Slow slog (now with crappy iPhone photos!)

I've been working on this project seemingly forever. For. Ev. Er.

(Sandlot!!! No? Hmmmmm.)

It all started when we bought the Hunter Trunk.

I'd been in love with this coffee table / storage trunk for at least a year when we finally bought it, and after some annoyances with Crate and Barrel's inability to foresee that we wouldn't want a trunk with a giant crack down one side (nor would we be willing to haul the broken thing back and pick up a new, supposedly undamaged piece of furniture), I was proud to call it mine.

The real selling point is the built in storage--3 different sections open up, so you can throw all kinds of crap in there.

I had visions of filling at least one compartment with cozy, fluffy, snuggly blankets, to be pulled out with exuberant joy the instant a chill was in the air. (Or the air conditioning was turned up too high.)

The problem was, we didn't own any cozy, fluffly, snuggly blankets. We had a couple of ratty old fleece blankets, and that was it.

So I decided, of course, that I would make the cozy, fluffy, snuggly blankets.

I would just try to block out that little voice in my head saying, "But that will take forever. For. Ev. Er!"

I perused blanket patterns on Ravelry, queuing a few here and there, and finally settling on the coziest, fluffiest, snuggliest looking one, Jared Flood's Umaro. I knew it was the right one because I could practically feel the yarn squishing between my fingers in the photos. Also, super bulky yarn and large needles meant it would be a much better bet than something knit in DK weight, which would take forever x infinity to finish.

Pattern in hand, I set about finding the right yarn--Jared used Cascade Lana Grande, but 12 balls of yarn at $7/each was more than I was willing to spend.

(Sometimes I find the logic I use in making yarn purchases baffling--I'm absolutely contemplating buying 5 skeins of madelinetosh pashmina for Alana Dakos' Wildflower Cardigan, which will run me well over $100, but $80 for a much larger blanket is somehow out of the question. I might be crazy.)

I settled on one of WEBS in-house yarns, Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky--a more reasonable $5/ball with slightly more yardage, and includes a smidge of alpaca for a lovely halo and extra snuggliness.

Finally, I was ready to whip out my blanket--of course it wouldn't take long, I was using yarn as thick as a horse's tail, and needles with a diameter rivaling white board markers. Easy peasy. Piece of cake. (Or "piece of pie," as CP sometimes says; yes, he also says "easy as cake." I know, we should have a sitcom.)

I started out with size 15 needles, but quickly had to give them up. They felt horribly unwieldy, I couldn't get any kind of rhythm going--mostly I wanted to throw the whole project against the wall, which isn't the most productive way to get a blanket. Unfortunately.

After hemming and hawing for a few days, I moved down to size 13 needles, which felt slightly more sane, and added an extra pattern repeat to make up for any size discrepancy.

(Seriously, I want this thing big enough to fit my bed.)

And so I've been knitting.

And knitting.

And knitting.

It just seems to be taking . . . what's the word? Oh, I know--FOREVER! I'm not enjoying it. I will enjoy the blanket, but I'm not enjoying the process. I knit a row, set it down, move to another project, force myself back to the blanket, knit another row, lather, rinse, repeat. I make bargains with myself: OK, 6 rows on the blanket and then you can work on your Dahlia Cardigan. 6 rows on the blanket, and you can play on Pinterest. 6 rows on the blanket and you can book that Alaskan cruise!

Today, though, I'm happy to report that I'm finally halfway done. And you know, it does take up most of my bed: