November has arrived (way too soon) and with it, the annual round -alongs. There’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month – write a first draft of a whole book in November), NaNoBloMo (National Blog Posting Month – 30 posts in 30 days) and NaNoSweMo (National Sweater Knitting Month – start and finish an adult sweater in November). I was, as I often am, compelled to join something. Writing a novel is out (unless you count my last post) and I have no real desire to try to force myself to post daily – nor put my readers through it. What did appeal to me was knitting a sweater, especially with that pile of Shelter that came home from Harrisville with me (side note, did you see that Brooklyn Tweed came out with Loft, the fingering weight version of Shelter? swoon! I can’t wait to get my hands on it!).
Then came a reality check from my friends who gently pointed out 2 things – I have a lot of projects on the needles and a lot of work on my plate. This caused me to fess up – there’s more on the needles than what’s in my Ravelry page (hard to deny when you have one in hand and you know Jacie’s been poking around on there). There was a gentle suggestion that I use November to instead finish something on the needles, rather than start something new. I couldn’t argue with that. Let’s face it – there’s a lot of them and there’s 3 pairs of slippers to knit and felt for Christmas, along with a stocking (probably – the almost nephew doesn’t have one and I assume that I should make one).
So, I decided to do that and take it one step further. First, I’m ‘fessing up. All of the projects that are active on the needles came out today. I’m not counting the really old WIPs that haven’t seen the light of day this year – they’ll get attention in due time. Then, I’m going to work my way through as many of them as I can for the rest of the year. With the exception of the Christmas knitting (which includes the kids’ gifts and the stocking), I’m not starting anything new until January 1 or they are all finished, whichever comes first. I’m giving myself one other exception, for Christmas ornaments, since I haven’t replaced the 3 beaded ones that broke last year. I’m only starting one of those if I can finish it the same day so I don’t create another WIP.
Here comes step one – ‘fessing up (what’s that saying about admitting being the first step?).
Wisteria – 12 rows left on the first sleeve, then the 2nd sleeve and its done.
Twist Scarf in Cookie – halfway done
Red Scarf for 2011, for Foster Care to Success’s annual collection.
Double Heelix Socks – further along than the picture – the toe is done. I’m a 1/4 of the way through them. Next step is to do that heel on the 2nd one and knit the foot, then do both cuffs.
Daybreak – barely started.
Yup, enough to give me a wee bit of agita. I hope that was the hardest part, pulling it all out and admitting that I have 5 projects going and 3 or 4 more that need to be done by Christmas. Stressing is not the point though. My only goals are to make progress on the WIPs, eliminate some of them and finish what needs to be done by the holiday. I’ll post my progress here regularly.
Wish me luck!
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