two WIPs

Two WIPs, which are going rather slowly but steadily at the moment: 

The first is a Mr. Darcy sweater knit in Cascade Venezia Chunky, for my boyfriend's birthday. His birthday was a week ago, though, and so far I'm about this far through:

I don't know if it's the monotony or a fear of the sweater curse that I can't quite shake. Maybe for next year's birthday? It seems like the minute I started this, all my relatives who I didn't even know knit came out of the woodwork to tell me stories of handknit sweater + man = woe and failed relationships. Still, if our relationship implodes, I'm not going to blame this sweater - I've knit him a ton of things in the past, including 1/2 of a pair of Earl Gray socks that have lain abandoned for a year and a half now; a big sweater on size 10 needles is much less stress for me than a pair of socks, and thus, hopefully, far less of a catalyst for some relationship-ending fight. 

Speaking of socks and my inability to finish them, the second WIP is a pair of Marilinda socks in madelinetosh sock. I started these on an airplane ride to Seattle earlier this week, so what you see here is about two plane rides' worth of work (with time lost reading and staring vacantly out the window of course). I love knitting on planes, and this project has been pretty addictive so far. I haven't knit socks since the aforementioned Earl Gray single sock, but I like how involved these are - at the moment I've got Mr. Darcy for when I'm feeling mindless, and Marilinda for when I'm not. Here's hoping I finish at least one of them before Iain gets here (!) next weekend, and we head away from the States again...