New projects on the horizon...

I've been hard at work trying to finish off the second sock, and it's finally done! I forgot to turn the sock the right way round before closing the toe, so the second sock looks a bit funny, but for my first pair of socks, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

One of my oldest friends came around at the weekend, with some exciting news. She's pregnant! She's excited, her husband's excited, and I'm excited for them. They also made my day, asking me to knit for the little one, which I thought was nice of them. They were saying how they'd love a knitted blanket, and I asked if they'd considered a crocheted blanket. I showed them one I made ages ago with some green/blue variagated baby yarn, bordered with yellow and white sparkly yarn, which they loved. As it was something I'd made with no particular purpose in mind (it's not big enough for an adult blanket, and I kept meaning to add to it but kept getting distracted) and they said it was a perfect size for a baby, I insisted they took it home with them.

Now that I've finished my socks, what should I make next? I did buuy some (more) wool last week, with a project in mind, but I fancied doing something a little bit smaller first (and haven't decided what baby items to make for my friend yet). A while ago, I stumbled across a blog called Lattes and Llamas, who are doing a Geek A Long double knitted blanket to raise awareness of Child's Play (a charity also supported by the members of the Sprite Stitch forum). The blocks they were making looked good, and I thought I'd give double knitting a try, using their handy video tutorial to make a bookmark with hearts.
Here's the finished piece! (without the ends sewn in, as I haven't got around to that yet)

You can't tell, but I took these photos within seconds of each other... I'm really happy with how this came out, and have begun my first square - a pirate skull in red and white. I'm hoping this project will help me to reduce my ever growing stash! It was a bit tricky to get the hang of double knitting, but now I've got it figured out it's getting easier.

Right, I'm off as the knitting group are doing a yarn review for a magazine in the pub tonight - and it's me that has the yarn and the information! Wish us luck. Hopefully next time I'll have a finished pirate square and my new project on the go!