The Craftiest Gift for the Year

I got a little too ambitious.
I got carried away in what I could force myself to accomplish.
Time was on my side! I started this project in October!
PLENTY OF TIME.

Right?

Allegedly!

I spent more time thinking "oh I have time to work on it", and then "oh I should work on that, it's getting close to Christmas", and then "uhh, I have actually no idea when I need this done by!"
And then "uhhh, Christmas is literally right around the corner and I'm not done!"

You see why this blog is Anxiously being Havok? *wink*

But, I can safely say I finished my huge ginormous project.On December 12th, actually - time to spare, huzzah!

The getting to the end bit was horrendous, though!
I got a good 3/4 of the way done and just lost all of my motivation.
The project was one of those that is the same thing over and over and over again, yet I still had to give it 85% of my attention while I worked on it. And it drove me almost insane.

Do you remember this post where I said I had started on a blanket for my dad?
Yeah. That is a post from the 20th of October. And it took me till the 12th of December to finish it. Granted, that's less than two months, but I've knocked out a throw-size granny square afghan in a week!

The pattern for this afghan is one of the ripple variety. So you have to count four stitches, then do three together or three in the same spot, and then four more. It doesn't require you to count, but I noticed that if I didn't, I would be counting stitches on one side of my mind and then lose track of numbers on the other side of my mind and completely lose where I was.
I realize that makes no sense, but I'm a counting kind of person. I used to walk a lot (since I didn't learn to drive until I was 22), and I would count my steps. Not always, but I would notice that there would be numbers running through my head as I went along.

...is that weird? Ha!

Either way, the afghan is done, and I'm quite in love with it.
I hope my dad likes it as much as I do!

For the sake of picture-taking, yes it is folded in half - it would be faster to make half a blanket, for sure, but not nearly as warm!

I do feel like there could have been more of the dark brown and black, but with limited supplies (as in, what I already had on hand), I think it turned out quite nicely.

Of course, don't look too close at the stitches, as I know it's not perfect, but I'm quite fond of it, honestly. And the yarn is so very soft!

And, sadly, I've learned that procrastination is ok, so long as you remember what day it actually is.
But, as that's a habit I'm trying to rid myself of, the better lesson is this:

When you've got things to do, just do them. You'll waste more time thinking about what you ought to be doing than it would take to just get it done.

Now if only it were that easy!

~Havok

P.S. (Update on 12/31/14) Linking up on Fresh Mommy Blog for the Dream.Create.Inspire Link party!