Happy Craftmas!

So yesterday I looked at my project list and suddenly grasped that, um, tomorrow (now today) is December 1^st and I had yet to finish Hayden’s Activity Advent Calendar!  YIKES!  So I worked on it until one am, realized that I had about three hours of work to go, wrote his first day’s activity down, put it in the incomplete calendar and went to bed.

Today Hayden happily pulled open the first box and didn’t seem to mind a bit that most of the rest were unfinished and (if he’d opened them up) empty.  But the partial advent calendar (and the date!) made me realize how much there is to do.

For Christmas I have several projects going.  Felt balls for Mason, a satchel (just like in Tangled) for Hayden.  Decorating our homemade Christmas tree- where we make almost all the ornaments for it. Qwillows for the nieces, hats & mittens for the boys.  Not the mention the Advent Calendar currently sitting on the table staring me in the face. 

Yes, much to do, along with the shopping, preparing holiday dinners, going to parties, wrapping (lots), sending out Christmas cards, Arnie traveling (lots), and then heading up to Michigan for the holiday itself.  Much to do indeed.

But honestly, I’m not overly worried about it.  If I were, you’d never read this post because I’d be too busy going crazy with projects.  I’m rather excited about all the fun things that I have to do.  And the deadline means that I might actually get them done.  I’ll finish the calendar tonight.  Then make a list for the rest, and start working on them tomorrow.  Now the state of my house while getting these projects done is, well, a whole ’nother blog post.

Time to get crafting!

Autumn Productivity

For some reason, autumn is a time where I’m just itching to be productive.  I get a creative bug and want to do all kinds of things.  (See this post on knitting and sewing.)  The baby blanket and felt birthday crown might be done, but those aren’t the only two projects I’ve got planned.  We went apple picking in Michigan and I’ve been making applesauce.  I would like to get at least two more batches of that made along with some apple pie filling for the freezer.  (And along those lines I’ve got things I need to do, such as make chicken stock and extra meals for the freezer, but those things aren’t near as fun as apple deliciousness.)   I put out all kinds of fall decorations.  I’ve also got scarves and hats to knit for winter wear and I want to make an activity advent calendar for Hayden this year.  In addition to that, I’ve got fabric to make living room curtains, which doesn’t match our walls and so equates to a paint job as well.

What is it about fall that compels me to bring out the sewing machine, cast on the knitting needles, and turn on the crock-pot?  Is there some innate sense that I must get ready for winter like a squirrel gathers its nuts?  It doesn’t sound at all fun or whimsical when I put it that way, but maybe its just a practical natural thing.  A time of preparation for the colder, less vigorous season of the year.  Of course, that preparation isn’t what it used to be in the old days. 

I knit because I enjoy it and love seeing the boys wear something I made, not because its necessary to our survival.  I love the simple joy of opening a jar of my own applesauce up to eat with dinner.  Seeing curtains hanging in my living room that I made would be very satisfying.  And watching Mason cozy up to a blanket that I poured my love into overwhelms me with its sweet tenderness.  Using my (albeit-limited) skills might be some internal instinct to prepare for the upcoming season, but that bit of homemade goodness adds just a little extra touch of heart-warming, home-filling affection and love.  And perhaps that is whimsical.