Secret Pal Contest: All your WIPS

Secret Pal is keeping me honest and making sure that I update (somewhat) regularly. I didn't mean to disappear. Work got hectic and life got tough and all sorts of other things like that. However, the brilliant thing about a knitting blog is that it is the one place where I do not moan about my life. No troubles shall darken the door (page) of this blog! Only the knitting matters!

Now, if only I had more knitting to show. The latest secret pal contest asks us to show all our WIPs. At the moment, I have three:
You know, I really don't like earth tones quite as much as this picture would suggest. It must be time to invest in some intense red or purple yarn.

This is My Very First Sweater. It was never quite completed.
I began this one way back in December, in the first month I learned to knit. I managed to a) twist all my purl stitches due to misreading instructions and b) ran out of yarn for the hood. I'm sure it could still be saved -- it's basically just a big, shapeless hoodie -- but I'm almost scared to seam it up and discover that my first jumper is a mess. Right now, it's Shroedinger's Jumper. It could be a masterpiece, or a disaster. I like to live with the delusion that my first jumper was, in fact, a masterpiece. Or, at least, it would be if it was ever completed.

Up next is Lauren. Oh, Lauren. You have turned out to be something of a bitch.
Once again, I managed to drop some key stitches and was left with something of a mess. This wrap is proving to be my emotional litmus test. If I am in a positive mood, the knitting flies by. If I have anything else on my mind, disaster strikes. I am currently living in denial with this one. I don't want to go back and try to fix it until I am willing to accept that the whole damn thing may need to be frogged again. Right now, Lauren is in a serious time out.

Finally, there is some actual progress. I'm shocked, too. After thinking about working on Soleil for ages, I finally realised that, despite having the yarn on hand, I really wasn't that enthused about the pattern. Fortunately, Interweave Knits swept in and saved the day with the Summertime Tunic. It's a very straightforward knit, perfect mindless knitting in the round.
I'm not thrilled with the ribbing, which seems to be one of my knitting weaknesses. It never looks even, no matter how careful I think I am with the tension. However, I'm back to straight stockinette now, and I'm hoping that a bit of blocking will sort it out.

I'm already starting to look around with increasing desperation for my next pattern. I need a break from all this simple knitting with tough cotton! I think I'm about to start a shrug made with some handpainted alpaca, so hopefully there will soon be an addition to my WIP list.