Lace hand grenades?

Okay, I know it's completely silly (and perhaps even a little tasteless), but that is honestly what the two lace ornaments I have finished look like to me. See?



I'm sure they will look much better once they have been stretched into their proper round shape by the balloons.
In other knitting news, for the first time ever, I have received a knitting magazine in the mail and been so inspired that I had to start a project from it right away. My winter Interweave Knits came on Monday, and I was absolutely taken with the handknit shoelaces featured near the beginning. So I dug out some leftover sock yarn, and here is my shoelace so far:



This was just the type of quick-knit project I needed, as I have been in kind of a knitting slump lately, not wanting to work on any of my current projects, but not having the motivation to start a major project. I'm very pleased with how the shoelace is turning out, and I'm looking forward to having a pair of them for my running shoes!