DIY Life

Here at DIY Life, posts about weddings are always popular, but often, posts about knit and crochet patterns come in a close second.

I thought it might be interesting to combine the two, by looking at a few free patterns for wedding cakes made from yarn. (Hey, they don't have to be frozen, and they never get stale!)

• Crochet Today's Crochet Confection cake pattern (PDF download) is, at 4"x8", life-sized. It's an easy, single-tier cake that you can display on a stand over a form.
• Berroco's Buttercream is also life-sized, but this one is a tiered cake with flowers; it can be used to store dishes. It's made in their Ultra Alpaca, but any other worsted-weight yarn should work just as well.
• On the miniature side, there are the Norma Lynn Cake Sachets. Several of the designs here, like the Two-Tier Cake and the Clumsy Cake, seem wedding-appropriate, though they're part of a collection of desserts. The second page of cake sachet patterns has a triple-tier wedding cake with flower toppers and ruffled trim.

Suggested uses? The sachets would make great giveaways at a bridal shower; they'd also make nice package decorations for gifts. Some of the projects might make cute gifts for attendants, in the right kind of wedding. They would be fun commemorations of a special anniversary, or whimsical decor in the right kind of room. Professional wedding planners could also probably appreciate them.

Outside of the wedding framework, you can always choose different colors, changing the "wedding cake" into a "birthday cake" -- or merely making a cute trinket for a friend who loves sweet desserts.

And if you're looking for more patterns like this, check out an older post of mine -- Amigurumi-o-rama: Crocheted Food.

When I was a youngster, I remember days where I was bored beyond measure. I would listen to the click-clack of my Mother's knitting needles as she would tell me stories of her youth in Germany, while I would unravel the ball of yarn for her.

Most kids won't sit long enough to help with mundane tasks, but I bet you could get yours to sit still on a rainy day if you ask them to help you dye yarn with food coloring. Suse of Pea Soup has a tutorial showing off her gorgeous pictures of yarn that she dyed with the help of her 8 year old son.

You'll need a box of food colors, a microwave-safe bowl, the child(ren), wool yarn, and vinegar, which helps set the dye. Adult supervision is needed when handling the hot water, so that the kiddos don't burn themselves.

For more help dyeing wool and other fabric, check out how to dye with fruits and vegetables, and how to dye with Kool-Aid.

[via: Whip Up]

Yesterday, hat love was in the air at Whip Up, one of my favorite blogs. Kath is looking for the perfect pattern for a newsboy or beanie cap to knit or crochet.

In the process of searching, she's turned up a few great free patterns you might want to check out. There's Couvercle from the most recent issue of Knitty (which I discussed last week), a Garnstudio crocheted cap pattern, and the Mikey Cap by kris knits. Each has a slightly different shape and stitch pattern, so there may be something out there for every head.

Don't miss the comments of the post, where readers are suggesting additional great cap-style hats to knit or crochet, like Rosi G's Capitán Hat. So far, the winners seem to be the hats in Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n B!itch books, but if you're looking for more good pattern suggestions, I would keep watching the replies to see what turns up.

Summer is almost officially here -- at least in the Northern Hemisphere -- so it's fitting that the Summer 2008 issue of the free online knitting magazine Knitty hit the Web yesterday afternoon.

This time around, the majority of the patterns are small or lightweight things appropriate for warm-weather wear; not many of them will sit on your lap like a blanket while you work on them. Along with a few garments, there are many accessories -- even a knit lace garter for weddings.

We'll discuss a few of the best patterns and technical articles after the break.

I've mentioned here before how much I love the amigurumi patterns by Brie, the Scottish blogger who writes at Roman Sock. She designs with a wonderful eye, and her resulting creations are completely charming.

This time, she's back with a travel yarn holder that you can crochet in one of two shapes: an acorn, or a strawberry. All you'll need to make it is heavy worsted weight yarn, a crochet hook, some ribbon, a few beads, simple crochet skills, and your spare time.

When you've finished, you'll have a cute way to protect a ball of yarn while you transport it, or to dangle it from your wrist when you work on a project.

Brie doesn't charge for her patterns at this time; however, one of her friends is seriously ill and is trying to raise over US $10,000 for treatment, so she's asking that people donate if they can afford to. It's for a good cause, so why not? Details at her blog.

[[via Becky at Craft.]]

I am not a fan of housework and I despise doing dishes. I have no automatic dishwasher; that would be me. I go through scrubbies like mad, mostly because my husband forgets to rinse his dishes, and when I happen to get to them, they are pretty crusty.

Berlin's Whimsy loves doing dishes, but was bored with cleaning with regular scrubbie sponges. She decided to liven up her task by knitting dish scrubbie sponges. Using cotton worsted weight yarn, tulle, and size 9 knitting needles, she made herself an awesomely colorful and useful scrub sponge.

Since tulle can be difficult to work with, Berlin's Whimsy weighted down the tulle and used a rotary cutter to make an even cut. She wrapped the tulle around an empty paper towel roll so that it would be easier to knit with. Check out the complete tutorial here.

I am so tickled that Curbly posted this for us. I think I might still despise doing dishes, but it sure would make it easier on me to be working with a scrub sponge that was pretty. I am sure that using mesh fruit and vegetable bags to make these awesome sponges would work too.

Berroco, the popular yarn company, releases several new yarns just about every season. Because they're a leader in the category of fashion yarns -- that is, those you might use to make a special-occasion top with a bit of flash, or a fancy scarf that isn't necessarily intended to keep you warm -- their products are often complex, and relatively expensive and delicate. It might not be practical to make a full garment out of some of them.

Fortunately, Berroco is also known for their large archive of free patterns. Their most recent releases are small fashion accessories that you can make out of delicious yarns like glittering Lumina and textural Seduce... without breaking your budget.

My two favorite patterns from the latest update are Lurema and Scarfina. A close look suggests that they're actually essentially the same pattern, written for two different yarns: both are long (64"), slender (5") lace scarves. Lurema is shown as a head-wrap, while Scarfina is depicted as a belt, but you should be able to wear either of them either way: just choose your favorite yarn and run with it.

You may also be interested in Hedda, a small crocheted headband made in two colors of Linen Jeans, which was part of the same recent pattern update.