That Apocalypse Thing Was Kind of a Bust

So I guess I have to continue blogging.

Last-Minute Xmas Gift

Two separate situations occurred last Tuesday that made me put aside the Milano Blanket and start an ambitious project.

First, my niece Kelly mentioned on Facebook that she'd like a new blankie (her word, not mine) and that she really likes green...

How could I deny those duck lips?

Second, someone in some forum somewhere (Facebook maybe?) mentioned that they really liked a yarn they found at JoAnn's...IKR?!?!...and it was made by Caron fergodsakes.  But I valued this person's opinion, even if I can't remember who it was, so I went out and bought some of this yarn.

And then, starting on Thursday night, December 20th, I decided to see if I could get a blanket finished for my niece by Christmas day.

I had a lot of knitting time, including about 8 hours in the car to my sister-out-of-laws in Massachusetts, and I picked a simple garter stitch pattern (diagonal biased knitting) and I ALMOST finished.

I ended up giving my niece the blanket on Christmas day with about one more day of work needed on it, and then took it back to finish it.  Here's the result of my one-week blanket.

They yarn is Sheep(ish) by Caron, which is a wool/acrylic blend that goes for about $4 for 167 yard.  It's considered a worsted weight and is very lofty and soft and machine washable.

I used less than 14 balls of yarn for the blanket (I probably could have gotten away with 12 balls, if it was all in one color).

This blanket was knit on US10.5 needles (6.5mm).  I started with 2 sts, increasing on each side of the third and every other row of knitting until I had 176 sts on the needle.  Then I continued to increase on the right side of every other row, and decrease on the left side of the same row until the blanket was about as long as I wanted it to be, and then I decreased on both side on every other row until I was back down to two sts.  I put on a simple garter stitch edging.  If you care, I knit 16 rows of gray, 10 rows of green, 10 rows of purple and 6 rows of highlighter yellow as my striping pattern.

The blanket is very soft and plush and warm, and obviously a quick knit.

Readers' Comments/Questions

Seanna Lea writes, "The blanket looks pretty amazing. Given that you've been calling it the coffin cover, it seems like you shouldn't be as far along as you are!"

Actually, the Milano Blanket was never called a coffin cover...the coffin cover is still far from complete, so I have at least a little while longer to live.