Hey, nice Slanket.

Thanks for the well wishes for Miss V. She's feeling much better, though she still has a fever so will be missing school today, too. Poor bored little girl. Shaun is certainly under the weather, but he's holding his own, so we're hopeful we can ride this particular storm out.

In other news, several weeks ago, Shaun and I were watching late night TV and saw a commercial for the Snuggie. It was as though angels began to sing. We looked at each other, then at the TV, then at each other. Shaun reached for the phone, but I stopped him. "I can make that," I said. So I did.

Here's Shaun, cozily wrapped up (next to our drafty window, no less!) yet still using the laptop. How conveinent! How comfortable! How stylish!

I also looked at this free pattern, and considered the Slanket, a name I prefer greatly to the Snuggie or Snuglet. Note that the Snuglet is more of a blanket with sleeves only, as opposed to a caftan-style dealio, like the other two. Shaun and I agreed that we wanted that full back coverage. I bought four yards of the flame fabric, and used some leftover orange to make the sleeves. It is not quite warm enough to keep out all the cold from Drafty McWindow, but it helps, and doesn't he look cute?

Now, for the record, the 2 for 19.99 deal on the Snuggie is pretty darn impressive: if you aren't an obsessive do-it-yourselfer, I might suggest you go ahead and order those. The amount of fabric for one Snuggie is gonna cost you near $20, anyway. Of course, I don't know how thick that fabric is, and you can't have fancy prints.

Shaun and V in their Slanket/Snuglets. For V's, I omitted the separate sleeves and just sewed a square of fleece straight up the sides, leaving about 2.5 inches for her hands. She looks a little like a flying squirrel with her arms out.

Isn't this exciting? I love when a craft project actually comes together in a functional way that is at least as good as I'd envisioned.

Now, say "Slanket" five times fast. Isn't that fun?