Secret Project Complete

DSC_1263, originally uploaded by suntheim.

Here is my completed Pea Pod baby Set for my niece. After not really blogging much about it, I was so far behind that when I got to Cincinnati for the holiday weekend, I actually told my sister in-law that it was for her baby, and proceeded to finish it at my in-laws house over the weekend.

Actually I finished the knitting of the sweater in the Philly airport when our flight was delayed by more than 2 hours on Friday, then cast-on the hat when I was done. The rest of the weekend was spent knitting the hat, the seaming, buttons ect....

Weaved in the last end about 5 minutes before hubby was ready to get in the car to drive to airport, and snapped a quick picture before heading back to Philly.
I was very happy with how this came out.

Pattern: Pea Pod Baby Set (free) by Kate Gilbert
Size: Sweater- 12 months, Hat -17.25"
Needles: Size 5
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Grass Color 6 skeins

A few things I would change in the future when I knit this again (and I will). I might put another button hole on the collar or a snap.
I also picked up the neckline a little unevenly, but all in all it didn't come out too bad.

Love the yarn, so soft, and machine washable.

Onto more loose ends, I am now about 1.5 inches into my second sock of the red Harlot socks, and hope to finish those over the next few days.

Lace Obsessed

Some recent lace yarn I obtained at Rosie's Yarn Cellar today. Misti Alpaca....so soft, and doesn't break the bank either.


I also ordered the flower basket shawl along with some other patterns for future projects from Fiber Trends today.

I have recently become obsessed with Lace. Show me your most recent project, you may ask? Well that is the problem. I have no time to knit.

I have an exam this Wednesday and am hoping to finish my super secret project for my new niece after that is done. I also have one more sock to do to match my previously posted red Harlot sock.

In the meantime I discovered the most beautiful shawl I have ever seen here:

http://lacefreak.blogspot.com/2007/10/herbert-nieblings-lyra-who-is-that.html


Unfortunately, the pattern is not readily available, but can be obtained by purchasing an old Anna Magazine off E-bay for an arm and a leg. It is by Herbert Nieblings, my new favorite person, if one can be so dearly attached to a dead shawl/doily designer whose shawls I have never knit, but fawned over through Ravelry and blogs.

I was seriously considering asking a friend of my husbands, who travels to Germany occasionally to go into every knitting store he could find in Germany and ask them for all of Nieblings patterns so that I might personally translate them, just so I could have them.....until that is, my husband told me I was not allowed for fear of said friends masculinity if he dared enter a knitting store. Ah why can't more men understand this obsession?

I think Niebling patterns may need a surgeon generals warning: Knitting this shawl may be addictive.

Instead I may try Frosted Ferns, a free-pattern. For a yahoo group dedicated to him that includes a chart and notes on the Frosted Ferns Pattern go here.

More potential projects

The new knitty is out!

I love the beaded Ice Queen cowl.

An I am sure I will be making the Azure Socks. A cable that is not really a cable? Scrumptious!

Okay, back to writing my powerpoint presentation.

Strawberry Cap

These photos don't do it justice, but here is a strawberry cap I made for a baby shower.

Pattern: Ann Norling's Fruit Cap #10
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic
Needles: Size 8 DPN
Size: 6 Months

I finished it late last night, and snapped a few pics before wrapping it up and giving to the mom-to-be today.

Christmas Fun

Saw this on another blog and thought it was fun so here goes:
'Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper
2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? shortly after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever I get around to it, but usually by the 1st or 2nd week in January
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Too many to choose
7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes a beautiful Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus, a gift from in-laws
8. Hardest person to buy for? DH
9. Easiest person to buy for? CS
10. Worst Christmas Gift you ever received? It must have been bad enough that I never used/wore it because I can't remember.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Grinch, of course!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year it was October, but I am usually last minute (like the last week before Christmas, unlike my crazy husband, who likes to go Christmas Eve!)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, I would feel too guilty
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Godiva Chocolate and my dad's pancakes when I wake up. Oh and duck....definitely duck.
16 Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear
17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Prefer to stay home, but travel right now to be with family since both my hubby's parents and mine don't live in the area.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? _Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Doner,Rudolph, Vixen, Cupid, Blitzen....I don't think thats all of them though.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither, a pointy ceramic thing
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? So many people in the stores, and the christmas stuff thats been out since about Labor Day. I want to appreciate Christmas, not be inundated with retail merchandising for 6 months out of the year.
23. What is the "corniest" family tradition you do, or miss doing? My parents always used to give my sister and I matching pajamas on Christmas Eve. It was the only gift we got to open on Christmas eve, and it was always the one from Mom & Dad instead of Santa.
24. What is the worst thing you've seen related to Christmas?- I hate the inflatable lawn ornaments. So corny!
25. Which looks best theme trees or homey trees? Homey
26. Gingerbread or sugar cookies? Sugar
27. Do you like Fruitcake? Nope. Definitely not a tradition in my family.

Irresistible Alpaca

DSC_1231, originally uploaded by suntheim.

I purchased 4 skeins of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande at Saybrook Yarn's new shop (across the street from their old shop) when I was up in CT. The new shop is much bigger and brighter, and the Alpaca was on a significant sale. I may make a shrug or a lacy shawl, but I am not sure yet. So soft and a great deep green.

Thanksgiving Knitting

DSC_1224, originally uploaded by suntheim.

Now that I am knee-deep in research project I am missing my Thanksgiving knitting time. Here is a photo of my first real fingering weight sock! It fits so nicely and will actually fit inside my regular shoes!

No, I haven't finished the second sock yet.....and I won't until probably the end of December when I have some time off from school. And since these socks are for me, any free knitting time will be spent working on gifts for new babies.....

We met my cousin's new girlfriend at Thanksgiving, and it was a fun scene when I brought out my sock to work on, and discovered that I had initiated a trend. The other knitters (including the new girlfriend) also pulled out their respective projects and we had a knitting party in the den after dinner.