The holiday season is but a few short months away, anyway in my eyes it's short. I've got tons of projects I want completed before December 25ish and less than 4 months to get it all done! Add to that mix a variety of birthdays, holidays and NaNoWriMo and I've probably got less than 2 months of actual crafting time to get gifts done!
Here's what I've got on my plate:
Current Projects
1. Operation Gratitude hats - I'm shooting to have 3 done by this Saturday. I have one finished, I've still got one on the needles that I'm hoping to complete tonight, and have another one cast on by tomorrow, luckily I've got 'til 5pm on Saturday to finish that last one. It'll be a knit sprint to the finish on Saturday though.
2. Salt adored the fingerless mitts that I gave to my oldest niece for her birthday, and commissioned me to crochet her a pair for those early morning yard duty stints she has to do during the winter months. Instead of outright payment to me, she paid for the most beautiful shade of Malabrigo yarn in Purple Mystery. Gorgeous!
She bought two skeins of it, and one pair of mitts takes maybe 1/3 of a skein. I had already decided that I would knit her a scarf with what was left, so she had a matching set. That may be an X-mas present, though I'll give her the mitts as soon as I'm done with them. That leads us to:
Projects to complete before December 25ish
1. Salt's scarf - I had anguished for weeks about a design for this scarf, I combed Ravelry for a pattern I liked, and a pattern suited to my knitting skill level (which at this point I would deem "beginner plus"). It came to me this morning: why the heck not just make up my own pattern. I knew exactly what I was looking for in Ravelry...but couldn't find a pre-made pattern that I liked, so as soon as I could, I grabbed my notebook and a pencil and sketched out the design I wanted. I think it'll be good!
2. Red Scarf Project - It's become my mission this year to do some charity knitting/crocheting. The hats were my first endeavor and I heard about the Red Scarf Project through one of the blogs I read (Now Norma Knits - read it, she's hilarious!). It's a worthy group doing good things to help kids transition from the foster care system into successful adults. The Red Scarf Project is designed to be part of a care package that is sent to college students around Valentine's Day to say "someone loves you." They accept submissions from September 1 (that's today!!!) to December 15. I encourage my crafty friends to knit or crochet a red scarf, check out the details in the link above.
Due to time constraints, I'll probably only knit one this year. I'll get a head start next year though and hopefully donate the maximum (which is 5).
3. Niecy knitting - Last X-mas I busily crocheted two afghans, one for each niece. I'm not going to be quite so ambitious this year. For the youngest's birthday (whom we'll call Girly from here on out), I made a cute little beany. She's a girly-girl so it was hot pink. I'm not too sure she wears it, but it's the thought that counts right?! She was envious of her sister's (Chicka's) birthday gift though, of the fingerless mitts.
At that point I decided I should round out their sets: I want to make Girly a scarf and mitts, and Chicka (I'm spelling it that way on purpose) a scarf and a beany. I already have the patterns picked out on Ravelry. I just need to find the yarn I want and buy the interchangeable needle set I've been coveting so I have the sizes I need. Money's tight though....I need to con someone into buying it for my birthday....if I didn't want a new necklace so bad, I'd just request it from Wino.
4. I haven't been in communication much with my brother-in-law down in Texas, so I had the idea that I would send him a care package with some cookies and a hand knit scarf and hat set. I'm sure he's lonely out there on the plains with just the dogs, cats and chickens to talk to. He seems like he's doing ok though (from what I hear through the grapevine). I still can't believe it's been almost 4 years since Dawn passed away. It's still hard to conceptualize that she's gone, since I hardly saw her even when she was alive. I still miss her just the same though.
Anywho, (wiping a tear from my eye), back to more pleasant topics: I wanted to surprise him and let him know that I still care and think about him and Dawn frequently. What says "I care" more than homemade goods?!
On that note, please donate to my Race for the Cure campaign this year by clicking here. This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, and always will be since breast cancer stole my big sister away from all of us.
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That's pretty much the extent of my projects, but it's still a huge undertaking since #3 is actually 4 items, and #4 is actually 2 items. I'll make it though, I somehow always find a way.
