Blankie Friday only Ten Hours Late

These pictures are from Friday afternoon, and I had every intention of posting last night when I came home from knitting with some friends at a coffee shop. It didn't quite happen - will get to the why of that in a moment - but at least the square count is from Friday - 29! I really felt throughout the week that I was struggling to keep up with my quota. It seemed like I never got to sit down to knit till at least 10 at night, but in the end I came darn near 30 squares, and I'm still on track to finish knitting at least the squares by the end of the month.

My secret wishful goal would be to finish the whole thing, i-cord and all, by the end of the month, but I will be happy with getting the squares done by then if that's how it works out. I'm forcing myself not to do the math on exactly how many squares are left, but I think about it constantly. See that topmost large square right in the middle beneath Sophie's toes? If there were two more squares on top of it, that would be the top of the blanket. We're getting close.



I sort of forgot to take the up-close shots of the top of the blanket this week - the girls were there just dying to roll around on the blanket, and I gave in and let them as soon as the big-picture pictures were taken. I did put up the full-res image above, though, which should suffice if you click right through to it.

And I did get this fun little picture, which makes me happy to look at. The standard overhead shot is getting a little boring, and I think this on-the-ground perspective give a little bit better idea of what the blankie looks like in person.



Now about the why-I-didn't-post last night. All this last week, Sophie and I had been affected with a low-grade stomach bug. Sophie actually threw up a couple times over the weekend, and just didn't eat much during the rest of the week. I never actually you-know, but I had that ooky feeling in my tummy for several days myself. I thought Julie was getting away free and clear, but it turns out it just took a few extra days to hit her.

And really, you don't want to know any additional details. I will just say that I really should not have gone to knitting at all, and poor Joe was stuck changing the bed several times while I was gone and doing a ton of laundry in the space of about three hours. I ended up going to bed with Julie and snuggling her for a few hours - partly to comfort her and partly to be right there with the bucket if necessary. And I'll admit - it's not often that my four-year-old lets me just hold her and cuddle, so even though she was sick and miserable, I kind of enjoyed being there with her. It's twisted, I know.

Today she's still not eating much, but she's keeping the juice down and will be just fine. I had Sophie in the doctor earlier this week to check for an ear infection because *she* has been waking up screaming every night this week, even after the stomach thing cleared. It turns out it's just her new molars coming in, but the awesome nurse practitioner did mention that this low-grade stomach bug has been all around the community. Julie's going to be just fine.

Now if we could all just get a solid night's sleep...