The Countdown Begins . . .

Every year I swear I am going to start my Christmas knitting in January. One scarf or shawl a month until December and it will all be done by November. Good thinking, right? You'd think. Does it ever happen? Uh, never. Because in January, all I want to knit is sweaters (and I've already got my sweaters lined up) so Christmas knitting is going to be the last thing I want to do. But thankfully I know myself well enough that in July I start test running patterns to find the quickest, easiest knitting patterns because, well, the calendar is already halfway done and I haven't even started.

Now this year, I ran into bumps with even those good intentions. I've already discussed my bump in the road with lace knitting. So the great lace knit scarves are out, and I just found extra skeins of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino that I need for the Fetching wrist warmers that turned up short. And then my Jo-Anne.com order was black and gray instead of all black. So here it is, almost December and I've got a marathon of knitting to do in the next few weeks.

And even that wouldn't be so daunting if I didn't keep getting side-tracked. First by my lace knitting failure, and then by a skein of Rowan Biggy Print, which I turned into a hat for our babysitter, Jessica. She's going to college in Ellensburg, WA, where the wind, plus the snow and cold, can make a Seattle girl really wish for rain. So I send her new hats to keep her warm. (But of course, I forgot to take a picture of her in it!)

So I am making up my mind right now. It's scarves and wrist warmers this Christmas. I am going to rework the Fetching pattern a little, and instead of cashmere lace scarves, Santa is knitting these neck warmers out of the Lion Cashmere Blend: Ruffled ends and a K1, P1 ribbing up the length of the scarf. I may make the next one with a K2, P1, ribbing just to keep things a little different. The Lion Cashmere is nice to work with and very soft, so I would recommend it.

So what are you favorite quick and easy knit Christmas gifts?