The Committments

So, here I am, not posting regularly for weeks and now posting twice in one day. What can I say? DH is asleep and I just can't make myself do the last pompom for the last Soaring Eagles hat. Maybe I just don't want to see that knitting end...?

But it's time for me to finish my family and friends holiday knitting, so here's my list of Committments: the items I am absolutely, positively committed to finishing before December 25.

1. My mother's freakin' silk stole. God, I hate that thing. I don't even know why...I like knitting lace, it's an easy enough pattern...and, of course, the last thing I want to do is knit "I hate you" vibes into the stole I'm making for my mother of all people. So in addition to committing to knitting this freakin' thing, I'm also committing to knitting it with a smile on my lips and a song in my heart. Even if the smile looks a bit more like a grimace and the song is "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."
2. The second of FIL's A Pox Upon Thee glittens, complete with show-through thrums. The name comes from DH, who took one look at the brown thrum spots and instead of saying, as I'd hoped, "Ah, novelty yarn!" he said, "Pox! The mitten has the pox!" Since FIL is no fashion plate and has preternaturally cold hands, I'm betting he wears the things no matter what they look like. Which is why I'm committing to making the second of the pair (or I could simply hope for an unfortunate accident involving some sort of farm machinery, but that's not quite in the holiday spirit -- plus, where do you find farm machinery in the Bronx?).
3. DH's fingerless mitts, balaclava and skullcap. I'm giving myself some leeway here to do 2 out of 3 and leave DH an IOU for the last of the bunch. But that man will find a knitted gift under the tree if it kills me (and it might very well).
4. What with all this knitting for other loved ones, I can't forget to knit something for my very favorite Baby M. Just today I was thinking, as I tried to bundle her up against the gathering cold, about why she doesn't have a scarf. She has a box full of hats, mittens that she insists on pulling off as soon as they're on, a hand-me-down snowsuit (slightly on the small side), not one but two winter coats -- but scarves she has none. I will rectify that with this pattern from knitty.com, done in the green Nature Spun from The Sheep Shed: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/PATTtoddle.html
5. More felted bowls. Especially one with that last skein of SWS.
6. And last but not least, finish the scarf for Cousin J that's been on the loom for over a month. Just a few more rows is all it will take; it's just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

OK, now, looking at that list it's not so bad. Six items, give or take. I can do this. I will do this.

And I will freakin' smile.