I have made a ton of blankets to donate to Project Linus in order to use up some yarn. I even made blankets for his friends when their baby brother was born. So naturally the six-year-old asked when I was going to make one for him.

We sat down with the Knit Picks Comfy yarn selection and each boy picked three colors. They even managed to pick two of the same colors despite looking at the colors individually.

I asked each boy whether they wanted a square or circle blanket and set to work (after waiting for the box to be delivered, during which time both boys repeatedly asked why I wasn’t working on their blankets). Except I swear they both said square, yet the six-year-old asked why both blankets looked like squares and insisted he had asked for a circle.

I started in November, totally certain that I would be able to finish these by Christmas. Then by Christmas I was certain I would be able to finish them in time to have them on their beds when they returned from their New Year’s ski trip.

I had no idea how big these were going to be. I bought five skeins of each color of yarn for each blanket and just decided to go until I ran out. The rectangular blanket was easy, because each stripe was the same width.

The circular one was a little more tricky, because each row grew longer in stitch count, but shorter in width. As I got to the outer rings, I was having to use bits of leftovers.

It worked out in the end, but, because they were kind of folded as I worked, I didn’t know how big they were becoming. I did check a couple times to make sure they were going to be large enough, but once that was determined I just kept knitting.

They also kept me company on some really cold days. I even had to stop knitting one day at soccer because my fingers were frozen, but I kept the blanket on my lap to try to keep me warm.

They also made good company for reading. I decided to go through my “want to read” shelf on GoodReads, so I had a nice big stack of books to get through.

Once I finally took them off the needles, they were way larger than I expected. But it works because they fit nicely on their beds. Which is where I was able to leave them to surprise the boys when they got home. From school. On Valentine’s Day. Close enough.