Hello. I have too many holiday projects I want to knit. I thought I would list them here so you can commiserate with me. All links are Ravelry links.
1. Christmas Pudding Socks. I ordered the solid yarn last year to make these, but then decided tonal yarns would be prettier, as shown in the photo. So I ordered some tonal yarns. I could be casting on by the weekend. I love the design, and it’s a good mix of colorwork and stockinette.
2. Holiday Doodle Cowl. I love the look of this, but it is allover color work. I have the yarn, which I ordered last year. I’m not sure I have the brain capacity for this one this year. Also, she’s updated the design, and I think I prefer the original version, which I have printed out.
3. Aurora Borealis Cowl. Work in progress. After I started it I realized how much I hate wearing one-sided stranded colorwork cowls because the floats on the back show. Not sure if I should forge ahead or frog a hasty retreat.
4. 12 Days of Christmas Mitten Garland. As I have constructed an entire advent ritual around this, I will definitely be making it. They’re tiny, too. I’m sure I can produce one mitten in an evening.
And then there’s my red Ranunculus. I’m on the stockinette now, so I should be wearing it by Christmas Eve!
Any tips on managing too-many-projects-not-enough-time syndrome? Project number three will probably be frogged. I’m thinking one and two will end up back in the drawer for next year. Or maybe one for Christmas in July?
You may have noticed I’ve been experimenting with backgrounds in my photos. I’ve been using the backgrounds I use at work for product photos, but I don’t want to continue to use them as I’m afraid I may damage them. So I’ve got some reclaimed barn wood heading my way for my small photography shots. Photography is for me part of the art of blogging, and a big part of my enjoyment.
Snakes & Cranes 
I love all of these projects. I’d say if you don’t love the cowl, frog it and repurpose the yarn – life’s too short to make something you don’t love. Maybe pick your least urgently calling project for a Christmas in July item, and then you could put the other ones in a random list generator or on slips of paper to pull out of a container and work thru them in that order if you can’t decide? I often let the universe pick for me. 🙂
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That is a brilliant idea!
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I’ve always liked the backgrounds and staging items you choose for your photographs. As far as managing too many projects, not enough time, there is no good answer. One just decides on priorities and re-adjusts them as the demands of life change each day.
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Agree with the comment about how beautifully you stage your photos –
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Thank you both! ❤️
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Awe I have been in your shoes. That strange feeling of both wanting to do and not wanting to do the things one has started. I call it angst, and I’d almost rather go to the dentist when it comes over me, When I’m feeling the strength to follow thru on a promise to myself, I write each thing on my To Do list on it’s own bit of paper and fold them up and put them in a basket. Then I draw out one piece of paper and focus on whichever project is written on it. This takes a bit of loyalty to oneself and that can be tough to master. I have been known to spice things up by adding a few fun things, like ‘Spend the day looking at seed catalogues’, or ‘ Make a batch of brownies!’ just to shake up my momentum. Always best to be kind to yourself.
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This is also a brilliant idea! I think I may do this. Thank you!
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So many fun projects. I feel like a kid in a candy store. I would give first priority to the holiday themed items. Then, after Christmas, you can sit in the glow of your tree and enjoy the other knits.
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Those Christmas pudding socks are fabulous and they’d be my priority if it was my list. They are all fab projects though. I take little care in my background and maybe should make more effort. Yours are always very professional looking.
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me again …. I have a thought on the Aurora Borealis Cowl. Perhaps you could make it a double layer by knitting a ‘facing’ so to speak in stockinette stitch to hide the carried yarn? I do like the colors of this cowl, and I am trying to think of a way for you to enjoy it, even if it is for next year!. 🙂
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The pudding socks are so darn cute. Can’t wait to see the colors you have chosen for yours. If you are not happy with the floats showing on the cowl than frog it and reclaim the yarn for something you will love and wear. The Holiday Doodle cowl is really cute. Since you enjoy colorwork, this seems to be something you would love and wear. As for how to juggle all the projects…..I have no answer. Maybe work on 1 project each day of the week?
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The yarns you are using for the Cowl are incredibly beautiful together. I love the combination of blue and pink so I’m pretty sure whatever you do with it will turn out strikingly pretty.
I’ve started to choose projects for what I need from them and prioritise the ones that fit my knitting needs the best. At the moment, that’s a Christmas self-striping sock for mindless knitting for me. Maybe one that’s more challenging like those incredible Christmas pudding socks and one that’s more mindless to give you a bit of variety?
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Those pudding socks are just adorable! I can’t wait to see yours 🙂 And the mitten advent is going to be so pretty 🙂 Just frog the cowl if you aren’t going to enjoy wearing it. That will take a little pressure off, hopefully. I do know the feeling of too much to do and that you want to do and getting overwhelmed by it. I felt that way most of October 🙂 Maybe save one of the projects for next November for the lead-in to next Christmas? Or as the commenter above said, maybe for Christmas in July?
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I love the Holiday Doodle cowl. I have very serious advice for when you have too many projects. Drink 2.5 glasses of red wine and then eat lots of Reese’s Pieces. It will make you feel better.
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That’s very good advice. Thank you.
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Beautiful knitting work. I like
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Oh, those socks! I am in love with them! So charming. If anything could ever produce happy feet! 😄 I’m a much more novice knitter than you, but I have 2 LARGE projects going and 2 more in the wings. But that mitten thing sounds wonderful…so we might inch up towards 5 projects?!
I love your backgrounds and your ideas. That’s a thought I’m always considering. I’d love to see what you come up with using your new (old) wood!
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Yes definitely I can relate to too many projects and not enough time. But those look like really awesome projects. You could just forgo sleep right 😉
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Love, love, love the Christmas Pudding socks!! They all look fun but knit where your heart leads you.
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