Bicentennial Blankie

Today was another milestone . . . .


The Official Sock Yarn Blankie Square Count for October 20, 2009:

Squares Needed: 736

Squares Knit and Stitched Together: 200

Squares Ready to be Added: 0

Remaining Squares Needed: LOTS! In real numbers 536



Like the 100 square milestone, getting to 200 squares is exciting. However (yes, there is of course a qualifier to this), it's just 200 squares. I did a little math. It's taken me approximately 5 months to get to 200 squares. That means I've been adding on average 40 squares a month. My 34th birthday is next month which means there is 13 months until my 35th birthday which is the date I've set as my goal to have this mammoth project done. If I keep up at this rate I will only have around 720 squares (+/-) completed, but not the 736 needed to complete the original size Shelly Kang made. And that is just for the "original size." Ok, so it doesn't seem impossible at this point, but when I think about it without specific numbers it does seem impossible.

However, that is if I keep up my average. Then you have to take the most important factor into consideration - where the hell am I going to get all the yarn for this thing. I know that I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but it's starting to boggle my mind. Yes, I will continue swapping and there are at least 9 things of yarn set aside for large squares which accounts for 36 squares and then there is my sock yarn stash which I will take from at some point. That hovers somewhere around 20 (+/-) squares. Ok, so now we're up to 56 (give or take). Still it's only 56 squares. That still leaves many, many more to source!!!

All this gets me wondering which famous person I'm going to get to convince all the knitters out there to send me their sock yarn scraps. Shelly Kang had the Yarn Harlot, why can't I have an advocate? Maybe Crazy Aunt Purl, or Oprah!? Ok, so Oprah isn't a knitter (at least not to my knowledge, but it would cool! Or, how about Kathy Griffin? I love her as well and she could make fun of me ALL she wanted! All right! All right! I'll stop dreaming. Back to reality. So, my quest to acquire yarn continues.

Even though blankie isn't finished, I'm starting to use to keep warm. At home I drape it length wise when I have my legs propped on the ottoman. When sitting at a desk I can fold it and use it as a lap blanket. It actually does keep me warm. I've also recently discovered that it will soon serve as a nice table cloth for my dining room table.

Blankie's growth is also becoming evident when I go to transport it. It has pretty much grown out of its Ziploc bag and it's taking up more and more room in my backpack. So, I purchased a new bag for blankie. I really didn't want to spend the money, but it cost basically nothing and I had a gift card for the store so . . .

Blankie's New Ride

I have to say, I really do like the bag - it's very whimsical. Now if they had only had skulled frogs. That would have made the bag even better! There are a bunch of pockets on the inside and one on the side. I decided not to bore y'all with pictures of all those.

In the past 5 months I've learned a lot about myself through this project. It's a funny thing to say, but it's true and I'm sure I will learn more in the months to come. Once this is all done I will share - promise!


Until later . . .