Over My Head

My good friend Kim got engaged awhile back, and her wedding date will be sometime in January in 2013.  Originally she asked me to knit her a hat for the wedding, as a winter wedding means outside pictures and chilly weather (especially in MN!).  I heartily agreed, but then asked if she wanted something more elaborate.  After all- I made a shawl for my Cajun friend Aimee's wedding, so why not for this wedding?
I showed her a couple of patterns, and she picked this beautiful thing:

It'll be gorgeous for her winter wedding, and she's the type of person that can pull it off.  It's labeled as "Advanced Lace", and after the Shipwreck Shawl I'm feeling up for a challenge, so of course I agreed to make it.  In 7 months.  For a wedding.  
Of course, as I was checking out the other projects, they all talk about how finicky the pattern is, and how long it takes to make, as the snowflakes are knit first, then blocked, then the background is knit and the snowflakes knit to that, then graft all the sections of snowflakes/background together, then finally a border is added to the whole thing.
No big deal, right?
I wouldn't be so worried if I didn't already have so many things to finish.  This "12 in 2012" thing was going well until I added these giant projects that I will have to bust butt to finish.
For example, this month I need to sew an Amy Butler bag for the head of my dance studio as part of my "Thank You" to her.  Sewing means doing it at home, at my sewing machine, and taking time during my days off to finish. It's worth it for her, but I haven't even cut out the fabric yet.  CRAP I'll be getting on that soon (tomorrow).
I need to finish my Dad's Dale of Norway sweater (it's probably around 1/2 way done, but the tricky stuff is left) hopefully by Christmas.  I would love for him to wear it to Christmas Eve, so that's my goal.
I have two- count them, two sweaters I want to knit for myself this year.  One is already in the process- the Lavender Cardigan, based on the Effortless Cardigan, and made out of nom-tastic Alpaca:

 and one that has a ton of Three Irish Girls yarn that needs to be wound yet:

The Coastal Hoodie.  I want both of them right now soon, so picking one to wait on is difficult.
Oh yeah- and I'm going to make this for the Ravelympics this summer:

This is "The Dude" Sweater (for those that know "The Big Lebowski").  It's for a barter since my computers (and iTouch) up and died, and my guy wiped it all clean and helped me reformat and put everything back on (though I still don't understand anything and thus don't touch my big computer).  He's going to be doing the same to the computer at my parent's house, which is a lot of work.  Hence me making him a sweater.
All of this isn't counting the random little things I need and want to make, like finishing the hat for Sarah for giving me her iPhone, or babies that show up in September that need hats, or starting Christmas presents for people...

::gulp::

Maybe if I just quit all my jobs and start knitting, I might get it all done.  It's not too crazy... right?