Friday, December 24, 2010

It's Resolution Time

Playing a trick on me
when I turned my back.
I don't really do that, but lately one specific issue that more than merits that kind of consideration has been huge drain on my limited energy and concentration. I am so tired of scrambling each year to finish and mail things, omitting Christmas cards or sending them late, and constantly feeling anxious about whether or not I'm going to finish everything I'd hoped and if it's going to arrive on time.

I'm never far enough ahead or caught up in knitting (or crochet or anything else) to be working on anything besides what needs to be done now. So it's hard to imagine planning crafting far enough in advance to not have to worry. It's clear to me (and would probably surprise no one) that budgeting my time and reconciling my big ambitions with realistically small planning.

Fortunately this was a fast project!
I finished the Clauses and the hotpad/trivet, but there were several other items I'd hoped to have finished by now, some not even started. I would have liked to knit a pair of Malabrigo loafers for a relative - the same one who got the Clauses and the hotpad and not the one who reads this blog. Well I wanted to make a pair for my Dad, too. It will take a bit of figuring to see if I can adjust my needle size to get a pair slightly smaller than small for my Aunt.

No progress since Oct.



Then there are the mostly finished things I haven't bothered to finish, like Jack Frost, who just needs fingers and blocking, both of the Alpaca alpacas... actually I never put the embellishments on either pair of my own Malabrigo loafers or affixed buttons to Prairie Boots, which I've been wearing around the house anyway. The second of three robots only needs arms sewn on, but the third is not yet cast on. The robots, along with a land & set playset were gifts that I hoped to finish for a friend with young boys. I cast on the train for that last night and haven't made much progress.

O. Sherbie
Sherbie, Alpaca alpaca
Deja Vu
Deja Vu, Alpaca alpaca
Prairie Boots
Prairie boots, sans buttons

loafers v.2
loafers, v.2
loafers v1
loafers, v.1














Nonetheless, I must admit if I were more disciplined about planning my projects and even more rigorous about finishing them before starting others, perhaps next year I could manage to have my holiday knitting/crocheting finished by mid-December and none of my birthday projects would be running late (like one for Amy, whose birthday was in April and Mic, whose b-day was in June). Of course those were multi item projects and there are some additional circumstances that caused me to delay finishing the last details of them, but still.  It's almost always the last finishing steps that are the biggest challenge. So this kind of thinking really needs an audio clip of maniacal laughing to accompany it.

Happy New Year everybody. Try not to be too tough on yourself.

No comments:

Post a Comment