Easy Valentine’s Day Gifts

We love when a specific holiday gets closer, our inboxes become full of emails boasting free patterns! This Valentine’s Day is no exception. With the romantic holiday about a week away, you have more than enough time to complete one of these little goodies. Perfect for gifting to that special someone, friends, family OR better yet yourself.

Crochet tote from Lion Brand Yarns : you have to sign up but once you do you have access to a treasure trove of free pattern goodness! This tote could be customized with a bit of monogram color work or applique. Fun!

The clothing company ModCloth has a great blog featuring all kinds of indy inspired crafts including these “upcycled” sweater mittens!

Sweet crochet heart garland from Skip To My Lou, so perfect for decorating or gift wrap accents.

Knit up this Valentine measuring tape from Spud and Chloe for all your crafty friends. This pattern can easily be customized with duplicate stitch embroidery with your own candy heart message!

Another great “upcycle” idea from Thimbleanna, adding a delicate crochet edge to any vintage or funny postcard.

Heart lace work scarf from Knit Culture is definitely on my crafting to-do list!

Nothing warms the heart (we love our puns!) like this knit mug cosy. By Kristen TenDyke, this pattern features color work and a sweet little cable detail. Make it a complete gift by giving it with a coffee mug and either coffee or tea!

Lastly this oversized candy box filled with yarn would make any crafter or fiber artist squeal with delight. Leave it up to the folks at Craft: Zine to take a simple Martha Stewart paper craft and make it even more awesome!!

What ever you end up making, make it with love and you simply can’t go wrong. (okay you can but that’s content for another post!) 

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3 New Patterns… and… It’s Here! Crocheted Version of the Center Row Lace Headband / Neck Warmer! AKA PATTERN-PALOOZA!!

After many requests, we have finally perfected and patterned up a crochet version of our most popular pattern, the Center Row Lace Headband / Neck Warmer.  The dimensions of the finished product are very close to the knit version, and the look is almost identical.  I hope that you crocheters out there are happy with the results.  This pattern comes out just in time to stylishly fight off that winter weather!

We’ve also been hard at work creating the patterns featured in our last post!

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Terror-ific FREE Halloween Patterns

Halloween is here again and with exactly 16 days remaining until the big night Mary and I have a lot of crafting to do to be ready for trick-or-treaters. This year we’ve decided to decorate my home as a haunted or un-dead funeral home. I live in the suburbs so I always get tons of trick-or-treaters but this will be the first time I’ve decorated the exterior of my home. We are going to pull out all the stops. We’ll be turning our cars into hearses, using mannequin parts for victims and putting fresh graves on the lawn. Don’t worry, we’ll post pictures!

In celebration we’ve gathered some of our favorite internet craft freebies! Who doesn’t like free? Click the picture to access the pattern.

KNIT:

Decorate with singles or put 5 or 6 in a jar for instant science lab! OR string together for an eye-popping garland. (we just can’t help ourselves!)

This pattern is for adult & child matching hats BUT we love how it turned into a yarn-bombing opportunity!

These are cute as-is OR swap googley eyes for buttons and they would make great tawashis!

Great pattern to customize to look like your victim of choice…

CROCHET:

Eye always look out for the crocheters, we wouldn’t leave you out…

Severed finger chapstick cozy! You had me at severed finger.

Yana Knits also provides the pattern for a cozy web for your spider to live in. Add a red hour glass to it’s back and make it deadly.

It wouldn’t be a Rewind post if I didn’t link to some amigurumi! Look at these cuties…

SEWING

We just had to include this. It’s a fan fav on Pinterest and for good reason! A great way to use up lace bits you may have around your house… or is that just me??

Please refer to each of the blogs linked in this post for the credit due for each craft. 

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Trend Alert: Neon and Neutrals

(via theglitterguide.com)

This ‘8os inspired trend is tempered with the stark contrast of warm neutrals, making neon approachable for all style tastes. This is a trend that we can get behind… and perhaps get a bit carried away with! Neutral yarns are easy enough to get your hands on, but luckily this trend is finding it’s way into the fiber art community and it’s easier than ever to get your hands on neon yarns.

1) ACID : 100% merino wool / Manos Maxima

2) NEON ROSE : 100% superwash merino wool / Madeline Tosh via Purl Soho

3) EDISON BULB : 100% superwash merino wool / Madeline Tosh via Purl Soho

4) NEON ORANGE : 100% cotton / Yarn Market

When searching for the perfect neon yarns we came across this great home decor crochet project from The Purl Bee. This “Elegant Granny Blanket” shows how neon can add just a touch of elegant whimsy to any project. This is a must craft before winter!!

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My name is Brandy…

and I have a problem. I just love mustaches SO MUCH!!! Here are my top picks for mustache patterns… soon to be in my queue!

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Knits for ALL

You know when you are poking around the internet and one link leads to another? Some times you are lucky and hit gold; that’s how we felt when we discovered Annie Larson and her fantastic line of women’s knitwear.  ALL Knitwear is created one custom piece at a time by Annie Larson on a Brother KH-950 Electroknit Knitting Machine! We’ve always wanted (or at least wanted to try) a knitting machine but this takes the art to a whole new level. This is our new knitwear crush! Each garment features the freestyle mix of basic geometric patterns and bright classic colors. We are esspecially excited about her hats, each one topped with the perfect pom-pon accent.

We are always inspired by studio space as well and Larson does not disappoint! Look at those shelves full of handmade knit fabric and her lovely pom-pons…

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T-Shirt > Yarn > Accessory

For the past year these t-shirt strip necklaces have been quite popular. Not one to ever pay retail on something I know I can make, I decided to research how to turn old tees into yarn. There’s so much you can do with this versitile material once it’s been converted to “yarn”. Also unlike most yarn crafts it’s not messy and you more than likely currently own everything you need to make your very own upcycled tee accessory.

Step 1:

Turn the tee of your choice into yarn by cutting as much as you can in one continuous strip. I’ve found two very good resources that show two different ways to accomplish this. The more circular cutting method can be a bit harder to control gauge if you are wanting to knit a very specific pattern. The straight cut method allows you to measure and then cut however you do end up with a bit more waste than with the circular method. Each will get the job done. Play with color and pattern with the tshirts you choose to use. Tye-dye will create a great verigated yarn while screenprints can create interesting patterns/textures. Be careful when you pick tees that have been screen printed. Choose tees that have been washed enough to relax the ink or you could end up with rough thick spots in your creation. Then again this could be the look you are going for – sky’s the limit.

Step 2 (and the final step):

Freeform knit, crochet or craft your very own upcycled accessory. Mary and I tend to craft by the seat of our pants however if you watch your gauge you can very easily adapt this yarn to any commercial pattern.

Here are some inspirational craft and product links. You know that once Mary and I finish our upcycled goodies we’ll have them posted! Enjoy.

– Braided rugs (we know what you are thinking, but check out the link. This artist worked with the colors to create an ombre effect; an updated modern take on this style of rug.)

– Crochet Nesting Bowls

– Knit Market Tote

– T-Shirt Necklace

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Bernat Crochet Along – Mystery Blanket Project

Calling all crocheters! Calling all crocheters! Brandy here, telling you about this super exciting Crochet Along brought to you by Bernat. Why is it so exciting you ask? Well I’ll tell you! It’s a mystery blanket project!! Starting Sept. 22nd the Bernat Blog will start posting weekly clues (and I assume patterns). Each clue will guide you as you begin to create a blanket, the design revealing itself as you go. I love this idea especially since it will be complete by Christmas making it the perfect paced DIY holiday gift. If you are a quick crocheter you could create a few blanket simultaneously thus crossing off your Christmas gift list even faster! AND It get’s better!! How you ask?? At the end of the project Bernat is having a contest for best “designed” blanket. So not only will you have a cozy, surprise design blanket or two, you could win enough yarn to make another. So fun, count me in! I’ll be working on this project through out the weeks and posting the progress as I go. For those who can not tackle this project because you are already up to your eyeballs in projects, you can live vicariously through this blog. Happy crocheting (and knitting…)!

If you want to participate get all your FAQ info here.

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Digital Goodies – Free Desktop Wallpaper

Need a desktop pick-me-up? The available digital downloads got your computer down? Well feast your eyes on our latest freebie, a custom designed desktop wallpaper featuring the color group of the month – GEO. The Geo inspired design features angled hooks and needles making up an abstract pattern, set off by the subtle crochet and knit textures in the background.

800 x 600
1024 x 768
1280 x 1024
1600 x 1200

We will be featuring different digital goodies in our future posts, so check back often. Until then enjoy!

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