diff --git a/src/node.js b/src/node.js
index 7e09af0f..9a0d6143 100644
--- a/src/node.js
+++ b/src/node.js
@@ -14,20 +14,12 @@
   /** @private */
   function request(url, encoding, callback) {
     var oURL = URL.parse(url),
-        client = HTTP.createClient(oURL.port, oURL.hostname),
-        req = client.request('GET', oURL.pathname, { 'host': oURL.hostname });
-
-    client.addListener('error', function(err) {
-      if (err.errno === process.ECONNREFUSED) {
-        fabric.log('ECONNREFUSED: connection refused to ' + client.host + ':' + client.port);
-      }
-      else {
-        fabric.log(err.message);
-      }
-    });
-
-    req.end();
-    req.on('response', function (response) {
+    req = HTTP.request({
+      hostname: oURL.hostname,
+      port: oURL.port,
+      path: oURL.pathname,
+      method: 'GET'
+    }, function(res){
       var body = "";
       if (encoding) {
         response.setEncoding(encoding);
@@ -41,21 +33,46 @@
         }
       });
     });
+
+    req.on('error', function(err) {
+      if (err.errno === process.ECONNREFUSED) {
+        fabric.log('ECONNREFUSED: connection refused to ' + oURL.hostname + ':' + oURL.port);
+      }
+      else {
+        fabric.log(err.message);
+      }
+    });
+
   }
+  function request_fs(url, callback){
+    var fs = require('fs'),
+    stream = fs.createReadStream(url),
+    body = '';
+    stream.on('data', function(chunk){
+        body += chunk;
+    });
+    stream.on('end', function(){
+      callback(body);
+    });
+  };
 
   fabric.util.loadImage = function(url, callback, context) {
+    var createImageAndCallBack = function(data){
+      img.src = new Buffer(data, 'binary');
+      // preserving original url, which seems to be lost in node-canvas
+      img._src = url;
+      callback && callback.call(context, img);
+    };
     var img = new Image();
     if (url && url.indexOf('data') === 0) {
       img.src = img._src = url;
       callback && callback.call(context, img);
     }
+    else if (url && url.indexOf('http') !== 0) {
+      request_fs(url, createImageAndCallBack);
+    }
     else if (url) {
-      request(url, 'binary', function(body) {
-        img.src = new Buffer(body, 'binary');
-        // preserving original url, which seems to be lost in node-canvas
-        img._src = url;
-        callback && callback.call(context, img);
-      });
+      request(url, 'binary', createImageAndCallBack);
     }
   };