There is a reason they call them "Deadlines"

I think it because you nearly kill yourself trying to meet them! I tend to be someone who thinks that there is really more hours in the day than there really are, and that I can knit much faster than I really can (some of you may remember Christmas debacles and knitting "fails" of the past) .. but this time, I really thought I had allowed enough time.

I found out last Friday that I needed to knit something for in a prize basket for our local Well Woman Clinic Day - the girls on the organizing committee had suggested that I knit socks like I did last year, but I knew I was coming into a very busy week at work, so I decided to knit a pink cowl (and that, for a change, I would actually try hard to find something in the stash that was suitable) I went home that very day, and ruffled through the stash bag of Patons SWS - and found what I remembered having ... a single lonely skein of Natural Pink (perfect for a prize for a clinic that was focusing on women's health and prevention of cancer) ... then after a relatively quick search (for a change) I found the perfect cowl pattern for this yarn (I was inspired by the cowl I received in a swap recently, so wanted to make one that buttoned). I started that every evening and finished on Sunday, then washed it on Monday. I was ahead of the game ..... all I needed to do after it dried was to sew on a button - one button! Score, right?

Ummm... there is knitting ADD in this house, so I cast on for a pair of fingerless mitts for a 13 year old boy who has been living with my BIL and his family for the past 7 weeks as a transfer student from Columbia. I waited until the cowl was washed, then cast on with Noro Silk Garden ... sooo soft and squishy, and knit away, finishing on Oct. 28th (not sure why I continued knitting after realizing halfway through the first mitt that they would be too small, but I knit until I was done!).

(sorry for the crappy picture - it was night, flash is horrible and it is really, really hard to take a picture of your own hands - even with a timer!)
Hoping that they would grow with blocking, into the wash they went ... with a little wish that they would be dry by Friday at suppertime (Lucas was leaving at 5 a.m. on Saturday, so I had a deadline with this project). Sadly ... only minimal growth when pulled from the soak.

On Thursday, I had a long drive as a passenger, so I started a second pair, same pattern (it is a really charming pattern, and knits up into a mitt with a really nice look and texture), but this time, on larger needles and with a more manly colour of Noro Kureyon. I finished last night at 8:30 p.m. and they were gifted without being washed


- I hope they fit him (they were at a hockey game until late, so I left the mitts on my doorstep for my BIL to pickup when he picked the kids up from the game). the .5 mm increase in needle size didn't really make much diffreence in the overall size of the mitts ... next time I knit this pattern, I am going for 5 mm needles.

I know I always say it ... but I really hate knitting with a deadline. There is no denying that it really gives a boost to the productivity, but wow! I was tied up in knitting all week! So busy that I totally forgot about the cowl (remember, the cowl that I had finsihed and dry in plenty of time for the gift basket?) ... I was frantically sewing on the button yesterday morning at 7:30 a.m., on my way out the door to the clinic. Anyone wondering why a number of my gifts don't have photos ... just think "deadlines".