Continued Adventures in Crafting

Family Christmas Celebration: 1 week from today
Number of finished handmade gifts: 0

Okay, my granddaughters' sweaters are finished other than the buttons, so we'll say two gifts are finished. I can't seem to get a foothold on the others. I was so frustrated by my youngest son's cardigan I had to stop work on that one for a while and instead get back to my middle son's girlfriend's. That one is easy (it's in several pieces that are sewn together at the end), but the thread is thin so it seems to take forever. My only other crochet alternative is my middle son's cardigan, and that's the one I'm not sure how to refit across the shoulders. I'm eager to have these finished -- and feeling the love in a way I wasn't yesterday -- but I'm not up for a lot of frustration.

I'm not sure whether I mentioned before that my youngest two sons and one son's girlfriend went to Tampa and I have all the dogs and three cats; this situation is hindering my crafting ability too. The last thing I need is to get cat or dog hair all over everything or, conversely, end up with craft notions on or in the pets. When I got my tree I scooped up a bunch of greenery to make a wreath or two. I have the glue gun out, along with some different decorations for a few different wreath styles. All of this is in addition to whatever sweater I'm working on at any particular time -- Jean-Claude likes to unravel the yarn, so I never leave it unattended -- and my sewing machine, fabric, pins and thread.

I'm tempted to just give everyone a little money for Christmas and take some pressure off myself. Of course, this is diametrically opposed to my choice to stick with homemade this year. I may do that for my sons; I have a few things for the girls and can easily sew the buttons on their sweaters by next weekend. The boys can wait for their sweaters, and that will give me the chance to make sure they're perfect. I'll consider it a lesson learned, and will begin next year's Christmas crafting just after New Year's Day. Assuming I plan to do Christmas crafting next year. Right now, that's a big "if".