Heading towards the Holidays

Perhaps 'Hurtling towards the Holidays' would be a better title, in Piggy's case. I don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news, but in the interest of lighting a fire under my posterior (and those of my fellow pre-process knitters and crocheters who may want a nudge), I feel impelled to mention Christmas is but 46 short days away. And Channukah, although a tad on the late side this year, just 41 days away.

It's about this time each year that I begin to appreciate just how ridiculously optimistic the gift-knitting plans I made early in the year truly are (seriously, I must have been smoking something particularly strong this summer...a couple of days ago I came across a handwritten -- well, scrawled, anyway -- list that suggests I was planning to knit no less than five cowls, four scarves, three lace shawlettes (LACE? WTF, Piggy?), two children's cardigans and a pair of socks...I'm astonished eight maids-a-milking or 11 pipers piping didn't make the list, frankly), and I start to scale down. Waaaaaaay down.

Problem is, I really do have several people I want to give a gift to this year. And I'm broke. And I have, well...rather a lot of yarn. Hand knits really are my best option. So...

Hats. Hats are good. Small. Quick. Portable. Plenty of options for different yarns. Yessir, hats are the ticket. And it just so happens, I have a whole bunch of new patterns to pre-process before starting this year's frenzied Giftmas knitathon:




Interweave's Weekend Hats has a surprisingly large number of patterns I really like. I generally go by the one-to-five rule: for every five dollars a magazine or book costs, I want one pattern that I really think I'm likely to knit. Realistically, I never knit any of them, but I need to really think I will...
This book has at least 10 designs I want to knit. Starting with Laura Irwin's Layered Cloche, Tanis Gray's Everdeen Beanie (pictured on the book's cover, above), and Kristen TenDyke's Shore Hat.
You can see all the patterns in the book on Ravelry here.
So...what are you knitting for the holiday season?