24 Days

Yes, 24 days remain until Christmas. I got to thinking about last Christmas the other day and realized that I had finished my dad's socks on Christmas Eve after everyone had gone to bed. I cannot do that this year, but it seems as though I need all that time.

I have a Swallowtail shawl nearly finished for my mamaw. It's been done since July and now only needs to be blocked. I can check that one off the list. Its a beauty, made of Malabrigo Lace in burgundy, but I don't think the others would be happy if it were the only one. I have a second gift about a third finished, I'd comment more, but since its for Sasha, I can't. She has though given me permission to finish it for after Christmas. So, another one not to stress over.

Then, there are three more to be made. The most stressful is the shawl I've started on for mom. You can see it partially finished in the photo above. It was a wonderful afternoon to work on it. My room was nice and neat, and, since you likely can't tell, I was able to open my blinds and watch the most beautiful snow all afternoon. I finished one more pattern repeat. This would be awesome progress, except that the progress calculator says I'm now a whole six percent done. Ugh! I have a new pair of slippers to make my papaw. He told everyone about his slippers last year and probably has nearly worn them out. I'm using the felted clogs pattern from Fiber Trends again this year, so it isn't too stressful, but it is a very high priority. I couldn't possibly disappoint him by not having a pair under the tree. Lastly is my dad's gift. I'd been debating whether his father of the bride suit was a sufficient gift, but this afternoon decided that he definitely needs a handknit as well. So later this week, I'm off to the yarn store for a ball of navy 220 to make a hat.

As you can tell, even without final exams and family get togethers, I'm going to be busy busy. Here's my game plan, so lets see how well I can stick to it.

Mamaw's shawl needs blocked. My Matthew will help me with that, and I'm thinking we'll do it this coming Sunday. The slippers need felted and time to dry (I gave them to him wet last year!), so I need to finish them soon. I aim to finish the first slipper tomorrow and the second on Thursday. I'll felt them probably Saturday morning. Dad's hat will be my destress project during exams, so that's next week. A few rows a day will add up to pretty quick progress on it. I aim to finish it by the 14th. It'll be my car knitting when I go dress shopping (dress shopping!) with mom and mamaw on the 13th. This leaves me intermittent time during the next two weeks and about eight days uninterrupted to work on mom's shawl. I can remove a few repeats to expedite the process if I have to. It's silk and won't need a hard blocking, so, if I can pin and spray by the 23rd, I'm golden.

Wish me luck!