B. Lucky & Sons opens in Brisbane!

Arcade Bars are becoming a big deal. While a lot have that retro feeling we all crave, or rely on their cocktails being named after Sonic the Hedgehog characters, B. Lucky and Sons hits a lot of those marks the others don’t.

Hidden in the newly revamped TC Beirne Department Store off the Brunswick St Mall in Fortitude Valley, you could easily miss it. From the outside, it looks like a pawn shop. But it’s by design. Created in the spirit of an illegal gambling den, you pass the pawn-shop-but-really-a-prize-hall, to the sparkling games within. The neon lights and whirling and howling noises of the games will easily show you where you are.

B. Lucky and Sons is the second of its kind, after a successful launch in Melbourne about a month ago, and from the minds of those who brought us Holey Moley and Strike Bowling. It’s certainly scratching an itch you didn’t know you had. With new games based on the Tomb Raider and Rampage movies, and old arcade favourites like Dance Dance Revolution and Space Invaders.

And the owners know their audience. Want to hang out with your friends? Want a place to take a date? Want some good food? Want to spend some fun times winning some great retro prizes?

There’s certainly an audience for it. Want somewhere to bring a date? Why not try win them a kitchy prize of let them beat you at skee-ball. Want somewhere fun to hang out with your friends? Why not beat them at Mario Kart. Want some great food and cool cocktails while sitting in a replicated tie fighter cockpit? Well, B. Lucky and Sons definitely has you covered there.

Want to check out the newest drawcard for Fortitude Valley? B. Lucky and Sons opens on Thursday September 27. Get in quick and win the retro Return of the Jedi puzzle!

Written by Brice Fallon.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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