In for the Long Haul

Okay. I've done it. After several false starts (including several where I tried making the Templeton Square from Knitty only to end in failure), I have begun work on my brother's Christmas blanket. He got the yarn for Christmas (though something tells me I'll be needing to buy more by the end of it), and I'm hoping to have it delivered to him by his birthday in July. That leaves me a maximum of 178 days in which to finish this thing.

The premise is as follows:
- It will be University of Michigan (football specifically) inspired.
- It will be done in a log cabin format.
- It will mimick stained glass.
- It needs to be accomplished in reversible stitches, thus looking not ugly as sin on the wrong side of the blanket.

I have a plan sketched out, though it may need tweaked slightly as I go. So far, I have one square finished that ended up a little more squat than I originally intended. It is done in a lace pattern called "cornstalks."

(U of M colors are maize and blue. Maize=corn. Get it? It's maize maize. Amazing.)

Due to its lace nature, I did go ahead and wet block it before picking up the stitches along the right side to begin the next segment of the blanket, which will be done in a white garter stitch, a nice mind-break after the attention-required lace pattern.

Here's the pattern up close. If you turn your head sideways, you just might be able to make out the corn stalks. I think they're easy to spot, but my husband can't see them at all.

One square down, eight more to go, each of increasingly larger size. Wish me luck.