The next 3 projects

with snow on the ground, i've spending a little more time than...um, errr...normal with my knitting. actually i'm embarrassed that many knitting projects have come and gone in my life with no mention here. and i have NO pictures to boot. let's see...a pair of knitted socks (standard Yarn Harlot recipe) in the most beautiful variegated fall colours for a new mother, purple and oatmeal striped mittens made from spun possum and merino wool (claimed by my friend Shannon who was visiting from CO), a few things i can't show here 'cause they're christmas presents, but there's 4 of them (I swear!), and a soft and fluffy blanket for my newest nephew, Henry, in Mississippi. thanks to his mother, however, i DO have a picture of this one!

actually, i made a blanket 2 years ago for this little guy's older sister, Lila Grace. here's that one -

sorry, couldn't resist! she's just cute as a bug - forget the blanket! anyhoo, I taught a friend how to knit a few months back and reaped my reward (other than more knitters in the world) when she traveled to Ireland and brought me back a soft pink cloud of wonder. she bought this for me. FOR ME. this presents a problem for a knitter like myself. i knit for other people. other people knit for me. but i don't knit for me. it just doesn't happen. there have been exceptions, like that cool skirt, but that's the only one that comes to mind. so, here i had this beautiful hank of heathered pink irish wool and a million projects for other people sprang to mind. but she bought this FOR ME. so here's what i did with it:

pretty, huh? but here's the best part:

it's reversible! cables on the front. exact same cables on the back. wa-la! magic!! actually, it's not. it's super easy, but it looks cool and for those of you who know what the underside of a cable looks like, well, i know you're all just sitting there staring at this beauty with envy. i just know it. but you too can do this - i got it as a free pattern from the very cool folks at knitty.com - good people, those.

for those of you in the know, i work on 3 projects at a time: 1) scarf, and almost done; 2) surprise, but almost done; and 3) also surprise and also almost done. that means that i'm in the only-happens-in-a-blue-moon situation to pick 3 new projects to start on. here's #1:

a baby sweater by Tiboodoo for a little guy just born in CA. other possibilities include a vest for me (be careful with this one, i don't know if i can handle two things for myself in one year), another baby sweater for a baby just born in CO, a baby blanket for a 3 year old in Galena, another pair of socks with a cool cable down the side, a pillowcase for our couch. and those are only the choices for things i already have yarn for, but i'm way overdue for a visit to my local yarn store - any suggestions?