Winter is looming but where are the knits?

Lately, with my free hours full of the interior decorating stage of the house project, I've been making an effort to create down time.  My friends are calling it 'me' time but I don't think it even qualifies as that.  'collapse in a heap' time is a better descriptor.

This sock has been my constant companion for what little 'me' time I've managed, which amounts to an hour or two over the course of a week spent in a chair watching Netflix.  Without the magic of online shopping it would be much less than that, though of course, without my being obsessive about getting things right so I never have to do this again, it would be much more.

In a way, it doesn't matter that I'm not knitting.  The house is worth the effort and I have lots of socks, so if I don't finish this pair before spring I will still have warm feet.  I would have warm feet even without handknit socks actually (thank you, in-floor heating system.)

Speaking of which...

Tile is one of the best distributors of in-floor heat and I am beyond excited to see how this particular tile is going to look on the floor of our front hallway (and side door, and powder room, and in front of our two fireplaces.)  It's got a little black and a little brown and a little rocky grey, and it's going to look fantastic pretending to be natural stone and butting up against our hardwood floor.  Honestly I've had this sample in the living room for about eight months now and I am not even remotely tired of looking at it.  Plus I found the perfect wall paint and the perfect curtain fabric to make it look even more wonderful.

To get back to my point: as I've finalized the fabric search it's occurred to me that winter is coming and also, Christmas.  I have never not given SOMEbody a handknit gift for Christmas but considering we'll be moving back to the house a week or two beforehand, and I still haven't made it out to an appliance store to confirm that I do indeed want to order Speed Queen/Huebsch laundry gear (not to mention that I still need to find a place to buy the hood vent fan we picked for the kitchen), handmade gifts might not happen this year.

Bathroom floors and shower walls.

I have freshly handspun yarn from the summer that I could knit into cowls very quickly, if I get around to blocking it.  I have a pair of freshly-designed lace fingerless gloves on needles too, for which I should really write up the pattern so you guys can knit some for your own presents, if you want.  I have yarn that would make a great sock present for the always-appreciative Jan, if I could just get around to caking it.  I am pretty sure I even have some other random yarn that would look lovely in a hat, never mind the in-progress hat for myself that I set aside last May.

But frankly, all I want to do is sleep.  Or stare at a screen while clutching a soft blanket.  Or languidly flip through a magazine filled with lovely, already-decorated rooms.

Clunch: for almost every wall in the house

Today I talked to Ray about my office, which is so tiny in person I'm not sure I will be able to keep my sewing machine and textile gear in it after all.  We calculated that my desk can be no larger than 68" long and 16" deep, and because he is the most generous contractor in the world and these dimensions don't exist in the wild or even at IKEA he said he would do a custom one for me.  On the other side of the room, it looks like my shelf zone is 19" wide, max.  So.... it would be good if I knit up a lot of yarn this fall and gave away the products of my labour, don't you think?

All I need is a little more 'me' time.
 

a little blue for accents, and maybe the living room walls, and maybe my desk

Well, that's odd.  I just noticed that almost every colour we're using in the house is in these socks.  It seems probable that that's why I keep reaching for them instead of for one of the other projects I'm ignoring, doesn't it...


What about you?  Are you getting enough time to knit up some winter treats?