Lazy Knitter Syndrome

Ay caramba! It's now midway through November, a little over a month until Christmas, and I haven't made significant progress toward getting my gifts done. Especially that damn blanket or Rob's vest. And don't get me started on the girls' dresses, which will now make their debut sometime next spring. Here I thought I was in a zone and getting everything done, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I may not even have enough yarn to get the blanket done, so I'm a little panicked right now.

Maybe it's inertia - I don't want to find out if I don't have enough yarn, only to know for certain that I don't, then I'll have to run up to Boulder to Shuttles and get some more Manos, if they have all the colors I need. With Niki's dress, she now may be too big to wear it...and I really don't want to start again.

I'm actually home sick today from my half-day at the school, but am I knitting like a crazy person?

Nope. I'm doing my freelance copywriting work and trying to get my self-marketing efforts off the ground. It would be nice to have some writing clients help fund my yarn addiction for a change :-)

I do knit, but I'm only getting little things done. Maybe if I'm up to it, I can get something accomplished this afternoon and evening, while watching Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddown, Jon Stewart and/or Stephen Colbert.

Panic (kinda sorta)

I'm still working mostly on Terry's (Rob's mom's) blanket, now into the second of three 5-foot panels. The work is actually going along fine, but I'm a little scared that Christmas looms in less than two months, and I feel that I should be further along. So I'm mildly panicked...but I still think I can get it done. It may take pulling an all-nighter on December 24th. Oh well, that's the price I pay.

Now that I'm returning to copywriting and travel writing - and also possibly adding photography in the mix - I don't have the time to obsess about knitting like I have for the past 23 months or so. That's probably a good thing, really :-)

One thing I realized is that I don't think I can project monomous for the long-term. It just isn't in me, because I get bored too easily. But I can no longer go off and cast-on 20 projects with abandon. Finding that happy medium and getting my WIPs done is an early resolution for 2009

Pics on Terry's blanket will be in the next post!

Want to get something done!

I don't think I have knitting doldrums now, but it's hard for me to feel gratified by what's on my needles. I guess that's what happens when you get into making an blanket that's actually really cool, but everything else falls by the wayside.

So here's a partial list of what still needs to get off the needles: Rob's vest, Jenna's linen dress, Niki's cotton dress, my fair isle mitts, Edna's scarf, Blair's scarf to match the hat she got for her birthday (which hasn't been cast on but needs to pretty soon here), my and Rob's socks (two different pairs, not a shared one), Patsy's mini-shawl. Eeek!

Luckily, I do not have to start Rob's niece's socks or his nephew's hat yet. My sister in law (their mom) said I could make them birthday presents for next year. Dodged a bullet there, Thank God.

Another thing: I haven't been on Ravelry for a while now...I think the novelty of it is wearing off. I still check it everyday to see if there's a topic that strikes my fancy, and every so often I do respond to something. But I guess other things are just kind of taking over, like my writing and wanting to get it going, once and for all. It's all a matter of priorities, right?

Project monogamy

When I first started this blog, I wrote about project ADD, more commonly known as startitis. I once has 20 WIPs going - that was simply insane.

Now it seems I've gone in the other direction. I can't seem to do anything but get Rob's mom's Christmas blanket finished. And it being a blanket, it's not exactly an instant gratification project. And there is a non-negotiable deadline: December 24th.

I'm almost done with one of three 5-foot long strips that need to be sewn together, then crocheted around the edges for a border. As you can see, it's quite the colorful project, reminiscent of a Mexican serape. I hope it's not too gaudy for my mother-in-law!



I think I'm doing this because it's simple mindless knitting, and it's relatively fast. There's something to be said for doing one knitting bit at at time.

Holiday knitting 2008 - yikes!

In the two years since I have begun knitting, I have made a grand total of about three holiday gifts: a hat for Blair, a scarf for Rob and another scarf for my sister Jeanne. Because of the stress they can inevitably create, I made a conscious decision never to make more than three presents for Christmas.

So much for rules...

This year, I'm making six different gifts, double my so-called limit, and luckily two do not have to be made until well into next year. The ones that do have a December 25th deadline are my mother-in-law Terry's blanket, my other sister Cindy's scarf/stole, Blair's scarf and Patsy's mini-shawl. If I get really ambitious, then I also have a scarf for my aunt Edna and a hat for my brother-in-law Gregg.

And then there's all the WIPs I still wanted to finish from summer. So here we go...let's see if I don't absolutely go insane.

Oh, what a feeling!

I LOVE it when I finally complete a project, even if they're are as mundane as scarves and hats. In this case, it's actually a combo scarf and hat and a garden variety scarf. These two projects were begun eons ago (OK, really just a year, but it seemed like eons). One is for me when I wear my red and black ski jacket, hence the color combo. It probably won't work as actual ski wear, since it's wool and alpaca and not microfiber. Plus the length of the scarf could pose a hazard. The other is just a scarf no one in the family really wants to wear. So on my Ravelry notebook, it's called the Scarf to go with Nobody's Hat. Hopefully, somebody will want to wear it.

Still getting out from under

This summer, I made a pledge to myself that I would get a bunch of WIPs done. Well...I really only managed to get my sweater done, plus a hat for Blair, but nothing else. I've completely neglected the socks I was making for myself and Rob, but I think it was just overwhelm that prevented me from finishing everything I wanted to.

I'll start with the girls' sundresses. They will probably be ready for next spring, but not any time very soon. Here's Jenna's:



and here's Niki's (this is actually the second half of this one - I really have made more progress on this one than what's shown):



Rob's vest - this one may actually have a chance to get done by the end of October (yay!):



My tank top (again, another item that will have to wait until April 2009, at best):



And finally, a UFO that is making a reappearance: Rob's mom's blanket, which I just pulled out last night because it's good mindless knitting - and it's her Christmas gift. Now that it's October, I better give a move on this one.