The holidays are upon us in full force. Christmas and Chanukah are basically here. You know what I’m doing? Making crafts for MYSELF. Because Merry Grinchmas, y’all.
I actually got the concept from a fellow craftsperson. When I find the specific podcast she was referring to, I will link it and give credit where credit is due (if you happen to know, please comment!), because it’s genius. It’s my new favorite strategy to tackle handmade gifts for your loved ones for the holidays. The gist is as follows: as of December 1, you make NO GIFTS. You may work on something for yourself or take a whole holiday off from creating, but December is YOURS, my pretties! Yours to do as you please and you owe no one a single ounce of your creativity.
This does take a bit of forethought, though. If you are still intent upon making handmade gifts for one and all, they will need to be finished by November 30th. Or if you are me and October is a mad dash to finish costumes for Halloween no matter how hard you try to start early, and November seems to disappear like my patience when my 4 yo refuses to go to bed (you are treading on Mama’s me-time kiddo, go the EFF. TO. SLEEP.), the deadline for handmade gifts usually ends up being around September. Oops, August because both of my children were born in September and it’s birthday party madness. SO. Get your stuff done early and make it at least two sizes too big for any babies in your life so they don’t grow out of it the day before you give it to their parents.
Besides all that, you know why I find Grinchmas even more awesome? I am starting a sweater for myself. IN DECEMBER. And even better: it’s a total disaster, and I don’t care! I am making a Mae sweater as a knit-a-long with the Crafty Council, and since I didn’t have enough of any one color in my stash, I decided to go with this lovely set.
And yes, I counted the yardage to make sure it was enough. Well, it’s mostly enough. And not the right weight, so I am adjusting my needle size down accordingly and making it a size up in the pattern because who knits patterns as written? “Not I,” said the cow.
Anyway, I get this thing going. I royally mess up the alternating rows of knitting stockinette and through the back loop through the short row portion, but whatever, it’s on my butt and as a dear creative mentor told me once “If someone is close enough to notice that mistake, they better be family or someone you like.” I am working two colors at once, and I’m pleased with the result. I move on and start the next colors. And the next colors.
Fast forward to yesterday. I’m looking through the bag of yarn for the next darker hue, and I find it. A skein of YELLOW ORANGE.
As you can see, the skein belongs somewhere in the first three colors. To fix this, I have to frog (rip out my knitting) to where I should have added in the offending skein, which ends up being almost a full 12 inches.
However, this is for me. I can wait as long as necessary for this sweater to be done, because December is all about ME. I actually have some measure of acceptance? contentment? almost enjoyment? at the process of ripping back and adding in this missing color – the gradients will look that much better!
And that is the beautiful spirit of Grinchmas at work. No tears, just delight in the process and no muttering under my breath about how I’m knitting my fingers raw for someone who will probably put my hard work in the dryer.
So I give you permission to treat yourself to a Grinch moment or ten. Let me know how it goes 😊
That Creative Place 
One thought on “Merry Grinchmas to One and All”