Fantasy Knitting

I know a lot of you have been wondering if I gave up knitting for the holidays  (I say that tongue in cheek because, of course, you know I would never give up knitting).  It has been sort of busy around here and I've been doing a lot more thinking and ready about knitting that actually knitting, but I do have a few things to show you.

This is my 5×5 rib scarf, knit from Cascade's Quatro.  I'm knitting it on much smaller needles than recommended to get a very dense fabric and I like it a lot.  It's very skinny and is taking forever, but I think the final scarf will be very satisfying.  I've done a felted purse out of this same yarn and thought it would be fun to wear them together.

Short row ballet slippers — knitted from a bulky weight Blue Faced Leicester that I dyed.  They're knit on two circulars and it's quite a fun pattern.

I think the yarn looks prettier in stockinette than the garter stitch sole.

This next yarn is a bulky weight cotton, purchased to knit *something* for a friend who is newly pregnant.  It's a July baby, so I'm thinking either a 6/9 months size sweater or perhaps a baby sack or dress once she knows the baby's sex.  I love the soft, pale green yarn from Blue Sky Alpaca. 

This

is some yarn I've dyed for my favorite fantasy project.  For over a year now, I've wanted to knit myself socks using mismatched hand-dyed yarns.  I patiently compiled yarn from the end of cones and have two and three ounce skeins of soft different merino plies, but all knit to the same gauge.  I'm going to start in on a pair of socks, mixing the yarns up, although I haven't decided yet exactly how they will be done.  It seemed like a fabulous idea in my mind as I dreamed about it over the months, but now that I see the yarns dyed up I wonder if I haven't made a terrible mistake. It will be interesting to see what happens!

Finally, there is yarn I have just sent away; back to school with my eldest.  This yarn:

a beautiful BFL, has gone with him because his girlfriend wants to knit him a hat.  Can you say perfect girlfriend?  I sent along some sock yarn, a faux fair isle yarn, some dpns for socks and a basic pattern because a girl never knows when she's going to feel the urge to knit socks.  Really.  The perfect girlfriend.

On that happy note, I'm off to make chocolate pudding and cast on some socks of my own.