Christmas looms over my head...

Ok so yeah, I'm grossly behind on Christmas everything. I went and accidentally got myself addicted to WoW at the worst possible time ever, and ended up getting almost no knitting done. I also realize that I should have really organized myself better and decided what I was going to make for everyone a long time ago, so at the *very* least I could have had all the materials I needed to attempt to complete said projects.

I suppose part of the reason I'm behind is because I was expecting more time at work to be able to knit, but since they got rid of about 1/3 of our workforce and the holiday season is rolling through, we got slammed with chats and I've hardly had time to browse through my favorite blogs, nevermind knit. Combine that with the fact that the weather is ranging from -30 to -45 with windchill, and by the time I get home I'm too exhausted and cranky to do much else except level my mining skill or occassionally make a home cooked meal.

Oh well. I have this weekend off, and if I must I'll go out and buy everybody lotto tickets. I don't think I know a single person who doesn't love those, right? Then I can concentrate on my knitting and letting it be a fun process rather than a deadline thing.

Also, I thought I'd be done my mom's shawl by now, and I don't know how, but I'm running out of yarn for it. I thought I'd only need 6.5 skeins, but I just finished the last repeat for the pattern and it's obvious that it's going to need, at the least, 2 more repeats. How did it end up being so different from the pattern in the books?? It said to use aran/worsted on US9's, which I did. I even made 3 swatches, and the 9's made my gauge to big, but I went with them anyways... I'm kind of disappointed that the overall look of the shawl isn't turning out how the picture looks on the book. >_<