**CHRISTMAS PRESENT SPOILER ALERT! Friends and family, read on at your own risk!**

I was that high school slacker who pulled caffeine-fueled all-nighters banging out term papers begun just that evening but due the next morning…and my lousy grades reflected my habitual lack of planning. After much determination and effort to put that all behind me, I’m proud to say that I’ve learned to get (most) things completed way ahead of time—including taking care of my Christmas list before the holiday crunch. This year, pretty much everyone’s going to get a knitted/crocheted item—but of course I’ll try to throw in a sewn one here and there as well.

So, needless to say, every free minute I’ve had for the past couple weeks has been spent knitting gifts, as my goal is to have them all completed no later than December 15th. We’ll see how I fare!

So far, I’ve made this crocheted Peruvian style earflap hat using this pattern…

…a basketweave stitch scarf (not pictured), and some neckwarmers…

…using this very pretty lace scarf pattern, free here. I cut the scarf in half lengthwise (cast on 17 instead of 34 as the pattern calls for) as the lace pattern was repeated once on each row, and I used a thicker weight yarn — and I love the result!

Last but not least, get a load of this ultra kitschy 70s-style clutch, complete with pom-poms, that I made with some leftover yarn. knitted it up on a whim just this evening, but I’m not sure if it’ll get stuffed into any stockings this year. Think the kitsch factor might be too high on this one to consider it a serious gift!