All I Want for Christmas...

... is to knit on the Swan Sweater, which is all for me, with no deadline.

My holiday gift knitting has been on hold for the last few days as I've been working on some finishing work that I'd promised to, ahem, *finish* for a student that I was meeting with today. There was a lot more to finish than I'd anticipated, plus I spent a lot of the weekend celebrating the holiday season with various friends and acquaintances.

However, I'm still confidant that I'll finish Augie's sweater and Meredith's poncho in time - especially since I won't see them until after Christmas.

Scott's cashmere scarf is done. I hope he hasn't started reading my blog without telling me. If he has, he won't have much of a surprise on Saturday. As it turns out, I could have finished the scarf earlier, since it grew many inches when I washed it. I decided that since Scott is quite tall and never gets to have long-enough scarves, I'll just leave it the ridiculous length it currently is, but won't weave in the end on the bind off side, and he can decide how long he wants it. I'll unravel if necessary.

I had this absurd idea in my head that I might get around to putting together a submission for next fall's Interweave (deadline for submissions is Dec. 31 or something like that). But that was a very silly idea. Next winter's submissions aren't due until March... that's a much more realistic goal.

Anyway, I've gotten into that place where I'm really sick of knitting on a deadline, which is most of the knitting I've done in the last few months. I struggle with this a lot, particularly in light of my knitting design ambitions. It's actually part of a larger issue in my life where I have this bizarre tendency to professionalize everything I like to do. Even church! But then I whine when the things that I enjoy are no longer fun, because I've made them into these professional commitments. On the other hand, I feel very blessed to be doing work that is meaningful to me. I suppose it's all a matter of balance.

By the way, this post title is a big lie. There are lots of other things I want for Christmas, like an iPod, and stuff on my Amazon wish list that you can see on my sidebar. I'm very selfish and shallow and consumerist that way.

Comments

[Cher]

Happy Christmas, Alison! May Santa bring you lots of goodies to eat and lots of time to knit!
[I look forward to seeing your finished Swan Sweater - thus far, it is gorgeous!]

[Amy Boogie]

Merry Christmas and I hope you get all that you want. I'm with you on the deadline knitting stuff. I can't even seem to do a swatch on time.

[melissa j]

hope you had a very merry holiday weekend and crossed some things off your wish list. :) keep working on that swan sweater!

[Bobby]

Is it horribly selfish of me to want nothing but knitting time for you to work on your swan sweater so that I can see even more scrumptious pics of it as it comes along?

Deadlines=evil! It seems if I'm just working on a project at a pace that I feel is good that it'll get done in no time at all. Give me a deadline like xmas or a bday? Nope. They'll be lucky to see it months after the day they were supposed to get it. Ugh.