Projects

I've got a couple of projects that I need to start.  My eyes always get bigger than my capacity to perform around this time of year, especially when it comes to handmade presents for Christmas.  Oh well, no one has ever disowned me for not finishing something on time. 

I came from a large family, and when I was a kid we gave Christmas gifts to each other.  That meant gifts for seven siblings, two parents, and a couple of grandparents.  I also had a couple of nieces and nephews, and two sisters-in-law.  Typically I had around $10.00 to spend for everyone, so I got creative and made gifts from scratch.  One year, not long after I learned to knit, I gave a pair of slippers to my parents and a couple of my older brothers.  I couldn't finish the last pair, so I wrapped the unfinished slipper in a shoebox along with the knitting needles and ball of yarn to one of my brothers.  He reminds me of it to this day, even though I finished the slipper before New Year's (which if you've read anything in this blog you know is speedy for me) 

Another year I collected empty soup cans, covered them with felt, and decorated them with each person's name.  Then I filled each can with new pencils, pens, 6-inch rulers, scissors, and erasers.  I gave those to my brothers and some of the adults.  I made little felt toys for the younger kids, and I know I made a couple of pincushions for some of the older females.  I was REALLY into felt that year, and was thrilled with the colors and selection when I would purchase little 12-inch squares.  I think I got them from Woolworths, which I'm sure is where I got the pens and pencils too.  The problem with giving so many identical gifts is that everyone knew what they were getting in pretty short order.  Still it was fun and my family still talks about my corny but earnest gifts, mostly when they want to tease me.

Even after I married, I would make gifts.  The year my middle son was born, I was embroidering a yoke on a shirt as a Christmas gift for an older brother, working on it in the evenings right up to the 22nd when I woke up early and thought I was in labor.  We went into the hospital, I wasn't in labor, they sent me home, and I figured I'd better finish the shirt.  I worked on it all of the rest of the day, and early on the 23rd we were back at the hospital where my son was born mid-morning.  It was a good thing I had the false labor on the 22nd or I wouldn't have finished the shirt by Christmas.

 My daughter is always starting and finishing projects.  I have a friend who is that way too.  Their abilities amaze me.  But I'm a plugger and a plodder and eventually I'm a finisher (when I'm not an abandoner).  Now I should get busy.