More Firefly Cross Stitch!

That's right, more Firefly stuff! Along with the group picture I originally stitched, I'm going to donate these three character pieces to the silent auction for the Vancouver Can't Stop the Serenity Screening. Each picture was stitched on a piece of 18 count cream Aida cloth and is in a 4 X 6 inch frame. I picked up the frames at a local dollar store and got a large piece of the Aida cloth (there's still about half left) for just $13.00. Overall, a nicely inexpensive project.

The borders on the pieces either came directly from, or are modifications of the ones found in, Better Homes and Gardens 2001 Cross Stitch Designs. The lettering on the Wash and River pieces also came from this book. The lettering on the Jayne picture comes from an old Stoney Creek cross stitch book, now out of print, called Pig Tales. I love that book! I think I've only stitched one or two of the piggy designs, but it's my go-to lettering whenever I need something small that looks kinda fancy.

So I think this concludes my charity stitching for now. I'm going to stitch up another group picture and keep it for myself. I've also designed a Zoe and Wash piece for the boyfriend, which I'm hoping to start stitching soon. If anyone else makes anything with my Firefly cross stitch patterns please post a comment and share a link to a picture. I'm curious to see how others use these designs, and always looking for new ideas myself!

Kaylee in her Shindig Dress - Free Cross Stitch Pattern!

I hope you don't mind the recent phase of cross stitch patterns here at Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins. I'm also working on some crochet projects right now and I'm sure we'll be back to your regularly scheduled dose of crochet soon.

Lately I've been playing around with the free trial version of MacStitch 2010 courtesy of Softpedia. I thought I'd share this pattern I designed featuring Firefly's Kaylee in her famous dress from the episode Shindig.

Now, I haven't actually stitched this piece. What you're seeing is the program set to display the pattern as stitches. It also allows you to change the fabric colour and number of thread strands you're using in your stitches, which are pretty nifty features.

I also really like the "replace thread" feature which allows you to select any colour you've used and replace it with any other colour in the DMC palette (or Anchor, or whatever brand of floss you prefer). It's perfect for those moments when you're wondering how someone's hair will look if it was a little darker, or if their shirt would look better in a different colour. My least favourite feature, the eraser. It erases, but it's finicky. If you want to erase backstitches, you have to select the backstitch tool first. Then if you have some cross stitches to erase, it won't erase them unless you select the cross stitch tool first. I'd prefer if it just erased one square of stitching at a time, regardless of what kind of stitches you have in the square. Making corrections would go much faster that way!

That being said, the MacStitch trial is still pretty versatile and a lot of fun to play around with. To my knowledge you can't do blended stitches, which again is fine for small designs like this, but would become frustrating if you were trying to create something more elaborate. To be fair, there may be a way to do blends, I haven't dug too far into the program's help menu yet to see.

And now, without further ado, the pattern card for Kaylee in her Shindig dress. Enjoy, and don't forget my other Firefly cross stitch patterns are available in the My Free Patterns menu on the left.

And just for reference, a picture of the real Kaylee in her dress:

Sock Yarn Stegosaurus

The boyfriend, who is both wise and witty, is obsessed with dinosaurs. I put together this little stegosaurus for him last week as part of his Valentine's Day gift and it was met with much love and appreciation.

Of course I'm not certain exactly what dinosaur skin looked like, but I'm convinced that it was not one colour, but a variety of many colours, much like a skein of Kroy Sock yarn. At least, that's what I'm going to believe until science proves me wrong.

This stegosaurus was made using some sock yarn in Cascade that I had leftover after making my pair of fingerless gloves. The pattern was my first purchase from PlanetJune. I've been a long time fan of her work, but never had the opportunity to purchase one of her patterns before. I'd give it the thumbs up for quality. The instructions were clearly written and came with lots of pictures to help me figure out the placement of the spines and legs. I definitely felt like I got my money's worth.

The Women of Firefly - Free Cross Stitch Patterns!

The text that follows these patterns is the same as that on the Men of Firefly post, just in case someone ends up at this post first.

As mentioned above, I recommend using three strands of floss for Inara's hair instead of the usual two. This will make it seem fuller and ensure that fabric doesn't show through gaps in the stitching. I also think it makes a nice contrast to Zoe's hair, which is also black, but should give the impression of being curlier.

To see what the characters look like stitched up you can refer to my Firefly Character Cross Stitch.

A Note on Stitching: I generally stitch the characters on 18 count Aida cloth, and use two strands of floss for each cross stitch. Back stitching is done with just one strand. If you're going to use a larger Aida cloth, such as 14 count, I would recommend using three strands for each cross stitch. Otherwise you may see pretty big gaps between stitches.

I know most experienced cross stitchers will know what types of stitches to make to complete these patterns. If you're new to cross stitch check out this Getting Started With Cross Stitch Tutorial, which includes diagrams.

There are a lot of places where you'll see sections coloured like this, either placed horizontally or vertically. Whenever you see this make a 3/4 stitch in the dominant colour and a 1/4 stitch in the other colour to fill the square. For example, in the sample to the left Square #1 would be filled with a brown 3/4 stitch in the top left quadrant and a yellow 1/4 stitch in the bottom right quadrant. Square #2 would have a 1/4 stitch in brown in the top left quadrant and a 3/4 stitch in yellow in the bottom right quadrant. It may look a little funny at first, but once you've outlined the character in black back stitching these parts will look much smoother.

When the pattern shows two colour numbers separated by a slash, such as 729/727 this means to use one strand of each colour.

A Note on Colours: There are no hard and fast rules about what colours should be used for various characters. What I've done here is listed the colours that I used. These were mostly chosen based on what was already in my stash and what I thought would be suitable. Feel free to make changes. Have a shade of brown, but it isn't the one I used? Use your own judgement. If you think it will be work for someone's hair, pants, etc. save some money and use it rather than tracking down the exact shade I used.

A Note on Patterns: To my knowledge these patterns are correct and the colour shades used have been listed with no typos. Of course, I could be wrong. If you come across any errors or have any questions feel free to post a comment and let me know.

Most of the stitched Firefly creations I've made have writing on them. I won't be posting the alphabets as the ones I've used are copyrighted by other designers. I generally try to say where I got them from in the completed design post, but if you can't find them, there are numerous free alphabets available online and in published cross stitch books.

Enjoy, and don't forget to check out my Men of Firefly cross stitch patterns!

The Men of Firefly - Free Cross Stitch Patterns!

This is a corrected version of Mal. It includes the line I missed when I stitched my own Firefly cast. He's now just as tall as the rest of his crew!

Unfortunately, I don't own any fancy cross stitch pattern designing software, so we'll have to make do with hand drawn patterns. To see what the characters look like stitched up you can refer to my Firefly Character Cross Stitch.

A Note on Stitching: I generally stitch the characters on 18 count Aida cloth, and use two strands of floss for each cross stitch. Back stitching is done with just one strand. If you're going to use a larger Aida cloth, such as 14 count, I would recommend using three strands for each cross stitch. Otherwise you may see pretty big gaps between stitches.

I know most experienced cross stitchers will know what types of stitches to make to complete these patterns. If you're new to cross stitch check out this Getting Started With Cross Stitch Tutorial, which includes diagrams.

There are a lot of places where you'll see sections coloured like this, either placed horizontally or vertically. Whenever you see this make a 3/4 stitch in the dominant colour and a 1/4 stitch in the other colour to fill the square. For example, in the sample to the left Square #1 would be filled with a brown 3/4 stitch in the top left quadrant and a yellow 1/4 stitch in the bottom right quadrant. Square #2 would have a 1/4 stitch in brown in the top left quadrant and a 3/4 stitch in yellow in the bottom right quadrant. It may look a little funny at first, but once you've outlined the character in black back stitching these parts will look much smoother.

When the pattern shows two colour numbers separated by a slash, such as 729/727 this means to use one strand of each colour.

A Note on Colours: There are no hard and fast rules about what colours should be used for various characters. What I've done here is listed the colours that I used. These were mostly chosen based on what was already in my stash and what I thought would be suitable. Feel free to make changes. Have a shade of brown, but it isn't the one I used? Use your own judgement. If you think it will be work for someone's hair, pants, etc. save some money and use it rather than tracking down the exact shade I used.

A Note on Patterns: To my knowledge these patterns are correct and the colour shades used have been listed with no typos. Of course, I could be wrong. If you come across any errors or have any questions feel free to post a comment and let me know.

Most of the stitched Firefly creations I've made have writing on them. I won't be posting the alphabets as the ones I've used are copyrighted by other designers. I generally try to say where I got them from in the completed design post, but if you can't find them, there are numerous free alphabets available online and in published cross stitch books.

Enjoy and don't forget to check out my Women of Firefly patterns!

More Dragon Gauntlet Gloves

I hope you all don't mind a bit of a rerun. I enjoyed making the first pair of Dragon Gauntlet Gloves so much that I splurged on some specialty wool during a recent trip to our local yarn store, Knitopia. This new pair of gloves is made with MeriSock Hand Painted Colour #62. They're much softer than the pair I put together using Kroy and the variegated colours look absolutely beautiful when they catch the light.

Some Valentine's Day Inspiration!

Valentine's Day is fast approaching, but there's still enough time to whip up a small homemade gift for that special someone in your life. Here for your amusement and inspiration are a few of the cutest Valentine's related crochet I've seen lately. First up, this adorable Amigurumi Valentine Mouse is being sold by SophieCat. I realize that if he was ordered now he might not arrive in time for Valentine's Day so I post him more as inspiration, as I'm sure any experienced amigurumi maker could make up their own pattern that's just as cute.

This next one came to my inbox courtesy of the Lily Sugar 'n Cream newsletter. These Love Bugs are a free pdf pattern that is available here.

Diana Prince designed this Pop Heart Pattern that's available as a free download via her blog, MyGurumi. Dress it up and personify it with some safety eyes, or just leave it as it. Either way, it's equally adorable.

Finally, for those with a sweet tooth. These cupcakes are super quick to stitch up and can be decorated and personalized in all sorts of ways. Check out the free pattern courtesy of Bitter Sweet.

And for that sweetheart with a more twisted sense of humour, how about the Mouldy Cupcake, a free download created by Gleeful Things.

Firefly Character Cross Stitch!

I promise I will write out my patterns for these characters and post them soon. For now, I'm just so pleased with how this turned out that I had to share some pictures. Inspired by Needle Noodles Creepy Cute Cross Stitch, Lego Star Wars (could you imagine if there was a Lego Firefly, wouldn't that be amazing?) and this Jayne's Hat cross stitch I decided to try my hand at creating some Firefly related cross stitches. I spent last week creating the character designs and then much of the last seven days stitching it all together. The lettering was borrowed from 2001 Cross Stitch Designs, with some modifications (I really don't know why that book doesn't believe in half stitches.).

This piece is going to be donated to the B.C. Browncoats for the silent auction they'll be holding during this year's Can't Stop the Serenity screening, where proceeds go to Joss Whedon's favourite charity, Equality Now.

And now on to more pictures. Please feel free to offer some feedback, I'm still thinking of tweaking the designs a bit before I make final copies. I realize Mal is missing a row, making him a bit shorter than everyone else. Must fix that. Anyways, I'd love to hear what others think...

**Update: My cross stitch patterns for the men and women of Firefly have now been posted. Enjoy!

Favourite Fingerless Gloves

I made a pair of these a couple years ago, but they got so dirty I was too embarrassed to post pictures of them. Here now is a picture of my more recent creation, which I only wore once before remembering I should snap a picture. I assure you I made a set, but since I can't think of a way to take a picture of both my hands at once, you'll just have to trust me on that one.

I really like this pattern because you get to work backwards from the fingers down to the wrist. I find it's much easier than trying to divide up the stitches when you get to the top. It also gives more leeway for sizing the glove. Make one finger and if it doesn't fit just pull it apart and add or take away some stitches. Learning to balance the four double pointed knitting needles you need to use can be a bit of a challenge! Someday I want to try adapting the pattern for crochet. I'm thinking it would be easy enough and I'd have less worries about dropped stitches or unravelling fingers.

Like my Dragon Gauntlet gloves these were made with Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn, this time in Cascade. Obviously the amount of yarn you need varies depending on the size of the glove you're making, but I've always been able to get away with making a pair with less then one skein of wool and plenty left over.

Want the Pattern?

This one is a free pattern courtesy of Knitty.com , who also provide wonderful extra instructions and links to helpful tutorials along with the pattern. Every time I make these I also find this video tutorial on how to make a slip, slip knit stitch (ssk) invaluable. In my experience it's hard to find a good visual description of how that stitch is made.