I remember these cereals....

 Count Chocula 80's commercial



1970's Franenberry Commercial



Check here for other retro-commercials.

Cora.

So I came across this amazing Amigurumi Designer, Dawn Toussaint.

She is both a knitter and crocheter like me! How cool is that? She has five patterns available for free Manuel the Monkey, Padma the Elephant a, Murray the Reindeer (Christmas), Belfry the Bat (Halloween) and now Roman the Love Bird (for Valentine's Day. Manuel and Padma are available in 4 parts on her blog. Murray and Roman are available in pdf form. This young woman is all over. She has a Facebook page, a twitter account, a Ravelry Shop, an Etsy Shop and a blog!

Here are some of her fantastic designs:

Murray the Reindeer

Manuel the Monkey

Padma the Elephant

Roman the Lovebird

Belfrey The Bat

Check out her etsy store and Ravelry store for other designs. the average price is about $6.00/pattern. Some are more as they include clothes, etc.  Check her you know you wanna!




Cora



(edited to add the project button for Roman the Lovebird)

My hubby is a fan of the game Angry Birds...

Angry Bird Plushies

Angry Bird Cake (Wow!)

Do it yourself... Angry Birds Lego

retro version

in fact I think he has all the versions that have been made available for purchase. For those who don't know (ie: living under a rock), is a puzzle game. So far there has been a Halloween, Christmas and Valentines Day Versions. Not sure if this retro one is real or not but it is reminiscent of the 1990's video games. Hard to believe how far video games have come in 2 decades. Someone even took the time to make them in Lego. Wouldn't it be awesome if Lego actually developed a set similar to the Star Wars set or Harry Potter or even Pirates of the Caribbean?

 

Available on iPhone: http://bit.ly/cN7wr0  Nokia N900: http://store.ovi.com/content/23857 now the Android phone

The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs fortified castles.

Angry Birds features hours of gameplay, challenging physics-based castle demolition, and lots of replay value. Each of the 63 levels requires logic, skill, and brute force to crush the enemy.

Protect wildlife, or play Angry Birds!

Angry Birds Cardinal

Angry Birds Pig

So Karla Fitch (Itsy Bitsy Spider) has been busy designing Amigurumis based on the birds.

Her first design was Angry Birds Cardinal which was a free pattern available on Ravelry.

Angry Birds Goldfinch

Angry Birds Bomb Bird

Angry Birds Blue Bird

Then she moved onto the pig, then the goldfinch , then the bluebird. Karla has finished the Bomb Bird but the pattern isn't available as of yet. The cost is only $2.00/pattern. She is not making a whole lot of cash here. It is more for her to get yarn for more designs. Check out her Ravelry Page, her blog and etsy shop for more great designs.

Cora

So I came across this status update by Robyn Chachula

on Facebook and Twitter.

Speechless! Seriously floored. Nikki is going to attempt to crochet every project in BBC in 4 a Julie/ Julia project. http://is.gd/xITd6U

So I was intrigued by the premise. I do have Robyn's books; Blueprint Crochet and Baby Blueprint Crochet.




However I decided that I am going to do a different challenge.  As you have probably noticed I have been gravitating towards toys so I have decided to knit all of Anna Hrachovec toys from her Knitting Mochimochi book as well as Susan B. Anderson's Book Itty Bitty Toys. So I am going to do the 52 weeks of knitting toys.


 Cora

Wow I came across this wonderful designer apropriately named Amigurumi Artist

Bella 

So I came across her designs when I came across a blog called Great Amigurumi on blogspot.com. I found her under dog patterns, as she has a beautiful design called Bella listed. Any of the listings for her designs are linked through Ravelry. She does have a blog as well.  They are available for free. There is only one way to get her designs and that is emailing her for them. Her designs are unbelievable!

Here are some pictures with the links to her designs they are so life like.  A warning some of these may not be safe for viewing at work.

Enjoy!

Lionhead Monkeys

Grail of the Dragon

Red Knee Spider

(this one scares me as I am not a fan of spiders)

Ducky

Mr. Ooops

There are so many and they are just awesome check out her Ravelry page or her blog.


Cora

Wow what a way to begin my afternoon...

Simply Knitting 49, January 2009

Sackboy

I received an email earlier today, along with 2 other moderators from the Alan Dart Group on Ravelry, from Alan Dart regarding a Ravelry user who produced a pdf of how she worked the design and then she published the pdf on her blog and on Ravelry. This was an infringement of copyright both Alan Dart's and Sony's. The pattern was Sackboy which was published in Simply Knitting and on the Sun website (a free pdf). Sackboy is from Little Big Planet which is produced by Sony for Playstaion and PSP. Sony and Alan Dart entered into a contract where Alan would design a pattern to design a pattern for this character.

Alan's design is lovely and very easy to follow if you are patient and trust the whole process. I have often found that I look forward to figuring out what these pieces will look like as I work through his designs.

Ravelry doesn't mind if you write in the notes the changes that are made. However they frown on copyright infringement, so within 20 minutes it was removed from the database and the person removed it from their blog. I did send her an private message to explain everything along with a copy of Alan's email, minus the personal information.

There is a very fine line on being a fan and overstepping into copyright infringement.

The story of Mazzmatazz is one such story.  Mazzmatazz was known for being a big fan of Dr. Who. The BBC went after her with all there might after dolls/toys, that were made fro her patterns that she offered for free on her website, were being auctioned off on eBay. She has since published a supplement for the Guardian (a UK magazine), her patterns are listed under related articles. So anyways Mazzmatazz ended up having to remove all of her Dr. Who patterns.

There are many other designers that are selling their patterns but they haven't been "caught" or "reported on". Mazzmatazz's designs were discovered due to dolls be auctioned off on eBay, which is very public.  Etsy has a copyright infringement policy however it hasn't bee enforced judging the following blogs:

• http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/

• Callin' Out On Etsy

 So there have been issues...big time.

So I came across this post...

Alien and Knight

Zombie Bunny

I love these and they are based upon this pattern on Craftster.com

I love the designs and I think they make great stash buster items.

The original designer designed a Knight, a Father Christmas/Gnome and a Ninja. These are way to cute! check out the pics.

Aliens with Button Eyes

Father Christmas/Gnomes

Ninja

Aliens

Army of Knights

Army of Knights

Someone suggested the knights would make great chess pieces, something I think I could accomplish. Someelse wondered if they could be made into cat toys, another suggestion I could try as I have 4 cats that love to play.  Will post pics if I try either suggestion. will let you know.

 Here is a doll I found on Etsy called One Shy Guy Doll and you can own your very own for only $18.00 USD, sorry no pattern it is the finished doll.

One Shy Guy Doll

 She has some really cute Nintendo dolls for sale. Hopefully she won't get nailed about the copyright issues.

Coo and Coy Set #1

Coo and Coy Set #2

My own projects that I have been knitting are almost done. I have been knitting Coo and Coy by Anna Hrachovec (aka Mochimochi Land). I lover her quirky designs. Mine are more colorful though. Just need to sew these guys up....Yeah!

I am also knitting the Heart from knitty.com.

Heart

So that is all for now. I hope to have a completed heart in the next day or two. I am thinking of design a kidney next, where proceeds would be donated to the Kidney Foundation of Canada as I am a renal pateient.

Cora