Making progress

Ever since I realized that Christmas was "sneaking" up on me again, I have been a busy girl. I pulled together all my Christmas crochet books, so I have them handy. I made a list of what I want to make for who. I ordered and received 4 books from an ebay store ('Tis the Season, All Wrapped Up, Simple & Fun Footwear, and Welcome to Winter Wonderful Wearables)to help make what I want for who. Hobby Lobby fed my addiction by having a WONDERFUL .99 sale on their Yarn Bee yarn. I got some beautiful yarn to make scarves/gloves/hats with. I love when they have these sales...the yarn is normally anywhere from $5-$8 and to get it for .99, well I just can't pass that up. They tempt me, I can't resist. But...but...no...I can't resist...leave me alone....it was a good deal, I don't care if you give a lick about crochet, or yarn or not...a good sale is a good sale...that's my defense, and I'm sticking to it! LOL! So now I am ready to tackle my list...

I finally finished my sons afghan (ok, I need to add the fringe...but finished... mostly) which was his Christmas present last year. He was very pleased. And now I can crochet other stuff without feeling guilty that his present isn't finished. He isn't sure he wants the fringe on it, I am waiting for him to let me know. Of course, he might be worried that if he gives it back for me to put fringe on it, he won't see it for another year. He might be right.

I have stitched and starched 11 snowflakes. I have a list of people I want to give these to which is still growing, but is at 50 right now. I may have to modify this, but I am still going with the idea that if I can get 5 or 6 done a week, then I might just make it. Maybe. They take about an hour to make, so in theory, if I set aside a couple of "crochet days", where all I do is crochet, then I could really churn some out.

I got out my Mom's Christmas present, which I have not put any "in progress" pics on here in case she decides to check out my blog. I was further along than I remembered being, so this was a good thing. After working on it for a little while last night, I got back into the groove of the pattern again, so I didn't have to keep looking at it. Took me a little while to pick the pattern back up, since I haven't worked on it all summer. Also, after working with thread for the past several months, since yarn is just way too heavy and hot to work with when it is 90-100 degrees outside, it was strange working with a "thick" medium again. That took a little getting used to as well, but it's all good now. I should have this done and ready to ship in plenty of time for Christmas.

I also want to do some charity crocheting for various organizations that I have come across through the Crochetville website. I was part of a Charity a Month thread that I kind of fell out of after the May charity. All of the organizations they supported throughout the year are worthwhile, but I was just stressing myself out trying to get stuff done, so I decided to take a break. Of course, trying to work on this in between my other projects might be stressful too, but I would like to do a little something to give to those who are not as fortunate as I am to have family and friends around them. It may not be a huge contribution, but if I can make a difference, even if it is just to one person, then it is worth it.

So, my spare time is pretty much going to be spent working on Christmas presents over the next couple of months. I found a new fire over the weekend, and I am motivated and ready to jump in. I am trying to only have a couple of things going on at a time, do a snowflake each night, then work on completing something else before moving on to the next big project. As it gets to crunch time though, I'm sure I will be thinking "Who can I get a gift card for instead?"

I also have a bunch of pictures of completed projects I need to to take before I forget. I have fallen behind on those too. I have the snowflakes, 2 or 3 doilies, my son's afghan, some bookmarks made from my hand-dyed thred I did, and probably some other things too. I should have those for the next blog.