1.8.2 is FINALLY HERE!

So many new things are happening in my world lately, I can hardly keep up! I'm really sorry I haven't been blogging as much but I will definitely be making up for lost time. :)

I'm super proud and excited to tell you guys that I am now the Gaming Correspondent and newest cohost to the blog talk radio station, The Geek Supremacy!

Please click this link and like us on Facebook:

The Geek Supremacy Project

We cover all things Geek! from movies, comics, tv, to video games and music so definitely check us out. :) We've been discussing doing a vlog or video podcast as well and although I'm nervous as all hell about it, I'm leaning towards yes.

I know I'll get a lot of flack from some viewers for being a big girl but I don't think I'll let it get to me. I recently came across a tv show and magazine about plus sized (actual plus sized not that 'real size' bullshit the mainstream media want us to swallow) models and I think if I weren't so short, or agoraphobic, I'd seriously consider trying out some modeling. Holy shit balls, just thinking about that makes me anxious. SHEESH! Moving on!

In crochet news, I have been designing some super geek chic apparel for our noggins. From Skyrim Iron Helm hats to super hero beanies! Get ready to gear up geek style soon! If you can't wait for me to stumble upon the hat you want, be sure to request a custom made hat for yourself on my etsy shop. It's easy! You click it, send me a note of what you want and I create it for you! Prices are discussed and paid for up front and the turn around time is usually 7-10 business days but I can usually do it in less time.

Click the link below and then Request Custom Item on the bottom left hand side menu:

Cool Beans and Things Etsy Shop

Most of us are eagerly awaiting the release of some huge games this year such as Assassin's Creed III, Halo 4, and Black Ops 2 and the wait is getting shorter folks. I want to give you guys a heads up on an all new FREE TO PLAY (yes, FREE!) game on Xbox Live.

The new and improved dashboard came with some impressive add ons such as Internet Explorer and all new Xbox Music, but a little known new program came along for the ride where free to play games will also be supported by Xbox Live. The first of many, Happy Wars is a super fun 15 on 15 multiplayer game where tiny little warriors battle it out to destroy the other teams castle. You can choose from a warrior, cleric, and mage class and level your character items with stars won in the game or tickets purchased with Microsoft points. 

If you haven't check it out yet my friends, give it a try. There are set times Bonus Time during the day where you get bonus XP and games can be harder to find but there is also a co-op and campaign mode. What better way could there be to 'kill' time then to play a new and free game? Go check it out! 

Now for some Minecraft news: First of all I wanted to showcase some of my newest Minecraft creations with you guys. Since the 1.8.2 update hit Xbox we now have CREATIVE MODE and UGH! Where have you been all my life? As if flying around and running super fast aren't awesome enough, the creative mode menu is a miracle and so easy to use!

My one and only gripe is that the water and lava buckets don't automatically refill and there's no shortcut to delete something from your hot bar. Some people opt to make a lava pit garbage disposal nearby or select the item in the menu then back out to make it disappear. There should be an easier way to do that though.

Now, everyone knows that Pandaland was a huge endeavor for my friends and I and there was a lot of compliments and criticism for it from the gaming community. This time around, I'm really spreading my creative juices allll over Minecraft's face!

I decided to do not one, but 4 parks in an all new, super huge PANDA WORLD! So far we've done the main entrance, a candy shop, a souvenir shop, the 4 park entrances, and 3 rides for the Water Park (still needs to be named). I am showing these pics to my blog readers EXCLUSIVELY!

 TAH DAH! The Main Entrance. It even has ticket booths!

 Here is the Candy Shop in a Cupcake Building! Those are sliding glass doors beside the cake display case!

The souvenir shop is a giant fish bowl! Inside you'll see nemo 'hangin' around :D Can you see some familiar faces? shhhhhhhh don't say anything! lol

Once you're inside the Water Park, You see this awesome Pirate Ship! Climb aboard with your friends to play a fun round of bumber boats. Break each other's boats and be the last one standing to win! The canon's are dispensers that launch chicken eggs!

Right next door is Winter Wonderland where you can practice your speed skating.

A little further into the Water Park you'll see a pyramid welcoming you to The Nile Lazy River where this gold toothed croc and his palm tree buddies show you a cool time. :)

I want to give a special thank you to my collaborators and awesome friends, Stacey/Sp0nG3BOoB, Josh/K1NG PWNAGE 98, SpartanMacky, Abel/BeastnessisLife, Az/PoP KoRN Xio, Luis/Sneaky Diablo, and Chynna/ DynamicWhisper3. If I missed someone, please forgive me...I'm on this map all day every day and it becomes quite transient. People come and go so often, it's hard to keep track.

In the same breath, I want to thank you all for putting up with my tyrant ways, lol. We all know, if its not perfect, Lady will tear it ALL down and either do it all myself or ask you to change it. I love you all for putting up with my OCD lol. <3

Welp, that's all for now (it was a LOT, I know lol). Tune in for my pre-release review later this week for the upcoming big game release season!

Thanks for reading.
Geek Love,
La Lady Panda

Dinner for two?

I'm impatiently waiting for the 1.8.2 update to the Xbox 360 to finally arrive! I've been playing less but amping myself up to spend tons of time playing once the update comes out. 

If you love Minecraft as much as I do, check out the 1.8.2 update Celebration Sale on my etsy shop. 20% off on all Minecraft gear! 

click here ---> http://www.etsy.com/shop/CoolBeansandThings?section_id=11656426

In my desperation I decided to revisit some of my old creations. Ah how the time has changed me and my crafting ways lol. I make much bigger and piston-y creations now but when there were no pistons, I dedicated every ounce of creativity into the look of my structures. After Pandaland, I wanted to create a city. I succeeded in the construction of the city to about 90% of its potential. It's got schools, post office, hospital, church, fire department, bank, auditorium, botanical garden, community pool, hot air balloon, mall, movie theaters, gas station, restaurants and more!

I wanted to share some of these creations bit by bit (heehee bit) so I decided to throw in some pictures of some of the restaurants in my city.

Here's my favorite, the Krusty Krab!

I tried to make the inside as accurate as possible. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. This was  before the lighting fix was applied. The menu is just like in the show. I included Mr. Krabs office, the kitchen, the walking freezer, the tables, the register, and SpongeBob's grill(furnace). :)

Another restaurant I made was near the high school, it's a McDonalds! It has a lobby area, counter with registers, and a drive thru! Menu and all :)

This is the Yumm Yumm Tepanyaki Palace! I had to put a layer of water in the ground floor so that the grill/tables which have glass covering a lava bottom wouldn't set the place ablaze. It took me 4 hours and 10 huge blazing fires to figure that one out. I'd be on the second floor building where a familiar sizzle would run through and ruin everything. It was frustrating lol but worth the hard work. 

I hope you like some of my restaurants. I have tons of other builds that I can show you on xbox if you send me a message to La Lady Panda gamertag. Keep an eye out on my blog too, I'll be updating more Minecraft build pics. I hope to have a PVR or PVR connect to be able to record my creations to upload here and youtube soon. Comment on here if you'd like me to visit some of your maps and check out what you have built. I would love to showcase it for you on my blog also. :)

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Mery Ann

Ballet Slipper/Heart Patterns

Hey friends!

My niece is turning 11 in less than two weeks and I wanted to make her gift something really special. I looked around for free patterns for slippers and found a great one on youtube.

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SBXwDPh8I&feature=relmfu

I love the chunky style and ribbon idea so I used that in a ballet slipper style and added some flare in all of my niece's favorite colors. Here is the pattern with my alterations to it. 

(All credit for the basis of the pattern goes to originator of the youtube.com video listed above. Her version of the pattern can be found on etsy.com as well.)

Hook: K/Size 10.5/6.5 MM

Use two strands of yarn from either one skein of color or two. I used two in hot pink for mine.

Tools: 
Yarn Needle
Ribbon (at least long enough to tie around the ankle)

Stitches:
SC- Single Crochet
SLST- Slip Stitch

With both strands at the same time, Chain 2.

- 9 SC in 1st chain. SLST into first chain. Chain 1 and Turn.

- 2SC in every stitch around (18 STs total)  SLST into first chain. Chain 1 and Turn.

(If you require a wider slipper, add another increase row as follows:

1SC in 1st stitch, 1SC in next stitch, 2 SC in next stitch, repeat all the way to the end.  SLST into first chain. Chain 1 and Turn. Should be 24 stitches around)

- *1SC in every stitch around then SLST into first chain. Chain 1 and Turn.*

*Repeat until the front of the slipper reaches the start of your toes (Usually 4-6 rounds)

From here until the end you will be crocheting rows but not all the way around. 

-*1SC in the next 10 stitches (you may want to increased this to 12 stitches if you want your slipper to cover more of your foot. If using the wider stitches you may need to increase this to 16 SC) then SLST into first chain. Chain 1 and Turn.*

*Repeat until the length of the slipper reaches the back of the heel. 

-Fold the slipper in half at the heel end. SLST the two halves together, tie off, and weave in ends.

At this point you may use your ribbon, woven around the edges of the slipper at the opening to create the ballet style. 

I added some stitched hearts for added adorableness! Here is a small heart pattern:

Hook: G/4.5MM

Stitches:

SC- Single Crochet

HDC- Half Double Crochet

DC- Double Crochet

SLST- Slip Stitch

Chain 4, Join with a SLST at first chain to create a loop. Chain 1

-In loop: 1HDC, 1DC, 1HDC, SLST, 1HDC, 1DC, 1HDC, 3SC, 1DC, 3SC then SLST into first chain. Tie off and leave at least a 6 inch tail for sowing.

It should look like this! I stitch it tight so the shape stands out more. :)

That's all for now friends. I hope you like the free patterns and you have a blast making your ballet slippers!

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Mery Ann

Combining Two Loves to make EPICOSITY

Once I began playing Minecraft, it quickly became a time consuming obsession. I enjoy being able to create with all of my imagination and this game definitely gives you plenty of room to build your dreams.

I normally move from one new obsession to the next, sometimes abandoning the last hobby for a new one but this time around I wanted to combine these two and create a Minecraft inspired crocheted item. Beanies are my specialty, so to speak, and so naturally I wanted to make a creeper beanie.

A creeper is a cubed, pixelated monster from the Minecraft. It's so scary! When you're playing and the game's sky rolls into night time, these creepers come out and sneak up on you. The only warning is a hissing sound followed closely by a .....POW!!!!!LARGE BOOM!!! and they blow you away.

They're always good for a scare and a laugh! That's why they are beloved and hated equally by all Minecrafters.

I created this beanie:

I played around with some felt and polyfill and made this adorable matching key chain that looks like the dirt blocks from the game. It's about 1 inch cubed.

They are for sale as a set at my etsy.com shop and I wanted to showcase it and some of the other AWESOME Minecraft inspired gear my fellow Etsy shops have for sale so I made a Treasury List.

A Treasury List is a collection of items for sale centered usually around a specific theme. For example, let's say you want to make a list of all of your favorite pink shawls you've found around etsy, or wedding dresses, or in this case, Minecraft EPICOSITY!

Here's a link to the Treasury List I made called Minecraft Mania:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjEzMjQzMTd8MjcyMzAyOTExOA/minecraft-mania

*This picture belongs to ArtbyMark of http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtByMark?ref=seller_info

I'd have to say my absolute favorite is a square cake shaped kitty pillow with cat nip! Look how stinkin' cute!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/78614018/minecraft-inspired-kitty-catnip-cake?ref=tre-2723029118-12

I definitely want to make more Minecraft inspired gear. Maybe some felt goodies like hair clips and jewelry. Do you have any suggestions?

I wanted to include free patterns for something geek and awesome that you could create for yourself or maybe a smaller person you know so here it is!

This picture of Link amigurumi and the pattern are the sole property of "Becchin" as mentioned in the pattern translation page. Please click on the link to view the pattern and enjoy!

http://tanoshimou.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/link-legend-of-zelda-amigurumi-free-pattern/

If you and/or your kids LOVE Super Mario as much as I do, you'll definitely appreciate this free crochet pattern directory for ALL things Mario!

http://freeamigurumipatterns.wordpress.com/category/mario-video-games/

Well friends, that's all for now. Thanks for reading <3

Love,

Mery Ann

Cause Crochet is Awesome

What's better than a Free Pattern?

Wait for it..........FREE YARN!
Too bad there isn't any. :(

But at least I have a free pattern for you!

I came across this adorable newborn dress pattern and I just had to tackle it. I found it on Ravelry.com and let me tell you, if you aren't already a member, go join! It's free and painless. It could seem a little intimidating at first because there's so much to do and see but with a little practice I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. (See bottom for quick tips.*)Besides, you could always ask me for help! I'm always happy to lend a hand!

I had previously crocheted a pair of baby sandals and a headband from an original pattern I wrote and used the same colors and puff stitch flower for each of them like this:

And then added the dress to the set as shown here:

This set is available for sale on my etsy shop here:


https://www.etsy.com/listing/101238603/summer-newborn-baby-dress-headband-and


For the free dress and diaper cover pattern click this link:

http://www.oocities.org/crotiques/bgs.htm


And for the puff stitch flower check out a fellow crocheters Blogger page here:


http://easymakesmehappy.blogspot.com/2010/07/6-petal-puff-stitch-flower.html


I have a database of free crochet patterns on my Pinterest page here:


http://pinterest.com/cbatcreations/favorite-free-patterns/


I have the sandal and headband patterns scribbled into my crochet notebook and I haven't decided if I write it up and post it. I'd need people to test it of course and then I would post it for free, just because.

Do you think I should write it up and post it?

I don't know why but I don't think I would ever be the kind of person to sell patterns. I love seeing all the amazing patterns people have for sale but if I wanted to make something bad enough, even at my amateur level I would probably just try and figure it out myself first. It could just be because I'm stubborn though. It would definitely be easier to just use an already created, written, and tested pattern instead. Oh logic, why must you lose to stubborn all the time?

HA! Just thought of something. What if kids said, "Let's play logic, stubborn, pride!" instead of rock, paper, scissors?

Anywho :)

Thanks for Reading
Love, 
Mery Ann


*Ravelry tips: At first you'll want to look around at the literally thousands of free patterns for either knitters or crocheters by typing a category into the search bar on the top right of the main screen. From there you'll see pictures and descriptions of the patterns and a menu on the left hand side of your page to narrow down your search by category, sizes, and even hook or needle size. Once you find some you like, click on them and either favorite them to show support or add them to your library so that you can access them at any time. I'm CoolBeansnThings on there so add me if you'd like and message me for help with anything. :)