Yarning Along and Some Finished Handmade Gifts...

Joining in with Ginny over at Small Things for this week's yarn along. I have been casting on a lot of knitting projects lately, and have had trouble sitting down to focus on finishing anything up. I finally put the finishing touches on Phoebe's pixie hat and finished up Finn's monster just in time for Valentine's Day. Finn's monster was actually the hardest thing that I have knit, which was completely unexpected because the cover of the book even talks about how easy these monsters are to knit. And most of it was easy. Except for those darn feet! Three toes on each foot that had to each be knit separately, and then put back onto dpns to knit up correctly into a foot. Let's just say that I had a few do-overs and neither foot is perfect. But, since it is a monster, I figured some disfigurement was OK. I think the instructions were a wee bit lacking (at least for this particular monster). I actually think he turned out really cute. I added a heart, for V-Day, and was glad I finished him (I had thought about giving up a few times). Finn has named him "Finn". Now I have 2 monsters named Finn living in my house!
After finishing up those projects, I still have a surprise baby gift, a hat for me, and a top for Phoebe all on needles, and I need to start a gift for Phoebe's birthday which is in 2 weeks. I am not going to cast on anything else until those 4 projects are completed. There. I said it. Now that it is out in the blogosphere, I can't go back on my word now.... can I?
And, I also whipped up a skirt for Phoebe for Valentine's Day as well. It was actually a trial skirt for her birthday skirt I will be making soon. I had never sewn a skirt before and wanted to give it a test run before using her special birthday fabric. It came out all right, but I need to make the next one a little more roomy to make it over those cloth diapers more easily.
Still reading Pride and Prejudice and finishing up The Big Thirst. Too much life has been happening to get much reading done.
What are you knitting? Reading?