FO Throw Pillows and Tutorial

Although I can't share all of my Christmas gifts on here, I am sharing a few. I decided not to knit everything this year, and this has proven to be a lot easier to handle. Some of the gifts I am making actually called for my sewing machine. Last night I put my machine to work!

 

Christmas Tree 2012

My mother has always had the most gorgeous Christmas trees. The ornaments each match one another, all her decorations throughout her house, and even match her living room decor. She has vaulted ceilings so she has always gotten gigantic trees that she needs a ladder to decorate it. I have yet to see hers from this year, but every year she does an amazing job.

My mom's tree in 2011

Nolan is 2!

At times it feels like just yesterday I was pregnant and counting down the days to Nolan's birth. And at others, I can't imagine my life before I became a mother. It's unbelievable that 2 years ago, on June 15th, I was rushing into the hospital to deliver my first child. I was anxious, nervous, scared, yet prepared. I know that everyone who has been pregnant wishes they could fast forward through the last few weeks of pregnancy (that's when I REALLY popped). I wasn't due for another week, so I felt lucky that I could be meeting my son that day. I was also unsure if I was actually in labor. Nonetheless, I was admitted into labor and delivery. This was the real thing! I felt like this was no big deal and that I could handle this. Then it got painful! I experienced the most excruciating pain for a short hour, before I got my epidural, but it felt like an eternity. My labor was 8 hours in total, with only an hour of pushing. Nolan Myles was born on June 16, 2012 at 4:11am weighing 7lbs 14oz. He was absolutely perfect.

It's amazing to think that my bouncing baby boy is now a rambunctious busy toddler. It's hard to process this information. I have been a mom for two years! We celebrated this past weekend the 2nd birthday of our baby boy! We invited his friends, our friends, and family and celebrated his birthday at our house. We celebrated his 2nd birthday in style. He is obsessed with Cars 2, particularly Mater. We have a dozen Mater cars kicking around our house. Even one he can ride on. As you can probably guess, we chose a Cars themed birthday! He was geeked! Everything was racing, Cars, and red/black/white. It was so fun. He had so many people come and help celebrate and got so many great things!Just a warning, this blog post is a picture frenzy (thanks to the help of Allyson, Adam, and Angie)!

I made this yard sign!

Also made the bunting and sign here (bunting was cut by Allyson and my mother-in-law)

Garage set-up

bunting and gifts

Stoplight rice krispies

Racing trifle

Oil dipsticks and spare tires

Tableware

Nolan in his car

Handmade shirt by my mother-in-law

Allyson and Khloe

Scarlet

Noland and I opening his gifts

Kali drawing

Ryenn and Uncle Matthew

Mom, Jessi, Lily, Blake, and Tiffany

Rebecca and my mother-in-law, Susan

Ryenn in the skirt I made her

Khloe

Cake made by my mother-in-law

Nolan's smash cake!

Khloe blowing bubbles

Eating cake off of his cars

Loving his cake cars

Everyone watching Nolan open his gifts! Thanks daddy for the panaorama picture -love, Nolan!

FO Delancy #2

I finished this sweater the same time I finished the other Delancey. I made this one for my sister Jessi, for her birthday after she complimented mine in progress. I finished this sweater at a rapid pace because I was hoping to have it done for the knit-along goal. I was just a day short for that. It is currently blocking after I added fabric covered buttons.

fits before blocking!

Almost everything that I have knit these past few months have had short-rows incorporated in some way. I was impressed by the lack of seaming in this pattern, seeing as seaming is Hell for me. I loved that the sleeves were knit by picking up stitches at the shoulder. This was great for getting the length of the sleeve right. I was able to try it on and see if it was where I wanted it to fall. I knit this in Knit Picks Brava Sport using the extra skeins of yarn from my first Delancey and my mother-in-laws Delancey.

before blocking

Alexis Winslow, designer of the Delancey and author of the blog Knit Darling, did such an amazing job with this pattern. The finished sweater looks so much more complex than the actual construction, which is always nice for showing off. I decided to change up the bottom band for this sweater for two reasons. The first being that Allyson did and the second being my lack of my main color yarn. I actually ran out of gray yarn for the collar and was forced to use some of my left overs from the Umbre Lovre. This worked out well because the grays were the same weight and so similar in color. I think I will be the only one that can notice where the change occurs. I am excited to see how my sister like this! I will add pictures of her wearing it as soon as I get some of her in it.

FO Delancey #1

This week was an extremely busy week. Knitting wise, it was busy but with only two projects. Both of which were Delancey cardigans. Both of which are finished! I was invited into the Sweatshop of Love's fourth knit along by my sister Allyson; the third in which I have participated. When we voted on the sweater to knit with our last knit along, I voted for the Delancey. We knitted the Aidez sweater, but I really had my eyes on this baby. It was the second place winner, so it was chosen for this knit along.

DELANCEY FINISHED

I loved knitting this sweater! The construction of it was so unique and turned out so amazingly. It was also my first time knitting a sweater using ALL Knit Picks yarn. I again felt spoiled knitting with such great yarn. The color is so rich and the yarn itself is so flexible.

Diagonal stripes

I knit this using Knit Picks DK Swish yarn in Garnet Heather and Brave Sport in Dove Heather. I was unsure of how much I would like this sweater when I initially started, but the further along I got, the more I loved it. I have yet to block this sweater (as we all know, my favorite part) but it fits pretty well as it is. I need to block it in order to lengthen the sleeves a tad bit and get the collar to stay folded down. Im completely loving this sweater! I will share the sister sweater for my sister later this week.

Back of the sweater