Clearing the decks!

I've had rather a good run at finishing things off lately!

The 'ripple' blanket is done - and so snuggly and warm:

It was so easy, once I got the first line in straight and unpuckered!(see previous post) I'm keen to do more, maybe using several shades of one colour - the creative juices are still planning that one....

Whilst foraging for something (circular needles, actually!) I came across an unfinished pair of socks I must have started over a year ago and abandoned in favour of something more interesting. Still, out they came and I cast on for the second sock  - got halfway to the heel before I realised I'd made it in the wrong size, so I had to rip it out again :-/ Thankfully, using self-striping yarn I'd been able to see the bands of colour were narrower than on the original, because I'd used more stitches per round.

Back on the straight and narrow, and keeping those stripes equal:

...and here they are, finished!

Next - the lace shawl I started months ago and conveniently put 'to one side'! A concerted effort (sequestering myself away in the conservatory for peace and quiet so I could concentrate on the pattern!) meant I finally got to the end of the lace border a week ago:

Then it was a case of picking up stitches along the edge (+280!!) and knitting the main body of the shawl:

I cannot tell a lie - this was an absolute PAIN! The number of times I had to unpick rows and go back because the remaindered stitches didn't tally with the pattern....even now I'm sure there are mistakes but I just wanted the darned thing to progress!

Still, I managed to get to the end of the lace pattern and heaved a sigh of relief as I reached the inner band of plain garter stitch (especially as I was catching up with 'PrisonBreak' on Netflix and wanted something simple to knit! ;-p)  Not much more to go now, I should get this done over the weekend:

Mind you, it will take some blocking - it looks much different from the original pattern !

So, all I have left is an ongoing project using up remnants of sock wool - my 'scrap'scarf:

It periodically comes out for an airing when I've nothing better to do.

So, the decks are cleared just in time to be ready for new things - I'm heading off to the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia next week and it will be nice to know that anything I buy can be started straight away, without embarrassingly having to lay other projects aside! (and I'll post about the show later!)