Pride goeth before the fall

I only have myself to blame. But that doesn't make me any less exhausted.

I prided myself on minimizing the amount of Christmas knitting I had planned. While all my knitterly friends were frantically finishing mitts, hats and socks, I thought I was finished.

Then, last week I remembered about the dreaded 'teachers gift'. Being the 42nd person to hand over a "Number 1 Teacher" mug wasn't the best idea, not if I didn't want my kid to fail JK. So, when I heard my daughter's teacher, Mrs. H, talking about how her hands were so small she usually bought kid sized gloves, I was struck by inspiration. Fetching was the answer! Short, sweet, beautiful and practical. And fast. Did I mention fast?

I picked out a skein (color: North Sea) of one of my all-time favorite yarns, Alpaca with a Twist, Highlander, and went to work. The Highlander, which is a blend of alpaca, wool and microfiber, is so exquisitely soft that the finished objective is almost secondary to just feeling the Highlander slip through your fingers as you knit.

All but the 2nd thumb was finished by Monday. Ha! Take that Christmas Knitting!

Remember all that pride go-ething before the fall? Yesterday I remember the teacher's assistant in the class. Drat! I needed a second pair of Fetchings. After some misadventure finishing up the 2nd glove yesterday (cabled in the wrong direction, frogged, reknit, forgot the thumb hole, frogged, reknit), I cast on for a second pair of gloves in Blackthorne. I think the ladies at my Thursday night Sit 'n Knit were actually placing bets on whether I'd finish them in time.

Cast on: 7 pm.
Each glove: takes a tad over 2 hours.
Last school day starts: 9 a.m.

Staying up till 3 a.m. to finish Christmas knitting for teachers: priceless and exhausting.

Excuse me. I need to go take a nap...


PS. No, I didn't even get a chance to take a picture, but they look like this other pair I made last winter.