Knitting stuff and Christmas -- EDITED -- see RED text

I am a failure. Okay, some of you have convinced me that I am not a failure. I guess failure is too strong a word. So what is the word for "biting off more than they could chew"? Oh, and a procrastinator too.

I started this season planning early. I made the two elf hats. I started LOTS OF STUFF and didn't finish a thing, except the elf hats. Bah humbug and all that stuff.

I have no excuse except that instead of sticking with one thing until it was done, I would start something then start something else and then something else and something else . . . and go back to one or the other and just didn't finish anything.

Zachariah's socks, both of them, are completed to the heel. I mean, seriously, how hard could this be!

I have one and a half gauntlets made in one yarn, started another pair in another yarn (need to tick this one back . . . way too small needles!).

I have the flower patch mitten done to the thumb gusset. Which is perfect if the person I am making these for only needed one mitten. Unfortunately, they need two and I am not sure I like it anyway. Way too dark, but warm.

I have the Lucy bag mostly done, more than half way through the Lucy bag's first strap.

Lindsey informed me that she didn't like her hat and wouldn't wear it anyway. At least I didn't get it done before this announcement. But, she would like a pair of knee high slippers, like these. She will be lucky if she gets these instead.

Zachariah asked me about his sweater. The sleeves are done. The body is done to where I have to attach the sleeves. Sigh.

Sigh.

Sigh.

Sigh.

And, I have to have cataract surgery probably before year end because, surprise, surprise, I cannot see anything out of my left eye. Do you suppose I could milk the cataract surgery for months of not having to do anything except knit and read?

So, the way I look at it, I can either really apply myself, and not sleep, and get some things done or figure that I am way ahead of schedule for next year.

Books . . . read or to be read

Look at the list of books below: * Bold the ones you’ve read * Italicize the ones you want to read

* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. If you are reading this (and haven't participated yet), tag, you’re it!

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Other things I would recommend:
A. Wicked (the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) (Gregory Maguire)
B. Artemis Fowl (all of them) (Eoin Colfer)
C. Haunted Ground (Erin Hart)
D. Lake of Sorrows (Erin Hart)
E. Cross (James Patterson)
F. Eragon (Christopher Paolini)
G. World is Flat (Thomas Friedman)
H. Freakenomics (Steven Levitt)
I. Beyond Bullet Points (really lame for actual reading but if ever need to do more than one powerpoint presentation and people have fallen asleep during your first one . . . this is a must) (Cliff Atkinson)
J. Knitting Rules (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee)
K. Knitting Without Tears (Elizabeth Zimmerman)
L. Scarlett (Alexandria Ripley)
M. Son of a Witch (Gregory Maguire)
N. I'll Always Love You (Hans Wilhelm . . . children's book about a boy and his dog . . . my kids love this one as do I . . . "I'll tell them every day, I'll always love you" a perfect message to your children)

There are many others . . .