Parky Park and the Baby Bunch

Only in Michigan can you spend a whole week in shorts, laying out, and playing in the park just to turn around the next week and need the heat on for freeze warnings. I enjoy the warmer seasons in Michigan thoroughly while I count down the days when its cold until it will be warm again. I have been spoiled this March with the 70 and 80 degree weather. My kids have enjoyed it too. Nolan throws a fit when we have to come inside after playing outside. He enjoys romping around in the back yard with the dogs, playing in the dirt, and loves going down the slides at the park near our house. Ryenn went on the slide with me and wasn't too thrilled. She liked the swings much better. She does love to see me or Adam play with the dogs. Moose, our Saint Bernard, is a big dummy. He chases sticks around the dirt like he is a cat. Then when he can't catch it and Ryenn is hysterically laughing, he runs over and tackles Xandar. I decided just to share some of my kids' playful pictures seeing as I am working on the same sweaters (my knit-along Delancey for the Sweatshop of Love and my second Delancey for my older's sister's birthday) and didn't make much progress this week due to an overload of homework (finals, rsearch papers, labs, etc.). Enjoy!

Nolan on the big boy slide by himself

Ryenn on Nolan's tricycle

Nolan on grandma's trampoline

Nolan on grandma's swingset

Ryenn's first time in the grass

Nolan pushing the Mac Wagon

Ryenn's first time on the swings

Still pushing the Mac Wagon

My little acrobat

Fun with Whip Cream on her high chair tray at Aunt Jessi's house

Double Delancey

I am making huge progress on my knit-along Delancey cardigan. The construction of this sweater is genius and so interesting. I am loving the garner and gray so much. This week we started our sleeves. It finally looks like a real sweater!

I also decided to knit the same sweater for my sister Jessi for her birthday. I chose to do a more neutral color pallet for hers. I chose the same gray (Dove Heather in Swish DK by Knit Picks) from mine's stripes for the main color. I then paired it with a golden yellow (Caution in Swish DK by Knit Picks).

I am hoping to have hers done in about a week and a half. This is going to be a tough goal with so much homework due next week, but I am willing to face the challenge.

Holla Knits the Sequel

I mentioned before that I was going to be knitting another sample for Allyson for the Holla Knits launch issue. I didn't think there could be a better pattern than the Umbre Lovre, but then I knit the second sample. This was an amazing knit full of gorgeous cables.

Cabley Goodness

This knit was amazing from the time I received this beautiful hand dyed yarn. I am feeling very spoiled and am not wanting to knit with anything other than hand dyed yarn. Its an amazing weight and fabulous colors. Allyson knows me very well because yellow is my favorite color. This is a goldeny yellow with gray accents. The gray sort of looks purple in some lights but I swear it is actually gray.

Great details

The details are amazing. The different stitch styles are so intelligently blended and used. It was one of the more difficult knits, technically speaking, I have knit (besides the Aidez confusion nightmare). I am not a pro at some of the elements but Allyson made this pattern very user friendly.

I am very excited for the rest of the patterns to be released because I have seen some finished samples, pictures, and works in progress. I am getting anxious to knit selfishly! And the big news, for those of you that don't follow me on twitter, I am designing me very first pattern as soon as I get the yarn delivered. Knit picks, here we come!!

Lost in a Sea of Homework

I haven't been keeping up on blog posts, but I swear for good reason. I did finish up and make progress on some knits, which I will share this week. For now I am just going to explain college classes while having 2 kids.

It's amazingly difficult to find the time to do the mountains of homework that are due on a daily basis with kids that aren't able to care for themselves. I've also added a third little one to the picture part time who turned 1 in October. So that's 2 running around and 1 crawling everywhere.

I've managed to get everything done on time and with great success which is a huge surprise to me. I have written 6 ( and that's not an exaggerated figure) research papers for one class and its only the third week. I also finished one of my classes this past Wednesday after 3 weeks (it was an accelerated course) and aced the final exam! I realized this past week that around June-ish of 2013 I will finally have my Bachelors in Criminal Justice.

I haven't missed out on the good things in life though by burying my head in the books. Ryenn just turned 8 months and she is doing so much. She is crawling and has said momma. She also started waving today! And Nolan is starting to communicate what it is he wants; food, drink, down, up, which movie he wants, etc. They both are getting so big so fast.

My husband and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary on the 5th of March. Adam is by far the greatest man I have ever met (though trust me, I've known some real doozies). He has been so helpful and supportive with my schooling. He even got me a brand new laptop with a bit of our tax refund. I couldn't ask for a greater husband and friend to be by my side in life.

I'll also be sharing some big news later this week. Any guesses to what it could be? I won't be sharing until later this week, but would love to hear guesses.

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!!!!

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

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.