waiting for a baby blanket

I've been knitting up a storm recently, but not creating anything new. I've been finishing projects that got stalled in the past, and while it's nice to free up all that space, I'm really craving something new. I think it's time to start on a baby blanket, but I can't decide on a pattern. I've put a few knit blanket pattern books on hold at the library, but I'm not sure where they'll lead me. I was also thinking I should just choose a fun stitch pattern and a single color and let loose, but I can't make up my mind. I definitely want to pick something out before the end of next week. There will be a lot of sitting and talking over Christmas, and it's much more fun for me if I can keep my hands busy.

I sometimes bring my knitting to work and knit through meetings. This has never been a problem in the past, but when my new boss was hired in September, things changed a little bit. When I knit in meetings that he's leading, he tends to watch my hands and scowl. He's never said anything (and he's the type of guy to say when something bothers him), but I just get this "I wish you weren't knitting" vibe. It's a shame, because I sit through a lot of meetings in my job, and most of them don't require much input from me. I still make eye contact and look up more than I look down, but there's something about knitting that makes people think I'm not paying attention. Ironically, I'm probably paying better attention than when I'm just sitting there - when my hands are still my brain wanders away, and I'll miss entire sections of what people are saying. When I've got needles in my hands, that wandering part of my brain is focused on counting the knits and purls, so the conscious part of me can pay much better attention. I've stopped bringing my knitting to work in the last few weeks, and the meetings have been boring and long. I think I'll be bringing it back before long.