Romp Around the Clock Pattern GIVEAWAY!

I never would have thought joking in a knitting class that I wanted to knit a romper would end up here two years later.

I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to participate in the first issue of Holla Knits. All of the garments are exactly what I'm looking for when I chose my own projects, fun, forward and engaging.

Allyson modeling my romper in the rain. 

It has been such a pleasure to be able to share this experience with two other fledgling designers. Emma Welford's Holla Back Tank is a beautiful and versatile tank with a great lace back.

Katie Canavan's Finishing School is an adorable Retro Sailor styled sleeveless top. ( I may or may not have placed a knit picks order for this yarn a few days ago- Watch out Sailors!)

Allyson, being an old hat at this design stuff had three patterns in this collection.

Umbre Lovre

a three color umbre striped loose tunic with great stitch detail on the bottom and top.

In A While Crocodile

a fitted short sleeve top with crocheted crocodile stitch on the sleeves. You can also opt to leave the crocodile detail off for a modern and fun tee.

and last but not least, Put a Belt On It

a vest with construction starting at the belt and gorgeous cables and shaping along the back.

Any guess as to which one of those I'll be knitting? (oh HEY mustard and gray) 

This is such a great set of patterns and I am so excited to have even a small part in all of this. This is just the first issue of Holla Knits, with another issue slated for Fall/Winter and an accessory collection sometime this year. For 5 more days (until May 1st) the subscription price is only $18, which breaks down to $1/pattern (MADNESS.) After that it's $36, which is still a great deal! 

In celebration of all of this I'm giving away a free copy of my Romp Around the Clock pattern. To enter simply leave  comment below (be sure to include an email or ravelry id so I can reach you.) For an additional entry "like" The Owl and The Bee on Facebook or tweet a link to this blog post (don't forget to leave a comment for each action so you get your extra entry!) The giveaway will run until May 3rd at Midnight CST. Good luck!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Holla Knits Blog Tour. There are great giveaways and goodies!!

April 16th: Holla Knits Blog - Collection debut
April 17th: The Sweatshop of Love - Review and pattern giveaway
April 18th: FiberStory.tv - Interview with designer Emma Welford
April 19th: Emma Welford/Kangaroo Dyer - Review and yarn giveaway
April 20th: Knits in Class - Review and subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway, discounts
April 23rd: Under the Red Umbrella - Review and pattern giveaway, subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway
April 24th: Skacel - Review and yarn, pattern, and needles giveaway, additional subscriber exclusive yarn and needles giveaway
April 25th: Knit Darling - Review and pattern giveaway
April 26th: The Owl and the Bee - Review and pattern giveaway
April 27th: Dirty Water DyeWorks - Review and subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway, discounts
April 30th: Wooly Wonka Fiber Arts - Review and subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway
May 1st: Knitted Bliss - Review and pattern giveaway
May 2nd: FiberStory.tv - Interview with designer Lily Ubbelohde
May 3rd: Knit Picks Blog Stash - Review, podcast interview with designer Allyson Dykhuizen, and pattern giveaway
May 4th: Subway Knitter - Review and pattern giveaway

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Day Two

Photography Challenge Day!
Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or you might photograph a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in your garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos. Here are a few examples of my own photographs to illustrate an imaginative use of photography, but you can do much better than these...

Mulling over today's prompt I realized that although I'd call myself creative in many ways, staged photography isn't really one of my strong suits.

Instead I'll show you this adorable "scene" from many months ago.

teeny tiny mochi. This was taken at a lovely wine included knit night right before the holidays. and thus I present you. The nativity scene with a chicken as baby Jesus and two gnomes as Joesph and Mary. If that isn't creative photography, then I just don't know what is.

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week: Day One

Although I've made an effort to participate in Knitting and Crocheting blog week in the past, this year I'm really going balls to the wall, aka, actually doing it. Although there will be a mid week interruption. Don't worry-- It's good! Promise!

Without further ado. Today's prompt:

Colour Lovers
Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

If you've ever meet me a day in your life you know that I have two favorite colors. Grey and Yellow. In that order. A peruse through my ravelry queue will show you this. I OFTEN find myself being drawn to projects simply because the sample is knit in a beautiful beautiful mustard. (Here's looking at you: Wickerwork , Levinwick, and Jekyll and Hyde) Sometimes this can be great, but recently I am trying to push myself into looking past the color or styling of a sample and really envisioning it in my life or on myself.

I find myself drawn to warm colors over cool colors (I discovered this when I sorted my stash by warm and cool and weight. I had the most of worsted weight warm colors.) Recently I've been trying to branch out beyond my "normal" colors so keep an eye out for some "cooler" colored FO's soon!

Sunday Snapshot

 

Working on some old projects. 

Romp Around the Clock

I feel like I'm walking around as an exclamation point today. Holla Knits launched today and with it my Romp Around the Clock Pattern.

By all accounts, I should hate rompers as much as I hate other hipster fashion trends (looking at you harem pants) but I just can’t seem to escape them. Perhaps I am just nostalgic for the days of infant wear, perhaps I love the idea of one article of clothing (it’s your shirt and pants in one!) Whatever it is I try not analyze it too much – I’m too busy running around in my rompers!

Knit from the bottom up you start each leg individually and then join them in the round to complete the body. Three separate stitch patterns help keep this knit flying by and add waist shaping. The top is seemed with no roll elastic and button details help you add some of your own personality.

You can purchase the pattern individually for $6 here, or click that super cute button with my face on up to the right there! For the value minded, Subscribe to Holla Knits here. Until May 1st the subscription price is $18. You get three collections total (Fall/Winter and Accessories to be published) and access to all kinds of perks and goodies. After May 1st the price goes up to $36 so jump on this price while its hott!

Sunday Snapshot

Two for the price of one

Baby Cardigan

I've got a chili cheese fries and milkshake problem.

A Long Drive

I spent the last weekend in Minneapolis taking some pictures for the Holla Knits photo shoot. I'm so excited for this all and can't believe it's all going live in less than a week!

 photo shoot supplies

Besides being where Allyson currently lives Minneapolis is also my home town so I got to spend some time with some pretty great people.

nephews

cousins 

cousin, new puppy, and brother

 

a girl and her unicorn

 

I even managed to get some knitting done while I was there. Casting on for this cowl and getting about half way done with it. I'm using Brava from Knit Picks. It's really soft and will be easy to care for, which is good because I see this getting a lot of use around here!

yum!

Sunday Snapshot

A sneak peak from the Holla Knits photo shoot yesterday.

Delancey Knit Along: Week 7

Week 7 saw us finishing the sleeves. I managed to finish a few days earlier so I busted out the bottom band as well. I'm loving the way that the garter stitch looks and it feels so soft and springy.

I'm loving how light and smooth the Swish feels, especially on the previously blocked body. I can't wait to see the collar come to fruition. Just a collar, some buttons, and weaving in all those pesky ends stand between me and my delancey sweater wearing days!