A is for Argh! There's only 7 days left!

Well, not really... Actually, I was feeling pretty down about the whole Olympic project for a while there. I seriously underestimated the time required for this project (at least for me, given all my other responsibilities). I also underestimated the time it would take me to get used to the pattern, and the whole cable thing. Lucky for me, it finally clicked the other day, and yesterday was spent doing not much more than knitting on the scarf. I'm now officially past the halfway point (yeah!!), and I have lofty goals of actually finishing early (though by "early", I mean maybe an hour before the deadline or so). The latest progress is shown in my letter A photo, which is also conveniently my "yay Kerrie" photo.

A is for Adorable/Awesome/Accessories/Ack, How Did She Not Go Blind Making These?

They're definitely cooler in person, since my little camera kinda sucks at taking super-closeup detailed shots, but you get the idea. They're absolutely tiny, and incredibly detailed. The orange one even has slightly sparkly stripes, which I love. Kerrie, who really really ought to get a blog, made these for me just recently, and I am SO pleased!! It's almost disappointing that I don't actually need stitch markers for this particular project.

And, as long as we're at it and trying to catch up...

B is for Ball Winder on Big Blue Blankie

I just got this awesome ball winder off Ebay the other day, and I am loving it! It's ridiculous how fun this thing is. I also managed to snag a swift for $29.99 from Joann.com (thanks to a kind soul who shared her 50% coupon code), though it hasn't arrived yet. I've been asked to bring it to the next SnB, and everyone else will bring their unwound hanks. We'll have a ball winding party, and it will be weird, but more fun than one would expect from a little tube o' plastic.

Big Blue Blankie is actually the first FO ever for me, though it was crocheted and not knit. I learned to crochet several years before I picked up knitting, and the first thing I wanted to make was an afghan for my exceptionally tall husband, who never could manage to find an afghan long enough to keep his feet covered when he pulled it up to his chin. I'm not exactly one to mince around when starting something new, and it was an awful lot of fun, so I figured I'd just make the world's biggest, most obnoxiously sized afghan. Well, at the time, I didn't realize the size was obnoxious, but whatever. It's about 7 1/2 feet long (!!), which is great for dh, but pretty durn awkward for me, given than I'm all of 5'3". It was made out of no dye lot Caron Wintuk acrylic, back before I learned of actual yarn stores and only shopped at JoAnns & Walmart. No dye lot my arse! They were all the exact same color name & number, and there's still weird shade variants throughout the blanket (though not in a pretty, variegated way...more like a jarring, wtf kind of way).

Basically, this is not an attractive blanket in any sense. And of course, because it's the one thing I've made that I'm the least proud of, dh has fallen hopelessly in love with it. He insists on throwing it across the bed for extra warmth every night, even though I've asked repeatedly if I could just make another one that is sized to fit our bed (not to mention actually matches the decor). He's quite attached, and while that is really sweet and sort of flattering, the fact remains, it's not a pretty blanket! It's heavy, too, and pulls the rest of the blankets off the bed if too much hangs over the edges.

At any rate, the guy is fond of it, so I suppose I must deal. I *am* going to make a nice one, though, one of these days. An actual bedspread maybe, in soft yarn that matches the colors of the room, sized perfectly to fit our queen-sized bed. Well, maybe after I finish the five hundred or so other projects that are in line ahead of it...