The Pineneedle Collective

Monday 21 July 2014

Tartan Dresses and Paper Folds

Dress is from Renew Vintage | tights are from Japan | shoes are no longer available

I am so glad that Katie convinced me to buy this dress while we were at Sydney's Finders Keepers a couple of months back! I noticed it early on in the night, but didn't try it on "in case I loved it", and proceeded to fret for hours while creepily returning to the store 3 or 4 times to stare at it. Sick of me being a weirdo and possibly freaking out the store owner, Katie forced me to try it on, "and then, when it doesn't fit, you won't regret anything!"
Unfortunately, it fit perfectly. This caused much more fretting on my part. Katie told me I had to buy it. I said no. Then a stranger walked by and told me how good it looked, and that I had to buy it. "Oh, maybe I should buy it!" I exclaimed, and proceeded to buy the dress. "Cool, don't listen to me then, listen to a stranger," grumbled Katie.

So that's the story of this dress. I'm really happy that I bought it now, regardless of the fact that I have way too many dresses in my wardrobe (psst! Buy my clothes! You know you want to!)

Speaking of Katie, she is still gallivanting around Finland and isn't going to be back for another two weeks, boo! I miss her so much!

Alright, want your MIND TO EXPLODE?! (Not literally, obviously. I promise that all mind explosions that may result will be of the good kind.)

If it were possible to fold a normal piece of paper in half 104 times (it isn't possible, by the way - the record is 12 times - if you don't believe me, go and try it yourself) then the resulting width of folded paper would be as BIG as the entire observable universe.

Cool!... wait. How?!

Exponentials, baby! Watch this video:

And I hope that you're all having a wonderful day.

Friday 18 July 2014

DIY Heart Collar

I just realised that nearly all my video tutorials centre around heart motifs (see: heart tights, heart dress, heart pinafore and now heart collar). I guess I must have a subconscious obsession with heart-printed things! Of course, you can substitute the heart shapes in my tutorials for any other easy-to-draw shapes, but hearts seem to be my go-to novelty shape (no regrets here).

Anyway, ever since finding my embroidered rude shirt (language warning for that link), I have wanted to embroider all of my collared things! I wanted to start off with something easy - hence the heart - but I'm definitely going to try words next!

Let me know what you think of the tutorial, and if you think you will give this a go! It's really easy, quick, and doesn't require a sewing machine (woo hoo!) so if you've got a spare 30 minutes to do a little crafternoon-ing (or crafternighting, if you're like me and always get inspired to start projects near midnight) - definitely give it a go! It's also perfect for people with little-to-no hand-sewing skills (like me)!

And here is a good link for the kind of stitch you need to know for this tutorial, which is called a satin stitch (does not need to be used on satin. Silly sewing lingo).

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Donut we all?

Necklace is c/o I Love Crafty | blouse, pinafore and cardigan are thrifted | tights are DIY | shoes are old

I felt that I needed some absurd way to express my love of I Love Crafty's new Donut Shop range of jewellery, so I decided to make it look like it was raining donuts in my backyard!

Image via Rebloggy

I've been a fan of I Love Crafty for years now, and this donut shop range is one of my favourite collections of theirs, featuring donut-themed collar tips, necklaces and rings in all the different flavours! They will go perfectly with any pastelly outfit, but will probably make you want to eat some real-life donuts (like I had to the next time I went out shopping, hahaha). Not only is the jewellery just wonderful, but Laura is also the queen of cute packaging!

Donut science! (TW: diets and food) Have any of you watched the documentary Sugar v Fat that aired a couple of months ago? If you can find it, I highly recommend watching it!

Basically, two identical twins who also both happen to be doctors wanted to see what was healthier for you when "dieting" - a high-fat or a high-sugar diet? For one month, one twin went on a high-fat diet, while the other went on a high sugar diet with little to no fat.

The demonisation of either fat or sugar in fad diets has been a point of debate in pop-nutrition - one moment, you're told to avoid all fats and the next, it's sugars that seem to be evil - with high-fat diets like Atkins, and low-fat diets all claiming to be the healthiest for you.

Well these twins wanted to cut through the bullshit, and study the physiological changes that occur when going on either of these diets.

What they find out is interesting - neither fat or sugar seem to be the real problem (and cutting out either one or the other is pretty unhealthy). Rather, it's a highly addictive combination of the two, usually when they occur in a 1:1 ratio - such as found in Krispy Kreme's original glazed donuts.

As neuropsychologist Paul Kenny demonstrates, when lab rats are given free access to a food that is only fat (like cream) or only sugar, they will not overeat. However, when rats are given free access to food that is a combination of fat and sugar, they will absolutely gorge themselves, and the ratio of fat to sugar is very important.

To prove their point, the twins offer people a choice between three donuts - original glazed, sugar-coated or creme-filled donuts.

What would you choose, given a choice (and you aren't allowed to say no?)

Most people, it turns out, would choose the original glazed donut. This 1:1 combination of fat and sugar is apparently not found anywhere in nature, rather it's only found in human-made, processed foods, and apparently it's super addictive to us mammals - so no wonder donuts are so appealing!

* Note that this wasn't a proper scientific study, but it does aid what most nutritional scientists (with actual science degrees) have been saying for years - eat a balanced diet and don't eat too many processed foods if you want to eat healthily! NB you should always aim to eat to be healthy, not to change your body to look like some "ideal" shape because all body shapes are beautiful :) So enjoy the occasional donut now and again!

I hope that you are all having a great day!

Thursday 10 July 2014

Mustard, Sunflowers & Women in Science

Because it's the middle of winter and my house doesn't have any heating (#studentlyfe) I have been wearing mostly warm colours like orange, red and yellow - as if I'm trying to trick my brain to make up for our lack of heating. I have also been ~constantly~ wearing this new Lime Crime velveteen lipstick (Wicked) because it's also a lovely, warm colour and it goes perfectly with my hair! Seriously, this lipstick is tha shiz - I put it on after breakfast, and it's still there when I'm getting ready for bed, without any reapplications! Now how's that for staying power?

And then there's these tights - they're my absolute favourite right now. Even when I'm just wearing a pair of plain black shorts and a sweater, they make that outfit interesting. I've been wearing this floral pair for the last week to check out how durable they are, because I have them for sale in my shop - and they're super good quality, I have not gotten a single ladder or tear, and I've even been taking them bike riding! So with that little plug, if you want to buy a pair I have about 8 pairs for sale in my shop!

"Our words can have a huge impact. Isn't it time we told her she's pretty brilliant too?"

This video from Verizon shows us how both society and parents unintentionally dissuade girls from going into science, and oh boy, it gets so many things right. And yeah, it's an ad for Verizon, but it's a really great one. First off, it's a video all about female empowerment that doesn't resort to how women look - such as those ads that emphasise "don't worry, you're beautiful whatever you look like", and in doing so perpetuate the idea that appearance is still the most important thing to strive for if you're a woman.

As slate observes, the ad makes parents and society into the problem, not the girls themselves. "So much of our efforts in trying to encourage girls end up treating them like they're the ones who are screwing up, either with too much "body talk" or being lame for playing with certain toys. This ad shifts the focus, arguing that girls are born fine and it's the rest of us who screw them up" says Slate's Amanda Marcotte.

The idea of young girls being "ladylike" - of not getting dirty, not playing with things found at the beach, staying safe, being quiet and letting the men handle potentially dangerous tools - is also telling those girls that they shouldn't have an interest in science and technology, because it's not a very "ladylike" profession to strive for.

Yes, you can tell a young woman that she's pretty, but that should never be her most important quality. Because "she's pretty brilliant, too".

Tuesday 8 July 2014

DIY Printed Tights (Video Tutorial)

Necklace c/o Eclectic Eccentricity | top is thrifted | skirt c/o Faith & Lola | tights are DIY | shoes are no longer for sale

Two years ago, I posted a tutorial on how to make your own heart print tights and it has remained the most-viewed tutorial on my blog to date!

However, the tutorial is missing some crucial steps which I wanted to cover properly with a video. Now you can see the process in motion! And as always, if you try this tutorial out then share a photo with me on instagram! Use #diyannika to share a photo with me (note: if your instagram account is set to private, I won't be able to see your photo!)

Wishing you all a super lovely day,

Sunday 6 July 2014

Checker Boards & Ridiculous Good Luck

Post preface (I promise that this will all make sense in a moment): You know when you have those vivid dreams where you go out and buy a really perfect dress/your parents get you a puppy/you discover the perfect food, etc etc... and because the dream was so vivid and perfect and happy, you wake up really excited - but then after a few blissful moments you sadly realise it was all just a dream?

Alright, keeping that in mind - the most amazing thing happened to me the other day and I'm still pinching myself!

For some reason nobody in my family told me about this until now, but my uncle used to run a business which manufactured patterned tights (this was about 10 years ago now) and supplied them to department stores, including stores in Japan. Anyway, there were still a fair few of these tights that were never ever sold, that were just laying around all boxed and packaged up in a basement. And they are -- AH-MAZING -- and still in perfect condition, and, well, they need to be worn and seen by the world (and saved from landfill) rather than being all boxed up! Needless to say, I took them off his hands! While I have selfishly kept for myself all the tights that there were only one design left of (like the ones I am wearing above), there were also quite a few duplicates of some really cool designs - which I'm going to start selling in my store to help support me through uni this year!

Believe it or not, that wasn't the end of my good luck. The business also made cute accessories like scarves and scrunchies. For this, they required a lot of cute fabric. Fabric which was also still sitting in large, industrial-sized bolts next to the boxes of tights. Fabrics like tartan, velveteen and paisley, to name a few. And my amazingly generous uncle just let me have them all. I nearly fainted.

I now have my own private little fabric shop in my shed.

CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE THIS? I STILL CAN'T! Please tell me that I am not dreaming!

Ahhhh *such excitement* and hooray for family! I don't think I have any excuses not to start up a little store selling my own designs, now ;) I'm thinking that some cute tartan pinafores are in order. Please do let me know if you'd be interested in me making stuff to sell! This was the start I needed to get my designs out into the world.

And you know what, if I am dreaming, actually don't wake me up - I'm way too happy right now! :)