Holy Works in Progress, Batman!

What better way to kick off a blog about knitting than to do a little run-through of what I've currently got going on? My thought process here was, "If I tell [Whoever Happens to be Reading This] that I'm making something in particular, then I'll be more likely to actually finish something." And then I started making my list and I realized that I have no fewer than 15 works in progress. Yes. 15. Holy poop.

You see, I have a little something known as Knitting ADD, aka Startitis. I find that if I have

multiple projects going at once, I can just switch from one to another when I get bored. This works well if you have two or three or even four projects going on. However, with 15, everything gets worked on a little, and NOTHING gets finished. EVER. I knew it was bad, but I had no idea it was quite THAT bad. Seriously guys, here's a picture of the end table next to our couch, the area designated for "Active Knitting"

and their corresponding bags/containers underneath.

(This doesn't even begin to address the stash in the basement. Which I'll save for another day)

So, for anyone that cares, here's what we're dealin' with.

Socks:

I currently have four pairs of socks on the needles, all in various stages of completion.

1) A pair of Pomatomus that I've wanted to make forever. I did about one and a half pattern repeats in July before putting it down, and have subsequently lost the pattern designating where I am. They'll be hibernating AT LEAST until Christmas knitting is done and I feel like sitting down and figuring it out.

2) My first pair from the Sock of the Month club I belong to (through TheKnitter.com). These are from last November, and the pattern is "On the Wings of a Dove" by Debbie O'Neill. The funniest thing about this is I started subscribing last November, before I knew I was moving, and it turns out, TheKnitter.com's headquarters is literally three blocks from where I now live!

My sister has requested these for Christmas. I've just turned the heel on the first one - these are likely to be finished in time.

3) Skew socks, which I have also wanted to make forever. These are in some of my favorite yarn (Austermann Step), and these are also for me, and therefore, will also be hibernating until Christmas knitting is over. Plus, I did the bind-off WAAAY too tightly, and have yet to get to the place mentally that I can handle ripping it back out.

4) Finally -a light at the end of the tunnel! A few weeks ago, my mother requested that I knit a pair of socks for her church's silent auction. I had some Cascade Sassy Stripes in my stash from a bidding binge on Ebay, and love the way the stripes work with the Zig-Zags of Jaywalker. My mom is coming to visit next week, and I have no worries that these will be completed by the time she gets here.

So, YAY! I'm actually going to finish a project. The only problem is that once these needles are free of Jaywalkers, they'll immediately be put to use knitting Christmas socks for my dad. The joy he finds in the socks I knit makes him a well-deserving recipient of hand-knit gifts, but alas, he has GIANT feet and an affinity for cables, so no easy peasy socks for this one.

Other Christmas gifts:

5) I've made Knitty's Knotty but Nice Hat twice now, once for my mother and once for myself. (That green one is mine). Now, my sister has

requested one of her own. So I've just cast on in Cascade 220 Tweed for another one for her. I love this pattern, and am pumped to make it again.

6) Swallowtail Shawl for my mother. I'm about halfway done with this, and am loving my first lace/shawl experience. The only problem is, the lace takes a little concentration, so I don't find it

that conducive for TV/Knit Night knitting. It's a project I gotta make quite, podcast-filled time for. Also, I find pictures of lace knitting disappointing until the garment is blocked, so no pictures thus far.

7) Christmas stockings - It's Pete's and my first

Christmas living together, so I wanted to make

Christmas stockings for the two of us and our new Australian Cattle mix, Mac. These stockings have special meaning to me, as my Grandma

Brown (who I clearly got my knitting genes from) made them for my sister and I. They're turning out lovely, but since I want them to be a surprise, they are solely designated for Knit Night, making it slow going.

8) Christmas ornaments. So do you guys have those people in your life who you love and want to give a little something to for Christmas, and yet monetarily, that's kind of not feasible? Well, as a grad school student, I faced that issue in spades. So in 2008, I started knitting Christmas ornaments for everyone I loved, and it's become a tradition. This year, I'm especially excited,

because I'm using up leftover sock yarn to make tiny sweaters, ending up with a gift that is both adorable and COMPLETELY FREE!!! What more can a (broke) girl ask for?

My mom is the Hostess with the Mostess, often hosting "Orphans" on the holidays (people whose families live far away, etc), so between family, friends and "Orphans," I'm making about 38 of these. I've got more than 20 done thus far, leaving me with a time table of two a week to be done by Christmas. So really, if you add those 18 to my pile, I've got about 30 WIPs :)

Alright, this is already a novel and a half, so I'll save the second half of my WIPs for another day. This is rather fitting, however, that there are so many works in progress that they don't even fit in one blog post. BUT - I am hoping that with the start of this blog, and the incentive to share, fewer items will be cast on and more will be cast off! Thanks for slogging through this, y'all, and if you have any feedback, please let me know!