The swelling of the ego

So big news right off the bat - I have actually finished my 12-in-12 challenge! 42 days early! (The significance of that number is not lost on me.) And in fact, I went beyond the goal, because I have actually designed and submitted thirteen new designs this year, and am even working on another one. Plus, I recently submitted another design on top of that which I'm not counting towards the challenge because I did all the design work a few years ago and just hadn't submitted it anywhere until now. So I am feeling very heady with productivity and designerishness right now.

Another thing that's inflating my head is one of the two designs I sent off yesterday - the mittens I made for our daycare provider. For several days after I finished them, every time I looked at them, I was struck anew with how gorgeous they are and what a genius I must be to have invented them. Fortunately, this incredible level of conceit (which feels disturbingly un-Canadian) is starting to wear off a bit, otherwise I would be at real risk of landing myself in the hospital with a wrenched spine caused by excessive patting of myself on the back.

The good knitting news continues to roll, however - I'm pleased to say that I continue to make headway on the holiday gift knitting. As already mentioned, I finished the gift for our daycare provider, and I also finished the socks for my older BIL:

(horrible photo, unfortunately, but these days there isn't a lot of sunlight time at home during which to take shots)

That brings my total count to nine completed gifts (although I mustn't forget to steam my dad's hat), out of thirteen. And the tenth - the second pair of socks for my mom - should be finished shortly. Here they are a few days ago:

They're much farther ahead now - the second sock has a completed heel and foot, and I've begun the leg.

Once those are done, I will have only my brother's hat (sadly, I have yet to hear back from him about his head measurement), DD3's cardigan, and DH's sweater. These three projects are all tricky in their own way, particularly the cardigan and the sweater, which face the very real possibility of yarn insufficiency. So I'm definitely not out of the woods yet. But things are looking very decent, I think. I have certainly not given up hope of having time to make a few more things, so that DD1 and DD2 will also have handknits under the tree on Christmas morning.