My first knitting project

I learned to crochet when I was in the third grade, but until recently, I had never tried to learn to knit, though I always planned to someday. Well, I finally made someday happen, and decided to knit my mom a cowl for Christmas.

I did a simple stockinette stitch using a yarn I got from Joann's that was in a colorway I thought my mom would like.

Interesting facts I learned:

1. Stockinette stitch will curl in on itself. If you don't want this to happen, you should border your work with another stitch, like garter stitch.
2. Always plan out how much yarn you need and what length you want it to end up. If you just say "I'll just go until I run out of yarn.", you'll likely end up at an odd length where you wish it was either shorter or longer.
3. You can make a pretty gather to hide the seam on the back (if you aren't knitting in the round) using the tails you're weaving in.
4. I think I personally prefer a regular loop for my cowls, instead of adding a mobius-like twist. But that is just personal preference. :)

It's far from perfect, but I though it was pretty good for my very first try at knitting. :)

<3 Kelsey

Chasing Chevrons quilt along

Jennifer at That girl...that quilt put together a quilt along with an amazing design composed entirely of chevrons and plain squares, which she called the Chasing Chevrons quilt along. 

I used EQ7 to put together several color variations, and I've finally settled on the following design to hang in our master bedroom after we move:

I really can't wait to get started - I just have to quilt two more quilts first!

In the meantime, check out the That girl... that quilt Flickr group for lots of chevron inspiration!

<3 Kelsey

4x5 Bee Blocks, Q4 2011

I signed up for the fourth quarter of the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee. For this bee, we get to pick our colors, and each person makes a block for each other person in their selected colors. So you make 5 blocks in all different colors, and get back 5 different blocks in your own colors. I made my blocks using this tutorial from Quilt Dad. You may remember I already posted my first block for the bee back in November. Here are the other blocks I've completed since then:

 

 And here are all five together:

   

These blocks were super fun to make, and I hope the girls like the blocks I made for them. :)


<3 Kelsey


PS. This meets my goal I set out for the One Thing, One Week Challenge!

Linking up to: Sew Modern Monday

My Blogger's Choice

I'm sure many of you have already seen this competition over on Quokka Quilts. Laura has asked us to each create our own Fat Quarter Shop Blogger's Choice Bundle.  Here is what I've selected for my bundle:

I was going for a good balance of value and scale in a masculine and sophisticated color palette, partially inspired by the Echo collection by Lotta Jansdotter. In fact, I wanted to include more prints from her collection, but FQS is already sold out! Overall I still am really pleased with how it came out though. :)

Here is a list of the fabrics I used:

1. Lanikai Navy Gridlock
2. Weekend Clubhouse 2012 Navy Random Pencil Check
3. Echo Gray Aneta
4. Get Together Navy Flock of Birds
5. Dazzle Yellow Basketweave
6. Palladium Gray Gridlock
7. Palladium Yellow Whiston Dot
8. Orchid Gray Gray Tiny Houndstooth
9. Shades of Grey Ragg Tagg
10. Ruby Cotton Grey Sundae
11. Secret Garden Midnight Vintage Ironwork
12. Girls World Vibe Honey Carrie
13. Kona Cotton Espresso
14. Kona Cotton Navy
15. Kona Cotton Curry

Here are some other entries into the competition that I really like (click each one to get to the source):

I'm pretty sure if they offered this one, I'd have to buy it!

Certainly some awesome color and fabric inspiration to be found!

<3 Kelsey

Celebrate Color Finalist

Woo! The monster hat I made for my son was selected as a finalist for Celebrate Color. :)

Please head over and vote on all the wonderful projects!

<3 Kelsey

First 4x5 Bee Block

Here is my very first block for the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee. This will be my first time participating in a bee where I get to do whatever I want with the quilt in the end. I love helping others, but I am super psyched to have a quilt all my own as well. So far we've given away every quilt I've made lol.

This first block is for The Busy Bean. She requested red & aqua for her color scheme.

The pattern is the entry from Quilt Dad into Quilt Uber-Fest earlier this year. I slightly modified the pattern to remove one seam in the arrows to keep the raindrop print from being broken up as much.

One down, four more to go. :)

<3 Kelsey

My little monster

I have another crochet finish to share with you all today. Sticking to my orange and blue fall color scheme of choice, I made my little man a most awesome hat.

I used this pattern from The Train to Crazy, with some slight modifications.

First, instead of crocheting the hat to fit his cute little head, I made it much larger using a wool yarn, and felted it down to the correct size. This gives it a different look and feel compared to the original.

I also decided to put the spikes down the back, rather across his head.

I added a little yarn chin strap so he'd leave it on his head for more than 2 seconds (though not without trying to get it off yet). He still hasn't quite figured out hats.

My husband has already put in his request for an adult size version. :)

<3 Kelsey

This is my last entry into Celebrate Color.