Progress made, progress lost

Here's the latest progress shot of my blanket...before I had to rip out 40 rows because of a cable that crossed the wrong direction.  Sigh.  I was so close to adding the third ball.  Meanwhile, my brother-in-law started to ask me some general fiber questions because a friend of his is going to start up an alpaca farm in Smithfield.  I must admit, I got really excited about the prospect of having that kind of connection!  I told him to pass along that I'd help him knit some samples with his alpaca yarn, (when he's had a chance to shear his alpacas).  I just love working with local fiber artists.  So, anyway, the conversation rolled around to his recent purchase of wool socks from L.L. Bean and I told him that what he really needed was a pair of hand knit socks!  I even had Dante come up and tell him about the pairs of socks I've knit for him (he said they were awesome).  Naturally, I came home and picked up a skein of superwash sock yarn from Plays At Life Fiber Arts, and started designing a pair of socks for him.  It's a fairly simple pattern that can be easily sized down for smaller feet (my BIL wears a 13), and looks good in handpainted and solid yarns.  When I get a little bit more work done on it, I'll post a progress photo.  I think you'll like it.  I like knitting it.  Hopefully he'll like wearing it.