hello pineapples

teeniest sweaters in the world

I have yet to see the movie Coraline. My friends tell me it's good, but I'm not a huge fan of animated movies, so I'm hesitant to go see them. I usually just wait until they are on video and friends own a copy. Not really the best way to approach such things and my friends who like animation tsk-tsk me when I say that I don't. However, I am somewhat intrigued by the crafty element of Coraline. I'm even more intrigued now that I've seen this:



Holy Cow! That's some tiny knitting with even tinier details in the knitting. It blows my mind that Althea Crome has the patience to knit on such a scale. Damn straight I'm "fascinated" by how she knits on such small needles! I know how frustrated I get when I knit socks on 2.75mm needles and she's working on 1mm or less! I think it is less fascinated and more dumbfounded. I can't even begin to conceptualize what it would be like to knit tiny gloves on .0001" needle made out of wire.

Having said all this, her work is pretty darn amazing. Such detail! And on such a small scale! It is making me overuse exclamation marks!

(found these links via the blog popped up on the grid, that I found via my friend Ally's twitter - oh the layers of the internets and that web 2.0 stuff).

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Sunday, March 08, 2009 0 comments  

filed under: arts and crafts, craft in film, knit

Good thing: All Ears Earmuffs

Does Martha Stewart have a trademark on the phrase "good things"? I hope not. Not that i'm about to start using it regularly on the blog...but I'd rather not face a cease and desist from MSO Inc.

But I digress before I even begin...

I was at the library yesterday and flipping through a copy of the Holiday 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting. This is not a magazine I usually read because I have a bit of a love/hate for Vogue Knitting. I "hate" (well, strongly dislike) the overall look of the magazine and I think most of their patterns are overly froufrou or would be highly unflattering on the general knitting population. And I do hate the idea of spending a lot of time and money making what looks like it would be a lovely knit dress, only to find out that it really doesn't suit anyone larger than an XS and will lose shape after wearing it once or twice. But, I do love seeing some of the knitting accessories that are featured in the front of the book or dreaming about having the time/money/body type to knit up my own Michael Kors sweater tunic in something lovely, like cashmere. Or having the patience to knit up a sweater on size 0000 needles.

But I happened to pick it up anyway. Probably to see what sort of Nanette Lapore knitting patterns they were going to offer. While flicking, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a little write up on the All Ears Earmuffs.



I was instantly smitten by the idea of knitting up my own headphones!



(photo credit belongs to all ears earmuffs)

Seriously? They are genius! I don't even like earmuffs and I love the idea of these, mostly because I love my iPod, but Halifax weather (it's cold from about November to May) often means cold ears. These would be perfect for the days when I don't quite need a hat, but I do need to cover my ears to keep a cold wind out.

Sadly, the kits are priced a bit out of my budget (to be fair, pretty much everything is out of my budget right now. Food is pretty much our only spending right now), starting at $34/$41 for an acrylic/wool or cotton/acrylic blend. You can spend as much as $174, if you felt like knitting up some beaver fur headphones with a leather band (yes! knitting beaver fur! although, strikes me as a bit too rich/opulent for my tastes).

I do like that they are knit and crochet friendly, although I think I prefer the knitted version. For the time being, I might try to knit up some headphone cozies for my own big headphones. They're not really portable headphones, but they will seem so much more practical if they double as earmuffs.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 2 comments  

filed under: consumption, crochet, good ideas, knit

Knitting video games?

I can't decide if I'm excited or confused by this Wii game. I love knitting, I love the Wii (although, I rely on friends to get my Wii fix), but Kniittiing? I guess the trick is that you learn to knit and then knit patterns of different levels of difficulty. You start with a tea towel, move to a sensible hat, and then ... an octopus toaster cover? But of course! That is the natural next step in your knitting career. (actually, it probably is. Once you figure out the practical stuff, then you knit something ridiculous).

Anyway, I'll just have to rent it and convince one of my Wii owning friends to let me play this. But I fear it will be something akin to Cooking Mama's Cook Off, which was the worst game I have ever played in the history of video games. I suspect I will only really love the Rabbids games for Wii. Those are just plain awesome.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 1 comments  

filed under: knit, wtf

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

hot chocolate and knitting weather

Honestly, this is what the Environment Canada forecast is calling for at the moment:


What is that? daggers?

It's pretty icky outside. Not the worst I've ever seen, but enough to make me want to stay inside. And since the weather's plan is to turn into this:


I think it's safe to say that today is a day to stay in with a cup of hot chocolate, my knitting and Twilight. (which, FYI, is not all that awesome. I'll still go see the movie because it's fully of pretty people, but I'm not sure it'll sustain my interest for an entire series of books. There is much better YA lit out there). My only wish is that I could read and knit at the same time.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1 comments  

filed under: knit, weather

PacaFiesta'08: So frigging exciting.

Holy Crap I'm excited! PacaFiesta is back!

I knew it was happening again this year, but it had slipped my mind. Then I spotted it on The Loop's website and almost lost it.

I haven't been to PacaFiesta since 2005; I couldn't make it in 2006 (if it even happened that year) and then it didn't happen last year. I'm not sure how I'm getting there, but I am there. If you're in Halifax and you're a knitter/spinner/weaver/whatever, you need to be there. This is not just PacaFiesta, it is also FibreFiesta and it is like heaven. That is, if heaven was kind of warm and smelly with alpacas, llamas and goats. But it is definitely fibre lover heaven on earth.

(Sadly, I cannot find my photos of PacaFiesta fun...they are no longer in my flickr account and we have had some issues with lost photos after the Great Laptop Debacle of 2006).

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Sunday, September 14, 2008 3 comments  

filed under: fibre, knit, pacafiesta

Surprise! I'm a semi-finalist!

I had wanted to enter the Mochimochi photo contest and had grand plans to do so. Alas, for various reasons, my grand plans had to be put aside, the time wasn't there to stage an awesome photo. But I had taken this photo of my stackable cat at the vet:



I added it to the Mochimochi flickr pool and went about my business. I've been a bit behind in reading blogs lately, so when I clicked on Mochimochi in google reader, I was stunned! to see that I was a semi-finalist. In fact, I'm so surprised that I've been overusing exclamation marks left and right.

I really hadn't thought my little guy would even rank, but, hooray me! I'm a semi-finalist! (my reaction was, and is still,: "what the eff? I'm a semi-finalist? seriously? awesome!"). (my original plan was to ask the vet to post, but I quickly saw that he was too busy with real cats to hang out with knitted cats).

I knit this stackable cat while my cat Alistair was in quarantine at the vet. It was knit to look sort of like Alistair. Here's a shot of Al for comparison:



If Alistair were square and made of yarn, I think he'd sort of look like the stackable cat. But unlike Alistair, knitted cat was much easier to take to the vet. Check out Alistair in his carrier (going home, away from the vet...you'd think that would make him happy):



not so happy kitty.

Anyway, if you've got a minute, you should go vote for my stackable cat. Because votes would be awesome (even if I'm not the best one there).

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Thursday, August 07, 2008 2 comments  

filed under: cats, contests, knit, mochimochi, plush

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

Lessons in Knitting: or Why Gauge is Important

Way back in March, I posted a free pattern for a french press cozy. The finished product is meant to look like this:



The pattern looked easy enough, so I set about knitting one for the french press that the Mister was keeping in his office at school. I don't usually make coffee with the french press, so I hadn't bothered to see how the cozy worked until this morning.




oops.



I quickly threw the buttons on this morning, so they're looking mismatched and haphazard, but they are the least of my worries.



Oh Elizabeth Zimmerman! How right you were. The chapter on gauge is required reading (I still haven't read it). I've never been one for gauge, but it's a math thing. I honestly believe I have dyscalculia (math dyslexia), so anything that involves math is not my friend. This is probably why my first (and only) sweater was a bit of a disaster (it was HUGE!).

Although, to be fair, the french press was in the office at school and I wasn't able to check my knitting against it. I might actually be right on gauge, but that doesn't help if his french press is smaller than the model used for the original pattern.

Ah well. I'll just have to frog it a bit.

xoxo.
Pineapples.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Monday, July 14, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: craft mishaps, frogging, knit

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

WWKIP Day

Aside from the fact that I nearly collapsed with exhaustion because of my mad quest to get as many photos as possible for the scavenger, World Wide Knit in Public Day was great. The Halifax organizers should really be patting themselves on the back right now. It was fun to be out on the lawn of the library with fellow knitters and there were some fantastic prizes (thanks to some very generous local yarn stores). I was happy to get to hang out with Hark for a bit. I can't remember the last I saw her, let alone spent time chatting with her. I also had the chance to meet some new people.

I did well with my attempt at the scavenger hunt: 60 points! I had taken some liberties (i.e. I wasn't able to get on the ferry or buy a beaver tail. lack of cash was the reason for both) and would have been okay if they weren't counted, but I guess they were. Aside from about six items crossed off before today, everything was done this morning. I started around 9:30 a.m. and I covered the bulk of the south end of the peninsula. My feet still ache a little. And for a person with some serious social anxiety, I managed to say the following an awful lot: "This is an odd request, but can I'm participating in a scavenger hunt and I was wondering if I could take your picture. Holding my knitting". Most of them thought I was a bit odd, but were more than happy to pose with my knitting. For the pics without people, I used my roaming gnome and put the sock on his head - just to make the photos a bit more interesting to look at. SO, to those who agreed to hold a stranger's knitting for a photo: merci beaucoup!

Now I need to go crash. It has been long day.
A bientot!

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Sunday, June 15, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: knit, socks, wwkip

Just when I thought I knew everything about knitting...

I thought I had knitting abbreviations and stitches down to a science. I mean, I've even managed the kitchener stitch in the past. But with my recent acquisition of mochimochi's stackable cats pattern, I've discovered that I did not know how to "w+t" or, wrap and turn. I sort of guessed at it, but ended up with lumpy and holey looking legs. Thank heavens for google and knitters on the internet! It is times like these when I have to ask, "what the heck did people do before the internets???" I'm old enough to remember life before the internet, but this is one of those times when I'm glad I have more than a stack of World Book Encyclopaedias to help me out. (and wow! You can still buy printed encyclopaedias! who knew?)

Edited @ 12:38: good grief. I'm still trying to figure it out. I thought I had it, but then I was getting holes when I was trying to finish the pattern. Turns out that I needed to know more than just the mechanics of the w+t, but how to do a short row as well (I think I've done one of these before, but can't remember how it works). Ravelry and its forums came to my rescue and I found a how-to by misocrafty on the short row heel that (a) makes sense, (b) has pictures, (c) can be applied to my stackable cat.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: knit, patterns, ravelry, stitches

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 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

Live in Fear - Kill or be Killed: Sock Wars III

Oh yes! I have registered for Sock Wars III!

I hadn't heard of Sock Wars until my dad sent me a newspaper clipping about it. So when I saw that Sock Wars III is starting, I immediately knew that I had to sign up.

For anyone not clear on the concept of Sock Wars: on a given date you are emailed your "top secret dossier" which contains your target and a sock pattern. Your goal is to get your socks finished (they are your "weapon") and in the mail before you receive a pair from your own assassin. If I receive socks from my assassin before I finish knitting my own, then I am killed. Your death by knitting must be declared on the website. The target who is killed must send their unfinished work and contact info of their target to their assassin. This gives the assassin another chance to kill off yet another knitter. It is all very violent and fun sounding.

I'm going to have to step up my game when it comes to sock knitting. I've been working on the same pair for almost four years now! Although, to be fair, it's a project that I pick up for a bit and then put down for a year or so. When I recently picked them up to turn the heel, I realised that the last time I had worked on them was when we went camping on McNabs Island for our first anniversary - there was a map still in the bag with my yarn and half a sock.

I have knitted a pair of socks before, and they did turn out nicely, but I forgot to take a picture of them and they were a gift. That was my only attempt at socks. Part of my problem with socks is that I keep using this pretty Regia sock yarn that magically knits up a pattern (how do they do it?). As pretty as it is, it's quite dainty and requires bitsy dpns (maybe a 2.5mm?). My knitting style is more along the lines of chunky yarns and big needles. I was frustrated when I knit a blanket of 4mm addi turbos, so the idea of knitting on anything smaller than 4mm drives me crazy.

I have a feeling that I'll be using as chunky a yarn as possible for sock wars...either that or I've got zero chance of survival. I don't imagine I'll win, I'm just not that fast nor that dedicated, but I want to at least give it the old college try. I'd hate to send my socks on to my assassin with only a row or two done on one sock.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Friday, March 21, 2008 2 comments  

filed under: knit, sock wars iii

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

Guess that project...

I'm getting back into knitting these days. I'm messing around with some mittens for my mom (who lives in California. In the desert. No idea why she needs mittens), as well as plans to knit hat/mittens for myself. Actually, a friend recently bough a fabulous hat at Banana Republic, so with the help of Craft magazine, I plan on making my own version (although, it is technically crochet). The funny thing about that hat, that both my friend and I noticed, is that the crochet pattern looks an awful lot like an octopus I recently crocheted. Check it out:

hat:


octopus:


Should make coming up with a pattern much easier. I'll just knit a cephalopod, but without the legs. (I suppose I could put the legs on, but that would make for a really silly hat)

I hit the yarn store this afternoon and picked up yarn for my next big project:


What am I knitting? A Bastille day scarf? An American Flag? Guess again. It's going to be a Montreal Canadiens sweater. Since it is being knit for a friend who is about to give birth any minute now, you'd think it would be for the baby...but no! It's going to be a dog sweater for this little guy:



His owner isn't a fan of dog sweaters, but even she can get behind a Habs doggie sweater.

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

filed under: knit, presents, work in progress, yarn stash