Baby blankie redux

I don't know why I find making anything with purling so boring. I'd rather work in the round all the time, even while working lace (which is why I love circular shawls!). However, a baby blanket made in the round is probably beyond my patience due to large numbers of stitches. Or is it just that they look doily like to me?

I offered to make my friend K one. She's expecting her 2nd baby, a boy, in early Jan. I went to the Lion Brand outlet in Carlstadt, NJ with her (she crochets) and we picked out the yarn. Pure wool in worsted weight, red in color. Now pure wool would probably not be my first choice for a baby, given all the hand washing and TLC it would require, but hey, it's her kid right? So I CO with 5.5 mm needles, worked 20 odd rows and decided the resultant fabric was too drapey and not stiff enough for a blanket. I ripped it all out (sigh, yes) and restarted on 5mm needles. Not too much better but it will have more structure I imagine. The yarn feels funny, honestly, it just does not feel worsted to me. Is it just a bum lot? I have worked with lion wool before with amazing results, but I honestly cannot remember how it felt, especially since I used it to make a shawl :D! Rav comments are mostly on how scratchy the yarn is, K will probably want to line it with fabric, which will help with re blocking afterwards I suppose, hope the red will not bleed too much. Anyway she has used this yarn loads of times, so i suppose she knows what she's in for.

I cast on for 11 blocks of 10 st each, and added 5 edge st on both sides. The other time I made this blanket (for yet another friend), I had used thicker yarn, 6mm needles and CO for 12 blocks. It was huge. My lil niece will probably use it for many years. This time though, I was aiming to size down a bit.

I'm so sleepy now, and it's only 10.16. How boring my life is.