It’s the hottest part of the summer, and I am itching to finish my blanket projects. I am suffering from a severe case of Finish-Up-Itis, as diagnosed by the Yarn Harlot. All I want to do is finish up all of my current projects before I start anything new, so that maybe I can start a better habit of only having one or two projects going at one time. The progress is slow, however, due to the fact that I am trying to finish up blanket projects, none of which are near completion. I currently have four blanket projects in progress, and I’m not sure how long my symptoms of Finish-Up-Itis will sustain me.

The first one that needs to be finished is a blanket I call “Purple Sunset.” The original pattern is called “California Sunset,” but since mine only uses purple, it seemed appropriate to change the name. The yarn is Perfect Match Caron, which I am in love with right now. It is really soft for an acrylic without being as thin or slippery as the Simply Soft. This blanket is for a friend. It has nearly doubled in size since the picture, and now measures 30 inches, so I’m halfway done.The second blanket I am working on is the green ripple that I previously posted about. I have made minimal progress since the last time I posted, but will get started on it again as soon as I can.The third blanket that I am working on has gone through many phases lately. I started with a couple of miters in black and red, then decided that I would try one big miter. I cast on around 250 stitches to start. After twenty or thirty rows, I decided I didn’t want to make a big miter like this in just the two colors. So, it’s been frogged. I decided to stick with the three small miters I have already.I’m going to make one more little miter and sew them together to make a center square. Then I’m going to make the blanket bigger log-cabin style by adding rows of garter stitch in patches of color around the center squares. I haven’t decided what I will do with this blanket once it is finished. That seems to happen a lot when I make blankets.

The fourth blanket I am working on at the moment is a Christmas blanket (no, I don’t have pictures yet). I have had some leftover Christmas yarn for going on two or three years (I can’t remember, maybe I don’t want to remember). I decided it was time to put it to use after I found a cute pattern that is made up of large flower/granny squares. So far I have one strip of five squares done, which measures approximately 50 inches. I think the blanket will be more of a decoration/lap blanket. I just couldn’t resist starting it, even though I already have a bunch of other projects going. I want a Christmas blanket, and I want it before Christmas.

I have two more blankets waiting to be started, both of which will be attempts at reducing The Stash. I’m not sure The Stash will be happy once I start my stash-lowering endeavors. I just keep reassuring It that one day It will be a beautiful blanket, but The Stash just glowers.