Ticking Clock

I know it's not news to anybody, but did you know that Christmas is 9 days away?! Apparently, it's on the 25th this year. I just realized this today! I was completely shocked. Yet here I was, earlier today, knitting myself a pair of wrist warmers, with a whole pile of Christmas knitting sitting on the floor waiting to get done. Hello? You know that laptop case I mentioned in a previous post that I intended to secretly knit for my husband? Yeah, hadn't even started it. My dad's scarf? 1/2 done. My in-law's scarves? Done but unblocked (can you really send a Branching Out scarf to your mother-in-law unblocked?) and without the ends weaved in. They live in Chicago, so this is going to involve the good ol' USPS. My brother's socks? Not done. And they still need to be washed. Yikes!

Even though I had read blog after blog after blog about people's Christmas traumas, I had felt relatively unaffected. That is, until I realized that my husband's laptop case is 92 stitches wide and 40 inches long, unfelted. That's, like, more than 1/2 of a sweater! That doesn't include felting time! Are ya kidding me? I'm not a half-finished Christmas gift kind of gal, and I can assure you that my husband wouldn't appreciate it, either, especially if everyone else's gifts are done. So, the way I figure it, I need to have it done by next Friday at the latest, Thursday if possible so I can felt it and give it to him on Sunday. That's 7 days, and at 40 inches, that's roughly 6 inches per day. Of course, it's a surprise, so the weekend gets tricky, but lucky me, the Grove is having a get-together on Sunday for everyone to come down and work on their last-minute Christmas knitting. I figured that since I started around September, I'd be done by now - ummm, oh well. Anyway, so far, it looks like I've done 9 inches, and I just started today, so hopefully, it will all work out.

Tonight, at the Knit Salon, Cora, from my Baby Bobbi Bear class, brought her finished bear in. Luckily I brought my camera, so I got a photo. Here he is, the cutie and his mommy:

Oh, and those wrist-warmers? Well, those got done.

I just have to say that, although Kid Classic is a beautiful-looking yarn, it feels absolutely terrible. I know there are lots of knitters out there who love this stuff, but I can't for the life of me understand why. It's fairly rough and the itch factor is huge. On my arms, it can't do too much damage, although if I'm wearing them when it's not cold, my arms start tingling and they feel like I'm scraping them with sandpaper. Regardless, ain't these purty?

Happy Christmas knitting!