NameThatCandy.Etsy.com

Halloween Costume Ideas: Pirate Costume

2011-10-03T14:36:00.000-04:00

Halloween is on the corner, do you have any ideas for your costume this year?

Pirate, Witch and Vampire are the top 3 most popular adult costumes last Halloween, I believe they will the same this Halloween. Wanna to be a pirate, check out this website: Pirate Hallween Costume Ideas

Actually, it is pretty easy to dress as Pirate, of course, if you don't have time, you can go to buy one, there are so many Cool Halloween Costumes out there. But if you have craft like me, you probably want to make your own. Simpicity and McCall's have few Pirate Costume Patterns, so if you love to sew, you can get the patterns when JoAnn on sales, you can get it for $0.99 or $1.99.

But not everyone can sew, you can still make your own even you can't sew. Just look at your closet or thrift stores, you can modify your own clothes into pirate outfit.

Here are some tips: (from Pirate Halloween Costume Ideas)

Clothing and Accessories:

Shirt: Button-up White Shirt, you can also wear Tan or Brown Shirt.

Pants: Just simple black pants

Vest: Solid Black or Brown vest are the best

For girls or women:

Mini Skirt: red or black are the most popular colors for Female Pirate Costume, if you want something different, try burgundy or dark brown. Layered skirt with lace ruffles is preferred. Or skirt made of satin fabrics is good alternative.

Corset or vest: Some of you may not like wearing corset, if you prefer wearing a vest, you may want to add a thick belt with a large brass buckle, it will make you look sexier than just a vest.

Boot: Every girls has a pair of boots, this is probably the one thing you don’t have to buy. Knee High Boots are perfect for this costume, but ankle or mid calf boots will work too. Black probably will look the best, but any dark color will work. If you didn’t have a pair of boots, I suggest that you buy one pair that you will wear for daily basis, so you can wear it after Halloween.
Tights: Any Black tights will work, but I think “Fishnet tights” are the best. Great place to buy tights are Marshalls or TJ Maxx, they have a great selections at a really good price.
Hat/ Long Scarf: I think the hat probably is the most difficult to find if you don’t buy from costume stores. But I will definitely check out thrift stores or Craigslist. Long scarf will be a good alternative.
Sword: You can get a toy sword at any toy stores or costume stores.

I also find a 20% off coupon for Halloween Costume if you are interested:

Female Pirate Costume Ideas - How to make it from old clothes

2011-09-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

Halloween is on the corner. Female Pirate Costume is one of the most popular costumes for past several Halloween. If you read my blog, you know me. I don't like to buy stuff, I like to make stuff. So here is some great ideas and tips for those want to make your own Female Pirate Costume. You can find these items from your closet or thrift stores. You don't have to buy everything brand new, it will save u tons of money. And more environmental friendly!

*I got the ideas from Pirate Halloween Costume Ideas, here is their website: http://www.piratehalloweencostumeideas.com/female-pirate-costume/
They have a great video to show you how to make a pirate costume from an old leather pants.

The Essential Clothing Items for Female Pirate Costume

Blouse: white, red or black are perfect, wide and low neckline with ruffles. Tunic style or button up blouse are great too.
Skirt: Prefer skirt above your knee, if you want to sexier, try mini skirt. Red or black are the most popular colors for Female Pirate Costume, if you want something different, try pink or Red stripes. Fabrics material: satin and suede.
Corset or vest: They both look great, it is your personal preference. If you choose to wear a vest, you may want to add a thick belt with a large brass buckle, it will look more authentic.

The Essential Accessories Items For Female Pirate Costume

Boot: Knee High Boots are perfect, but ankle or mid calf boots will work too. Black and any dark colors are the most popular choices. But if you want to look more stand out, try Red.

Tights: Black tights or Fishnet tights are the best. If you need to buy tights, I recommend to Marshalls or TJ Maxx, they have a great selections of colors and brands at a really good price.
Hat/ Long Scarf: Long Scarf is good substitute for the hat if you can't find it.
Sword (optional): You can get a toy sword at any toy stores, dollar stores or costume stores.

Makeup

I am not a really makeup gal, so I don't have any tips. But I found this great video for applying pirate makeup.

Crochet for Beginner: How to choose the right yarn for your crochet project

2011-09-07T20:36:00.000-04:00

Are you a crochet beginner? Are u ever wondering how to choose the right yarn for your project? When I first learn to crochet, I was so confused with how to choose yarn and crochet hooks. I thought all yarn are made of wool, even though I know yarn made of different materials like cotton, wool, acrylics etc, and I still had no idea what are the difference between them. On the top of that there are yarn weight, fingering, sport .... etc.

Yarn weight Chart. You can see the different between different yarn weight.

Back then, I had no one to ask. I didn't have any LYS near me, and I didn't know anyone crochet or knit. And I couldn't find any books talk about yarn. The crochet book I had which is the worst book ever. Anyway, I know how overwhelming for crochet for beginner. That's why I wrote a page about "how to choose a right yarn for your crochet projects" on my website. You will learn what is yarn weight, and what are the difference between wool, cotton....

Also, I have written about how to choose right hooks for your projects, crochet hook size charts and crochet abbreviations. Please check it out. Right now, I am working on "Beginner Crochet Patterns", hopefully, I would be able to finish by next week.

After you visit my website, please leave me a comment or suggestion here. So I know what I need to improve.

Happy Crocheting!

Crochet Motif from Japanese Crochet Motif Book

2011-08-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

Bought the Japanese Crochet Motif 300 Book for a while, finally I have time to crochet one of the motifs, there are so many motifs I wanted to try, it was a hard decision to pick which one to crochet. :)

I plan to use the motifs to crochet a bolero or cardigan, so I found this one, I think it will look to be a bolero or cardigan. The yarn I used is Elann Baby Cashmere which is fingering yarn, it is so soft, I really enjoy crocheting with it.

The finished size (after block) is about 4.5" x 4.5". It is a perfect size, I will need 4 motifs for the width and I am thinking 4 - 5 motifs for the length, not sure how long do I want my bolero or cardigan.

I don't think I would start the bolero until I finish my pineapple vest, my pineapple vest is about 2/3 done, hopefully, I would finish by the end of Sept. I have been very busy with my website, crochet and taking a toddler.

Here is the pic of my motif:

It is #57 in the book.


The motif is from this pretty "Japanese motif and edging 300".

If you are interested in buying this book: Motif and Edging 300 Patterns, I still have one extra copy to sell.
Please visit my NameThatCandy Etsy Store.

My Crochet Website: www.Beyond-Crochet-Patterns.com

2011-08-23T20:13:00.000-04:00

Screen shot of my website

I have been very busy to building my Crochet Website. It calls www.beyond-crochet-patterns.com. I build this website, because it is so hard to find stylish crochet patterns, therefore, I want to put all the stylish patterns together in one website, so it is easier for crocheters like me who are tired of old-fashioned patterns, and it saves us time that we don't need to look around online or in stores. The website will include Free Crochet Patterns and Paid Crochet Patterns (which in books or Etsy).

You will find a lot of Crochet info like "how to crochet" tutorials, Yarns and Hooks, book reviews esp Japanese Crochet books.

Please go to visit my website if you have time. So far, there are only few pages, I try to build 1 to 2 pages each week.

If you need help with the Crochet Abbreviation, pls visit:

Crochet Abbreviations Chart

Also, you are confused with the Crochet Terms, please visit:
American vs British

Finally got my Crochet Top Down Pattern Book (行家教你領口往下鉤) from Taiwan!!!

2011-08-07T18:01:00.000-04:00

I want this book 行家教你領口往下鉤 for a while, but I don't know anyone from Taiwan can get it for me, finally I found someone can get it for me, it takes a while to ship here, coz I tried to save $$ on postage, I asked my mom mailed it this the other Japanese Craft Books I ordered together. BTW, I got an past issue of Rich More which I want it for LONG TIME, I am glad to find it at Hong Kong Yahoo Auction, it is an used book, but I only paid $4 for it, after ship to US, I think I paid around $9, it is still pretty cheap compare to buying in US.

Anyway, 行家教你領口往下鉤is a crochet pattern book from Taiwan, the whole book is all about top down patterns, I don't think US has one single book which all are top down patterns for crochet. I know there are several for knitting. So I was very excited to find this book.

The patterns in this book, some are very cute, but most of them are not my style. It is ok, coz i just want to learn the techniques, so I can design my own patterns. I read this book several times, it is the most confusing book ever!! I did learn some new trick. It doesn't explain clearly. I read some of the reviews about this book, a lot of people complain the same thing about how confusing it is. I guess I just need to crochet one of the patterns, I may understand better after I start to crochet. Still, I think this book is worth to buy.

The books I received!

This is my favorite!

I like this one also!

The Bolero is my favorite too!

My first Crochet Vest Design

2011-08-03T19:26:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted any real crochet project for a while, it is because I have been very busy with my "Crochet Design Class" and my 1st own pattern "Pineapple Vest", I haven't had a name that. It has been fun to design my own pattern, it is a lot of work.

I have finished the front pieces, now I am working on the back. Hopefully, I would be able to finish in 2 weeks. Cross my finger.

I haven't taken any pics of the vest, but I took pics of my swatch, so now is a preview of my vest.

The Swatch I did.

The yarn I used is Sublime Angora Merino, I really like this yarn, very soft, plus it doesn't shed. One down side, it is hard to frog with this yarn.

Japanese Crochet Book - Crochet Lace Doilies Patterns Book - 40 Stunning Patterns

2011-07-29T18:06:00.003-04:00

This is my favorite doilies book ever, the patterns are stunning, and I love it comes with crochet charts. I have so many vintage doilies books, but I never really crochet it, even though they are gorgeous. It is because the written instruction always confused me. I hate written instructions. I think last several crochet projects I did are "charted". None of them are written instruction.

Anyway, it is available at My Etsy Store

Are u ready for the beautiful patterns????

Here u go:

Japanese Crochet Book - Motifs and Edging 300 Patterns

2011-07-28T15:38:00.001-04:00

This is the best Crochet Motifs Book ever, it is like "Stitch Dictionary", it has 300 different motifs and edgings patterns. You can use any of these patterns to design your own garments, purses, bags, shawls etc. All patterns come with charts, so it is easy to follow. I have so many ideas for my next (and next several) project. If you love motifs, you will love this book.

It is available at my Etsy store.

Here is the pics:

Japanese Crochet Book - Motif Knit Pattern Book

2011-07-20T21:46:00.001-04:00

The patterns from this Japanese Motif Pattern Book are very cute and gorgeous. I crocheted a scarf from this book, the patterns include: cardigan, tunic, scarf, bag, hat, shawl etc. I have an extra copy for sale, pls visit my Etsy and Artfire store.

This is the scarf I made, it looks pretty good for the 1st time to crochet motifs!

Japanese Crochet Book - Lace Crochet for Beginners

2011-07-17T20:49:00.001-04:00

I love this book, because I recently love to crochet lace, like doilies, filet crochet and irish crochet. And this book covers all of them. It doesn't only show you the instructions, it even has patterns (and it shows you how to do it step by step).

If you are interested in any lace crochet, this is a MUST HAVE.

It is available at NameThatCandy Etsy and Artfire.

Beginner Crochet Techniques 80 - Japanese Crochet Craft Book

2011-07-15T13:19:00.000-04:00

Beginner Crochet Techniques 80 is a great "how to crochet" book for beginners, or you are new to "Crochet Chart"/ "Crochet Symbols". This book teaches you from how to chain, basic stitches, how to sew and finish the crochet pieces and it even teaches some advance crochet stitches, all show in Step by step. The best part is that it shows you the most popular and common crochet symbols, so you can read Crochet Charts. Once you know how to read it, you can crochet all the cute Japanese Crochet Patterns easily.

* this book is in Chinese (Taiwanese Version), but it is exactly as same as Japanese Version, it is licensed by Nihon Vogue.

It is available at my NameThatCandy Etsy and Artfire.

Here is the pics:

Amigurumi Sweet Japanese Crochet Pattern Book

2011-07-10T18:41:00.000-04:00

This book makes me hungry. Hehehe.. I love this book: Amigurumi Sweet. It has 95 yummy amigurumi dessert patterns like cakes, cookies, sundae, fruit, fruit tarts, doughnut etc. If you like amigurumi or like crochet food for your kids, this book is MUST HAVE.

It is available at my NameThatCandy Etsy and NameThatCandy Artfire.

Crochet Rose Pattern 100 Japanese Crochet Patterns Book

2011-07-05T22:32:00.000-04:00

Another Japanese Crochet Book, patterns include roses, motifs, edging, doilies and filet crochet. They are stunning beautiful!! I love every single patterns in this books.

They are available at NameThatCandy Etsy and NameThatCandy Artfire.

Japanese Crochet 300 Stitches Guide Dictionary

2011-06-24T22:03:00.000-04:00

Another Japanese Crochet Book I received yesterday, this is my favourite. I alway like stitch guide/ dictionary. I have one at home, I thought it was good, until I found out the Japanese Stitch Guide Patterns Books.

This book has 300 stitches, I love at least 90% of it, now my head full of ideas, I am going to use one of the stitches to design my own sweater. I can't wait to do the swatch.

I have one extra copy to sell, if you are interested, please visit:
NameThatCandy ETSY or NameThatCandy Artfire.

Back Cover

Irish Crochet Lace Japanese Crochet Book

2011-06-23T19:47:00.001-04:00

The Japanese Crochet Books I ordered last month, finally come in today!! YEAH!!

One of my favorites is "Irish Crochet Lace", the patterns in the book are stunning!!

Patterns are includes motifs like flowers, leaf etc, and you will use the motifs to crochet scarf, bags, pouches, hair accessories.

It is available at my ETSY or ArtFire.

here is the pics:

It is available at my ETSY or ArtFire.

DIY Doily Clock Tutorial

2011-06-08T20:54:00.001-04:00

Recently, I fell in love with crocheting doilies. But I don't know what to do with them. I am thinking to frame it, but then I have a hard time to find the frames that I like and the price is right. Then I thought maybe I can just glue in a piece of painted wood. It will be cheaper than a frame and it adds more personality. However, I am not an artist, I don't really paint, so I looked at my fabrics stash, I have so many nice fabrics that I bought from Japan which I planned to make purses. And one idea after one idea, Dada.... My Doily Clock is born!

Anyway, I went to AC Moore to look for a piece of wood, and I found something better than my original idea, I found a wood box. It is better to hide the clock than a piece of wood, and I think it looks better too.

here is a little tutorial:

Materials:
- Doily
- Wood Box (you can buy it at chained craft stores)
- Clock (you can buy it at chained craft stores)
- Fabric
- Fabric Glue

First, drill a hole in the center of the wood box.

Then, glue the fabrics on the box, I used spray glue which I have at home, you can buy this at craft stores.

Put the clock on the wood box.

Glue the doily on the wood box. I used regular fabric glue.

Put the clock arms.

Dada... Doily clock is done!! I called it Love Clock, because my hubby and I made it together. :)

My first Doily from Japanese Crochet Book

2011-05-07T19:43:00.000-04:00

Recently, I fall in love with doilies. I have never crocheted doilies before. So I found some Japanese Doilies Patterns online, I love Japanese Crochet Patterns, because they have charts, I am more visual type person, it is much easier for me to follow charts than written instructions.

I have some vintage doily patterns from 40s, but I was so confused with the written instructions. That is sad! I hope I would be able to figure out, I would love to try the vintage doily patterns, they are so beautiful!!

Vintage Japanese Crochet Cardigan

2011-04-25T15:14:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated my blog for months. I was so busy. We went to Hong Kong last month, my aunt gave all her vintage Japanese knitting and crochet pattern books (fr late 70s to early 80s) to me. I was thrilled. I love Japanese Patterns, and I love vintage patterns. Now I have both vintage and Japanese..... :)

Anyway, I finally finished the vintage Japanese cardigan project which I started last summer. It is a little too tight, my gauge is off, I did a swatch, it was ok. I don't know why?

"Signing Time!" DVD Vol 1 Review

2011-01-19T17:35:00.000-05:00

You want to teach your baby sign language, but there are so many dvds or baby sign language classes in the market. This lens is my personal review on one of the most popular baby sign languages DVDS "Signing Time". Before you invest $$ on the dvds, read my review to decide that is it the right one for you.

Before I bought "Signing Time" Dvd, I did a lot of research. I tried to some baby sign language books from library, but it didn't work for me. I am a visible type of person, it is easy for me to learn by watching it. So I think learning from dvds will be the best for me. However, they are so many different dvds in the market. It is very overwhelming. Someone I know recommended "Signing Time', I went to their website to watch the demonstration video, my 10-month old son showed interested in it. Therefore, I decided to spend $20 for the Vol 1 to give it a try.

I am so glad that I bought the dvd. My son was about 10-month old when we bought the vol 1, he only could watch about 10 - 15 mins, then he would lose the interest. We watched about 3 to 4 times a week. It is very important that you watch with your baby and sign together when you are watching together. I like the way Rachel Coleman teaches the sign language, it shows the "object" she is going to sign, then she signs, after that, there are different babies and toddlers sign too. It is nice to know that not all the babies sign exactly like her, so I don't feel my son is doing something wrong. Also, my son loves the songs from the dvd.

After a month or so, my son suddenly signed "More" after he finished his teething biscuits. The next day, he started to sign "Food/ Eat" and "Milk". I was very excited about it. Now he is 12-month old, he communicates with me very well. He doesn't know all the signs from the dvd yet, but he knows enough to express his needs, like he is hungry, he wants more food or he wants to nurse etc.

The only thing I don't like the dvd is a little bit too short, it is only 30 mins. For $20, I think it should be more than 30 mins.

In conclusion, I think it is a good baby sign language dvd. But I do recommend to buy the vol 1 to try first before you buy the whole series, because I heard some babies don't like the dvd. And I just ordered the vol 2. I can't wait to watch with my son.

Except watching the dvd, I sign with him all the time, so he can pick up easily. I think it is very important to practice all the times.

My son signs "More":

Signs "Eat":

My Top 5 Japanese Shojo Anime Series

2011-01-18T23:04:00.002-05:00

My Top 5 Japanese Anime Series

I love watching Japanese Anime, but I have never written anything about it on my blog. I want to introduce you guys my favorite anime series. If you like anime and you are not a guy, I think you will love with my list.

* I do not own any pics of the anime series.

1. Fruits Basket

Tohru Honda is 16 year old orphaned girl who lives in the house of her classmate, the handsome boy Sohma Yuki, and his cousins, 16 year old Kyo and 27 year old Shigure.

These young men and parts of the rest of their family hold a curse; if they are hugged by the opposite sex, then they transform into animals of the Chinese Zodiac. The story is about sweet Tohru gets to know everyone in the large family better (especially Yuki and Kyo), in both common and bizarre situations. This series is very sweet, warm, touching and funny. I love every characters in this series. Even my hubby watched it with me, he laughed so hard. I strong recommend this series. Total 26 episodes.

2. Peach Girl

This series is a little old. But this series gets me very addicted, after one episode, I just couldn't stop, I had to watch the next one. I think I watch whole dvd in one sitting without leaving my couch.

The story is about a high school girl called Momo Adachi, who everyone thinks is a slut because of her tanned skin. But the reason of her tanned skin is that she was on the swim team and she gets tan very easily. She likes a boy called Toji, who she heard only likes non-tanned girls. So she spends a lot of time trying to remake herself into the girl she believes he wants. However, a friend of hers called Sae, who loves to go behind Momo's back and make her life terrible, mostly by trying to take Toji away from her. At the same time, there's another boy called Kairi, who is in love with Momo. There is a Love Triangle between Momo, Toji and Kairi.

This series is kind of like Soap Opera, but in anime form. If you like Soap, you will definitely love this one.

3. Lovely Complex

This series is a love story about a tall girl called Risa Koizumi and a short boy called Atsushi Ootani. They started as a friends (sort of, coz they argue and fight a lot), later Risa has a romantic feeling for Ootani, the she is worried. She doesn't know that can he ever see her as more than a friend. With her friends rooting for her, she struggles to make him see how she feels about him, and that a romantic relationship between a tall girl and a short guy can work. Oblivious Ootani doesn't make things easy for her, but she stubbornly perseveres in her own unconventional way, determined for her feelings to get through to him, and finally be returned.

This series is very very funny and touching, I laughed and cried a lot.

4. Kimi Ni Todoke

Kuronuma Sawako is a high school student. With her jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor, she's often mistaken for the haunting movie (The Ring) character Sadako. But behind her scary facade is a very misunderstood teenager, she is a very sweet person. Because of her shyness, she has a hard time to fit in, all she wants to do is make some friends. When a popular boy in class starys to make friends with her, she starts to make more friends and it changes her life.

The story seems a little bit simple, but this series is very very warm. And the opening and ending songs are beautiful.

5. Kaichou Wa Maid-sama!

Misaki Ayuzawa is the first female student council president in her high school which was used to be all boys school. She rules the school with strict discipline demeanor. But her family is very poor, she has to work at a maid cafe secretly. One day, the popular student called Takumi Usui finds out her secret and makes a deal with her to keep it hush from the school in exchange for spending some time with him.

After I watched the 1st episode, I didn't really like it at all. But I heard so many good things about this series, so I decided to watch one more episode. I am glad that I did, this series is getting better every episode.

Phildar Phildar No 79 Mailles Layette Knitting Crochet Book for babies 3 to 24 month

2010-12-22T22:15:00.000-05:00

Today I go thrift store shopping with my hubby, we find a lot of goodies. I find 6 vintage knitting crochet patterns books that I really like. I will keep 3 of them, the other 3 are for sale.

Here is the one for sale:
Phildar No 79 Mailles Layette Knitting Crochet Book from 1980

or you can buy it from ETSY.

Star Trek Baby Longies Pants

2010-11-30T15:13:00.000-05:00

I made this few weeks ago, finally I have time to take pics. I will take more pics when Lukie wears it. I really love how it looks. I used fabrics glue to glue the logo on the pants.

I have so many sewing projects that I want to do, but I have been very lazy lately. I want to make Lukie two winter coats (one from Japanese Sewing Book, and the other one from Simplicity Pattern), a long pants (From Ottobre Magazines), few trainers (from two different patterns). On the top of sewing projects, I want to crochet Lukie a jacket. Hopefully, after this semester ends, I will have more time. I want to make at least one coats and few trainers before Christmas, coz I want the coat for his 1st Christmas present.


Front of the Longies

Back

Closeup of the Logo

The Best Trinsies I ever made

2010-11-11T13:44:00.001-05:00

I think this is the best trimsies I made.

Because my vintage Singer doesn't have zigzag, so I have been tacked both end of leg elastics. For some reason, my side seams are always off, they look ugly.

This time I did it on my own way, I sewed the top of inner and outer fabrics together first, then I sewed the side seams, after then I sewed the legs, rolled in 1/4" and topstitch it. Sewed 1/2" from the topstitch I did and insert elastic.

Now my side seams and leg openings are beautiful!!

The Green Chick is Size M, and the Robot is Size S.


Front of the Trainer


Back

Lukie is a Sushi Chef??

2010-11-08T15:36:00.001-05:00

I sewed a kimomo top for Lukie, after I put on him, I think he looks like a sushi chef, so I made him a head band. I used a pattern from a Japanese Sewing Book, it is really easy to make, but I forgot to add the seam allowance when I cut the fabric, so it is a little smaller than it supposes to be. And I used Aplix Hook and Tape (similar to Velcro) instead ribbon.