Winter Haiku and Blanket Photo

Finally, winter.
Snowmobilers love deep snow.
White gold.

Well, all I really know about haiku is that it they are usually about nature, and that the syllables are 5, 7, 2.  Is that right? 

Sadly, no knitting was done today.

To make up for that, I am posting a photo of the 10-stitch blanket (see ravelry.com for free pattern) finished just barely in the nick (St. Nick, get it?) of time for Christmas for Granddaughter Addison.  Late, as it was to have been for her June birthday.  It was knit in many colors and in many states of the country as we traveled on vacation this past summer and fall.  Whenever we climbed into a vehicle to go anywhere, the blanket climbed in, too.  It grew a few inches every time, but the last few weeks before December 25, the stitches were flying off the knitting needles like needles off the Christmas trees in carpeted living rooms, racing to be finished in time. 

The finished size is about 45 x 50, if I remember rightly.  It's knitted out of Red Heart yarn for durability in the hands of a two-and-a-half-year-old, and machine wash-and-dry ability for the sake of a busy mommy. 

This pattern is easy and fun to knit, going back and forth on just 10 stitches at a time, joining up along the side as you knit.  The mitered corners make it interesting enough to keep you from being bored.  I love using variegated yarns for this, and if you can find longer color repeats, it ends up looking a bit more like a crazy quilt.

Ravelry provides a round version as well which I may try next, although curling up under a round afghan presents problems in keeping toes and shoulders warm at the same time unless you can curl yourself into something like a doorknob or doughnut shape.  Or unless you knit a HUGE circle, in which case you have a lot of excess circle just hanging off you, doing nothing, while your toes, middle, and shoulders are toasty.

Go knit something!