Friday, December 9, 2011

Holiday Knitting

I am not a gift knitter. For one thing, I knit function, not prettiness. For another thing I get bonded to my knitted items and would rather have them sitting here in a collection than unused and unappreciated. But this year my knitting has improved. I knitted a wedding gift, and found I gave it away easily. Now granted, maybe I didn't like the yarn very well, but I still managed to give the blanket away.

This year however, I am poor, (but rich in spirit). I also really like handmade presents. I've made a lot of handmade things in the past, just not knitted things. So, as of today, I have a list. A list of things to knit for people. Small accessories that hopefully they'll use. Have I really waited till 16 days before Christmas to commence my knitting? Of course! Why not? Really the list is easy:

1 - pair of mittens

3 - Fingerless mitts

4- Scarves (that might be tricky)

1 - Shawl

Oh, and I'm assembling soup jars for people too. But that'll just take an afternoon, well, and I need to put up the Christmas tree. Which means I need to clean the yarn strewn house (ask the cats about THAT one). But really, it's easy. Did I mention making fudge for gifts, and gift baskets for the neighbors. Well, again, cooking for Christmas is really just a 1 day deal. And I can knit during part of it thereby multitasking.

Of course I have a plan, a master plan if you will. My plan:

Tomorrow: Shopping. Including visiting 2 yarn stores on the other side of town, the ones I love and never get to. We need a few other things from over there, and frankly you can't expect me to use stash yarn on people. Stash yarn I have bonded to after all. No I need impersonal store yarn. Store yarn that I haven't petted, and cuddled, and lovingly stowed in a cubby. You may of course be saying to yourself that yarn is expensive, and how is that saving money? I am really not sure, and would prefer not to talk about the actual dollars and cents to this decision. Can you put a price on love?

Anyway, knitting and pattern matching will start the next day, along with decorating (and a tree if we really are crazy enough to attempt it) I am of course ranking items by order of dates: friends far away are highest priority, those who we won't see till after Christmas, low priority. Easy. And I mean, that seriously extends the date to New Years. That's an entire extra week!

Finally, cooking and such needs to be completed for handing out by the 21st. I plan to do the soup jars that day too. Again, no major rush, I have quite awhile to gather ingredients.

I believe procrastination leads to intensity in work thereby improving the creative process. That's my story anyway.

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