New project!!!

I love a new project, let me tell you. Which is why I'm always ending up with so many WIPs. I've been really busy the last couple of weeks preparing for a committee meeting (and going to Chicago, which wasn't really the best preparation but was more fun that making a powerpoint presentation). Therefore there hasn't been much knitting. The meeting went very well though, and now I can relax about it for awhile until I have to have another one (6 months? More? We'll see). But, last night I decided I really should get around to casting on something new. I'm making Baby Bobbi Bear for my friend Paula, who is having a baby in August. I bought the kit from Jimmy Beans Wools a couple of months ago, and it's just been gathering dust since August seemed so far away. However, when I got back from Chicago and saw Paula, it dawned on me that she's getting more pregnant every day and I'd best get a move on if I was going to finish this on time. So, I swatched and cast on, and after about 1.5 hours I had this:
However, now I'm a bit stuck since the pattern isn't exactly clear to me. It's written for "beginners with some experience," and I'm certainly beyond that stage, but I have no idea what I'm doing with this. So I put it down and got out the sock I'm working on, which was supposed to be my May Project Spectrum project (so I'm running a bit late - I've been busy). I'm loving these socks:

This photo really does not do the pattern (Elfine Socks) or the yarn (which I dyed!) justice. However, the most exciting thing about this is the holes. Even in this atrocious photo you can see that I have actual holes in my knitting. Now I know you're thinking, yes, obviously, why are you so excited about this? Well, I'll tell you. I've never really understood yarnovers. I've done them, oh yes, but I've always managed (apparently) to knit into the wrong loop of them in the next row, thus twisting them and mostly closing the lovely hole I'd just created. When I was working on these socks, I finally had a breakthrough and figured out what I've been doing wrong all these years. This breakthrough occurred on the plane on the way to Chicago, and I was so excited about it that I waxed on about it with my seatmates, who were both impressed with the sock in general although I think they failed to appreciate the importance of the yarnover breakthrough. But I'm excited about finally having holes in my knitting!!!

Isn't this a happy kitty?