thing, you can always buy a plush coffee cozy over on etsy, made by Nervous Onion (who I found via The Needle.org).

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Saturday, March 01, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: etsy, free pattern friday, good ideas, knit, patterns

Free Pattern Fridays: Peeps!

It's been a pretty lousy day. My hyperthyroid cat seems to be getting a little more ill - but for different reasons. I'm really hoping that it is merely a side effect to the medication. If that is the case, then I'm out $2000 for treatment (we're already out $700). If it is not the medication, then I do not know what will happen next - and quite frankly, I'd rather not think about it.

So, too cheer myself up, I've been trolling blogs for fun free patterns. And with Valentine's barely over (and my teeny hangover still recent history), it is, of course, time to think about Easter. I find the marketing of holiday chocolates to be a pretty ridiculous. Of course, this doesn't stop me from enjoying Cadbury Creme Eggs long before Easter arrives.

The arrival of Easter chocolate also means the arrival of the Peeps. Personally, I am not of fan of Peeps as a treat - I find them odd and sort of scary, like a twinkie, in the way that they are impossible to break down. Have you ever tried to kill a peep? A friend and I did "science fair projects" on them, with often hilarious results. The microwave was our favourite.



This Easter season, I hope to get crafty with my Peeps. Perhaps enter the Peeps diorama contest. And this is where the free pattern comes in:



Yes! Knitted Plushy Peeps! Courtesy of Berroco yarns.

And there is more Peepyness over on Flickr. There's even some crocheted Peeps in there.

(peep pattern links via Craft magazine's blog)

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, February 15, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: free pattern friday, knit, patterns

Free Pattern Friday: Little Hearts

I should probably change the subject to "Wee Hours of Saturday Morning Free Patterns", but it really doesn't have the same ring to it.

Anyhow, with V-Day around the corner, the crafty valentines are coming out fast and furious. One of my favourites are the Natalie Dee Valentines at Subversive Cross Stitch. I think Natalie Dee is my hero.

And ScotiaMade of Nova Scotia has some darling, yet feisty Valentines - perfect for those who are not into the saccharine sentiments.

But, as the subject indicated, this is about free patterns and this one from Mochimochi (creator of the ridiculously adorable Tubby) is pretty damn adorable:



Plush and knitting! together! Sensationelle! I've never been a huge fan of V-day, but I think I might whip up a few of those little guys and hand them out to friends.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Saturday, February 09, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: free pattern friday, knit, plush

Free Pattern Fridays

Okay, it's technically Saturday, but since I haven't been to bed yet I'm going to call it Friday. And I'm going to attempt to share some of my favourite free patterns on Fridays. Hopefully I'll remember to keep track of where I find them. As a student on a very tight budget and a self-taught crafter, I'm a huge fan of the free pattern. I've learned a lot from patterns that talented crafters have shared online. And I appreciate crafters who share their patterns. They really don't get anything out of it, other than some joy in knowing that others are out there are enjoying their designs.

Since I'm a sock monkey junkie, and new to crochet, I thought this is a great one to start with:



Crochet Sock Monkeys by Lisa Thoms of Q.D. Patooties. Pretty fantastic, non? I'm going to add these little guys to my queue of projects to do on Ravelry.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Saturday, February 02, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: crochet, free pattern friday, patterns, sock monkeys