Halloween Hobbies: Free Cross Stitch Patterns

Posted: September 26, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Halloween, Knitting, Uncategorized, Wicked Fun - try this | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

FREE HALLOWEEN CROSS STITCH PATTERNS:

I realize folks could arrive at this page at any time of year, but the majority of readers will visit in the late summer or early autumn, when their thoughts first turn to Halloween. Starting a cross stitch project at this time of year is the perfect way to get into the spirit of season without freaking out the neighbors by putting up premature decorations.

(What’s premature? I’m not a good judge. Some of my “Halloween Decorations” stay out all year round.)

The weather at this time of year is volatile. Depending on the date, and your location, it could be hot and thick, as summer has its last hurrah; or it could be cool and rainy, as autumn comes on. In either case, it seems there are more opportunities to settle in for an evening with some cross stitch … and, perhaps, a great scary movie. (Maybe an iconic old horror film, or one about Halloween or ghosts?) It’s also a busy time of year for many of us, as back-to-school demands fire up. Keeping all that in mind, I’ve featured projects that range from quick and easy, to elaborate and complicated. There should be something here you can finish in the time you have before Halloween.

Note: Yes, I used my Free Halloween Knitting Patterns post as a template for this one. The wording IS almost identical. You are not going crazy.

FREE CROSS STITCH CHARTS:

 

freepatterns.com
hobbyloco.com
kreinik.com
cyberstitchers.com
kreinik.com
hobbyloco.com
kreinik.com
kreinik.com
cyberstitchers.com
cyberstitchers.com
cyberstitchers.com
hobbyloco.com

If you hover over the image in the gallery above, you’ll see that each featured piece is captioned with the name of one of the following source sites. The “hover-title” is the name of the pattern, and the designer. These images are just a sampling of what’s available … have fun browsing each site for just the right project.

Find the charts at the following links:

Two of the projects pictured in the gallery have specific links:

What will you make? What would you LOVE to make?

I’m going to do something really scary:

I plan to stitch a project from a a chart that I designed myself. I’ll share my plan, but I DON’T recommend that you choose my design, unless you can see from experience that it will work for you. I’ve never done this before, and I have no idea if it will turn out well.

Image of Cross Stitch Carpe Noctem by Renae Rude

As I was finishing this post, I decided to go looking for some kind of program that would allow me to create a chart for a project that’s been in the back of my mind for a while. I found MyPhotoStitch.com. I played with the tool to get an idea of what kind of image would work well as a base design. (I already knew I wanted the design to read ‘Carpe Noctem’.) I dug through my photo files to find a pic of the moon, against a pure black sky, that my Ogre took. I imported that photo into Kizoa.com, which is a free online photo editor. There, I added the Carpe Noctem text, and a piece of owl clip art that Kizoa had, to my re-sized photo. THEN I imported the new image into the MyPhotoStitch chart maker tool. I had to play with the setting a fair bit, but I think I’ve come up with a workable chart.

My plan is to work on 18 X 12 piece of black, 14-count, Aida cloth. MyPhotoStitch says the finished design will be 7″ X 5.5″. I designed the project to be workable in ten colors or less. The chart ended up suggesting nine. I won’t know if the recommended floss colors will be right … I’ll check tomorrow, when I go shopping for the supplies. (I’d actually like the brighter edge of the moon to better match the brighter parts of the text.)

Here’s the link to the PDF chart (on 4 pages!) that MyPhotoStitch gave me:

CAUTION: (Edited the next day.)  If you print the following PDF, you will use A LOT of black ink! Thank goodness I went to Office Max to have it printed, so I didn’t kill my cartridge. Ogre will fix it this weekend, with his magic Photoshop, and a pattern with a WHITE background will be available too.  That said, I actually like being able to see the pattern against the black, because the fabric I’m working on is black. So, if you like that idea, be sure to take it somewhere where a color print doesn’t cost much.

cross stitch day 1

Cross Stitch Pattern Carpe Noctem by Renae Rude

Questions for experienced cross-stitchers:

  1. First off, and most importantly, does this seem like a viable project?
  2. Would you stitch in the owl and branch with black, or just leave the black Aida cloth showing there? (I’m leaning toward filling it in, but I don’t know how to blend the lower branch edge into the Aida cloth, or if it will look weird if I just end it at the edge of the moon.)

So that’s it for now. I will update as I progress with the project. Cross your fingers for me!

Halloween Index

RETURN TO THE HALLOWEEN INDEX

NOTE: All above photographs and images of cross stitch projects were obtained from the site of the original source of the free pattern and are used for the purpose of referring readers to the website that offers the content.  At posting, all links are current and active. I have NOT made the projects, so I cannot guarantee that patterns are correct.

The photograph of box of embroidery floss, used on the main Halloween index page, is ready to stitch! by Claudia Marchán.

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Halloween Hobbies: Free Knitting Patterns

Posted: September 25, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Halloween, Knitting, Uncategorized, Wicked Fun - try this | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

FREE HALLOWEEN KNITTING PATTERNS:

I realize folks could arrive at this page at any time of year, but the majority of readers will visit in the late summer or early autumn, when their thoughts first turn to Halloween. Starting a knitting project at this time of year is the perfect way to get into the spirit of season without freaking out the neighbors by putting up premature decorations.

(What’s premature? I’m not a good judge. Some of my “Halloween Decorations” stay out all year round.)

The weather at this time of year is volatile. Depending on the date, and your location, it could be hot and thick, as summer has its last hurrah; or it could be cool and rainy, as autumn comes on. In either case, it seems there are more opportunities to settle in for an evening with some knitting … and, perhaps, a great scary movie. (Maybe an iconic old horror film, or one about Halloween or ghosts?) It’s also a busy time of year for many of us, as back-to-school demands fire up. Keeping all that in mind, I’ve featured projects that range from quick and easy, to elaborate and complicated. There should be something here you can finish in the time you have before Halloween.

Note: Yes, I this post and my Free Cross Stitch Patterns post have almost identical introductions. You are not going crazy.

Find the patterns at the following links:

New in 2015:

From years past, but checked for availability:

What will you make? What would you LOVE to make?

In 2015, I think I’m going to go after Sam Haim – the little ghoul from the movie, Trick ‘R Treat. (Though the gorgeous Fair Isle Scarf is calling to me.)

Halloween Index

RETURN TO THE HALLOWEEN INDEX

NOTE: All above photographs and images of knitting projects were obtained from the site of the original source of the free pattern and are used for the purpose of referring readers to the website that offers the content.  At posting, all links are current and active. I have NOT made the projects, so I cannot guarantee that patterns are correct.

The photograph of the orange and black scarf in progress, used on the main Halloween index page, is Work in Progress by Jere Keys.

‘NetNet: horror movies, a blog toy, LOLs, soup, bats and nudity.

Posted: November 23, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Bats, Guest Posts & Reblogs, Knitting, Movies & Films, NetNet | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

A short NetNet, this week folks. Apparently League of Legends has an exciting new update that The Boy must play as much as possible. And The Ogre is telling me we have to grocery shop, go to the gym and do laundry. Sigh. I might add a few more links later tonight. In the meantime:

LISTEN TO THE MONSTER MEN DISCUSS RECENT HORROR FILMS

I love to hear these two talk about movies. As usual, I watched the show with a pen in hand and a browser window open. Here’s a list of the movies mentioned, and their availability right now.

R = Redbox | N = Netflix Streaming | D = Netflix Disc

The Fourth Kind (N) – The Purge (RD) – Dark Skies (RD) – Paranormal Activity 3 & 4 (NR) – Insidious (D) – The Bay (RN) – Absence (N) – Sinister (RD) –  You’re Next (R) – The Lords of Salem (RD) – The Devil’s Rejects (D) – Kiss of the Damned (N) – The Conjuring (RD)

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 … SPEAKING OF THE CONJURING

If you’re just now seeing it for the first time, please consider responding to my poll: When would you get the hell out of the houe in The Conjuring? If you answered the question back when it was in the theaters, you might be interested to see what the consensus is so far.

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PLAY WITH A NEW (FREE) BLOG TOY

Matthew Alan Bennett brings to us this fun-looking presentation creation software. This is his sample doodle:

I haven’t had a chance to play with it, but you know I will. If you want to give it a go, visit powtune.com.

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HAVE A GRIN / SNICKER / CHUCKLE

Have you popped over to my cheeseburger collection, ParanormalLOLs lately? I add new funnies whenever they come through my feeds, and this was a particularly good week.

chupa

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MAKE SOME SOUP THIS WEEKEND

I swear November weekends cry out for a big pot of soup or stew. On Sunday, I’ll be posting a recipe for my all-time favorite soup, (which I made last weekend, so I could photograph the process.) Unless you want to do step one of MY recipe (roast a turkey) tonight, however, you may want to join me in trying Minnesota Wild Rice soup this weekend.

wild rice soup

I found this recipe over at Debra DeLong‘s website. We got into a lengthy comment discussion about the “Minnesota-ness” of wild rice … because she’s in Ohio and I’m in Minnesota. (She even wrote a follow up post about it.)

At Romancing the Bee, Debra usually posts recipes involving honey. Because she keeps bees. Because she’s cool like that.

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LOOK AT ADORABLE PICTURES OF BATS

This week, Deborah DeLong ALSO reblogged a piece from Buzzfeed, This is Why We Should Love Bats. It has 20+ pics of bats being awesome. Like these:

(I don’t usually share reblogs here at NetNet, but I made an exception for the bats. Because they are bats.)

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CONSIDER NUDE MODELING

Madeleine Swann had a piece published over at Who Are We Now this week. After reading it, I’m contemplating breaking some personal boundaries. Read: A Life Model’s View.

BTW, I think the navigation page for Who Are We Now is cool. Here’s a screen shot, but it’s clickable at the site. So simple. So elegant.

who are we now

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[The late night additions follow.]

START PLANNING YOUR OLD AGE

A woman named Monica Lerena stopped by the blog and liked something or other. As is my usual practice, I popped over to her place to show my appreciation. ‘Turns out, she just started her blog, Postcards From the Gutter. While poking around, I was led to this video. I’ve recently picked up my knitting practice again, so it caught my eye.

“‘Kaffeslabberas’ is a knitting club in the Copenhagen neighborhood of Amager. It’s members are female pensioners … This project partners up these ladies with Danish artists and designers, with the intent of creating a connection across generations, through the strengths of craftmanship, diversity and experience.”

I want to be one of these ladies in about 40 years. (Yes, I checked my math. Life is long, if you’re lucky.)

Is it just me, or are Scandinavians fascinating? So familiar and alien at the same time. (Says the Minnesotan, who is 3/4 Norwegian.)

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PREPARE FOR POST-THANKSGIVING-DINNER TORPOR

Juliette, over at Vampire Maman, has come up with an excellent set of suggestions for Thanksgiving movie viewing. Check out: Having Guests for Dinner? Thanksgiving Day Movies with a Bite!

to serve man

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There is no way I’m going to capture every great thing that happens in my personal web, let alone on the wider internet. The posts I feature here just happened to catch my eye. They resonated with me and whatever is going on in my life right now. And they are worth sharing.

‘NetNet

#NetNet

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