creme de la creme

There really hasn't been any sewing in my life at all...and even though I miss it, I am in a serious rut!

Luckily, my knitting groove is in full swing!

This pattern is by Veera Välimäki and is called the Stripe Study Shawl. I can't say enough about this pattern, beautifully written, perfect symmetry and a classic yet unique design.

As for the yarn (Madelinetosh eyre light)......amazing!! Soft and smooth like a mix of butter and heaven.

The colors used are Creme de la Menthe and Antler. 

This will definatly be my favorite item to wear this spring/summer.

washed and in use

The picture of the quilt being basted from my last post was the made for the Robert Kaufman Solids challenge that I participated in along side many quilters from the LAMQG.

I have been meaning to take pictures of it finished, but never seemed to have the time...then last weekend it started raining. Well needless to say, the quilt fell into the washer, then jumped into the dryer and has spent a good amount of time in the last week looking like this

I backed it with some amazingly warm AMH flannel, which makes this quilt a new fav for knitting on the sofa.

 I wish I had taken pictures of it all laid out for you, mainly because of the crazy quilting I did on this one, it was quite intense. But the odds of that happening now are pretty slim. If Izzy and I aren't snuggled under it, then the boys are playing tug of war with it.

As for the knitting that is going on, well I have been working on my very first sweater. I chose a pattern by Melissa LeBarre called Tea Leaves. It is a really pretty cardigan that I have admired for a long time (and also plan on making one for Izzy). The yarn is Madtosh tosh dk merino, in french grey. 

It is my first of 3 sweaters that I will be making in the Magnolia Society, that I joined last month. If you have never heard of it, you can read all about in on the Madelinetosh website. It really was my way of forcing myself into the world of knitting sweaters. 

Now,  seeing as how it is still raining and all the boys are in school, I am back to my sofa with Izzy to knit and read the day away...oh and snuggle, of course.

a few things....

I have this amazing girlfriend, who happens to be the most generous and kind hearted person......so much so that she was willing to share some of her Wollmeise loot with me.

For those of you that don't know Wollmeise, it's like the FMF of the yarn world. I was so thrilled that I couldn't prevent myself from immediately winding it and starting a new project!

This beautiful yarn is a dream to knit with and I am so excited to be starting my first shawl. The pattern is called Trillian and can be found on Ravelry.

I also received an order in the mail of some new Madelinetosh......I have such a serious addiction to this yarn, I want it all!! It's all so YUMMY!

As for sewing, I did manage to make a few project bags for my girlfriend as a thank you.

I especially love the FMF bag and I actually used up a good amount of my small scraps.

Now, back to my needles....I have about a dozen projects in the works, I am definatly in a knitting frenzy.

Let me start this post with saying that I hope everyone had a awesome holiday season! 

I won't bore you all with the details of how busy the beginning of this year has been for me, or how I am stuck in one serious rut.....I will say that sometimes life gets a bit overwhelming and I am hoping to find my balance again soon. Until then, let me share with you a few pictures of some of my favorite knit projects I got done last week.

Izzy kept complaining that her little hands were cold, so I found this pattern on Ravelry and started knitting.  

She loves them and I can't get over how cute they look on her sweet hands! The pattern is called the Mini-Me Magic Loop Mitts and was fun and easy to do. 

Of course as soon as she had her mitts on she looked at me and said "Mama, I need a hat to match my puppets"....I know they aren't puppets, but I thought it was too cute to correct!

So I got busy and within the next day she had her matching set!!

Now her hands and head are snuggly warm...and even though our weekend included 75 degree spring like afternoons, she insisted on wearing them both. 

The hat was also made with a Ravelry pattern that you can find here by Paulina Chin. 

I have many other knit projects that are currently on needles and in progress, so you will be seeing more knitty things in the next few weeks. 

I am hoping to find sewing time soon, but as I said I haven't found my balance yet and sewing isn't really something that I have found the time for.....since I can't shove my Bernina in a bag and take it with me where ever it is that my kids need to be! 

Just incase anyone is curious, these are made with Madelinetosh tosh dk yarn and the color is back currant. An awesome yarn that I am currently obsessed with.

knit knack

I can't believe 3 weeks has passed since my last post....it really feels like it was a few days ago. Life in my world has been all about the kids and schedules. It has gotten quite busy with all boys full swing in their chosen sports and Izzy being at an age that she demands a bit more of my attention (in a good way). 

I have been debating the ways I could lighten the load in my life....because honestly, time has become a precious commodity as of late. No matter how hard I look at the situation, I don't seem to be able to find a solution, so I have decided to give in to the fact that right now my family requires the majority of my time and attention. Why am I telling you this? Because it means less of ME time for now and sewing, blogging and spending time surfing all my favorite blogs falls under ME time.

I am not willing to give it all up (I enjoy my blog and all my blog friends WAY too much to let it go) but I am willing to cut back for as long as necessary to keep up with the real world, because as it turns out, having 3 teenage sons and a preschool daughter is very, very consuming....and I am not willing to miss one moment of it! I will blog as often as I can and keep up with everyone else's blogs as much as possible, but please understand if it's only once or twice a month!

And because no post should go without pictures, here are a few shots of the knit knacks I have finished. Knitting it such a great "on the go" craft that I am turning to it more and more these days to let out some creative frustration.

I finally finished my first pair of socks!!! This was a very satisfying accomplishment for me, not only because I finished, but because I taught myself how to read patterns and grids in the process. I found the pattern for these socks in "Socks from the toe up", these are the Van Dyke socks. I ordered Australian super wash merino wool to make these and it was so worth the postage!! 

A new hat for Izzy! This hat was made using a pattern called "curly cabled helmet" by Sublime. The original patterns calls for ear flaps, but since the hat I crocheted her last fall had ear flaps I didn't want them on this one too. I am going to make her a pair of matching leg warmers in that deep purple next!!

This picture was just so sweet that I wanted to share. Izzy getting some love from her big brother Trenton. It warms my heart in ways I can't even express when I see my two babies together. There may be 10 years between them, but they are still two peas in a pod.