The Basketweave Is Woven! And... Basketed.

Okay! Sorry for the delay. My birthday was last week and I took the opportunity to sit and do nothing but stuff my face and read embarrassing novels. And then I didn't want to post until I had something to show you. Which...


Ta-da! The blanket is done! Complete! Finito! Owarimashita!


I admit that I cheated slightly, and finished it a little earlier than was ideal. It's not quite square, or even longer than it is wide, which would have been a little better. No, no, I couldn't hold it, just could not keep going. But it still looks nice, and when I sit cross legged it almost entirely covers my legs. I think it will sit nicely on a chair or the end of a bed and comfortably hold two sleeping cats.

FO Details:
Name: Chussie's Basketweave (Of Doom)
Pattern: Basketweave Blanket, by Classic Elite
Yarn: Vittoria in dark blue, a random 100% acrylic yarn I got at Pandora, the crafty store in Jusco. Lovely color, and not bad for an acrylic, but it was definitely a discount yarn - constant knot ties in the yarn, one of which I stupidly went ahead and knitted into the project instead of cutting and fixing, and there were times when the yarn got ridiculously thin for a while, or simply ended in the middle of the ball and the next end was somehow hidden. But, the blanket looks nice and can be machine washed.
Needles: Bamboo size 6 24" circular.
Finished Measurements: 32" and a bit wide by just over 30" long.
Pattern Mods: Just made it slightly bigger and did seed stitch for the border, like most others. Cast on 180 stitches, 6-stitch border each side, blocks are 4 (across) x 6 (high).
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched While Knitting: Let's not get ridiculous, here. I worked on this thing for two months, and I watch a LOT of movies. So, just the most memorable moments: in the car on the way to see Tropic Thunder at Diamond City Clair (it's kinda far away but that movie was so worth it), the train to and from the JLPT in Kurume, and the car to and from the mid-year conference in Kumamoto for KIP. Now, movies or other screen watching: most importantly, the inauguration of President Barack Obama. I stayed up until 3 am here to watch that live. Naturally, I stopped knitting for the speech so I could give that my full attention, but the rest of it I knit through. I think the best movies I knit this blanket to were Sunshine (the Danny Boyle one), the Spiderwick Chronicles, and Lucky Number Slevin. The worst were the Avengers and Johnny Mnemonic. Weirdest was Samsara. Clearly, Amadeus was good and 2001: A Space Odyssey was weird, but I'd seen them before so it doesn't count.
Number of Times Frogged: Well, not counting the failed Diamond and Smocked attempt, none. I had to pick up a few dropped stitches and go back across a row to fix wrong stitches, but no frogging. Whoopie!
Things I Would Change Next Time: For this pattern, nothing but a nicer yarn. For this purpose, though, I am going to make Chussie a nicer and bigger blanket when I am back in the States. Notice how vague "back in the States" is. Gives me plenty of time.


Speaking of whoopie, by the way, I got 120 points for that in Lexulous. Damn, I love that game.

Okay, more later. I'll tell you about my other FO tomorrow. And by tomorrow, I mean any time in the future that isn't right now.