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If you’ve ever made a large project, like a one-piece blanket, or a sweater, or a sock in a fine gauge, then you’ve probably come across this phenomenon: you measure it, work on it for what seems like hours, then measure it again only to find you’ve made no progress.

Those of you with blogs may have come across another phenomenon where you think that you’ve blog about something only to find that you forgot about it completely.

Those two phenomena have come together to create this post!

If you have a particularly long memory, you may remember this post where I talked about a mystery project that was to become a gift for someone who reads this blog. Well, that someone was Charles! Unfortunately, the poor fellow got to experience yet another phenomenon that comes with being involved with a Fiber Fan: the half-finished gift.

For those not following the project on Ravelry, here’s how it went:

Charles saw the baby blanket I made using green, blue, and brown yarn, and really liked it. Said it was a shame it wasn’t bigger! I slyly told him that I’d gotten the yarn at a really cheap price and that usually means that they’ve stopped making it. Then, the next time I was out, I went to Zellers and bought them out. teehee

I then started the search for a really long 9mm Tunisian hook. I had no luck, so I ended up using the 14″ long, 9mm double-end hook I had and hoped for the best.

I started with a base chain of 165 stitches and got to work. I worked on it whenever Charles wasn’t around; I worked on it at the laundromat, and on my commute. In an instance where I was caught having to get off the subway at my stop mid-row, I learned how to crochet and walk at the same time.

Of course, the blanket soon got to big to carry around with me anywhere, and too big to hide at home. So, I started hiding it at work! I was able to work on it while scanning books (ah, the good ol’ days when I had a working scribe!) and on my breaks. Then my heart nearly stopped when it went missing! I finally found it hiding behind an open door, and decided it needed to come back home again.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get Charles the coffee bean grinder I’d planned on getting him (and the store didn’t offer gift cards. What kind of store doesn’t offer gift cards??), so when the blanket was about this big:

It went into a box, with the stitches carefully held on a piece of scrap yarn and the three balls of yarn neatly re-wound and tucked in the bottom, wrapped, and presented to him on his birthday.

He liked it, but of course, he’s been on my back about finishing it ever since I finished that Ladybug blanket. The joke around here has been, “Well, I gave you half of a blanket for your birthday last year, so maybe you’ll get half of a blanket for your birthday this year!” Still, now that he knows about it, I can work on it when he’s around.

Here is the latest picture of it:

The tape measure has finally given up and started to tell me the truth; the blanket HAS gotten bigger since the last time I measured… by about 6 inches.

The question is, will it actually be finished by his next birthday? Only time will tell!