The Trouble with Holiday Crafts (Ah, Kairos)

Last night, I finished an afghan for my parents’ Christmas present:

(In case you’re interested, I slightly modified the  free poinsettia throw pattern from Red Heart.)

I’ve been working on it since late October, and I’m happy with how it turned out. The trouble is that this afghan was supposed to be my parents’ Christmas present six weeks ago. My sister, who was heading home for Christmas, even volunteered to carry it with her on the airplane. Not only that, but it’s a Christmas-themed afghan that they may not even take with them when them move to Africa this summer–kairos, alas!

(And yes–I did cross stitch on top of the single crochet. You could do really cool things with cross stitch on crocheted pot holders…)

Kairos is the opportune moment. That moment in time where things can change, where your words make a difference, where what you do is relevant if you do it then. It’s the reason holiday-themed arts and crafts are so popular: they’re perfect for the season, make meaningful decorations, and help get you into the holiday-spirit, whether that holiday spirit is about scaring children or blowing kisses.

Luckily, I did manage to hit one kairotic moment with this crochet project–my mom flew out this morning, and I finished it just in time for her to take it with her.

It’s easier for me to meet kairotic deadlines for smaller projects like these hand warmers I recently made:

Hand warmers must be given away while it is still cold and wintry. Check.

(I was inspired by these instructions on hello dearie, though I skipped the liners and just used cotton fabric. I used my sewing machine to sew most of them, flipped them right side out, filled them with rice using a funnel, and then closed them using this invisible closing seam.)

The heart hand warmers I made would make great Valentine’s Day presents:

And the four leaf clover hand warmers could be given for St. Patrick’s Day (though I failed the first set by making the stem too narrow, leaving it impossible to fill them with rice):

I was skeptical about whether home-made DIY hand warmers would actually work, but luckily they do. (Heat them for 30-45 seconds in the microwave, and they’ll stay warm for at least half an hour.)

I have no holiday-themed arts and crafts currently played, so hopefully I won’t run into more kairos problems in the near future…