Socktober?

I'm SO glad to see October arrive.  This is the month when the weather in the Deep South finally changes from "instant lip sweat and three showers per day" (and that begins in May, by the way) to weather that resembles what the rest of the United States has during the summer.  In October we have daytime highs in the low 80s with low humidity (a miracle!) and nights that are about 55 degrees; it's my favorite weather, the weather I grew up with in California, so October makes me feel kind of homesick, even though Mississippi has been my home for 23 years now.  I find that I want to "nest" in October.  I want to cook, bake, clean, and most of all, I want to craft.

I knit like a fiend in October; it's the month when I do the most knitting all year long.  I get this crazy notion that I have all the time in the world or that I have endless stores of energy.  But the sad truth is, I still have to work eight hours a day, I still have to help my daughter with homework, I still have to feed my family and take care of various other daily chores, I still must get ready for the next day's work (which often includes hours of grading papers at home), and worst of all I still have to sleep!  That only leaves an hour or two for knitting most nights, but I have several other hobbies as well.  This is when I mess with my husband and tell him, "You know, if I'd married for money instead of love, I wouldn't have to work, and I could knit all day long."  :)

I've decided this year, since our finances are hurting as it seems the rest of America's are, that I'm going to knit several Christmas gifts.  I'm nearly finished with the first one -- a Rebecca Danger monster for a cousin who is a first year teacher and needs a cute friend to make her smile.  After that, I want to make at least 2 more monsters, a sock-monkey cup cozy, and a pair of slippers.  That's very ambitious for me, as I'm a pretty slow knitter (I tend to get sleepy when I knit because it's so relaxing).  Still, I'm considering adding one more project this month... I want to participate in Ravelry's Socktoberfest!

I have yet to finish my first pair of socks, let alone my first single sock, but I'm DYING to join up with this.  However, I know that I'm already pushing myself to get all the Christmas knitting I've set out to do finished.  Not only that, this week I will start the research paper process with my 31 junior English students, and that will take up a great deal of my evening leisure time from now to December.  So, do I join in the festivities?  Do I take on one more project?