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!

Synchronized Swimming Trio Suits

Many of you are aware of my background in synchronized swimming.  For those of you aren't aware, I joined the sport in the fall of 2005, my freshman year of college.  I met my best friend Jessie through the sport as well as all of my post-college friendships through that team.  I could have swam competitively (not synchro) in college somewhere else, but I wouldn't have been happy.  After my senior year in HS I was burnt out on swimming.  Synchro made me love the water again.  I will always hold a special place in my heart for that sport (regardless of how poorly I did in it).

With that mushy stuff out of the way, St. Patty's Day weekend was one FULL of synchro activities.  Jessie still coaches the college team and needed help on some trio suits for nationals which was the following weekend on March 20-23 (yaaay last minute bedazzling!). THEN on St. Patty's Day was the Age Group's Spring Fling meet at the pool by my house and I volunteered to judge (I used to coach, but it was too much for me and had to step down - I miss them, but it was the right choice for everyone).

So here goes a post about how Jessie and I "made" these suits.  Please know that this was our second time making synchro suits, we are not experts, so any and all suggestions on how to make this process easier is much appreciated!!

First, the girls had to find the base suit on which we would apply rhinestones/glitter/etc.  They found some epic suits on SwimOutlet.com.  They are Metallic V-2 Backs, color Purple.  (After seeing these in person, I bought one for myself.  Not to bedazzle, but just to make myself feel pretty at the pool).  Once they came in the mail, Jessie bought/gathered the following...

• Rhinestones with glue on the back
• Jones Tones fabric glue
• Glitter (that matched the colored rhinestones - this is key!!)
• Cardboard
• Paper and pencil
• Chalk
• Paper towels
• Some sort of rhinestone appliqueing gun/utensil (we used wood burning utensils... NO JUDGING, IT WORKED... and we couldn't afford new equipment...)
• Yarn
• Tweezers
• Tape measure/yard stick (both work best)
• Safety Pins
• Wine and Girl Scout cookies (this is a must).

First, sketch out your ideas.  Several ideas are a good plan so just in case your first idea didn't pan out, you can try something simple.  

The pattern we went with was the top one.  The bottom three didn't pan out as well for us. We opted to not do the back bedazzling either.  I joked it looked like fancy fart lines and that just ruined it for us, haha.

The first big stripe didn't look good/was requiring more glitter and glue than we had so we opted to go with squiggles of glitter and straight lines of rhinestones.

With the cardboard, you want to stretch the suit over it so it's taunt, but not over stretched (don't want to ruin the suit, but you also don't want the glue/rhinestones to crack when the girls put them on.  Synchro suits are traditionally tight... keep that in mind).

Some suits require some weight so it doesn't pop up in the process.  We used candles because that's what I had available.  Weights would work too.

Once you have the suit stretched, grab your yarn and place it on the suit about how you want the rhinestones to look.  Use the yarn first because it doesn't mark the suit at all and can easily be moved, adjusted.  We cut the yarn at different lengths on purpose to make it look better.

We played with the width between the yarn multiple times.  This was the final decision.

We had three different sizes of suits, so when you're making designs please keep this in mind.  If you have various sizes, the designs on the front of each suit are going to have to be slightly bigger or smaller so they don't look weird when they're standing next to each other.  We measured the distances of each piece of yarn, the distances between each piece, as well as the distance from the edges of the suits (example: 2" above the Dolphin logo).  Once we were satisfied with the placement of the yarn, we used chalk to mark out the line on which we'd place the rhinestones.

To remove the chalk we used a wet paper towel.  But we didn't remove it until the rhinestones were all securely on the suit.  Yes, we know it wasn't entirely straight here.  It's OK.

Once the chalk is on the suit, take your tweezers and place the rhinestones, all various sizes and colors, it all depends on your mood. We used three different sizes and three different colors.  All the suits have the big clear rhinestones, the medium clear, and the small clearish/beige ones.  However, depending on the color glitter the girls would be getting for their squiggles, the extra rhinestone embellishments would match their glitter.  So this suit was the purple/pink glitter, so the rhinestones were pink. Once the stones are all on the chalk lines (not secured on yet! JUST PLACED ON LOOSE. So don't kick it or your stones will FLLLLY) use the yard stick to make sure they are all as straight as you want them.  Since we didn't want them zigzagging, we used the yard stick to make them as straight as possible.

Easier said than done. Jessie did a good job though.

Straightening out some more.

Once they're straight or in the pattern you want, this is when we got out our wood burners.  I fully recognize that people usually use a rhinestone gun or some sort of craft gun, but this is our first experience with rhinestones.  In college, we hand sewed on our suits strings of sequins (WHAT ENTHRALLING PARTIES US SYCHRO LADIES HAD OOOOOHHHH YEAH) so don't judge too harshly.  Jessie researched online the appropriate temperature but we held the tip on the top of the stone until we felt it slide a little (not too hard or the tip might slip and burn the suit - you really don't want that!).  The sliding sensation is the glue on the rhinestone melting.  

Firmly, but carefully placing the tip of the burner on the top of the stone. 

This is the LONGEST step of the process.  It took us forever to rhinestone one suit.  So if you're lucky enough to have multiple people working on these suits, have them use the pre-cut yarn, the pictures, and the tape measure to set-up the next suit (placing the rhinestones and ensuring it matches the suit currently being rhienstoned.

Here's what a suit looked like with the rhinestones all attached.

This is the second suit which was blue, not purple.

When the rhinestones have cooled (they can burn you too just after being applied, so be careful!) grab your fabric glue and add a row of swirls.  After each row of glue has been added, pour glitter on it. When I say pour, I mean dump, cover, saturate, smother, drown, etc.  After being involved in this sport at several levels, I can honestly say there is no such thing as too much glitter.

Make sure your swirls match.  Some of mine were clumpy, had a twirl, etc.  Use the wet paper towel to wipe away anything that doesn't match and try again.  It matters. Don't half ass it.

Our glitter/glue combination took about 8 hours to dry.  So here's all three suits while they were in their glitter drying stage!

So pretty!

But... it wasn't enough.  We had rhinestones left over and we wanted to tie in all three colors on each suit.  So we took the small colored rhinestones and put all three along the color of each suit.

Ahhh... much better.

Once it's been 8 hours (or more, depends on the glue's recommendations), shake off the excess glitter.  We put it on newspaper and poured it back into it's proper container so we can reuse the glitter (this stuff isn't cheap).  Do any touch-ups with glue/glitter as needed to ensure they match as much as possible.

Now... for the fun part.  WINE AND GIRL SCOUT COOKIES! Om nom nom nom nom!

Time to drink that much earned wine!

If you've made suits or something similar and have better suggestions, please let me know!  We're learning and are always looking to make this easier on us. =)

And here's what they look like all done and on the girls at Collegiate Nationals! Aren't they just an ADORABLE trio?

The beautiful trio at 2013 Collegiate Nationals held at Stanford University, CA. Great job ladies!!

Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy...

A couple weeks ago I made a flying pig for a co-worker that was really awesome to me and is leaving =(

I never go with traditional colors. Phfft, a pink pig.

I got the tutorial for free from here.  It was my first Double Pointed Needles project (legit project, not practice) and I really loved making this pig (the wings sucked -- but that wasn't the tutorial's fault, it's because I'm not great at SSK).

So I made another one  for a friend's birthday.....

The blue was super slick. Not as easy to knit as the yellow one.

His legs were 2 rows longer than the tutorial (experimenting)... regret doing that.  He looks like he's sliding into home plate.

Still super cute.

And then another....

The eyes are in white, but it's so colorful it's hard to see here.

I did a much better job following the tutorial for the legs.  His are spot on.

His wings suck.  Three pigs later and I'm STILL not good at that part. Hmmph.  

This one was for another friend, but the hubby commandeered it as his own (he really liked the colors). 

I think the yarn color makes him look like a pinata. But as long as he's happy...

Still have two more to make before moving onto another knit pattern!

Knitting Supply Revisited

Remember the crochet supply bag that I made for Jesse's Birthday?  Well, when the hubby came back from  visiting his parents, he brought with him a bunch of knitting supplies from his Grandma.  I inherited 10 pairs of needles and a bunch of skeins of yarn.  I needed a place to store it... and soon. Since I already knew how to make a crochet bag, I set to making myself a knitting supply bag.

I used the 9" pie pan as a template for the bottom of the bag and measured the circumference for the long tube. I made it stand as tall as a typical desk because of how much yarn I had inherited.  I wanted to hide it all from my yarn gobbling kitties.

Notice all the pins? I pinned the hell out of this project. Made it a lot easier to sew.

Again, as I mentioned in the previous post, I used fusible batting and made two straps in lieu of the one strap that the blog that inspired me used (two is more sturdy).  I then used Nina's fancy built in stitches to jazz it up a bit an have fun.  Using a zig-zag stitch to ensure that the needle pockets wouldn't rip/fall off was rather fun. Nina made this project FLY by. Thoroughly enough making it.

It can hold size US 19 needles (the pink ones) and cable ones and scissors! I tried to make it hold everything you could possibly need in your knitting projects (not the embroidery needle - they're really tiny... need to find a good fix for that).

It only stands up that much because it's full of yarn.  When it isn't, it flops over all sad. Hence... reason to buy loads of yarn!

Jessie's B-Day!

For those of you that know me, I've had a wonderful person attached to my hip since Winter of 2006. She is an amazing person and I am lucky to have her in my life.

With that mushy crap out of the way, I can show you what I got to make her for her birthday (yesterday).  Now, I sew and knit, but she does crocheting.  She made me this AWESOME pincushion holder for my birthday, so I wanted to make her something equally useful and awesome.

Isn't he adorable?!

I found this awesome crochet/knitting supply bag holder on Pinterest, but, like most links on that damn website, it didn't show me how to make the bag. It was just bragging about. Grumble.  So I used my knowledge of bags (since I've made two already) and bugged my hubby for ideas how to properly make the bag.  He suggested for the circular bottom to use a pie pan (9") and then from there I measured the circumference for the tube shape of the bag.  

The straps have fusible batting on the inside as does the tube-like part. 

See the pockets? This is reversible too, I just gave it to her with them on the inside.

As for the height, I winged it. I wanted it to be tall enough to hold a bunch of yarn (I was pretty sure she was just stuffing her supplies into a box... I know I was shoving mine into a plastic bag).  The pockets were the part I was hesitant on. I had one crochet hook, so I was able to use it as a gauge to see how big each pocket should be.  From there, I pinned the hell out of the solid fabric to the tube one (which I didn't stitch together until AFTER I stitched on the pockets). Then took FOREVER stitching those stupid pockets down.  For the crowning touch, I went to a fancy yarn store nearby and bought her two skeins of gorgeous yarn which I made sure she understood was to be used on a project for her... not anyone else.  

She loves hers. I loved hers. So... I may have to make myself one....