Icky Green Sweater is Finished!

I can't believe I finally finished Mom's birthday sweater! Her birthday isn't until March, but I wanted to give it to her early, so she'll have more time to wear it. She lives in South Carolina, and *sob* it's usually getting warm by March (as opposed to the Frigid North, where it's still sub-zero in March).

I'm much happier with this sweater than I've ever been with anything else I've ever knitted. It's my second time knitting this pattern (I made the same sweater for my Auntie Erna), so I don't think I made any mistakes. Can you believe it? I'm not whining about mistakes!

From browsing through other knitters blogs, I had assumed that sewing the garment together with the "mattress stitch" would be tedious and awful, but I found it rather addicting. I couldn't help but be mesmerized by how the seams became all but invisible. I'm definitely remembering that particular stitch for future garment construction.

Did you notice the beautiful Christmas tree in the background? I had resigned myself to not having a tree this year, because Andy argued that having a tree was silly since we won't be here for Christmas anyway. As a compromise, Andy promised to find a little scrub tree and cut it down so I could still hang my favorite ornaments. Well, what a nice surprise to find that he'd gotten this gorgeous tree instead of a little scrubby one! I'm thinking that either he: 1) felt guilty about depriving me of my favorite Christmas tradion, or 2) didn't want to go through the trouble of finding a free tree. I'm not complaining, and I'm not even going to ask him. I'm just so thrilled to have a tree!

I'll post pictures of it decorated later. I have to purchase more strings of lights, since most of mine are not working.

I just felt like including a picture of this. I sewed it while I was pregnant last year, and just looking at it makes my leg twitch. (I had terrible sciatica, and sitting at the sewing machine for long periods of time was excruciating.) It's machine quilted, but based on the Hawaiian quilting style, and I think it's my favorite design I've ever seen. I love the red poinsettia set against the green leaves.