I finished the hubby's black and grey ripple last night. I'll post a picture here as soon as I can get one. I'm pretty proud of it. It's just short (about an inch and a half) of seven feet. In order to get it to be at least seven feet, I would have had to repeat the grey and black one more time and that would have made it approximately 7' 4". I thought that was a little too long and unwieldly, so I stopped just short of seven feet.
I have to say that I think it looks great. I know that I wasn't really thrilled about working entirely in black and grey, but I think it really looks sharp. Be on the lookout for a picture!
Also, if you could all take a look at my blog
http://squintsquad.blogspot.com and look at the post titled "Looking for help" I'd really appreciate it. I'd like to make a very special toy for my daughter and could use some opinions/help/advice. Thanks in advance.