What 'cha up to?

Hmmm...obviously, I took a little break from knitting, huh? But you knew that. I've been "back on the wagon" for a while now, actually, just not blogging. So here I am, back, and ready to share what I've been working on.

My most recent finished object is a sweater for my dd, from The Yarn Girls Guide to Knits for Older Kids. I believe it's called Triple the Fun, or something along those lines. I had a little problem with the buttons Irene picked out (yeah, they wouldn't fit into the buttonholes!) so I had to take them off. Here it is without buttons for now:

But I still think it's super cute! It's made with Berroco Ultra Alpaca, which has gorgeous heathered colors (truly amazing, but hard to capture in a pic), but it's a little scratchy for my taste, I think. Actually, it sort of ate up my fingertips while I was working on it, and I wondered if I was allergic to wool. Yikes! So I think this might be the last time I work with it. If you want to try it, though, I got it here, and the guy who works there is tremendously helpful and nice (and honest), and you should check it out. :D It's actually my LYS, but you can order from them, and I think they have free shipping, too.

Also OTN (on the needles) is an Irish Hiking Scarf (shhh, holiday gift for someone!, and no--you can never begin too early). I ordered from a new place called Knitpicks and so far, I'm very happy with them. In fact, I placed a second order with them already (probably within the week of receiving my goodies). Tragically, I had to order at least $45 worth of stuff to get free shipping. How will I ever survive?? LOL

Here's what I have so far:

<---color's more accurate here

I'm using Knitpicks Swish worsted yarn in Dublin, and I'm making decent progress (since all I do is knit during the kiddos' swim lessons, instead of watch--bad Mommy!) so far.

One more WIP (work in progress) is a v-neck sweater for myself, but I don't have any pics. It's from...

You guessed it! ...a Yarn Girls book! This one is special to me for a few reasons. It's the big thing I'm making for myself , woohoo!! I adapted the pattern so that it will (I hope!) fit me better, so I'm nervous about that, a little bit. Plus, I bought the yarn for it at the Yarn Girls' store in NYC, The Yarn Co. It was the first time I had been there, and I was pretty well blown away. Sadly, I was there with my hubby, who was not as excited as I was, but whatever...I still enjoyed myself. The little mini-vacation was in celebration of our 10 year anniversary (as a "couple", that is) and we went into the city alone together for the first time (of many, I hope!). So I have a lot of good memories associated with this sweater, and I hope to finish it in time for chilly weather. I ran out of yarn --gasp!-- so I have to order 2 more balls. Hmmm...maybe I'll go do that right now?