Blanket, Part 1

I've started a small woolen blanket and am learning as I go along.  I used a Cable Cast-on, which looks nice, but seems tight.
I practiced a Lace Mesh stitch with the orange wool.
I found out that a good way to estimate how much yarn is used is to lay out the work flat, measure it, then multiply by four.  On this particular piece, there are 160 stitches on size 9 circular needles.  The work measures 36" across, so each row uses approximately 4 yards.
The first stitch of each row is slipped, which gives the work a smooth edge.
I put a break 11 stitches in from each side of the blue section, (knit 2 together, yarn over).

I'd been keeping the yarn skein in a zip lock bag as I knit, just to keep it clean.  To put an end to the noise the plastic bag made everytime I pulled out more yardage, I put the skein in a glass fishbowl instead.
And another thing I learned was that I don't care for the color combo of blue-orange-yellow.  I'm going to continue with the blue while I decide what colors I'd like to use to replace the orange and yellow.  One contrast color + one neutral, like berry and tan, or hot pink and light grey marl.