Squishy, Stripey Sweetness

I have GOT to start Christmas crochet projects in March, you guys. I cannot be promising sweet handmade gifts in October because you know what happens? You get them in April. 

I decided to make my brother in law and his then-fiancee (now wife, see above paragraph for more information) a delightfully squishy blanket for Christmas, in anticipation of their January nuptials. Who doesn't love a good cuddle blanket, after all? 

I brought all of my supplies with me to Mexico over the holidays, and got allll the way to the very last section of white before running out of white yarn. No problem, right? Just grab another skein upon my return, finish it up in a few episodes of Outlander, then but a pretty bow on it and present it at their wedding in early January!

Here's the problem with that, however: I am horrible. 

So it sat in our second bedroom for a few months until I finally got tired of procrastinating and unwrapped it. I finished off the last gray stripe, bought more white yarn, and as I was preparing to fasten off, I realized this had occurred: 

Because of COURSE it did. I frogged it, then really DID finish the blanket in just a few episodes of Outlander! I am so happy with how it turned out. The sides are straight, the blanket is ridiculously soft, and it is delightfully heavy. It's warm and comfortable without being stifling, and I'm really proud of it! I'm glad it gets to go to a new home, and I hope my brother and sister in law have many snuggly movie nights with it. 

This blanket is seriously huge. I think this is the largest project I have completed to date! I will admit, since it was so big, people assumed it took a long time so they weren't surprised when it took me until literally APRIL to finish it. But the bigger the yarn is, the fewer stitches it takes to make something like a blanket. It only took me a few days all in, there was just a stretch of literal months in between the start and the finish. Oops...

Weaving in is my least favorite part of the process, but I was a good girl and wove them in as nicely as I could. I still haven't woven in the ends for a cardigan I have worn out twice now, that's how tedious the process feels to me. I really should just suck it up and weave in as I go. 

TEXTURE. This yarn is so much fun to work with. I'll be honest, though, it's not really the aesthetic for me. I can't quite put my finger on why I don't love it, because it really is so soft! Maybe I haven't found a pattern that really speaks to me. I'm more than willing to play around with it though, and I'll more than likely make more blankets out of this for others until I find the pattern for me. Who wants to volunteer to let me make them a blanket?

Gosh I love those stripes. (Is it weird to talk about how much I like this blanket in one sentence and then admit I don't want it in my house in the next?)

If you'd like to try your hand at this blanket, this is the pattern! It was really very easy and it turned out so beautifully.

Very glad to have that Christmas present out of the way at last! Crossing my fingers that I'm a little more proactive for this year...