Bright spot in the dreariness

It's been so dreary around here the past few days....

But it was nice to have a sunny, warm day today!   Here are all the other bright spots in the dreariness that I've been up to.

Today  I went to The Spinning Room for the Socks of Kindness knit-a-long and just had the nicest time visiting with everyone.  The shop was full to the gills with knitters, including my knitting friend Alison who moved away and came to visit today.  So nice to see her.  It's just so nice to sit with the group and talk about everything under the sun.... knitting, movies, books, yarn, food, kids, husbands/boyfriends, knitting.

Knitting:
Ready for my progress on the socks?:

They just need toes and they'll be done Done DONE!  YAY!  I think this is the quickest I've ever made a pair of socks.

I also made yet another car seat blanket, this one for a class to have at the shop:

This was very quick to knit. Sort of.  I started knitting it on Wednesday and was cruising right along but then on Thursday I took a look at the measurements and measured mine.  It was supposed to be 22" after blocking and mine was 16" before blocking.  There was no way I'd be able to stretch it 6 inches once it was wet.  Then I realized the needle size in this pattern was a size 7, and smaller than I had used before (in another, almost identical pattern by the same designer).   I. Was. So. Mad.  I had knitted 1/3-1/2 the blanket!     But there was no way I could leave it at the smaller size.  It would have been postage-stamp size.  (A slight exaggeration.)   So.......

Ripped it out, wound the yarn back into a ball and started again.   This time, used the size 8 needle and I got closer to the appropriate measurements.   The fact that I was mad at having to start over made me knit even quicker - started this yesterday afternoon (Friday) and finished this morning.  Ha! 

The other thing I now have to get cranking on is my Sycamore Vest, since I will be teaching it as a class in April.  I'm only this far:

It's going to take a while because it is sport weight yarn (skinny) on size 5 needles (little).  I'm so happy with how it's coming out so far, though.  I'm using the new(ish) Cascade 220 sport which is 100% wool and it's very nice to knit with.
 

Love. It.:

I discovered these recently when someone brought them to the yarn shop.  All the red ones!  I always ate the orange and yellow ones first so I could save the red ones for last.  This is just perfect!  AND, they added more flavors of which my absolute favorite is Fruit Punch:

(Mandy's too.)  Tastes just like Hawaiian Punch.  No joke.  LOVE. IT.

Other stuff:

Phoebe has taken to sleeping in the far back corner of her bed:

I think she needs something cozier.  I've been thinking about making her a felted cat bed.  Add it to my ever-growing list!