I finished it. Just think--the outer border alone has over 4,000 stitches in it. Crazy. But Jeff asked for it, and I can't resist a knitting request. This is shown on our queen-sized bed. It's about 6 ft by 6 ft. It's soaking now, then I'm going to block it* and when it's dry it will cover an acoustic flaw in our living room.
*block: kneel on the floor for hours, stretching and pinning and measuring and wishing it wasn't allergy season
I estimated it would take around 4 balls of Noro Kureyon Sock color 219, so I bought 7 (just in case). After I started the center I decided it would look better starting at another color in the series, so I made the first try into a hat for Gwendolyn instead of ripping it all out. The hat is really cute, but I've been ambivalent all along about Aspidistra herself. Everyone who sees her thinks she's beautiful. Jeff has been consistently positive, and it's for him, so I knit on, but it's really hard to put that much work into something you're not sure will be wonderful. I asked myself what in the world I would do with all that extra yarn, and started fantasizing about crazy multicolored lace trim to go on a dress for G. I even mentally designed a pair of knee highs for myself. I began to like the idea of extra yarn even more than the idea of this big . . . thing.
This is all that's left. I'm going to darn some store-bought socks with them and I still might have enough left over for the lace trim on that dress.
I'm knitting again.
