Coffeeshop knitting

I stayed up waaay too late last night reading through the last three months' worth of entries here at Hugs. Honestly, it's just like what I imagine a food diary to be, keeping this blog - an impartial witness who can tell you what choices have led to the result you now have.

So this morning I'm very tired, and I know why I've been very tired, for months now.

For a start, I've been grinding out Big Projects with Deadlines instead of just enjoying myself and stitching away on small manageable knits.

And I've been making gifts at the last minute, instead of following last January's idea of just making random Things when I feel so inclined and then magically having a fully-stocked gift shop in the crafty cupboard when I'm struck by the idea to give somebody a specialness.

Also, I devoted more than a week to a design idea I really wanted to work in spite of its obviously not workingness.

This insight isn't going to do much for me - just last night somebody asked me what I would like for Christmas (the implication being that said somebody would acquire and even wrap it) and I said Yarn for the Mariner sweater I want to knit, please.

As I drifted off to sleep later I thought - wouldn't it be great to start the new year without a single work in progress? Just a clean slate! (Because naturally, I can finish Clockwork and its matching hat and a new design that's cooking and anything else that gave way to Christmas crafting, all in the week between Christmas and New Year's.)

And this morning I remembered I am having coffee next week with a friend who's having a rough go, and it occurred to me I should make him a pair of felted wool mittens as a spontaneous Christmas offering. That isn't such a big deal to do as I'm sewing a few more pairs this week anyway - but then I thought it would be nice to make a pair for each of his kids too, with some matching wool in them for a wintertime bond when they're not together. It's too good an idea for me to give up without a fight but -

Yes.

Clearly I'm not going to be changing my ways any time soon. Here I am doing all this plotting and scheming and I'm still not even finished the SUSP pattern-tweaking yet!

Luckily pattern tweaking doesn't travel well, and I have another one of those days today which will require a short stint in a coffeeshop between appointments. So I'm taking along the official Christmas knit, the one that can't not get finished, and I'm going to have hot chocolate.

Because I swear, I just saw some snowflakes drifting past my window.