Christmas Knitting

Not for the faint of heart.  I have not partaken in the Christmas Knitting tradition that we knitters enjoy since 2009.  In 2010, we had just had our third child and knitting at that point was purely for relaxation purposes.  And Christmas Knitting is not, as you know, relaxing.

Let's just get right into it, shall we?

My list started out a little something like this:

the hubby
socks

All three kids
hats
box of softies (every free and cute softie pattern I could find on Ravelry)

Then, it looked more like this:

the hubby
socks
hat
cowl

All three kids
hats
box of softies
mittens - just for boys

Now, it looks more like this:

the hubby
socks

All three kids
hats
box of softies

I've started on Will's socks, but I haven't even turned the heel of the first one.  Luckily, the pattern moves along quickly.  I want to make him a hat a cowl because (a) the yarn for the hat is gorgeous and (b) he needs a cowl to match the hat that I made him last year.

The kids mittens were nixed because I was trying to, well, make them cool.  And it just didn't work.  You see, I wanted to do them in bright green/bright yellow.  They would be mainly green with a circle on the palm in yellow .... to represent Iron Man's powers.  I was going to call them Mittens of Iron ... you know, instead of Mittens of Steel.  Ahh, it was going to be cool, but it just didn't look good.  Like, really didn't look good.

I have started the girl's hat twice.  I'm doing the Vintage Pixie Cap.  See there?  Isn't that adorable?  Yeah, so here's what happened with that.  For some reason, I thought I should hold the yarn double throughout.  I still don't know why I thought I needed to modify it in that way.  So, cast on #1 happens and I joined in the round, not even thinking about how this pattern is knit flat.  But, hey!  At least I didn't twist my stitches, am I right?  Cast on #2, I knit up the whole thing in that manner (yarn held double, but only flat this time) and realize it is humongous.  So, out it was ripped.  While I was ripping it back, I got the yarn tangled something awful (you know, being held double and all and then trying to wind it back up normal), so I scrapped a small portion of the skein. 

I restarted it yesterday the proper way -- yarn not held double, and not mistakenly joined in the round.  Last night, during Biggest Loser, I finished the main body and started on the chin strap.  I just have a few rows of the chin strap to finish knitting and then I can seam/finish/attach a button.

With all this knitting and ripping back, I don't feel like I've finished much.  Well, actually ... I haven't finished anything.  Yet. 

18 days to go!  I can do this...