Now that's teamwork!

Pattern: "Patchwork Carriage Blanket, " by Tara Jon Manning, available in The Knitter's Book of Yarn
Yarn: Spud and Chloe Sweater - aran weight 45% cotton/55% superwash wool
Colorways: Grass, Splash, and Chipmunk

Plus: Considering our intentions and circumstances, this blanket could not have been more perfect. My knitting buddies, Hannah and Shelley, and I selected this pattern as a baby shower present for our long-time (like, since 5th grade) friend Jessica. The pattern consists of 6 strips of 6 squares each, which are then seamed together and crocheted around the edge. Perfect, right? Hannah, Shelley and I each knit two strips; Shelley (seaming diva) mattress stitched the thing up; we roped our friend Temple (crochet amigurumi enthusiast) into adding the edging; finally, I (aggressive blocker) stretched and prodded the poor thing until you could not tell that it was made by four very different (but fabulous) women. Ta da!

We loved this cuddly, mom-friendly (read: machine-washable) yarn, and the colors are wonderfully modern and spunky This pattern was just the right balance of challenge and ease for a project to be shared among knitters of varying experience levels. The cables kept the advanced ones mildly amused, while the tons of stockinette and seed stitch made it doable for a novice to complete quickly.

Delta: It's really more our fault than the pattern, but we were really thrown when reading the helpful diagram alongside the helpful written instructions....because they did NOT seem to match up. We hemmed and hawed and stared and were even more frustrated when we could not find errata anywhere. Oh....wait.....knitting works from the bottom up. Right. Duh.

Finally, Watts afghan square #23, by far my least favorite thing to ever knit EVER. Hate. Loathe. Get out of my sight, stupid square!

I apologize (to my two readers, hehe) for my extended absence of late. School has become rather demanding as the year winds down, and the 10-11 hour work day has become default. Additionally, I have been re-purposing some of my usual weeknight knitting to getting into better shape. More on that later!