I actually have something to "show 'n tell" on F.O. Friday! WHOA!

I am happy to report that Sugar 'N Spice is all seamed up! So I can now officially log it in as FIN! :oD

Some of you recall me being smitten with this pattern since April! During my stalking/lurking blog time, I happened to notice another fellow knitter Sheep in the City (Stacey) knit it up for her niece awhile ago and I knew I just had to do it for my niece too!

I had yet to knit anything for India and her 4th birthday was coming up (August) so I thought this would be a nice gift made by her favorite auntie! :oD

Here is the front of the pullover. Not sure what is up with the wave look...pixel issues?...oh well

The colors, just in case your eyes/monitor is playing tricks on you, are pink and orange. I love this color combo!!

Click Here for Larger View

I knitted up a larger size for India per recommendation of Stacey so she could get more wear out of it. I am sure if I had a "mommy" antenna I would have automatically known to do that too! :op So I know this will be way too big for her right now.

And here is the back of the pullover

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Looks about the same right?? LOL Well you may notice a keyhole opening at the top :o) With the cutest button!!! Look at Crimson Purl making button holes! WHOA! Okay granted the easiest kind you could make (a crocheted loop).

And of course I had to put my garment label on the inside of her custom made pullover!Did someone check out that I actually crocheted! LOL Let me tell ya! The pattern called for SC the entire neckline, which I am glad I did b/c it gave the garment a nice "finished" look and hid some of my loose joins. But lets not talk about how it took me an hour to do that very small circumference!! HA! I am sure I will get better at crocheting soon! Lizard Ridge will break me in real good :op

The sleeves were my biggest challenge of this project since I had never put together a garment before and was dreading to do it. Hence, why this U.F.O. sat on my couch for over 2 months all knitted up and nowhere to go. If it wasn't for the fact that India's birthday is this weekend, it would still be sitting right there!

Setting the cap sleeves in was not that bad but making sure it was all lined up got me. It was a little bit off under one arm sleeve so I had some excessive "pinching" of fabric. But the other one went perfectly! (The one photographed! LOL) and for some reason my seaming wasn't totally seamless on the other side, you could see some of the sleeves borders...but whatever it was 1AM and I needed to get it out in the mail! (Of course I waited until the last minute!)

I did have to package it up all cute for her! I mean really what 4 year old is going to be excited about a knitted pullover! LOL Lets be honest here! This was all for my pleasure! :oDI was thrilled to find a pink & orange beanie animal and a cute pink & orange gift bag. It was a perfect match! Along with some other goodies.

As we "read" her special birthday package is on the way to Wisconsin (yep that is where I am from - born & raised).

This was not a perfect knit - I am speaking specifically about the seaming (crocheted edging), BUT I am proud of my 1st completed garment! :oD

I told y'all I like to make tiny versions first before branching out to big people clothing!

~Project Details~

Pattern: Sugar ‘n Spice by Minnow Knits
Needles: Denise US5 (should have used a US4 to get a better gauge with the yarn) and ‘E’ hook
Yarn: Unknown! There were no ball bands on them at all (got the yarn from a closeout sale). All I know is that it is 100% cotton/100 yards a ball. Used 2 balls in pink and 1.5 in the orange.
Size: 6 year old (largest size per pattern)
Cost: Yarn $11, button $3
For: My beautiful soon-to-be 4 year old niece for her birthday!
Time: About 10 days - knitting on it here and there (very fast), but I procrastinated with the seaming BIG time!
What I learned: SEAMING was the biggest thing for me. How to do it on a miniature item. Particularly sewing vertical stockinette with horizontal stockinette. Setting in sleeves. What selvage stitches are!! :op Crocheting around an edge as a finishing and making a button hole. What the heck is a hem line in knitting! :op Oh! And how to work both sides separately.
Modifications: Omitted the hem line by adding a ruffle border at bottom. Omitted their decorative shoulder binding and did it seamless.
Verdict: Would definitely knit this up again for a little munchkin! I am glad that I don’t know what kind of yarn I used because it split very badly! The ply was terrible and I would never use it again. I also would change my needle size if I used cotton again by going down one.

Well last Sunday I started working on Sugar N Spice after being thoroughly not interested in working on Ms. Marigold (as we speak it is balled up in a bag...sigh...will discuss that later LOL!).

My 1st Friday yarn p0rn and I didn't even plan on it!! :oD

I truly don't ever intend on doing Friday yarn p0rns - especially on a regular (b/c I don't buy enough and would like to stay out of the poor house LOL), but what a coincidence this time!

Well that particular LYS closing down I spoke about in an earlier blog entry, did in fact have their inevitable 50% off sale. I swore I would not go, at all!!...but saw Turtlegirl partaking in the goods, so I decided to swing by on my lunch hour..okay I took a 1/2 day off :op

But of course for me to confirm my "soon-to-be" purchase I always have to have a project in mind before I can buy yarn. I gotta know what kind of yarn to buy and how much to buy or I won't do it! I just can't buy all willy nilly like that! Especially in large quantities.

SO! In saying all of that. Remember just last night I was all excited about my Minnow Knits patterns - specifically the Sugar 'N Spice? Weeellllll here is the yarn for my niece's pullover!
Hey! This is the best I can do for a little while :op (re: pic quality). I went outside and everything for better lighting! Haha! *pat on back* :o)

This yarn is 100% cotton and 100 yards per ball. But there is absolutely NO NAME for the yarn!!! The shop didn't even know what type of yarn it is....mmmhh go figure! But I can't complain for only $2.25 a ball. I had to snag it!
And LOOK!! I didn't have to get them wound up!! :oD :op :oD :op

Anyway they had four different colorways - I call them sorbet colors: all bright yellow, pink, orange, and turquoise blue.

I kept trying to decide which two colors I should use together for her Sugar 'N Spice pullover. It is going to be in summer - so I decided on bright colors. She is a girl - why not the traditional pink. And it will be in the heat of August so definitely light weight = cotton. She lives in WI so it is not like down South H-O-T. The bright colors will look great on her chocolate skin! I call her my little Pocahontas. :oD

I really didn't think turquoise blue and orange would look great for a little girl (even though yours was cute Sheep in the City!).
Possibly the turquoise blue and yellow...naaaahh
Yellow and orange? Possibly
Yellow & pink?? Was a strong maybe
But definitely not the turquoise blue and pink.

So I got funky with it and picked the pink and orange! So she will be one cute chocolate sorbet! Haha! :o)

Well I think I did a decent job for my 1st yarn p0rn! I can now check it off my list as DONE! Yeah!! :oD

I have been pining over this one particular baby pattern the last couple of weeks that I saw on one of the million blogs I read! :op

So I saved the link and said I would get back to it later. Well my niece's birthday is coming up in August and I would love to knit something up for her. I have been a very bad Auntie and have yet to do that!

I revisited the link and realized that I truly could not order from the website and needed to find a LYS to get it. Well not one shop here in Charlotte carried Minnow Knits patterns. I did a little research and discovered a yarn shop in Raleigh called Great Yarns http://www.yarnsetc.com/indexGY.html they were sweet as pie to me and had the exact pattern I wanted! Sugar 'N Spice!! Not only did they have that one but 2 other ones that caught my eye. I just couldn't resist so I got all 3 of them and it was worth the $.80 cent postage! LOL
Ship them to me!! :o) I received my long awaited treats on today!

Alright! Alright! Since I am "camera challenged" at the moment, here are clearer versions of the patterns directly from the website! :op

Sugar 'N Spice

Cuddle Up




















Sweetie Pie




























I cannot wait to knit Sugar 'N Spice up for my niece!! She will be 4 years old, and luckily the pattern goes up in size to 6 year olds (doubled checked before I ordered - not savvy enough yet to alter a pattern Hahaha).

All the patterns appear to be simple and something I can handle!

But for the Sugar 'N Spice I will have to piece it together. No more being spoiled with top/down patterns! :op And I actually plan to add a ruffle edge on the bottom of the pullover too! Not sure what colors yet! But I will keep y'all posted!

I had a nice mail day! :o) Aren't these patterns just C-U-T-E!