Category Archives: Reviews

Apr 16 2014

Booya Fitness

Posted on by
Follow Me on PinterestPin It

Found a workout website that I love! Fitness is important but something I don’t always make time for.

Between work, house work, volunteer activities and trying to be crafty, I have found it difficult to force myself to work out. I hemmed my yoga pants, I would actually like to use them for yoga and not just lounging on the couch. I even knitted a headband for running in colder weather and I might have said “no more excuses” I found plenty not to venture out into cold.  Booya Fitness brings professional trainers to my living room! It’s pretty cheap at $10/month. It has four workout categories: cardio, bootcamp, strength and toning and yoga. Now I can “retire” the winter headband and use my yoga pants for their real purpose! And  I don’t have to leave my house!

I was pretty excited to find Booya Fitness and thought I’d spread the word!

Nov 13 2013

xStitch Designer, cross stitch iPad App Review

Posted on by
Follow Me on PinterestPin It

cross stitch app

xStitch Designer is a cross stitch app for iPad only and costs $1.99.  I love the idea of being able to create patterns sitting in a coffee shop, waiting in the doctor’s office and things like that. I have to say, it is worth the price. I know people have a hard time spending money on apps but I don’t know the last time I’ve spent $2 and have been entertained for more than a minute.

Things I love:

  • 5 brands of thread to choose from! DMC, JP Coats, Sullivan’s, Anchor, Madeira
  • You have options for canvas size, for creating from scratch and for picture conversion
  • You can create patterns from scratch
  • Picture to pattern conversion and you can edit the picture pattern further
  • Right side bar, it’s out-of-the-way and self-explanatory
  • Simple tap the square to add a stitch, can choose between adding the thread color, symbol or both
  • Scissors to remove a stitch instead of an eraser is a cute idea
  • Can save your works in progress
  • Email and share with Facebook or Twitter your patterns
  • Print to AirPrint printer

Things I’m not so in love with:

  • Screen size, zooming in and out distorts the proportions of the pattern and you have to zoom in a lot to make sure you click the correct square
  • No finishing details, backstitch, french knots etc options
  • No letter writing help, it can be done but you have to figure it out on your own
  • No half stitch, quarter stitch, etc options
  • No undo button

Something I noticed when playing around with a picture of a hibiscus flower was that the size of the canvas affects the detail of the pattern which is obvious but also the brand of thread changed the detail of the pattern. Some brands are better for picture conversion apparently.

Overall, I enjoy this app. It’s perfect for creating smaller, simple projects. I think I’m going to use it create some coaster patterns. You can never have too many coasters. It’s great for getting the basic understanding of cross stitch pattern making. xStitch Designer is worth it for those who want to create patterns on their iPad.

 

Apr 12 2013

Free iPhone Knitting Apps

Posted on by
Follow Me on PinterestPin It

I have compiled a small list of free and hopefully useful knitting apps for iPhones. This list definitely doesn’t have all the free knitting apps available. I’m just mentioning a few I liked and that fit my needs.

 

knit appsI like stitch counter app by KAZE because it allows you store multiple projects. It also has a feature on the counter screen where you can turn the sleep function off. It also has a memo section where you can type notes about your progress, as well as, take pictures of your work.

Jknit LiteThere is also JKnit Lite HD for your iPad. JKnit Lite by Jakro Soft lets you store all of your pdf files in it for easy access and viewing where ever you are, no need to waste all of that paper anymore. There is also and stitch counter, place to write notes about your project and a camera option to take a pic of your project. There’s even a timer to record how much time you spent working on your project!

 

knit appsQuilt2Go has a couple of free apps that can be useful for knitters. The first one is a counter called StitchMinder and the other is called KnitMinder Lite.  KnitMinder Lite is a cool app because it allows you to put in and track current projects. It also has categories to list your pattern, yarn, and needle stashes so you will always know what you have instead of rummaging through everything to make sure you have it. The only thing that could be an issue is that the Lite version limits the amount of information you can put in to the app, you have to buy the full version to get more space.

knitting app
Gaugfy Free:Knitting Gauge Calculator is a handy app that helps you figure out what the gauge for a project should be. It also does the math for you when you need to figure out how long a project will be if you knit so many stitches per and how many rows. Or the opposite, you can input how long you need your project to be and it will tell you how many rows to knit. 

Dec 18 2012

Found a Cross Stitch App! Stitch Sketch Review

Posted on by
Follow Me on PinterestPin It

Found a cross stitch app for iPhone and iPad! It’s called StitchSketch! The website also has a download for PC computers. The lite version of the app is free and the full version is only $5! It takes some getting use to especially on my phone because the screen is so small. But it allows you to save and send/email the charts as images and pdf files. It can also upload your designs to your DropBox account.  This is the only app I can find that allows you to create your own designs as well as turn a picture into a cross stitch pattern. I’m so pumped for this and to keep learning more things about it because I no longer have to draw the patterns out by hand! Bottom line, this app is fun but not for large or detailed projects because it doesn’t have backstitch or half stitches. Now, I just need to take the time to get familiar with the program.