Currently on my needles....

I've been doing a fair bit of knitting recently.  I know that it's only Spetember, but I'm knitting socks (6 pairs, eeek!!) for my family in the U.K. and have to have them all finished and mailed by Thanksgiving or they won't get there in time.

The first pair I started are for mum.  I used a pattern from knitty.com called 'Monkey' ( Link ) and yarn from Knit Picks (75% Merino woll, 25% nylon - it's machine washable) that I gradient-dyed myself:

Close-up of the lace detail:

Also on the go is this:

The pattern is called 'Hedera' and it's also from knitty.com (and by the same girl who designed the 'Monkey' pattern).

Close-up of the stitch and lace detail:

The yarn I'm using for these is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (machine washable) and the colorway is called 'Gold Hill'.  I think that these are going to be for my sister-in-law, but I like the color and pattern so much that I'm VERY tempted to keep them for myself!

Gracie snuck up on the couch when I was taking photos of my knitting earlier:

She's just had a 'crackerdawg' half an hour (she learned that from Henry; he'd be very proud of her crackerdawg abilities were he here to see it) and apparently she was worn out!