Yarn Diet? What Yarn Diet?

Oops, I did it again. I managed to convince J to head out to Washington County on Saturday in order to visit the newest yarn store in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Bloomin Yarns (located at 3920 Washington Road/Route 19 in McMurray, for those of you in the area -- it's across from Donaldson's Crossroads). In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that we also visited two car dealerships, but I think that was well worth it for this haul:

Louet Gems 100% superwash merino, light/sport weight, in colorways (left to right) Bluebird, Cherry Red, Pink Panther, Caribbean Blue, and Fern Green.

The store was very sweet -- it's an old house that's been converted to a store, so there are several little rooms with shelves full of yarn in each. They carry basics like Cascade as well as Berocco and Dale of Norway, and they have a great selection of Claudia's Handpaint and Cherry Tree Hill sock yarns. But I went straight for the Louet, simply because I've never tried it before but have heard great things about it. And before you make any comments about the amount of sock yarn going into the stash, let me tell you that only two of these skeins are intended for socks for me. J will be getting socks from the two skeins on the left (can you believe it? -- colors!) and the green is for socks for my future mother-in-law.

No sock knitting for a little while, though, because for the moment my top priority is finishing the Baby Surprise Jacket for my new cousin, baby Aidan (isn't that the cutest name ever?). We -- and by "we" I mean me, J, my parents, and my brother -- bought plane tickets today to go to Chicago this weekend for Aidan's bris, and I want to have a finished sweater to give him. Here is the latest progress photo:

I have roughly 10 rows left to knit, two seams to sew, and five buttons to sew on. Think I can finish tonight?