Prioritizing

I’m starting to think about the holidays and who will get what for Christmas this year. Last year I made nearly all of the Christmas presents I gave. Scarves, hats, dish cloths…I was pretty busy right up until the last minute. I’m not going to make nearly as many presents this year seein’ as how the dish cloths I made my sister sat in a box for the entire year and I don’t think I ever saw my nieces in scarves/hats that I made for them. There are some gifts that I would like to make though and they will take more time since they will be more complicated than the standard scarf/hat patterns I did last year. So I need to prioritize what’s on my to-do list and figure out what needs to get made first. Sadly, this may interrupt my sock knitting (that is going along swimmingly! I’m working on the heel flap now!). Working fulltime and taking class/dealing with homework 2/3 nights a week doesn’t help with the free knitting time either. Boo.

So the list:

2 hats. 1 infant, 1 toddler sized. These aren’t Christmas presents. Just a request from a friend on lj. Both hats should be relatively small so they shouldn’t take very long to make. Especially if I decide to crochet them rather than knit them. I’m much faster at crocheting. No deadline here, but I’d like to get them done while it’s still cold enough to wear them.

1 hat, halfway completed for a baby sized head. I think I screwed up the decreases a bit so now I’m wondering if I need to frog and start over or just keep going. Knowing me, I’ll just keep going. This isn’t a present either. Just a request. No deadline either, but I’d like to finish it up soon.

Fingerless gloves/convertible mittens – Kev’s Mom. I think this will be my Christmas gift to her. She seemed to like the scarf I made for her last year so she can have a hand made present this year. She’s too practical for mittens but I don’t know how I feel about knitting gloves. I also want to stick some owls on them, I’m thinking of combining these two patterns. Broadstreet Mittens and Give a Hoot. We’re going up to visit for Thanksgiving so we won’t be up for Christmas. Therefore I’d like to get these done by Thanksgiving. If knitting gloves w/sock yarn is anything like knitting socks, these will take me awhile and I should start them soon.

Dishcloths for Mom’s b-day. My mom requested handmade dishcloths and soap for her birthday. Her birthday is November 11^th. I’ll either wind up seeing her the weekend before or the weekend after. Or maybe not until Thanksgiving (because I really, really, really don’t want to travel 3 weeks in a row in November, when would I find the time to knit!? Seriously!). I’ll crochet these since they’ll go faster that way. Maybe I can work on these when I need a break from baby hats and gloves. I may be kind to myself and give myself a Thanksgiving deadline for these so I’m not starting every single project the first week of November.

These are the most pressing items on my list for now. Depending on how the first pair of mitten/gloves turn out I may make my Mom a pair for Christmas as well. She loved the fingerless gloves (my first pair of Evangeline’s) so much I’d like to give her a pair that aren’t chock full of mistakes. But those could be my downtime knitting at Thanksgiving.

I will make Kev some sort of knitted gift this year. Maybe another hat, one that is warmer than the one I made him last year. He needs something to help keep him warm when he brews outside. He could probably benefit from some hobo gloves too…gosh those seem to be popping on my list a lot now.

These are the things I have to make. Now what order to make them in (and how can I make sure I have time to finish my socks?! My lovely, pretty, smooshy socks!)?

1) Half finished baby hat (because it’s already half finished)

2) Start Kev’s Mom’s gloves/mittens (start no later than Nov 1^st)

3) Mom’s dishcloths (start no later than 2^nd week of Nov)

4) Baby hats 2 and 3 (finish by end of Nov)

5) Mom’s gloves/mittens (start no later than 1^st of Dec)

6) Kev’s gloves/hat? (start no later than 1^st of Dec)

7) Finish my socks…sometime?

You heard it here first kids. I’ve got a plan of action. Now to initiate it.