Tuesday, February 21, 2012

FO Umbre Lovre

As stated before, I am test knitting some patterns for Allyson for her new baby, Holla Knits. I am finishing up the Umbre Lovre pattern, and I must say that I am absolutely in love with it! Its amazing colors and fantastic yarn (yes I know I mentioned that quite a bit before). Although I cannot show full pictures of the sweater, I will show some snippets of what's finished.
Starting to finish up
 I Love this teal color. Its AMAZING! I want to order a bunch of this color, just to knit a whole sweater of it.  I did have one issue where I didn't read my pattern thoroughly enough and screwed up. That's the problem with trying to knit with noisy kids surrounding you. I ended up pulling out 6 inches of the thing on Saturday! It was hard to do, but it had to be done.
AMAZING colors right?
I finally finished it on Sunday night and it looks great! Pictures do not do this any justice! Its greater, by far, in person! It is definitely worth subscribing to Allyson's e-zine. And that's just one pattern! Wait until you see the next one I am working on and the one's I gotten to peek at that will be included!!!!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

KAL Delancey

We are about to enter week 3 of our knit-along with the Sweatshop of Love. Allyson chose the Delancey Cardigan, which I posted about earlier this year. I chose to knit this sweater in Knit Picks Swish DK in Garnet Heather as the main color and Knit Picks Brava Sport in Dove Heather as my striping color.
Garnet Heather
Dove Heather
I have been making some great progress on this sweater (especially since I am also in the progress of knitting a blanket, hat, soakers, and 2 other sweaters). This first week, I exceeded the goal because I was unsure of my color choices once I got them on the needles.
Week 1
 I FINALLY decided I loved the color choice after this weeks goal was reached (or almost reached). I have completed 98 of 108 rows of this sweater (the goal for this week). This sweater has an amazing construction and I am having a ton of fun knitting it, even though the stitch is entirely Stockinette Stitch.
Week 2
I am dying to finish this thing already because the finished pictures look great on Ravelry! My mother-in-law and Allyson have chosen some great colors as well! Check out The Sweatshop of Love's blog for their and other's sweater progress

Monday, February 6, 2012

Holla Knits

I have mentioned my sister, Allyson, quite a bit. She and my mother-in-law are the one's who have gotten me into knitting. They taught me how to knit in November 2009. I have been obsessed with it ever since. I stop to look at sweaters in the store to see if I could knit it ratehr than buy it. It's become an illness I believe. When Allsyon was here from Chicago at Christmas time, she was working on some things for her upcoming e-magazine, Holla Knits. I was absolutely in love with what she had on her needles! When I asked her if there was anything I could help with getting this project (meaning the whole magazine) up and running, she surprised me when she enlisted me to be a test knitter for her! I was super excited. I never thought of myself as on a level that would be good enough for that. I accepted and have been counting down the days to get started on these knits. 
Allyson posted this picture on her blog and I was anxiously waiting for this!
Allyson posted a picture of the yarn that Knits in Class had hand-dyed specifically for this project. I was like a puppy waiting by the door for their owner when I saw this picture, except I was waiting for some yarn! They are some of my favorite colors and I have never knit with hand-dyed yarns before!

Finally at home with me!
I received the yarn this past Friday and couldn't wait to get started. All of my knitting has had to take a back seat since I started school this January. Well this bad boy didn't sit in a bag too long. I got this on my needles on Saturday morning! I was loving the way the yarn felt and the colors and before you know it, I had quite a few rows done. 

Stained glass look
I absolutely loved what Allyson was knitting up and was excited when mine was looking the same (that tends to happen when you follow the same pattern). This "stained-glass" edging on the bottom of the Umbre Lovre Tee (amazing name right?) looks gorgeous! I cannot wait to get this done so I can wear it!

More edging
I was able to finish all of the bottom edging in a matter of an hour or two! The pattern is very easy to follow and very thorough. She does an amazing job! And Kate at Knits in Class will be releasing these yarn colors for you to purchase as well as Allyson will be selling subscriptions to her upcoming e-zine in April.