Valrico is expecting....

Tammy Hicks down at Gumballs and Overalls Valrico should be expecting my shipment any day now. I just mailed out the products that I spent last week making. I sent a total of 9 items for her store front. I already showed off about the button up pods that I was sending her. I decided to quick whip up so more things as well. I sent 4 striped, corded elf hats. I had a lot of fun using such different colors. That made them very quick to knit.

Corded elf hats

I also sent her 2 pom pom pigtail hats. I used some of my scrap yarns and they turned out better than expected. The purple and green one that is pictured was very hard to part with. Seeing as it didn't fit little Ryenn, I was able to send it rather than keep it.

Pom pom hats

I also had a request from a friend to create her a bear hat for her son's 3 month pictures. I was very excited to be adding to my products and helping out a friend. She sent me a photo of what she was looking for exactly and I tried my best to duplicate it. I sent her a picture of it and she said she loved it! I was so glad!

Bear hat

As you can tell, last week was a very busy week for me. And things don't look like they will be slowing down anytime soon. I was contacted by Gumballs and Overalls Rockford to develop some products to be sold EXCLUSIVELY on their online store. I am very excited to be working on this along with some products for {k} Newborn Photography and CLTG Photography. Don't worry, I will be selfishly knitting as well. Staring with finishing the short-row sweater.

2 More Birthdays

My sister, Jessi, seems to like having winter babies. Her first child was born in November, her last in late December, and her 2 middle kids were both born in January. Kali celebrated her 10th birthday on the 19th of this month and Lily celebrates turning 6 on the 26th. We, however, celebrated as a family yesterday.

Kali and Amiyah

  

Lily

The last week was busy for me, due to having so much due at the same time. If it wasn't for Florida, it was for these two little misses. The first thing I knit was for Kali. I decided to look up different knitted headbands but couldn't find any patterns that were either free or at a reasonable price. So I decided to wing it. My first concept was this two-toned twist headband that twisted upon itself to make a really neat design. 

 

Blue and Gray headband

It was fairly simple once I decided what it was I actually wanted to do and how i wanted  it to look. I knit 2 long strips, each in Stockinette stitch, to my desired length. I then twisted them upon themselves and seamed the ends together. I chose this teal color and gray for 2 reasons. First being that my niece likes blue. Second, that I thought a bright color and a more neutral color would go well together.

Twisted to make a loop

The second gift I made for Kali was another twisted headband. This however is also an ear warmer. I knew she would love it (and her mom would too) and it would work so perfectly for this winter. I chose to knit this in olive green and plum. The colors were screaming for me to knit them together and I thought it would be perfect seeing as purple is her favorite color.



Purple and green



Pretty twist

 Last thing I made her was jewelry that I got from The Sweatshop of Love. First was the daisy chain necklace (pictured below) and the second was the ruffle bracelet. My sister sent me the kits for these with both the blue and yellow yarns. I decided to crochet the bracelet in a pink yarn rather than the blue or yellow. I used Red Heart Shimmer in hot pink. It didn't quite turn out as great as Allyson's does, but hey, I'm not really a crocheter. I also decided to switch it up with the daisy chain necklace too. I chose both the yellow and blue for the necklace, but I also added the deep purple. Seeing as this was a worsted weight yarn, the center flower turned out quite a bit larger than the other two.

necklace

For Lily I decided at the last minute (meaning the day before her party) to knit her one of the ear warmers as well. I had this really great fluffy yarn that was different shades of pink (her favorite color). I loved this even more than the first one I knit. It was very soft and I almost wanted to keep it!

Pink headband

 Lastly I knit her a case for her DS. All the other kids had a case for theirs but her. She actually got hers from my mom when Amiayh got a new one. Amiyah lost hers a few years ago, and a year later my husband found it in the woods (after a year of rain and even a winter). We all searched FOREVER for it, and he finds it when he was chasing my big dummy dog Moose out of the woods. Crazy thing is is that it actually still worked. Nevertheless, Lily got Amiyah's old one (the one from the woods) but it didnt have a case. So I decided to knit her a pink one. I embellished it with adorable flower buttons.

DS case

 I also made them some of the flower clips like I made for Khloe. It was a great success. The girls loved their gifts and I was happy to creatively experiment. I knit this all last week (on top of a hat for a client and products for Florida). Thats the great things about not wanting to venture out of the house in the snow and with sick kids.

Winter in my front yard

AND winter in my backyard

Sick Kids = Many Finished Projects

Nolan was sick this past week. He hasn't been sick in forever. in his whole 19 months of life, he has only been seriously sick one other time; his baptism! He had an ear infection then. This time, it was a case of the stomach flu. It was so hard to see him sick and crying. He slept a lot, which allowed me to get a lot done. However, instead of me giving you an overload of information, I will spread it out.

So far my bucket list has been going fairly well. I havent been cooking like I to. I have been working out like I would like to though, which is never! I've decided to tell you about the books I have  read so far.

The first one I read was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. This book was read from a recommendation from my sister, Allyson, after she nearly burst into tears over the preview for the movie. I was super interested seeing as it is a spin on what most people write about September 11; its actually based on the time AFTER 9/11 rather than events leading up to or occuring that day. I highly reccommend this book!!!

I also started a series on the recommendation of my mother-in-law. Its the Kinsey Milhone Mystery series by Sue Grafton where each book is a different letter of the alphabet. I obviously started with A ("A" is for Alibi) and read the thing in 2.5 days!! I couldnt put it down!!!

Button Pod for Gumballs and Overalls

Adaly Myles Place is found at a few stores since last year, October-ish. It was fun to know that My products were actually going to be sold in other states. At this point, I had sold to friends, my photographer and some acquaintances; nothing out of state. I actually contacted Tammy Hicks from Gumballs and Overalls believing her to be located in Rockfor, MI. Well we set up a date to meet when we realized we were 2000+ miles apart. She relocated herself to Valrico, FL (Gumballs and Overalls has 2 locations now). So instead of meeting up, she browsed the pictures of my products and decided what she wanted at her store. I have been doing pretty well selling there. She recently asked for more products and that's exactly what I am working on this week.

3 button pods for Florida

I have sent her a bunch of products already. She is currently selling knitted leg warmers, hooded baby pods, pom pom pigtail hats, baby pods, baby cord hats, and the button pods. Its fun to be able to know that things are selling in another state.

Cozy little pods

I am also starting on writing my own sweater pattern! I am nervous and excited. I am starting with a sweater for my grandpa for his birthday. His birthday is late July so I have until then.

Yarn for grandpa's sweater

He has been asking for a while. So this Christmas I decided to start one after the new year. He wants the sweater to be in his favorite colors, blue and gold. He is a HUGE Notre Dame fane so its only fitting to make a Notre Dame inspired sweater. I'm going to name the pattern something after the fighting Irish or maybe my grandpa.

Fantasy Football and a Polar Bear Birthday

Today was a very busy and productive day. I made up some new Adaly Myles Place products, signed up for Fantasy Football Playoff Challenge, and celebrated my youngest niece's (Khloe) 2nd birthday. She turned 2 on December 28. Being so close to the holidays, its hard to get everyone back together to celbrate her big day. So today was her big party.

My Sister Jessi and Khloe

Her and Nolan are right around the same age so it's super fun to watch them play together now. They battle over toys, get into things together, and just run around following each other. It's so cute!

Khloe and Nolan playing with balloons

I decided earlier this week that I wanted to make her a furry polar bear hat! I actually bought the yarn last night around 7pm and got started right away. With 2 kids to wrangle, it was a challenge to finish it on time. The yarn I used, Red Heart Baby Clouds, was a pain to knit with. It was the perfect yarn for the look I was going for, but I kept stabbing my needle into the fuzzy parts. It was making it difficult to knit this quickly.

The cutest hat!!!

I must say, I am proud of the end results. I got a book from my sister, Allyson Dykhuizen, called Stitch 'N Bitch Nation last year for Christmas. I cracked up when I saw the title. Amazing! Anyway, it had a pattern for a Russian bonnet that I absolutely loved when I first saw it. Well the pattern was for an adult. So I knit a general earflap hat for a toddler, added some ears, and then used the pattern for the pom-pom ties. They look AMAZING!

She wouldn't look at me for a picture!

My sister, Jessi, also was telling me how much she loved the poofy hair clips for her girls. Rather than her spending money on them, I decided I would use Ryenn's old tutus that wouldn't fit her anymore and make some myself. They were relatively quick to make and look adorable in her hair! I actually wipped up 6 of these little buggers in about 2 hours. What took me the longest was actually finding the alligatos clips I had bought months prior.

Hair clips for Khloe

I've decided to make up a bunch more of these clips, seeing as they were fun to make, I have TONS of tulle, and I have a daughter and 3 more nieces that will wear these. I am going to experiment with embellishing them a bit too.

Aidez Sweater Knit-along

My sister hosted a knit-along this past fall/winter on her blog, The Sweatshop of Love, where we all voted on the sweater in which to knit. The Aidez Sweater was the winner.

The finished Aidez sweater (not mine)

The pattern was super challenging but proved to be such a fun knit. I learned so much and feel now that I can knit up anything I set my mind to. She was great enough to create a chart for us to follow rather than going back and forth between the pages and charts and getting confused. It was hard enough with the charts, I probably would have shot my self and scrapped the sweater (not necessarily in that order) if I was left with figuring it out as I went.

The back of my sweater!

I used a varigated yarn and LOVED the way it turned out. I fell behind due to Holiday knitting and finished like 2 or 3 weeks late. However, I finished and am super happy with the results. Its amazingly warm and have been using it more as a jacket than a sweater.

Seriously, pictures don't do this sweater justice.

I can't wait to start our next knit-along, which is scheduled to start on February 6th (the day before I turn 24). We are knitting the Delancey Cardigan by Alexis Winslow. This was the runner up from our vote this past fall.

Delancey Cardi

I have also been knitting some other things, such as Laura Loop's Short-row Sweater. This fun little sweater is short sleeved and somewhat backless! After recently losing 40lbs, I am excited to wear this. That means I have to hurry up and knit it!

Half-way done with the short-row sweater

Zebra Hat!

Animal hats are an amazingly fun knit! I just love to see the finished product and be able to say, "hey! That actually DOES look like (insert said animal here)!"

Me rocking a finished Zebra Hat

I was super excited when my friend Abbie asked if I was able knit a hat that looked like a zebra. I have knit a couple giraffe hats, a few owls (based on my own pattern), and a few characters from cartoons (Geo from Team Umizoomi and Pikachu). I am a big fan of zebra prints so I was excited to get started on this. 

Mane and ears!

I tried adding a blue (her favorite color) edging around the whole hat to add a little color, but my husband informed me that it didn't make sense. He said it no longer looked like a zebra and instead just looked like a striped hat. So instead, i went with just a black crocheted edge and I love the way it looks.

Pom-pom main and braids

 

I mailed out the hat this morning and I can't wait to here her reaction to it. Still kind of nervous when sending out products.



New Year, New Adventures!

As a new blogger, I thought January 1st would be very fitting for my first entry. I mean, what better way to start something new when a new year is like a fresh start with everything.

My sisters, Ryenn, and I on Christmas

Adam, Nolan and Santa

I decided earlier this week that I was going to start a bucket list for 2012. No, not a bucket list because I am dying (Adam). Just a bucket list to help me keep 2012 in my control. With 2 kids under 2, starting school, running my own business, and keeping the sanity in my house as best as humanly possible, 2012 stands to make for a very busy year. I hope that I enter 2013 with some energy and alive! I am sure I will continue to add things to this list throughout the year, so this may never be a completed entry.

1. Start a blog (hey! one thing already completed!)
2. Lose 20-25 more pounds (weighing in at 179 currently and would love to be at 155-160)
3. Organize/redo my craft room
4. Read a book every week to 2 weeks (totaling 26-52 books)
5. Finish decorating our daughter's nursery
6. Knit more things for my kids and myself
7. Get Adaly Myles Place products in more store fronts (www.etsy.com/people/adalymylesplace)
8. Attend church at least 2 times a month
9. Have and maintain a regular date night every week
10. Landscape my yard a bit better
11. Read the entire Bible this year (failed last year)
12. Paint my nails once a month (silly, I know, but I like the way they look and I never make the time to do it)
13. Spend more time with my grandparents (at least once a month)
14. Knit my grandpa a pullover sweater
15. Visit one place outside of Michigan
16. Take a photography class
17. Design better packaging for my products
18. Cook for my husband at least 2 times a week (I'm terrible at cooking for him)
19. Get a library card
20. Write 2 or more knitting patterns
21. Sew 2 outfits for each of my kids
22. Write in my journal at least once a week
23. Stay enrolled in school throughout the whole year
24. Plant flowers in my yard
25. Donate time or money to the animal shelter
26. Learn my religious customs better (I am Catholic)
27. Join my church's choir
28. Workout at least 3 times a week
29. Take the kids to the park or other activity twice a week in the summer
30. Make a budget for our household
31. Stick to the budget
32. Keep up with blogging

Nolan and I

I am a very determined person. I like making lists and crossing things off them. I am anxious to be heading into a new year with so many ambitions. Here's to a great new start to a great new year!

Ryenn in her Christmas dress that I made!

Ryenn and I