This week, I suddenly got the idea in my head that I wanted to start a colorful crocheted blanket with some of the piles of yarn that I have left over from old projects. I have been pretty tired and burned out by the time I get home at night so I wanted something easy. I remembered seeing this pattern at Brainylady (and a million other places a while back), so I decided to give it a try. My first real crochet project! I started by chaining 210 stitches, making it just slightly wider than my couch. It is addictive and going so fast, but of course I realized that none of my leftovers were very colorful so I had to run out last night and stock up on a few more brights. Any guess which one of the above was a late addition? I hope this blanket doesn't take me as long to finish as the last one I made.

I have some guilt about starting this project because I am still working on things for Christmas that haven't been finished yet. Sigh. But who wouldn't love a New Year's gift or another kind of mid-winter surprise instead?

I made two more Noro scarves after deciding to keep the first one for me. Can you even tell where one scarf starts and the other one begins? These have been finished for a while but I am having trouble parting with them. They are 26 stitches across and knit on slightly larger needles, they are perfect for cold-ish weather and not too bulky under a coat.

Next up, a hideously bad shot of my finished endpaper mitts (just to show that I did actually finish both!).

How I love these mitts. I made size small and they are so snug and perfect for my small wrists and hands. Hopefully my friend has small hands like I remembered... or else she can return them. Another gift that is hard to part with, but I take some consolation in the fact that I have lots of extra yarn and should be able to make another pair for myself. As soon as I finish that second gift pair, which is only about 10% done.

That's all I've got for now! I am off to crochet on my mindless blanket and think about how I should be concentrating on the Endpaper Mitts. Life is full of hard decisions, isn't it? I'm not the only person with holiday knitting hanging over my head, am I?