Ya ain't nothing but Houndstooth...

Since I've gotten Nina, I've been drooling over different projects on Pinterest that I could do.  Watching YouTube and Craftsy videos didn't help my desire (but will help with my technique and final products eventually).  I've decided that I'm going to make a throw quilt a month (or try to) to either give away to friends or to sell on Etsy (given the pattern I use allows me too).

Anyhow, one of my friend's bought their second home (check out her blog about it!) so I wanted to make them something to celebrate.  My friend is rather modern in her decor and I tend to mock her for it as I prefer comfort.  However, when I found a free Houndstooth pattern online I knew I found something that I could make her and she would like. It was rather easy pattern to follow.

My one complaint is that when cutting the 21 2.5" stripes into triangles, the pattern recommended making my own 6.25" triangle pattern to make my life easier when cutting.  In theory, that worked on some of the stripes.  I recognize that it was probably due to my own undercutting (I prefer to have too much fabric rather than the exact amount) that created my issues but I was able to fix it.

As is the blanket is as big as my pool table. If I had added the other rows it would be bigger.

Also, I didn't make it as big as it claimed it should be (otherwise it would be a HUGE throw).  But I noticed that the template had me making an excess of squares... even with the correct dimensions   So I have a bunch left over.  Maybe I'll make matching pillows eventually... who knows.

As for the colors, my friend has two dogs, two cats, and I forget how many chickens.  I didn't think white fabric was the best choice for her house.  I went with black and a medium grey as they're more forgiving with pet hair/stains.  The grey fabric has a design on it because I can't will myself to buy solids. I know solids are a quilter's friend but... arrrggh sooooo boring.

Love the orange stripe with paw prints.

The fleece on the back is a darker grey than the front color and the stripe of orange with paw prints gives it a little flare that I think looks rather nice.  I know her tastes in favorite colors changes regularly, so I was going for a blanket that would stand the test of time (or at least match a season!). Originally, I was going to use an  orange binding to tie in the stripe.... but I remembered her mentioning something about neon colors/zebra print and decided to use pre-cut strips from a jelly roll the mom in law sent me. It made it so much easier.

I used a fancy stitch on the binding to help prevent it from ripping apart too easily. Still a real possibility though.

I used four different zebra/cheetah prints.  I think it adds a nice BOOOM to it.  Quilting it might have been too much with the houndstooth pattern.

Also, I didn't do any quilting on it.  I had found a couple tutorials on how to add straight diagonal lines on this pattern, but it just seemed too busy for me (I would have used black or white thread).  So I opted to not stitch it together and to use a fancy stitch on the binding for strength.  I purposely used a different thread color to stand out.

Klaus approves.

Thoughts?

"Did you ever see an Elephant fly?"

Remember how a couple posts ago I was making Flying Pigs left and right?  Well, I am still making them (because they're awesome) but I wanted to do something a little different for Dad.

Did I mention I have his sense of humor?

Looks good in blue.

My dad is pretty awesome and I wanted to give him a yellow pig (yellow is his favorite color).  But the more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to give him a pig, but something a little more personal. DUMBO!

You can kind of see how big it is.

When I got my first car, it was originally my dad's who just gave it to me. He used this opportunity to buy himself a new Ford truck.  It's huge. I forget all the fancy dimensions, but it's a great farm-ish-use truck.  But here's the best part - the rear-view mirrors stick out so much from the side that he nicknamed it Dumbo (get it? Big  grey truck with big ol' ears?).

So, in honor of his beloved Dumbo, I modified the following tutorial to make Dumbo... the flying elephant.  I skipped on the wings part because it wasn't true to the Disney version of the animal.  I did have to make a small little yellow hat to match.  And, I agree, the ears aren't quite big enough to be considered Dumbo but it's close enough for me.

I still think he's cute.

The only modifications to the tutorial that I did were on the snout and the ears.

Snout modifications

- Round 11 - Don't purl.  Instead, knit until you've got a 1" or 1.25" tube.  Then decrease your stitches to 3 per needle (prior to this step you had 4 per needle!).
- Knit with these 3 stitches per needle for another 1" - 1.25" (depends on how long you want the trunk"
- Once you've reached your desired length, purl one round
- SSK, Knit to the end (you will end up with 2 stitches on each needle or 6 total).
- Then continue as it states in the tutorial for the last step: Cut the yarn and place the end on a yarn needle. Pull through the remaining stitches and pull up tight to close the hole. Secure with a couple of stitches. Pull the end to the inside and trim.

Ears/Inside of the ears

Cast on 4 stitches as it instructs
- k1, m1, k2, m1, k1
- Purl
- k1, m1, k3, m1, k1
- Purl
- k1, m1, k2end
- Purl

Once I reached the max. width of the ears that I liked, I then started k2gether at the beginning of each row and p2gether at the end of each row (it helped create a rapid drop look).

His legs make it look even more lopsided.

Any suggestions on how to make the ears better, I'd love to "hear" it (ha, ha..).  I know one of mine is lopsided. But ah well! At least he flies (thanks to the bouncy ball inside..).

Dumbo's Signature Yellow Hat

- Treat it exactly as one of the legs in the tutorial until you get to round 3. Knit 3 more rounds (total of 6).
- Round 7 - k1, m1, k2
- Round 8 + 9 knit
- Round 10 - k1, m1, k3
- Knit until you're happy (total height = 2" for mine).
- Bind off then fold up the just finished end to make it look like a beanie. Whip stitch the original end together to it's a hat!

I think he's SUPER cute with the hat. I had to hide him from the hubby (as noted in the other post,  he tends to steal gifts not intended for him....).

Front view. I love the hat!

 His tail has embroidery thread tied on it to make it look more like an elephant's tail.

Here you can see the ears being off. Argh.

But he's still SUPER cute! I hope Dad likes him!

Picture this.

Last weekend, the hubby went out of town on a boy's weekend trip.  Jessie's boy went along with him. So what did we do? Why, hang out and take some awesome pictures of DC Monuments!

I know the lighting isn't great on a lot of these, but I'm still trying to figure out my fancypants camera.  Luckily, Jessie's trying to start her own photography business so she's super knowledgeable about this stuff and gave me some tips (ex: use the RAW setting so I can adjust exposure on my computer afterward... SO HELPFUL!).

The tree grew around the headstone. Really neat looking.

She's too short! So cute.

Looks like the tree of life.

The shadows are really cool.

The Air Force Memorial over the hill.

I love that you can see the Washington Monument through the trees.

This says "his wives" - I found it interesting they share a place.

So crowded! The headstones are 5" from the wall.

Walked off base and went to the Iwo Jima Memorial

Love this image with the Washington Monument in the distance.

"Let Freedom Ring" - Gift from the Netherlands after WWII. Beautiful.

Jessie being artsy and taking pictures.

I loooooovvvveee tulips. And, shockingly, there are tulips planted in front of the Netherlands bell tower.

See the pyramid? Not sure why there is one.

Air Force  Memorial.

Pentagon from a distance.

So, those are the good ones.  Feedback welcome!