Souvenir Yarn

I've been trying to cut back on my yarn purchases but the one thing I haven't given up is souvenir yarn. When we were in Jacksonville, I had to get some yarn.

One of the yarns I purchased was this lovely yarn from J. Knits. Its superwash light sock in the color "Kansas".




(the true color is somewhere in between)


The vividness reminds me of Kill Bill, one of my FIL's favorite movies. When I mentioned to my MIL that I thought it would make a great scarf for him, she mentioned that she really liked the other yarn I bought at Knit Witz (the one I bought with a stole for me in mind). I think she may be a little jealous that I am currently working on socks for my FIL and am now thinking about a scarf for him. Gotta tread that line lightly.

On a different note, my niece and nephew called me last week and about 5 minutes into the conversation, they were talking about what they wanted for Christmas. My first thought was "eek, I can't believe its coming up so soon!". My niece named 2 video games immediately. My nephew on the other hand, asked if he could come see me (awww, isn't he sweet?). He said if that was too much to ask, then he would like a new blanket. (I crocheted him a toddler-sized blanket when he was about 1 year old.)

OK, if I didn't already love him to death, that boy has now won my undying devotion as well. Really, an 11-year old boy asking for handcrafted work from his aunt? I am currently searching for the perfect yarn/pattern combo so I can get started ASAP. This needs to be a twin-bed sized blanket at the very least. Aack! Will I make it by the holidays? Any suggestions? There are some pretty blankets out there but many seem too girly. I'm leaning towards the Knitted Garter Stitch Blanket but I'm afraid it might be too small. They live in MA so a very warm blanket would totally work.