%&$*^#@ Blanket!

As much as I want to get this blanket out of my life, there are some sacrifices that are just not worth making. For the past week, I have been getting e-mails regarding the status of the blanket from the recipients through my dear friend MJ, who is the point person. As much as I love MJ, I am very close to unraveling the whole blanket, giving their money back and saying find some other sucker who will work this quickly for this little. Ok, I won't be doing that, but the thought has crossed my mind.

So yesterday, I was informed that they NEED to have the blanket by Thursday, as in tomorrow. My gut reaction was, I can't promise Thursday, but I can do Friday, and that would be me working my booty off. Granted, Friday is a holiday and is not much help to the people who want to give it to their co-worker who is leaving on maternity leave after Thursday. That does not change the fact that I still have about 8 hours worth of work left on it. Quite a conundrum.

So, after giving this much thought, being the reasonable person that I am, I came up with a business proposition. If I am to finished this blanket on their time frame, namely by tomorrow morning, they will have to pay me my rate, an additional $300. For expedited service, I will have to be fully compensatied for all of my work - and that is still a bargain rate, if you ask me. If they are willing to allow me to finish the blanket at my time frame, by Friday, I won't charge any extra. I find this situation to be quite reasonable.

Let's further take into consideration the following:

1. I have been working on the blanket since June 4th - a 50 inch long blanket within a month means either the knitter is a retiree or unemployed, works like a machine or has absolutely no life. (Please no comments on where I fit into that spectrum, my self esteem can't really handle that at the moment.)
   
2. I made a baby hat and booties first so they could have something tangible to give at their baby shower on the 9th - for free.
   
3. Because MJ is such a good friend, they are getting my labor for nearly nothing - less than $1 per hour.
   
4. This is not a difficult pattern but one that still requires some skill. And it is also of very high quality.
   
5. This blanket will most likely become an heirloom and will be something this child will have for a long time.
   
6. Other than MJ, I don't know any of these people.
   
7. I figured out that this blanket will have taken between 50 and 60 hours of labor to complete once it is finished.
   

Am I being unreasonable? Please tell me if I am doing something that makes no sense or is totally in left field. I mean, I have been more than accommodating to sacrifice my time, and quite a lot of it for these people, only to be given demands and complaints. Again, I do not hold MJ responsible for any of these communications. I don't blame the messenger. But the message is pissing me off.

Ok. I'm done being grumpy about this.