A project underway

 What's this? A new project? erm, well, yes.

 

But didn't you just show us all the many projects you already have on the needles? The socks, the blankets, the shawl... wasn't there a cardigan somewhere unfinished? Ah, yes. But you see, it's November.

What's special about November? November is when all the festive crafting projects that have been percolating in the back of my mind have to be started if they are to be ready to post to their intended recipients. November is when the curve of 'it is reasonable to be making something as a Christmas gift' meets the rather steep curve of 'Christmas posting deadlines exist'. And so, when I was driving back from my pre-lockdown 2-emergency trip to a non-essential shop 10 days ago, and spotted that my LYS was open, I stopped to pick up a non-essential 100g of DK wool, and last week I cast on Otto.

 If finished by the end of the month (which seems likely at current rate of progress), Otto will be posted to a little girl who missed out on her hand-knit newborn cardigan because of the post chaos caused by lockdown 1. So I've decided to make her a bear, because that is a gift that she won't grow too big for before it reaches her.

 I don't often make toys, but there is something very appealing about Otto, and the related Elijah - stuff as you go, pick up and knit, almost-no-finishing toys. In both cases (without giving away the secret sauce), you cast on at the back of the head, knit to the front and cast off at the nose; pick up for the body and knit down, pick up for arms, and knit out, pick up for ears and knit... and you're done! No tiny pieces to sew up and sew on, no mis-identified arms that are sewn in the wrong place - just some fiddly dpn work at the start of each limb, when you're working around a small number of stitches and the rest of the body.

I do hope to make a Pinglewin (or 2) in due course... but not this year. This year, the festive crafting is staying under complete control. No making-proliferation here. Not at all. Not even tempted...