I survived Christmas!

I only managed to complete one Christmas gift before Christmas this year and it was a pair of socks for my Dad. (photo)

To add to the stress of shopping and working a retail job, I thought that knitting a few projects for Christmas would be a great idea. However, one thing led to another and last week I said to a friend: "You are getting an after Christmas project. I already bought the yarn and the pattern, I just don't have time. So instead would it be alright if you get a New Years present this year?" She laughed at me.

Even with these socks that I successfully managed to knit, I found myself madly knitting Christmas Eve. It is difficult to knit a surprise for someone when they are in the same house. So instead of socializing on Christmas Eve, I hid in the basement with my smaller cousins and finished up the last sock.

I am very thankful that the stress of Christmas is over. I still have projects that I need to complete, but they will get done in no time. Top of the list is a pattern for beautiful Norwegian Snowflake socks from Interweave Knits Winter 2010 issue. It will be my first attempt at multi-colour work and I am very anxious to get started.

The countdown has begun

Well I may not be as extreme as Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the Yarn Harlot), but I am beginning to count the days left until Christmas and I keep thinking: "Uh oh...well if I sit at home all day Saturday, I may be able to finish this gift so that I can start the other gift next week. OR I could finish Saturday and start another smaller gift on Sunday and finish that on Monday leaving me all next week to work on my other projects."


Pearl-McPhee explains in her first book "Yarn harlot: the secret life of a knitter" that she casts on to several needles at a time around Christmas and works each one for a bit and moves onto another. Of course by the time she is in panic mode she is thinking about pulling all night-ers. That would be a very, very bad idea for me considering that I'm just getting back into the game. I'm only knitting for an hour or two at a time, which means that any presents that I have to make are slow-going.

And it just so happens that I'm only on my first present and I have the next three days off, with nothing to do but a little housework and some baking.

I will not resort to buying back-up gifts until closer to Christmas. There is still plenty of time right? RIGHT?