It's Time To Plan For Christmas

September, October, November, December.  The four months that knitters call "Production Time."  The rest of the year knitting is nice and leisurely.  You know, the yoga of knitting.  Each stitch is savored, enjoyed.  "But there are only four months until Christmas and I need to get busy."  

That is exactly how I used to live my knitting life, scurrying around to finish something for Mom, something for Kathy, something for Andi, you get the picture.  A few years ago my whole philosophy on knitting for people for Christmas changed.  I still give people knitted treasures for Christmas, I just approach it in a different way.  I knit things I love all year, then in December I carefully look at each one and know who they are for. Like this little beauty. . . 

When we were in Sunset Beach last January, I saw this in Knit 'n Purl in Myrtle Beach and fell in love with it.  Now it is just waiting to be someone's Christmas gift.  

This was so much fun to make.  I'm sure someone on my list will pop up and be the perfect recipient.  

Now this is a sad story.  I loved making this beautiful shawl.  I even had it in my mind it would be for my Mom's birthday in December.  The yarn is fabulous, there just wasn't enough.  I ran out before I even got to the beautiful edge.  What I thought was lots in the tub, turned out to be two slightly different colors.  See what happens when you are specifically knitting something for someone, it just doesn't work.  Sometimes when you're done, it's not the right size for the person you thought it was for.  Sometimes you look at it and think, "What was I thinking!  This just isn't Barb (or Kathy or Andi or Erin or Carmen, etc.)"  All of those issues are solved when you just knit things you love and when they are finished decide who they are for.  

I would definitely give myself the "Good Work" for this revolutionary new approach to Christmas (and gift in general) knitting.  I no longer feel "All Tangled Up" when I think about Christmas coming.  Now if you are an adrenalin junkie (and I used to be one) this probably won't work for you.  I used to love the stress and the rush of making deadlines and almost missing deadlines and knitting all night to finish that gift which you need tomorrow for the Christmas party.  It was like discovering diet pills in college to pull an all nighter for a test.  I LOVED THAT!  I used to live life at that speed, but that's not my speed any more.  I think it is when I became a process person rather than a product person.  For me the joy is in each stitch not just the product.  It about watching a treasure unfold and enjoying every inch of the journey rather hurrying to be finished so you can move on to something else.  

My treasures have been growing over the past year.  I've found many beautiful things I love and have been knitting away.  In December, I will unveil which treasure will be going home with what friend.  I will even have more treasures into the mix by then.  It is probably too late to develop this knitting philosophy for this year, but think about it for next year.  It may work for you!