Nearly There!

I've been plugging away at the stripey blanket. I'm past row 100 now, and decided it was time to lay it out on a bed and show you ... so far.

I admit it -- I also needed to count some stitches and check some sides. This blanket is tricky if you get even two or three stitches off, and that's so easy to do!
From the side:

Julia said, "Oooo - that's looking good!" (or something like that) So I asked, "Really?" And then, "You don't think it looks a bit ... garish?"
She replied, "Welllll....."
Sometimes, laying it out flat on a bed is the only way to see which colors in the blanket kind of speak to you, saying, "We are the real story here." When I look at this blanket, I hear the blue.

Here's the latest Catherine Wheel rows I did. I much prefer to have the darker color on the inside, as the "wheel," and the lighter color on the outside. I remembered to do that here, and it makes the wheels pop out. (If you look at the photo above, you'll see a wheel with the white on the inside, not quite as good, I think.)

I had several brown yarn skeins and decided to use them liberally in the blanket. I was hoping to use the lightest beige as the border, tying it all together. But then I heard that blue talking to me! However, I don't have enough of the blue yarn to do the whole border! Argh!

You see several browns in the photo above, and here's the beige/white wheel pattern.

And a bobble stitch row with various browns and even a rust.

I'm pleased with it. Can you hear the blue talking? :) And since this blanket is for a couple (husband and wife) I thought it good to have fun brights and pastels, but also some more subdued masculine tones. Hence, the browns.

I guess I can tell you now -- I'm making this as a gift for my son Philip and his fiancee Kara. They will marry in May, but hopefully it will be well finished and mailed to them long before that. I did mention to Philip that I was making a blanket for them, but I'm not quite sure he was anticipating ... this! But I hope somehow it will fit into their home and remind them how happy we are that they are together.