diff --git a/vasm/src/vasm_assembler.rs b/vasm/src/vasm_assembler.rs
index 577d24a..fb20a62 100644
--- a/vasm/src/vasm_assembler.rs
+++ b/vasm/src/vasm_assembler.rs
@@ -502,4 +502,18 @@ mod test {
             ])
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_relative_blanks() {
+        assert_eq!(assemble_snippet(".org 0x400
+                                    nop $+2
+
+                                    nop 0x111111
+                                    nop 0x222222".lines()),
+        Ok(vec![
+            0x03, 0x08, 0x04, 0x00,
+            0x03, 0x11, 0x11, 0x11,
+            0x03, 0x22, 0x22, 0x22
+        ]))
+    }
 }
diff --git a/vasm/src/vasm_preprocessor.rs b/vasm/src/vasm_preprocessor.rs
index 88a3131..d1257d5 100644
--- a/vasm/src/vasm_preprocessor.rs
+++ b/vasm/src/vasm_preprocessor.rs
@@ -78,6 +78,12 @@ impl<'a, T: IntoIterator<Item = &'a str>, F: Fn(String) -> Result<T, AssembleErr
                     self.next()
                 }
 
+                // TODO: This makes line numbers on error messages wrong, but it's hard to fix. We need
+                // to rip out and redo the whole error system. Parse lines initially to tuples of their
+                // line and location (file and line number) and then pass one of those tuples to create
+                // an error.
+                Ok(VASMLine::Blank) => { self.next() }
+
                 Ok(normal_line) => Some(Ok(Line {
                     line: normal_line,
                     line_num: self.current_line,