My friend Max was telling me that he had taken to bribing his mom, who's a costume maker for a children's theater by trade, to finish his doublet so he could wear it the coming weekend to the Renaissance festival. Having the doublet would bring Max one step closer to completing his entire period piece costume that he has slowly been putting together over the last couple of years.
I made a show of commiserating with him a bit about it, though in truth I empathized more with his mother, having a backlog of costume requests from my own family to contend with.
As I was getting ready to leave he noticed the State Fair button on my bag and he asked after it. He asked how it was that I had a state fair button before the fair has even started.
Well, I finished that blanket that I was knitting and on a whim I decided I should enter it in the state fair competition and they gave me a button when I turned the blanket in.
What blanket?
You know. Max ,the blanket that you have seen me knitting on, the blanket that I've been knitting on and off now for almost nine months.
*blank look*
Remember? I decided to use up the left over yarn I had from knitting a Dr. Who Scarf for Suzi Q, by knitting a baby blanket for a friend who was due in October. So I decided I would square the Dr. Who Scarf using the same stripe pattern as the scarf. To do this I started with a center square (the first stripe of the pattern) and then knit the following stripes on one side of the center square, turning the square one quarter turn for each of the subsequent stripes of the scarf, circumventing the center square of the blanket until the end of the scarf. (In quilting terms it's known as the log cabin block)
I did it out of curiosity.
I wanted to see if I would have enough yarn to finish the pattern. ( I didn't.)
I decided I wouldn't alter the stripe sequence from that of the scarf, I was curious what it would look like and wondered if I would be knitting any of the same colors over itself on any of the sides. (Surprisingly, not until the end of the scarf pattern)
I wondered how large it would get. ( A lot larger than I thought. It went from a baby blanket to a lap robe to an afghan before it was finished.)
Come on, Max, the blanket I put up for raffle for the Relay for Life?
Really? You don't remember?
Max just shook his head a little and laughed and said, " You know, Kellene, you really are quite a geek."
I?
I?
I'm a geek?
*bows head in acquiescence*
Aye, I be a geek.
*raises head with a mischievous gleam in her eye and a wry smile*
I may be a geek but I'm not necessarily a loser.
The baby blanket, lap robe, afghan won a Blue ribbon none-the-less.
See it for yourself at the Minnesota State Fair Creative Arts Building this week when you are there.

I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the completed blanket. When I get the blanket back I'll do a proper post with all the particulars and numbers.

I know my blogging has been pretty spotty these past few months and I'm hoping to find my way back to some sort of balance, at least I keep hoping, anyway.