I want to knit a blanket. For myself. Starting today. I’m not sure what sparked it, but this morning I had a strong craving to make a blanket. Not just any blanket, either, but a blanket I’ve been planning for a while. When I first learned to knit, I bought some Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton to make a tote bag, and I loved the yarn. It’s deliciously soft and so easy to knit with, and ever since then I’ve thought it would be a lovely blanket. I started stockpiling skeins of it, a little bit here and there, since it’s a bit expensive. I knew my blanket would be multicolored, so I bought random skeins in colors I liked. For a few months now I’ve had a good size stash: 14 skeins in 9 different colors, just waiting for me. I’m ready now.I left out two colors, red and a grayish purple, because they didn’t seem to coordinate with the others. The Mediterranean Blue is the main color; I have four skeins of it. And here’s my pattern, the Playful Stripes throw. The designer works at one of my LYS, and I always drooled over the one she had on display. So now I’ll make my own version. This will be a long-term WIP. I expect to be working on it throughout the fall/early winter, and that’s okay. It’ll be my TV knitting, or my “I need a break from fiddly little projects” knitting.

Sadly, it will not be my “watching tennis” knitting because I cannot currently watch tennis. I am distraught. We cancelled cable two years ago and have been fine without it, watching our shows on Hulu and Netflix, and I could watch tennis on the WatchESPN app on my Apple TV. Well, I don’t know when it changed, but when I tried to watch the US Open, the ESPN app no longer works without a TV provider. Sob. I’m not surprised; I was surprised it worked before. But I am sad. I have found no other way to watch my tennis without re-subscribing to cable. I never would have thought I’d be tempted to pay a monthly cable fee just for tennis and baseball, but I am. It’s tricky, though, because the US Open is almost over, and then the next Slam isn’t until January. Baseball season has what, a month left? Sure, it’s the best month, but still, it’s a month. Do we pay so we can watch our Royals from now through post-season, and so I can watch the last few days of the Open? Or do we suck it up and re-consider after the first of the year? I know what the logical answer is. I just don’t like it. What do you think, fellow tennis lovers? Do I give into evil ESPN, or be strong and resist?