Presents in the Mail and WIPs

Isn't it cute? This is the little owl hat I made for my nephew. He'll be in town in less than a week. I CAN'T WAIT! I finally get to meet him! I keep making baby noises whenever I talk about him. My boyfriend has been laughing at me a lot, in totally unrelated news.


I got a present today in the mail!
The doorbell rang and I plodded downstairs in my pj's, only to find the mail carrier holding my package from ebay! My very own swift! EEEEEE!
I also got a set of bamboo crochet hooks. Aren't they pretty? They're so pretty!

So of course I had to cake up some yarns I'd been avoiding winding. The brown ball on top is the same as what I've been using for a shawl for my Nana. Winding it on the ball winder without the swift took me almost a freakin' hour. With the swift? Pfff, not ten minutes.
In the background sits something else that I wouldn't have thought of winding without a swift- an indecent amount of laceweight from Habu. Seriously, without a swift, winding that would have been HOURS of torture. Maybe days. With a swift, I still think it'll be getting into at least an hour. Heeheeheee, I kinda can't wait. My arm will hurt, but it'll be worth it for the look on my boyfriend's face.
The golden yellow and yellow/pink cakes are for a shawl. I don't know which, but I can't wait. It's Lorna's Laces and Fleece Artist, and they are both just gorgeous! I'm really excited, but I am trying to finish my other projects first. The stuff that has priority, like mother's day gifts.

Speaking of which, this bag is for my mom. She has totally proven herself worthy of the most gorgeous gifts when her response to the scarf I made for her birthday was "Oh my gosh, there are so many stitches! It's beautiful! This much have been so much work!"
And who doesn't like a good mesh market bag? I love this cotton- I got a mill end bag of it. Yeah, 6$ for a pound of pretty rainbow cotton? Sold! I am so tempted to get more. Except that, you know, I've bought about 5 pounds of yarn this week. Shh...

And the socks I'm making. Or, the sock. I ripped that damn heel out no less than 4 times. And that is some sticky, grippy freaking yarn. Ugh. I was about to cut the yarn off and stick my tongue out at it, but it's really pretty and expensive sock yarn. So rip I did... rip rip rip through the three times I'd cut it for the first go at the heel/ankle. Sigh. Finally getting somewhere with it, though.