Um, Yeah, Knitting?

I figured it high time I put some photos on here of some recent knitting that I've done. For one thing, I mentioned that I finished the socks, my first pair ever. Here they are:

Overall I am happy with how they turned out. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but they are WAY too big for me and I imagine that they'd be big for most average women's feet. So I gave them to my dad! I think he really liked them.

While I was in North Carolina in December, I knit up a 45" long by 7" wide strip---just plain old garter knit---for a charity blanket project that someone in our knitting group (Elizabeth) was kind enough to administer. Afghans for Afghans, I believe it's called. It was super nice to be able to just crank out this strip. Nothing fancy, just all wool, colorful yarn. I like the strip a lot! Would also make a funky scarf too:

This was knit with Patons Classic Merino in the Autumn Harvest colorway, I think. With Panda Woolbale in Grape as the purple parts.

While visiting Todd's family over Christmas in Illinois, I started my second pair of toe-up socks. I got pretty far before having to ask for help. (Pat, you are awesome.) So far, I have turned the heel on one sock and am ready to go up the leg. Well, actually, I DID start to go up the leg, but I picked this screwy pattern that was meant for straight knitting and it just didn't translate properly to knitting rounds. So I have to frog the rows on the leg---not many---and work in the new, improved pattern (again, Pat, you are awesome)! The second sock needs to have the heel turned. I need help, again, figuring that out. The wording in the pattern is a little confusing to me, so I like to have some reassurance before I dive in. Skinny yarn on tiny needles scares me a little, still. :-) Anyway here they are:


So far, so good. These are going MUCH faster and seem a lot easier. Only a few snafus. :-)

Then I decided that I wanted to make a luxurious scarf for ME. So I got some lovely cashmere yarn from a woman in New Hampshire who has an e-bay shop. Fantastic price and the cashmere quality is superb. This is the softest most decadent stuff I've ever touched. Anyway, her e-bay store is Cashmeres by Kate. I highly recommend her yarn. So I picked an aran weight cream-colored cashmere. I decided to use the Steam Scarf pattern, that my kitting friend, Elizabeth, found on the internet. Here's where it stands so far:



I guess I have about 15" done so far. I'm absolutely loving the pattern and loving this yarn IN this pattern. I recommend trying this pattern too!

So I've been busy! So busy that I haven't had time to take pictures and talk about all the stuff I've been doing!