Good News Keeps Coming

We had such a good time yesterday at the crochet guild's December meeting/holiday party. Lots of good food and company, and lots of goodies to bring home. I came home with a new pattern booklet, a new project that our president, Grace, put together for us for a body scrubber soap pouch, a grab bag gift that included cappuchino, chocolate and small crocheted doilies, and 7 skeins of yarn that I won in a raffle. Here's a picture of the yarn, a yummy silk/acrylic blend. I'm hopeful I have enough for a shawl.

Over the weekend, I finished the skein of yarn left over from the shawl by making a couple of hats, and I was finally able to add the 2 skeins of Homespun to my yardage total. That brought me to a point where I only need to use up 127 yards a day to reach my goal of 10 miles for the year. So when I got home yesterday, I started a preemie blanket with some bulky yarn in my stash, on the theory that it would work up quickly. I worked on it all evening while I watched a showing of the original "Poseidon Adventure" (I don't have a clue why I am so taken with that movie, as well as the 2 remakes), and the blanket is more than half done.
I'm using Joann Sensations yarn in Rainbow Classic. It's 100% acrylic, and so soft. I'm going to use the entire skein (615 yards total) for preemie blankets. I didn't really want to start another project, but there is no way I will meet my goal with my existing WIPs, all of which are using fingering or laceweight yarn. And at least preemie blankets are useful and needed. (Of course, the guild really needs chemo hats in January, but I will make a few of those as well, I promise.) I'm really becoming quite fond of bulky yarns in my old age!

Oh, and the good news from this post's title? I found out on Saturday that we are going to my in-laws for both Christmas and New Year's Day. We will help out a lot with the cooking for both days, but it means that I don't have to do a lot of intensive cleaning before the holidays. And less time spent on cleaning means more time spent on stash reduction. So my goal becomes more and more attainable. Stay tuned!