Yarn finds and UFO's

I got a chance to go to Minneapolis this past week for a business trip, and the first thing I did in planning for this trip was of course to check the yarn stores I could visit when off duty. I asked fellow knitter Kim (hi Kim!) for some tips on must visit stores, and she pointed me to Needlework Unlimited in Edina. Wow, what a store! I was overwhelmed by the amount and selection of yarn, and didn't know what to pick! I went in with only a couple of very vague ideas of what I might want to knit, and really should have had a definite plan to make good use of the visit. Another store I visited was Yarn Cafe on the North side, close to the Arbor Lakes mall. Yarn Cafe was a very cute store, with an awesome selection, and so comfy to just wander around looking at and touching all the wonderful yarns. I did end up buying something from both places, and here's what I got:
Some camo Trecking sock yarn for the camo-boy.

Misti Alpaca lace yarn -this will probably turn into a shawl from the Islandic shawl book again.

Some green/blue Malabrigo. This will be my airplane project for going back home, therefore the white plastic circulars sticking out of the ball (I've had too many needles taken away from me trying to get on a plane, that I'm playing it safe. I don't think anybody would think that I'm trying to hijack a plane with these! But I know that's no guarantee, I've had needles confiscated that were thicker than a regular pancil and much duller. So I'm also taking a crochet hook.) BTW, at Yarn Cafe, they wound the big hank of Malabrigo into a ball even without asking! My new favorite yarn store...
Malabrigo also got some pals, with matching colors of green and light blue (the light blue was impossible to capture in the picture):
The Malabrigo will make a scarf and the Nashua Handknits Creative Focus pals will make a pair of mittens, possibly felted. The mitten plans will come together, when the weather gets cold again.

'Bout them UFO's, here's a couple that are in the queue:
A pink sock from a selfstriping Regia cotton/wool blend, and this:
an almost finished lacy top that I started last summer, and then faced a complete lack on knitting inspiration for something so summery when it wasn't summer any more. I'm planning on making myself finish these two before starting anything new.

There is one finished object, too, namely Mr and Mrs Potholder, fresh out of the washer:
I tried to catch some of Mrs Potholder's fuzzy felted goodness:
This is one of the roughest yarns I've had to work with, but it felts into such an unbelievably soft fabric! Here's the happy couple one more time: