The last of the Christmas knitting. Finally.

A quick (approximately 4 hours) cowl in squishy alpaca blend, using only half a skein so I can make another one.

The Guy Next Door cowl by Devin Fredrickson, Berroco Ultra Alpaca (50% alpaca/50% wool), 110 yds on US 6/4.0 mm needles. Started 17 December during "The Illusionist", finished 18th December during "The Golden Compass". Max of four hours to finish, but probably more like 3 if I hadn't messed up and dropped a stitch. The pattern calls for five repeats of the stitch pattern (12 rows), but I did an extra half-repeat for good measure.

My only beef with the pattern was the fact that the stitch pattern was set up so that it didn't repeat evenly - the last repeat of the pattern in the round was shifted a bit to avoid doing something funky over the start of the round. I think, with some judicious shifting of the start point, I can make it so there don't need to be any hijinks, which would be fabulous because I love this stitch pattern, and I think it should be a hat and maybe a men's sweater.

Just lovely movement. This was my first time using this particular yarn, and I really like the feel. It was quite crisp while knitting, maybe even a bit rough, but after a bath it bloomed nicely and is really soft.

My other final project was re-knitting my too-large Cool Beans sock. Now the pair matches (more or less).

The only thing left to do now is haul down to the post office, and pray to the weather/Royal Mail/USPS gods that packages arrive in time. They really should have been mailed a week ago, but maybe I'll get lucky? I can only hope...