December 16, 2023: Gift Knitting

I mentioned to a friend last week that I had started a spreadsheet to keep me on track with my gift knitting this year.  She joked that if I was at the point where I had a spreadsheet then I should start blogging again.  I don't know why she seemed right, but she did.  So I'm writing at least one post.

I don't want to show the spreadsheet because 1) there are names and gifts on there and 2) I am pretty clumsy at Excel. I started color coding different gift categories but I forgot to make a legend for myself. Also that spreadsheet is not a good picture.

Two pairs of socks are complete and wrapped. One hat is completely done and another one needs a pompom before I can wrap them.

I've also made socks for one person on my list but have missed the deadline to mail them off and rest assured that they'll arrive at their destination by Christmas.  I will mail them, but I'll wait until I also have some New Year's cards to go as well.  (I have not yet created, ordered, or received New Year's cards.)

Another pair is nearly finished but I'll need to block them and figure out a time to take them to their recipient. I say "block" but really they just need to be washed. I take my knitting with me nearly everywhere I go and this yarn has been through some things.  

I am running out of soak.

Christmas Eve is one week from tomorrow and I have 1 hat to finish and 2 hats to completely make. (I had 1 hat ready to go but now it seems all wrong and I know I'm right but I also know I'm getting a little anxious.)

I keep thinking of adorable amigurumi ornaments I could crochet for people in my family based on their interests and professions and then I pull myself back to reality and save some patterns for another time. Also, I do not like amigurumi.  

What I do like:

I flat out told my daughter about the hat I was making for her and she had some requests that will make the end result so much funnier and cuter than I could have made it on my own.

I have some lovely gray sport weight yarn that I'm using to make extra thick socks for someone and I'm going to give them neon yellow toes.

I will make my daughter some kind of gnome Christmas ornament because she loves gnomes this year.

I pumped the brakes on my scheduled knitting because I stopped everything and knit a hat for my daughter's BFF.  It turned out beautifully and I finished drying it in the microwave at 6:30 in the morning while shouting to my child over and over that This Is Not Safe But It's Different This Time (TM).  

I used an Instagram filter because it's hard to capture the color or
get the lighting right BEFORE THE SUN COMES UP.

She forgot to give it to her friend, who will not be in school next week.  

It's fine. This is all fine.  

The hat is done now and it will still be a hat when she can see her friend after Christmas.

(Pattern is the Rocky Ridge Worsted by Knox Mountain Knit Co. and I love it so much. It knits up quickly and looks casually cool.  It's a treat every time.)

As nervous as I make myself while planning and knitting, my siblings have never been anything less than thrilled with any handmade gift I have ever given then in the entire time we known one another.  

My husband and his brothers are not quite as emotive as my siblings and I are (this is an understatement for comedic effect) but they do react positively to knitted gifts.  

My mom and mother-in-law are big fans of knitted socks.  

This is time of year when so many of the handmade gifts I've been blessed to receive over the years are displayed in my home.  Our tree is covered up with crafts my daughter has brought home from school and library activities, delicate crocheted snowflakes from my Mamaw, a few wax angels I poured into molds with my mom nearly 30 years (I have 2 left!), and even some odd little paper crafts my husband made in preschool.  

It's also the time of year when I bravely forego chores and sit on my rear to watch Christmas movies and make gifts.  I play with yarn and think about people I love.  I try new patterns or reach for the tried-and-true ones (sometimes I think I could knit a watchcap under anesthesia.  I don't want to try, though). I sit by the tree and I work away until a project becomes an item and an item is wrapped up and becomes a present.

It's a rainy Saturday morning here, and I need to eat something and settle in on the couch with my knitting, so I'm going to wrap this up.  I drank 2 cups of coffee while typing this and that's not nearly enough. Happy crafting and good luck to us all.