The Progress of the Stripey Blanket

Alright, here's that post I've been promising where you can see the blanket laid out on the bed. It will nicely cover our full-sized bed.

I'm about 4/5 of the way finished with the body. Then I have three rows of edging to do, all the way around.

I believe the pattern said to use about eleven different colors, but I went a bit overboard. I don't know how many colors I've used. I ran out of some yarn and had to adopt new colors. It seems to work. Adam likes it a lot. He says it looks happy :)
In addition to double crochet rows and half-double crochet rows, there are interesting, tricky rows. One is the Catherine Wheel Stitch. Early in the blanket I chose gray and burgundy as the two colors for this row. I did not like how it looks after I did it, but I have a pretty strong policy of not ripping out unless absolutely necessary, so I left it. But I learned I didn't like that combo.

The next Catherine Wheel row, I opted for two colors in the same family -- green, hoping for better results. It was okay.

This last time on the Catherine Wheel, I chose blue, and I put the lighter tone in the middle. This is significantly better. I'm learning as I go along.

The Bobble Stitch rows are cute and fun to do. I decided always to use white yarn for my bobbles, lending a unifying trait to the blanket in the middle of all that color chaos. Here it is in blue:

And here it is in green. I like this one a lot.

Here it is in yellow. I'm pleased with these rows.

This is a grand project for January and February. I'm likely to do another one next winter.

Almost all the yarn is Impeccable or something very like it -- same texture, same thickness. Just because a yarn says "4" or "medium" does not mean it will resemble other 4's or medium weight yarn, when you use it. Labels, shmabels! Anyway, I found out to my distress that the Impeccable-type yarn does not pair well with a different type. Some of my yarn is Red Heart Soft, a fairly new yarn that is shinier, silkier, and thinner than other "medium 4's." It's like Simply Soft, but a tiny bit thicker.
Another tricky row is the Chevron Stitch. Here I combined Impeccable bright pink with Red Heart Soft light pink. The two textures did not become very friendly, in my opinion. See? Meh.

The next time on the Chevron row I used two similarly textured yarns. I like the gold a lot, but it's very muddy with this sage green.

In the Granny stitch rows I decided always to use white as well. Here it is with burgundy.

And with bright blue ~

And paired with the hot pink.

I'm loving the look!

I'm planning to keep the blanket and use it on our bed as a cover. Adam said I should take it to the market and slap a hefty price on it, and see if anyone bites. He recommended $175. He was low-balling, hoping I would consider it. Not that he wants the cash -- he wants me to realize the satisfaction of having my work appreciated and purchased. But I told him I didn't think I'd prefer the cash to the blanket itself. It's a lot of work and creativity. He said, "Well, ask $250 or $300." I giggled. I wouldn't mind putting it up at the market for people to look at and as a conversation-starter. But I don't think I want to sell it.