Warm up for fall!

Fall is here.

The trees have ushered in the the season with flaming torches quivering on their branches. We love to watch how each day transforms the leaves into a new more autumn saturated hue.

My refrigerators are loaded with apples after last weeks trip to the orchard.

Nothing like a fresh picked, juice running down your sleeves,
apple 

Everett is my sustainability champion. Waste not, want not.
Why pick from the trees when there are plenty of great apples right here on the ground?

Is there anything better than a big stick?

Lucky for us, this means a table full of harvest recipes piping hot and filling the senses with delight, from apple pork roasts to apple crisp.

This truly is one of my favorite times of year. 

Cooler weather also means my fingers are itching even more than usual to create some warmth on those needles! That means some new additions to the shop as well as many custom orders (thank you to my wonderful customers!)

Cashmere / Merino Boys Stripe Hat

A few new hats that are ready to ship as well as many to custom order.

Dusty Pink Cashmere / Merino Hat with Pearl Rosette Clip

Cashmere / Merino Wool Eyelet Band Hat with Rhinestone Rosette Clip

100% Organic Cotton Ladybug Hat 

Also, new detachable rosettes! They are mounted on an alligator clip (or brooch pin) so they can be attached to the hat as well as worn alone as a hair or clothing accessory.

The colors are stunning and the fibers sumptuous. Go grab something for yourself or your kids and use this coupon code so you can have 15% off!!

WarmUp4Fall

It's time to cozy up and enjoy the season!

All the best,

Spring line...might just make it out by summer.

Since we are already in the midst of spring, I thought maybe I should start working on a spring line. Late? I know. Such is life right now. I have had a few patterns steeping in the back of my mind for a while now just waiting for the right time (aka: finding time to knit) to make their lovely appearance.

Just because it is spring doesn't mean the sun received the message. Here in Chicagoland, the clouds have been predominating and the weather is "brisk" to say the least. This time of year still calls for some layers of warmth. (Sidenote: one of my favorite books from childhood is "How the Sun was Brought Back to the Sky." I now read it to A and she loves it. Seriously, check it out.)

The two I have started are both in my favorite organic cotton. Awesome fiber.

The first piece is this adorable cable hat. I wanted to evoke the feeling of warmer weather on the horizon though, and this lovely robin's egg blue just speaks to new life. Appropriate both for the season and this upcoming Easter which is all about rebirth and new life. Here's my little E modeling it for me.

We are all abustle with birthday preparations as E turn's one tomorrow! Hard to believe. All the emotions of that day come flooding back as if it were today rather than months ago. What a joyful moment in our families lives. He opened our hearts to a lot more love, a boy's world, and the sweet, silly, loud, BUSY life that he's given us. He made A a big sister and she has blossomed and grown so much this last year. Her tenderness toward him still touches me and teaches me every day.

J's parents are coming in for the weekend to celebrate Easter and E's birthday together, which is such a treat. We will have a little party on Friday with some close friends and then head to the city on Saturday. A has been asking to go to the "Dinosaur Museum" since we moved here and so we are planning on it, finally!

My second new piece in the spring/summer line is this silky, feminine seed scarf that drapes so beautifully.

Light and airy enough for warm days as well as cool and is that perfect finishing touch. I love it paired with a neutral top to transform your whole look into something fresh. Nothing like a great accessory to take something you've had in your closet for years to a whole new level.

As you can see it is still on the needles and has just a bit left to go. I am planning on a pared down version for girls as well as the women's scarf. This vibrant teal was just what I needed on a rainy, gloomy day to evoke the colors of coming warmer months.

Stayed tuned for more to come. When? No idea...

A peak into my drawers...no really!

So after going on and on about my basement of craft mania, I thought I would give you a little peak into my space and what's been going on down there recently.

I have a wheeled cart that houses my current works in progress as well as recently completed items. I can just roll it around wherever I am and have it next to me with all my project elements at hand.

Honestly, I also find it reassuring to open my "Finished" drawer just as an occasional morale booster. I have to tell my self that whatever I am in the trenches with, it will someday be finished and someone will get the pleasure of seeing it on their baby or child. So here's my "Finished" drawer as it looks right now.

One of my other favorite places is my shelf of fabric bins, just begging to be created into something new and fabulous!

I always wash and press everything right after I return from the store so when I have time to go down and create, all I have to do is pick my fabric of choice and get crackin'! When you have two little kids, you have to take full advantage of every moment you have to work!

Ah yes, the lovely Singer, currently set up on my craft table as I have been using it so much. (love, love, love).

My spools and bobbins are like little rainbows in boxes - such a delight!

Here is my latest purchase from my favorite yarn store in Denver, Lamb Shoppe, which is a beautiful little place piled ceiling high with the most beautiful fibers from all over the world. They house their yarns on old wooden built-in bookshelves complete with rolling ladder and all! They always have a large stock of my favorite Debbie Bliss yarns on hand. Ohhhh, it's like a bag of pure softness and tactile goodness.

Here's the top of the knitting bakers rack loaded with baskets of beautiful fiber from projects past and also a good stash for projects yet to come.

Next to the long craft table are the towers of madness...yes, the scrapbooking towers. Recently neglected in favor of other crafting options (namely for the shop), I do still love to look through all the papers and notions knowing that someday I will have time to put all my little one's pictures in albums. I am okay with that fact that that isn't today.

Right before shipping out the door, all my sales take a stop at the wrapping station to get dressed up all pretty in tissue paper, a tag, and pretty ribbon before heading out the door to their new home.

I have almost finished three boys knit hats in three different sizes which I hope to have up in the next day or two! Buddy Boy is up from his nap, so Mom duty calls :)

Mogul Mom? Momtrepreneur? Moron?

I have always loved crafts (and for those of you who know me well, this is the understatement of the century). A self proclaimed hobby-a-holic, I have always needed something to put my creative energies toward and making things with my hands has always been an outlet for me.

My basement is a rather embarrassing shrine to this habit. Clear storage bins and sliding drawers are stacked to the ceiling in the scrapbooking corner packed full of a rainbow of papers, stickers, rub-ons, stamps, embelishments, tools, punches, and more. There’s the sewing station with spools and bobbins galore, with each shade reminding me of projects past. A side of the road find bakers rack is loaded with baskets of the softest, most touchable yarns, remnants of precious projects that have graced my babies heads, feet and wrapped them in warmth as they were brand new. A storage shelf holds fabrics, pattern books, cross stich projects and floss/thread, my kids’s art supplies (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, finger paints, water colors, contruction paper and more) and some of my favorites: bins of keepsakes from when I was younger: writings, clay figurines, old programs from plays and concerts, and more (scattered in with the occasional 10 lb nursing school text book!). Then there is the banquet length craft table, inevitably strewn with the paraphernalia of whatever creation is attempting to take form.

It is merely a flight of stairs down into this organized yet somehow haphazard space, yet I feel a world away when I am down in my haven of textures and mediums just begging to be combined into something new and fabulous.

Up until about a month ago, everything I have made has always been for myself, my children, or as a gift for someone close to me. After multiple “little birdies” chirped in my ear (you know who you are!) that I really should sell what I am making, I decided to jump in with both (well, one and a half) feet.

I first heard about Etsy from my sister-in-law. What a treasury of unique, handmade and vintage gems. The concept is rather wonderful. I have been able to open a “shop” selling my handmade articles that lets me market and sell my creations to the greater population, have control over how much I make and sell, yet still have relatively little commitment if things should not go well or I get burned out. Sounded good enough for me.

Thus Rosewill Arts was born inspired from my kids’ middle names as they inspire me to be a better woman, wife, and mother every day.

So here’s to becoming a momtrepreneur, for now. We’ll see where this takes me, and for the time being, I’m along for the ride!