I've been a little busy

With teaching concluded I have had a little more knitting time. Here is the Luskentyre in a few more brief stages as I get closer to starting the arms! I thought I would never get to this point. Thanks to Marina's lessons on the Russian join, I am now using it on the neck band and will do so on the arms as well. I really like this technique. It takes a bit longer, but the results are great! Thank you, Marina.

I have also been working on V's German socks for the World Cup. Only a few days away, so I better get my a$^%s in gear. This is sock # 2, but I am working simultaneously, so sock # 1 isn't finished yet. I tend to be a little crazy about the socks matching PERFECTLY (it's a sickness), so I usually try to make them together if I have enough needles in that size. Incidentally, does it drive anyone else crazy that you can't get all the metric sizes in double points here in the US?