1 Down, at least 10 to go!

I finished the Snowmen & Skates Vest, yesterday! I'm still not entirely happy with the snowmen rows as they pucker a little, but I love the way that the embroidery came out!! Since I finished my first Christmas present, I decided to cast on for the next one, this time a pair of socks. I'm knitting a men's' size large, probably for the daddy of the little guy that will receive the sweater vest. The pattern is this month's Sockamania pattern, Spiralling Socks, knit with the Dream In Color Smooshy that I bought last week.

Durrow is still getting some work, as well. I have about another 1/2 skein knit into it. I'm finding at least one break/knot in each skein, so far. I've knit from 3 different skeins, 1 for the gauge swatch and 2 for the back of the sweater. I'm not very happy about this, but am waiting to get through a few more skeins to see if it gets any better/worse before I email Knit Picks about it.

I also finished clue 5 for the Mystery Stole. I'm knitting it just as the designer intended. Working in short rows has been such fun. (I thought that I had taken a picture, but its not on my camera, so I'll have to try and get one to post, later.) It really through a great twist into the design, making it more exciting and new, again. I can hardly wait to finish and block it so that I can really see what it looks like! (Lace always looks so frumpy until its blocked...) My parents are going on a 3 week cruise in September. As such, I may give this stole to my mom to wear. They will be going from Seattle to LA, and down to Mexico, through the Panama Canal, visiting much of the Caribbean and finally up to New York, where they will fly back to Seattle. Dad was like a little kid when he started talking about it! I'm sure they are going to have so much fun, but I'm equally sure that Mom will really, really get homesick by the end. This will be their first time ever being away from home on vacation for more than 4 or 5 days (since having kids over 30 years ago!)

On Saturday, I met a friend, as usual, at Village Yarn. Usually, we sip tea while she crochets and I knit. However, she has decided that she want to learn to knit. After purchasing yarn, needles and a pattern, she started knitting the bottom of a bag that will be felted. I can't believe how quickly she's picking it up! She brought it with her to church on Sunday, and has half the bottom done, already!! She's knitting a somewhat large tote, Maggie's Felt Tote from Fiber Trends. There is only 1 error that can be seen easily, it is in the first row and will not be seen once the bag is felted.