As promised

Here are the promised photos! First up, J's socks, which were blocked last night and are almost finished drying as I write. Here they are:

Pattern: My own (i.e., made up as I went along)
Needles: Two US 1 Addi Turbo 12" circulars
Yarn: Regia 4fadig, 75% wool 25% polyamide, two balls (100 g total)
Notes: These were knit from the toes up, with short-rowed toes and heels. They are plain old stockinette stitch, with about an inch and a half of K2P2 ribbing at the top.

J tried these on periodically as I knit them, so they should fit. He is only planning on wearing them around the house, anyway (as far as I know), so they were intended to be more like slippers than socks.

Next up: The Great Yarn Organization Project of 2005. Voila:

Here you see two four-drawer plastic bins (on casters) purchased from Bed Bath & Beyond. I am sorry to say that I did not take a "before" picture of the stash, but I'll bet you can picture it pretty easily: all this stuff (along with some additional junk that I did away with) in a ridiculous number of plastic bags, and all of that in an overflowing heavy-duty plastic trunk. I could never find anything, and it was too full to close the lid of the trunk, so needless to say it looked awful. This is loads better. If you look carefully you can see the last bit of the icky acrylic stash in the bottom drawers (and here I must admit that I inherited about 4 more balls of acrylic from my mother last night -- all destined to be more baby sweaters). On top you can see some of the holiday gifts from J's mom and stepdad: an Asian-style knitting tote bag (inside of which is a matching needle roll) and a zippered knitting supply carrying case. You may also see one component of The Great Holiday Present of 2005; you can see it with its partner in use right here:

Yes, here I am using my brand new swift and ball winder! J took himself over to Knit One to get these, because he knew how much I was coveting them (I think his first inkling was when I shoved the first balls I wound in his face when he came over one night). The man is a genius -- he not only knew what the perfect gift for me would be, he even knew how to find a simple solution to the problem of the hole being too big for the screw thing at the bottom that holds the swift to the table (by the way, the solution is to wrap a couple layers of plastic wrap around it, then screw it in the hole. Works like a charm.) And just what am I winding into a ball here, you might ask? Perhaps some of this:

Presenting The Exciting Knitpicks Shipment of 12/31 (which was shipped on 12/28, I'll have you know -- how's that for fast?!) Here you see two balls of Sock Garden in Morning Glory (front); three balls of Sock Landscape in the Cape Cod colorway (middle left), destined to be a pair of Jaywalkers for moi; two balls of Shadow in Lost Lake (middle right), destined to be my first lace project, an Adamas Shawl (pattern also purchased with the yarn, but not shown); and in the way back, 440 yards of dye-your-own sock yarn, just waiting for the Kool Aid. Everything you see is 100% merino wool. Mm mm good.

Tonight project: attempt to finish French Market Bag. The bag is already about 9 inches deep; I'm aiming for about 10 before I move on to the handles. It's a miserable, rainy day -- perfect for knitting.