knitting for others

Seems to have become all I have time for anymore. I went from being someone who knits primarily for themselves (and their kiddo) and occasionally for others to someone who knits more for others than herself.

Don't get me wrong: I love knitting for others, else I wouldn't do it. But it has begun to consume me. Every time I think I'm done, I have someone else to knit for. The reason is quite simple: we are broke as a joke and the only way I can afford to give most people gifts is to knit for them. Even if I have to purchase new yarn (I've delved into the stash as much as possible), it's on the cheap (thank you, as ever, Knit Picks and sales and coupons at Joann!). A handknit gift is worth a million times more than what the actual cost is, so it just makes such a thoughtful gift.

I am a (nearly) total process knitter though, so having to crank out so many things on deadlines is extremely challenging for me. And I'm very Type A and brinking on OCD when it comes to completing things. So, yeah, challenging. The last couple of projects (and I know a few upcoming ones) have totally not been done technically on time, but "on time" for me as of late is "somewhere in the general vicinity of when it was supposed to be done, where 'general vicinity' is about two weeks out".

I did just purchase some yarn to knit some things for myself and I'm about 2/3 of the way done with one of those projects. Yay!

But for others within the upcoming month, I've got a pair of socks to do, a congratulations gift that is already on the needles, and I have to figure out something to make my brother (I have a hat I want to do - to match a scarf I did for him in the fall, but I'd like to maybe do something else too - ideas? Socks are a possibility, but he has size-14 feet, so I know they won't have a hope of being done on time. What the heck else do you knit for a guy?)