Holiday Knitting or "OMG I have to finish a scarf, socks, an earflap hat and 3 pairs of mittens by when?!"

As Christmas draws nearer my stress increases exponentially. I am pretty sure that everybody is familiar with this feeling but if you are a knitter (or anybody who gives people handmade presents) then you know what I mean when I say I am FREAKING! It is really hard to give someone one sock for Christmas and say that the other one is coming. Somehow the effect of "Oh wow I just got really awesome handmade socks!" is not the same. It's hard to be grateful for one sock unless you are my grandpa who only has one foot anyways. It is also hard to give someone their scarf still attached to the needles unless you preface it with "I am going to need that back until I'm done" (which, btw, is not what you ought to be saying when giving a present). So unless you are rich - unlike me - and can afford to buy everyone the bestest gift ever, then the best way to show you care is with something you spent hours and hours making, not to mention all the frustrations that are inherent to knitting ( i.e. dropped stitches, inability to count to 4 repeatedly, and so on (you noticed that I like parenthesis?)). If you were smart - unlike me - and you planned ahead by starting to knit Christmas presents in July or better yet January then there is no reason for you to read further because you are obviously much more together than I am. Starting early is always my plan until I go to Ravelry to pick out patterns and find a million other things I want to knit. Then inevitably I think, "I can wait a bit before I start knitting Christmas presents. I have all year!" As you may have noticed though, it is December 5th. I haven't finished a single present. Now before I go on to tell you what I should have done and how I plan on salvaging the situation I want to point something out that might seem a bit callous but well here it is:


Don't spend your valuable time and no small amount of sanity knitting for someone who does not understand the little part of yourself you put into every little stitch. Now before you freak out about my insensitivity (You can ignore this warning if you already know where I am going with this) consider something: Will they see your gift for what it is and treat it with the care you expect or is it going to get thrown into the washing machine or *gasp* the dryer? I can attest to the frustration one feels upon seeing your gift   in a condition that is beyond wearable or at least doesn't look good enough to wear anymore. For example: This is a before pic of some mitts that I made for my fiance. 

Now here is what they look like:

It looks like that because he didn't bother to put his mitts on before his jacket which has velcro on the sleeves. He no longer receives knitwear as his present. It saved our relationship.  He no longer feels obligated to wear them thus feeling guilty and I no longer want him to feel guilty for never wearing something I spent FOREVER on. (This was one of my first completed knitting projects and everyone knows how special those are.) Aaron is not an artistic person. He does not create things. Therefore he does not truly know my pride in those darn mitts. I try not to hold it against him. But there is always that brief moment when I see them shoved in the top of his closet and feel a twinge of disappointment. No longer knitting for him, or at least less frequently, - he is my fiance after all -  saves me that grief and saves his conscience. He got a video game this year and we are both much happier. For me that means more time knitting for everyone else like my BFF who I saw in a picture wearing a scarf I made her and which, by the way, still looks more reasonably worn. Which by my standards that means its impeccable. So the moral of the story is don't knit for people who don't want to be knit for.


And now because I am a procrastinator I will finish this post and my plans tomorrow.