Before I begin: If you are a member of my family, I love you, but if you read any further do so knowing that you will ruin Christmas.

Okay, today is one month from Christmas Eve, the date by which I would like to be entirely finished my Christmas knitting and happily enjoying my family’s many holiday traditions. We’re a family who does the same thing the same way every year, and we like it like that, so me holing myself up in my room to knit secret things would put a real damper on that. That means it’s time to get real about what I have to knit and when things need to be done.

That pile of yarn? That all has to be knitted into things by the holidays. I’d say Christmas, but some of it has an earlier delivery date. I was actually a little overwhelmed for a minute, and then I decided to break it down. In that pile is: two pairs of mittens, one hat, and one pair of large men’s bed socks. That, to me, seemed reasonable when I broke it down. And then I realized something was missing. Kindly add this ball into the above picture (it, too, is destined to be a hat):

So, that’s two pairs of mittens (one cabled, the other fair isle); two hats (one in fair isle that exists only in my head, the other a sort of textured pattern); and large bed socks. Is it crazy to think that I’ll get all that done in what is, essentially, four weeks? Clearly I will not knit a stitch for myself during that time, but I do have two jobs and a life that needs some maintaining. I won’t lie, I’m a little worried. But maybe that’s healthy? The kind of worry that will propel me instead of result in me crying in a corner while clutching needles and wool? I think so. And really, I can’t be the only knitter looking at their to-knit list and wondering if they’ve gone crazy, right?

In addition to all of this, I still have the tea cozy to finish, but there are only a few inches left, so I think I’m okay. The only concern I have is that I’m likely to run out of wool. I can get more, so it isn’t a disaster, but I would rather figure out how to make what I have work. I was going to just power through and finish it this weekend, but honestly, I’m so tired of knitting plain stockinette that I think I’m going to cast on one of the mittens just to spice things up a little. It’s all holiday knitting, though right, so it’s not cheating.

Anyway, what do you think of the striping? I’m making it up as I go along – thoughts?

(Aside: L just came in and asked what I was doing. “Nothing you need to worry about,” I said. “Uh oh,” he replied, “Sounds like it is.” “No no,” I said, “Just about Christmas knitting.” “How much you have to knit and how much time you have to do it?” “Yeah.” “So why are you blogging about it instead of knitting?” Humph. What a cheeky man.)