Roll on Spring!

Buzy Day

Life on this side of the world has been rolling along! I can feel spring is on the way and my summer frocks and sandals are starting to call! Hope the winter has not been too cold for my summer wear and they have not shrunken a little bit! Hehe!

This week I managed to knit little I first saw this pattern in Funky Air Bear, a blog I follow, she used Marianna’s All-in-One Sleeveless Tops for young girls pattern. I used African Expressions – Harmony, 100% Merino Wool – colour 2281 knitted on a number 4mm needle and it should fit a one year old.

I have fallen in love with knitting cardigans from the neck down. No sewing and only two threads to sew away! Love it!

At present, I’m buzy tiding up loose ends. Will tell you more about this next week!

Love
NikkiM

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Orders galore

I have been swamped with custom orders since opening my Etsy shop! I am loving it. So here is a few pics of what I have knit by request:

A shark hat for a little girls birthday!!
The kid in the picture is Vicious, not the recipient lol.

Baby sandals!! How stinking cute are these? Love them!! This is just one of several orders I have gotten.

I also have made a watermelon hat that I have away as a Instagram giveaway. Don’t have pictures yet but plan to snap a few before I mail it off.

Lastly a little happy moment for me. A dear friend had noticed I had been a little down in the dumps due all my health issues. Well she ordered me a present and it arrived yesterday. I was over the moon excited!!

Stitch markers

I have found a new love. No, not someone to replace my husband. I have a new crafty love.
While laying in bed reading blogs I came across a post about stitch markers. I LOVE using stitch markers so I clicked on it and began reading about a girls need for stitch markers and her town without a yarn or craft store! “What’s a girl to do” one may ask…well this girl decided to make her own. Wait… What? She made her own? Yes, readers she made her own!! She used wire and bead and pliers and made her own!!
I was fascinated by this. I went and bought wire and beads and decided I too would make my own stitch markers. Well, that was an epic fail. Mine turned out terrible and they were heavy with the beads and the wire kept kinking up. I quickly scrapped those and went back to the drawing board.
I tried to find ways to make some like the ones I already had. I took a couple of my stitchmarkers with me to the craft store and walked around for hours until I found what looked liked all the parts to accomplish the act of making an actual usable marker. My efforts were not in vain! I got home and after a bit of trial and error I had figured out how to make stitch markers!! And I love it!
They are so easy and the perfect task to keep me busy while resting my hands from knitting. They put no strain on my joints so I can make them all day!! It has been great. I now sell them in my etsy shop and at a few local yarn stores in my area. How cool is that?
Here are a couple pics of the ones I have been working on today.

The charm says “made with love”

The set.

I love the snakes!!

Right now they fit up to a size 13 needle but I am thinking of getting some smaller rings for socks and things like that.

In other news, I won needles!
A few months ago I entered a photo contest with Knitters Pride. After a few weeks of voting I came in second and won a Nova cubics deluxe interchangable set! The top 3 all got to choose a deluxe set. Mine finally came last week! I am so excited!!

I also won a sample set just for being a finalist. (All the finalist won the set) I can’t wait to try out the Kabonz.

That’s about all I have to chat about today. I am off to take a nap. I spent the day at the pool with my tiny humans and I am wore out!
Happy knitting!!!

MIA…But with good reasons

My blogging has been horrible lately. It’s not because I haven’t had anything to say or that I haven’t been knitting, it’s that I haven’t been in the best place to have a lot of positive things to write. I was always taught if you don’t have anything nice to say then just keep quiet, and that’s what I have done.

I have gotten what seems like endless not so great news lately. At first I was like ok, then after weeks and weeks of this it became a “what the h3ll, can I get a break” kind of feeling. I will explain what I mean.

I started having leg and muscle pain about the time I was pregnant with Thing 2. Fast forward about a year later and it was discovered I had an auto immune disease. Which one was still unknown. I got the umbrella label of inflammatory arthritis and was given a bunch of meds and sent on my way. Well, that was about a year ago. With in the last few months things have gone down hill. I started having a lot of flares so back to the rhuematologist I went.
She did a full work up and after a ton of tests and x-rays(I was having trouble walking and moving my toes) we came to the conclusion that I have fibromyalgia and what appears to be lupus. Again I was handed a bunch of meds and sent home.
Once home and taking the new meds I soon had a horrible allergic reaction to one of the medications. This is where things started going down hill. I went off the meds right away and the allergic symptoms went away but a slew of other things followed.
I was in and out of doctors for weeks. I was given stuff for the constant nausea and the fevers. Nothing worked.
My final breaking point was when I was taken to the emergency room for such strong stomach pain I literally thought I was dying. I wasn’t far off. At the ER(I was there for 9 hours and only waited for 20 minutes to see a doctor) it was discovered the meds had caused several infections and damaged my liver. I was told to stop all medications by the ER doc and my rhiematologist. I was given a pain med that is easy on you until I can get in to have an endoscopy to make sure my stomach lining hasn’t been damaged.
They said my liver seems to be doing Better since stoping all the other stuff, which is good. I have to have it tested frequently now just to make sure it’s healing.

In all this the only thing that has kept me sane has been knitting. I don’t know what I would do without it. The only problem is without the anti inflammatory medicine I am knitting much slower these days.

So that’s my sad story of why I haven’t been writing much. I am hoping I will be able to get on more often but I can’t make promises.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Fourth of July!!

I did it

For some time now I have had customers, especially repeat customers, ask when I was going to open an Etsy shop. I was reluctant to do so since it seemed like a lot of hassle and I already have a steady stream of custom orders just from word of mouth. Well last night I took the plunge and started a shop! Right now it’s just a few items but I plan to add more in the coming weeks.
Check out my shop and favorite it so you can see the updates and added items!

Also I have an Instagram page you should follow! I will have coupon codes and giveaways in the upcoming weeks that I will be posting there.

Hope everyone will check it out. Happy knitting.

Long time, no talk…type?

Wow!! I have been MIA in blogland for over a month!! How did that happen? I have been reading all the blogs I follow but no time to actually sit and type up anything. Or at least anything worth reading.
I have had a non-stop month. In the last month and a half I have had surery, end of year parties at school, field trips, field days at school, potty training Thing 2, knitting orders to fill and that’s on top of my regular everyday stuff! So busy!

So, to the knitting part of this post. I don’t have a whole ton to say about it all so I will just be posting pics and what not. Ready? Here we go.

Batman reversible hat
I made this with Berroco Comfort on size 9 needles. I made the chart and pretty much winged it from there. Turned out really well but it was a huge pain to double knit. Not sure I will using that technique often.

Newborn Aviator Hat
Made with Berrocco Comfort(I love this yarn) No patten was used. Just a basic newborn hat with “goggles” added. I would like to thank my Hubs for all the cutting and glueing to make the goggles. He did a pretty awesome job.

First Birthday Princess Crown
I made this with Redheart Super saver. I know, I know!! I feel a little sick just typing that and I felt bad for my needles but it’s what the customer requested and bought, so I had no choice. Again, a big thank you to my Hubs for cutting out the “1”. I can knit but cutting is not for me.

Tri-corner baby hat
This was knit with Plymouth Yarn Pasea. I loved working with this yarn. It is so soft and knits up quickly. Also, this is a close out on the Plymouth Yarn site if anyone wants to try it out for a discount.

One Seam Baby slippers
I used the same yarn as the hat since it was sent to the same baby. This was a gift for a friend who just had a little girl a few weeks ago. I absolutely love this pattern! So quick and so cute!! It took less than 45 minutes to knit these up, add buttons and wash them. This is my go to set for new babies.

Newborn Owl photo prop
This was also an off the too of my head knit. No pattern was used. Custom order with a diaper cover to match(next pic).

My Favorite Dragon Hat
Toothless hat. Vicious’ best friend LOVES How to Train Your Dragon. Like super obsessed love!! Since the second HTTYD movie is coming out on Friday 6/13, she had to have a toothless hat! (Toothless is her favorite dragon). I may knit Vicious a Viking hat with braids so they can wear them to the movie when they go on Friday.

Last but not least, here is a picture of what I won from Knitters Prides pic a day contest. I also won a deluxe set of Bamboo Interchangable needles but they haven’t arrived yet.

That about it readers! Hope to post more often now that things are calming down.
Happy Knitting Everyone!!

Busy week(end)

Hello all! Hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. I was busy,busy,busy!! It was great though. So much fun and lots of celebrating.

My kids were out for Spring break last week. Vicious spent most of her time with her friends while Thing 2 and me sat around the house and did nothing! It was wonderful to be able to get almost nothing done all week. I did finish some knitting so I guess I was a little productive 🙂

I found out on Thursday that I won the week 1 challenge for the Geeky Girls knit PAD contest! I was so excited!! I can’t wait to see my prize in May! Thank you to all who voted for my picture!!

Saturday I had to go to a birthday party for a friends son. He turned the big 0-1! I was super excited for about this party. First off, because he is the miracle my friend thought she may never have and second because he is the best kid to knit for!!! Most of my circle of friends are infertile women and we like to make sure we celebrate the milestones of the babies we were blessed with. And my friend went ALL OUT to make sure her rainbow baby was celebrated haha. It was a great time! Thing 2 had a blast!! Vicious was grounded and couldn’t go.

To celebrate my main little dude turning one I made him a Baby sophisticate and matching hat! His mother had made it clear that he was to have one after she saw the last one I made. Since she actually appreciates handmade items and sends me endless pictures of little dude in these items, I was more than happy to oblige.

I made it in the size 2T and added about a half inch to the length. It took close to 2.5 skeins of yarn. I used Berrocco Vintage for this. It’s washable and soft. Great for kid knits. I am so in love with how this turned out!
I decided that it needed a hat to go with it so I grabbed some scraps I had and came up with this train hat!

She sent me this picture last night! How stinking adorable is this kid!?!

Sunday was spent with family doing the whole Easter thing. The kids had a blast hunting eggs and playing with their cousins at my inlaws house. I had a good time eating haha.

I started my first reversible hat on Sunday also. I sat in church knitting a batman hat for an order 😃 I am about half way finished and it’s looking pretty good so far! I am a bit nervous on how I am going I decrease it but I guess I will figure that out when the time comes. If anyone has tips on decreasing a double knit reversible hat, I would love them!

Last up, I want to let everyone know that this week is National Inferility Awareness Week. What that is, is just a time to help get the word out about Inferility and help those still “in the closet” not feel so alone or shamed. I suffer from secondary infertility which basically means I had one kid but couldn’t have two on my own. It took 3 years and 9 miscarriages to get Thing 2. She is my Rainbow baby! (Rainbow baby is a baby after a loss)
Infertility effects 1in 8 couples and can happen before the first kid or after the tenth. It is physically and emotionally draining and painful. It’s also not just the inability to get pregnant. Infertility can be the inability to conceive or the inability to carry a pregnancy. It is not biased either and effects men and women equally.

Hug an Infertile this week. They probably need it 🙂

New techniques

This has been a slow week. I haven’t accomplished much. I worked some on my baby sophisticate but it still is not finished. I need to get on it since it’s a birthday gift and I have to give it to the birthday boy on Saturday! Yikes!!!

The main reason I haven’t finished is because I have been sick. I caught a stomach bug from my kids(thanks girls) and that had me down. That in turn caused my RA to flare so now I am sore. Good times!! It has been very hard to knit with joint pain. So, to combat this I learned a new technique.
I taught my self how to knit Portuguese style. This has been life changing!! It cause zero hand strain, purling is easier than knitting, and I have increased my speed!! All pluses!
I watched this video and went to town. I am using my neck right now to keep tension but I plan to get a knitting pin soon.

If you will remember from the last post, I am doing a photo a day challenge with Geeky Girl Knits and Knitters Pride. Well, this week one of my pictures was chosen as a finalist!! Sooo if anyone wants to hop over to Ravelry and vote for Pic A, well I would not be mad at you 😃

That’s it’s! Hopefully I will have some FOs for the next post.
Happy knitting

Highlight of my day

I logged onto Instagram to see what was going on in people’s lives. Well, I look and see I have notifications. When I check them it tells me that Knitters Pride needles have reposted
my photo!!!
This was the highlight of my day!! I almost giggled, which would I been odd since I am supposed to be helping in Vicious’ class not playing on Instagram haha!!

Not sure I this is super awesome or really sad that this is the highlight of my day!! Lmao 😀

Just call me Tortoise

Hello Knitters and readers of knitting blogs 🙂 Hope you all are well.

If you recall I have been looking for my knitting mojo, the gusto for FOs and the lulling click of needles. Well, it’s gone. I think it’s probably under my bed but who knows 😉
I have decided it’s time to take a step back and let this lapse in knitting run it’s course. I have still been knitting but at a much slower pace and I have decided that I am ok with that. My orders are still getting filled so I say that’s as good as I can do right now.

I completed a few things in this past week. All of which were a first! I love when I get requests for things I haven’t made before. I love the challenge of finding the perfect yarn, needles, getting the size right, coming up with a pattern, etc. That is the kind of thing that gets me knitting. I need more of that in my life.

First up was a baby infinity scarf. I may have mentioned this in my last post, can’t remember. Either way I have completed and blocked it. It is adorable!! I may make one for Thing 2 just in a bigger size.

I knit this in Monte Donegal yarn. Color Violet.
I love this yarn. This is the second item I have knit with it and I can guarantee it won’t be the last.
For this I used a size 6 16″ circular and co 102. I did a 2 row border in a 1×1 rib, knit even for 4.5″ then another 2 row 1×1 rib border and cast off using Jenys stretchy bind off. Voila, baby infinity scarf!! Can’t wait to see it on the recipient.

I started another project for a birthday gift. A friends son is turning 1 and I am making him a Baby sophisticate. I love these little jackets and once she saw the one I made before, she requested one. I LOVE making stuff for people who actually appreciate it! He is till wearing the hats I made him when he has born, granted they were knit bigger. I will most likely make a hat to go along with this sweater.

I am making this with Berocco Vintage. Another of my favorite yarns. I would say that about 40% of my stash is this yarn. I highly recommend it.
I plan to do the border, button bands and sleeve cuffs in this contrasting yarn.

I can’t wait to see this finished!!

That’s all I have for you all as far knitting stuff goes. I will leave you all with awesome pictures of my babies. Proud mama…Vicious is the brunette, Thing 2 is the blonde.