Quickie post, as I'm facing the pharmaceutically-enforced time limit of having taken my sleep meds. Finish the post quickly, Amy, or there shall be no post at all.The first round of Hogwarts scarves are knitted, finished, and mailed off; time to get back to the baby blanket. Andrew and Joy picked out two colors, and for the longest time I couldn't figure out how in the world I was going to make a simple striped blanket interesting. I wandered through my books of stitch patterns, looking for something that caught my fancy. I didn't find it until I saw the cover of Vogue Knitting on the Go: Baby Blankets. (Link goes to amazon.com.) It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was cute and the idea of making a 'third' color out of striping the two main yarns was exactly the trick I was looking for. After playing with Excel whilst yammering on the phone with Matthew, I had it: the pattern for Andrew and Joy's baby blanket. It's an intentionally broken-up variation on a 9x12 checkerboard, using the pale blue and pale green yarns that Andrew and Joy picked out when they visited Huntsville. Final intended size: approximately 36"x48". (Consistent gauge permitting, mind you.) Lots of different square sizes are thrown in just to piss me off regularly. I'm not knitting it a single square at a time—notice the red lines—those are where I suspect I'll make the divisions. Most are based on color pattern, a couple on size. I'll tackle that tricky upper left corner last. Here's what's completed as of July 13, and a shot of the first two sections joined together. (Light colors are completed sections.) The stitches will smooth out once I wash and block the blanket for the first time, but I may need to re-do that seam. (Anyone truly interested in the technical details of why can just ask.) I got a shot of the project in natural light this afternoon; it's as accurate of a color rendition that I'm likely to get. Don't worry. I'm sure I'll post incessantly about this project. Thus the "part one" business. I usually name big projects of any sort; this one ("blue ambition") came to me while driving. I've been surprised by how few people (read: one) have gotten the reference without cues from me. As projects go, it's one of the biggest I've ever attempted; an utterly bombastic name seemed appropriate. Now, if you'll excuse me, my hand wants to fall off, so I'm going to bed now.