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.  

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.