Knitcrastination: I'm baaaack!

It's that time of year again. You know, the one where I set ridiculously high goals for myself and struggle to the last minute to finish Christmas presents that I should have been working on all year long. (Not to mention, post on a blog that I should have been updating all year long)

Yeah. Here's where I could say that I'm not doing that this year. ...Except I know that would be lying.

I do participate in Ravelry's Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup group (HPKCHC) - which means that I have gotten plenty of projects done in the last year. However, were they Christmas presents? Was I thinking and planning ahead so I wouldn't have a last minute scramble to make all the things?

...Of course not. I'm still me. I got distracted by the hexipuff craze going around the knitting community:

And I made a dozen or so of these - not enough for an actual blanket, but enough to take up a fair amount of my time. So far, the cats have decided that I made the hexipuffs for them and I'm not even sure where half of them are anymore. Maybe they'll make a blanket some day, but not this Christmas.

Then I got distracted by this still unfinished market bag:

I'd planned to make a million of these things. I was so excited... and now, I can't remember why. I've already stolen the needles from this project for another one and this project is doomed to be frogged.

Let's not forget my "Love Potion Antidote" made from the Zuzu's Petals pattern:

I loved dyeing the yarn for this, I loved knitting the pattern, I loved how the pictures turned out. Basically, I loved everything about this project - until I realized that it barely fit over my head. That's right, all that time and energy, and it turned out too small for me to actually wear. It's still sitting abandoned in a pile of other knitted stuff and yarn until I decide what to do with it. It's way too pretty to kill (frog) but I also can't actually use it. What do you do with something like that?

To be fair, I did make things as gifts, but most of those were already given out throughout the year as either birthday gifts or just-because gifts. I sent this awesome hat to my brother for my nephew:

Unfortunately, it didn't fit him, but I hear his baby cousin got a little use out of it. Strangely, I followed the pattern (and gauge, I thought) for an adult medium and it's too small for a toddler. I want to make another of these hats, but I'll have to make it a lot larger...

I also made this cardigan for my seven year old niece:

She absolutely loved it the first time she saw it, but when her mom tried to get her to put it on, all she did was whine the whole time apparently. So she does not look happy in every picture of her wearing it. Oh well, maybe she'll wear it again and we'll get a good picture of her modeling it. I was really happy with the cardigan anyway. It was even nominated for a prize within the HPKCHC group! I was super excited about that.

I finally finished these wristwarmers for my friend, Magz:

She's been waiting for these for years. I'd actually completed the knitting years ago, but I've been putting off the finishing work for much longer than it took to knit them. Finally done now though, and I gave them to her for her birthday this year.

I also had one commissioned project:

My mom's friend asked me to make her a copy of my Slytherin scarf, but in her favorite team's colors. I had some yarn leftover so I also made her a matching slouchy hat/beret:

As you can see from my choice of backdrop on that one, I knit most of that whilst playing D&D. She seemed to love both the scarf and the surprise hat and I was very happy with the finished products as well.

Technically, I do have some projects that could be used for Christmas presents, I'm just not entirely sure who I should give them to. I've got these:

All of which I made with no one in-particular in mind. The problem is, I still have no one in-particular in mind for any of them.

My niece seemed to like the hat while she was modeling it for me, but it was technically made in an adult size, and that's some of my handspun yarn and I've never seen her wear any of my other knitted gifts. I'm not sure if she's lost them or if they're put somewhere safe or what, but that unfortunately makes me hesitant to gift any more. I like to see my gifts used! Of course, it hurts when it's lost because it's being used, but at least it got a good bit of use first. (Sometimes it hurts a lot. I've left my favorite hat in a restaurant and had my favorite fingerless mitts fall out of my coat pocket unfortunately - both made in yarns that are discontinued.)

Anyway, I've still got to match my finished projects up to people before Christmas. I also have a list of projects that I still want done by Christmas:

Khaleesi for my mom (started -twice- and torture to work on) - Goal date: 11/30
Trouty Fishy for Seth Goal Date: 12/25
Fingerless Mitts for Brett (SIL, Mary, requested them for her bf. We still need to decide on pattern) Goal date: 12/20
Thermal Sweater for me (not actually a Christmas gift... since it's for me, but ... I still want it done!) Goal date: 11/29
Nymphalidea Shawl for *cough*me*cough* (hmm... maybe I'm being selfish this year?) Goal date: 11/16
Spinning projects (lots of them - these I can gift to Hannah, Magz, and possibly my mom. And I can keep some for myself... for next year's Christmas presents, of course...)

Oh, did I mention that I got distracted by spinning a lot this year too?