Four Hundred and a Giveaway!

This is my 400th blog post! I feel like it should be epic. It really isn't though, just everyday knitting stuff.
My Vesper KAL socks for July are on a timeout because I managed to completely snap one of my needles. Really I can just swap out another set but I was kinda annoyed so they're taking a short break.
I've started a few new things recently. I started a baby sweater for a friend who is having a little one in January. She adores the color green (especially this bright, lovely green) so I cast on a green baby sweater.

So far it doesn't look like much of anything but it will knit up quickly if I actually work on it. The yarn is nom from Gritty Knits in the colorway Brazil and the pattern is Maile Sweater by Nikki Van De Car. They don't know the gender yet (although we have suspicions) so I'm hoping the color and pattern won't look too girly in case it isn't a girl.
I also finally started my Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief. It's knit from my Cloudlover handspun Merino/Silk in the colorway Ligeia. It's beautiful and over 500 yards of chain-plied yarn so although I'm knitting it on size US 3 needles, it should be a decent kerchief.

I cast this on then promptly went to a family reunion bringing ONLY this project. If you know me in real life, you know that's odd. I knit on it a lot in the car since my husband drove and while visiting with family. Then we went and hung out with our gaming friends and I knit on it some more. I got a good distance on it since it was all I had to knit! 
I also decided that my lovely little French Press Slippers, which I adore, were too worn out to repair so I had to knit another pair. This is my third pair! I just love them because I can wear them everywhere.
They're not too heat-inducing for the summer and they're great for spring/fall/winter too.

Hard to believe these will fit my feet soon isn't it? They're in felting right now though. I started these last night and finished them this morning. I only took so long to knit them because I spent a little time reading last night and also I really took my time sewing up the outside edges, reinforcing it because that's where the other two pairs have worn out. I don't bother with the strap part of the slippers, it's purely decorative and they stay on fine without so I just keep them as they are. I am hoping to dye these some other color but we'll see. The white might be cute.
The Garter Monster Shawl Take 2, Mini monster is finished too!

It's one of the three projects I finished knitting while visiting with family. I really like how this one turned out too and I'm going to be writing up the pattern (then looking for test-knitters) so I can release it as a pattern! You may remember the original Garter Monster knit from DK/worsted yarn. I wanted to knit it again to make more detailed notes about the pattern so I used a fingering-weight handspun. I think it turned out beautiful.

I'm going out of town again this weekend so I will probably take one or both of the Garter Monsters to wrap up in if the Air conditioning is too chilly.

The month of August is coming up fast and it's set to be very busy so there will be lots of running here and there. Hopefully it won't affect the blogging schedule too much because the travel will be mostly on the weekends.
In the meantime I really need a travel sock so it's time to dig out some other needles for that Vesper sock. It can't hide in it's project bag forever.
Also, since it is a special 400th Blog post, let's do a giveaway! 

This is a 4 ounce braid of Zarzuela Fibers Falkland. The colorway is Cinnamon Stick and it was part of her fiber club for September 2012.

I'm going to give this away as a custom-spin! You tell me how you'd like it spun and I'll do my best to comply! Two-ply lace? Chain-plied worsted? Let me know what you want! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post. I'll leave it open until August 15th to be sure everyone has a chance to enter. At that time I will close the comments and draw a winner! We will communicate and I will spin it up for you. (Please note, I hate that I have to say this but nasty and negative comments will be deleted and not considered for the drawing.)