That Blanket. Yes, THAT one.

I finished it. The family plaid blanket is done.

And I'm never doing another one. Not ever. Even if it does look pretty great. The work is not worth the output. Maybe I could translate it into a potholder pattern. Now that's small enough that I could get behind it.

I also took a break from the blanket insanity to finish Johnny's Go Bro Beanie in time to send it off for his birthday. I tweaked my pattern a bit so that the stripes decreased in thickness as they reach the top of the hat. I love how it turned out.

In other yarny news, I have inherited a box full of knitting and crocheting paraphernalia from my fiance's grandmother. It took a long evening sorting things out but I now own more straight needles than may be considered sane. She was quite crafty in her day. She taught knitting to 4H kids, and when we went through her house a few months back, I found an unfinished afghan by her chair.

The first time I met his grandmother was at the funeral of her only son. She hugged me and told me to take care of her grandson. I think I've done a decent job at it so far, and I'm hoping she went knowing that he would be in good hands. I'll take good care of all the bits and bobs she inadvertently left in my possession too. It's almost like she planned for a yarn-loving granddaughter-in-law.

Yes, by the way, I did say fiance. The wedding is set for June 16th at the chapel of our undergrad alma mater. I have the yarn already purchased for my wedding veil and a few patterns I'm still deciding between. That will be the next project. All others are on hold, due to wedding plans and a thesis that needs to be complete by April.

Somehow, life seems to be coming together, one stitch at a time.

The Christmas Knitgiving.

All the presents are delivered and it's safe to share my knitting. Of course, you already saw the boy's teacher's apple sock. But that was only a taste of all the yarny goodness I gave out this year.

I made the nephew a bunch of knitted veggies for his birthday over the summer. He loved them but was a bit sad when there was no banana. The kid loves bananas. Like any good aunt, I made sure to correct the situation at Christmas-time. In with his Cars road-rug, one crocheted banana:

So the niece wouldn't feel left out, I gave her a little something with her acoustic-guitar-toting LIV doll. Barbie's riding broom:

My brother made a specific request for a Michigan beanie months ago. In fact, he'd been whining that he still didn't have one at Thanksgiving. Boy, was he surprised. A Michgian beanie for him and one each for the other men in the immediate family, my dad and my bro-in-law.

While Borders was going out of business, I was grabbing up clearanced knitting magazines like candy. In the one I brought with me to my parents' place, my mom saw a cowl. She loved the idea of a scarf that couldn't fall off your shoulders, but the one pictured in the magazine wasn't her style exactly. I searched though book after book until I found the perfect one, a simple lace-patterned snood. Mom picked out the yarn color (I grabbed enough wool-ease to do the job when Jo-Ann's had a sale.) She seemed happy with the result.

Now that the holiday's are over, I've been making steady progress on the woven Scottish plaid blanket. I've been having some extensive writer's block and thinking through it while my hands work with yarn. I'm only 12 rows away from completion of the base grid. Pictures to come when it's all finished.