Look What I Finished!

I've been busy knitting, and I even have some FOs to show for it. My first FO was this Hitchhiker shawlette:

I originally was going to knit this for myself, but then one Sunday, when Nancy, Jan and I were knitting together, Jan admired the colors (which are much more her colors than mine). A lightbulb went on in my head—this had to be a gift for Jan, who had just retired early from her job. She also had just had a birthday, and Christmas was coming up. What a wonderful combined-occasion gift! She was incredibly surprised, and she loved it! I was so happy with how this turned out—it blocked beautifully—and I will be casting on another one for me very soon.

Next up, mittens:

I purchased the yarn (Berroco Blackstone Tweed) for these mittens well over a year ago, with the intention of knitting Kris Percival's Warmest Mittens, a free pattern on Ravelry. I finally cast on in mid-December, and had both finished in less than two weeks—pretty fast for me. The pattern is very clearly written, and moves along quickly.

Finally, I have a newly finished pair of socks that I just love. After knitting Cookie A's Monkey Socks last spring, I was curious to try the No-Purl Monkeys so I cast them on as my car project on the California trip this fall. They got set aside while I finished up my Family of Socks, but I picked them up again a couple weeks ago and finished them on December 27. Here they are, in all their Christmas-y Green, but No Purls glory:

There are lots of other knitting plans and projects brewing for 2012, but I'll save those for another post. For now, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, full of great knitting and photography!