Off again, on again

I know I have a cross-stitch rotation that I am supposed to be sticking to so I can clear up some of these UFOs, but Christmas is Coming! Like many of you, I try to make too many of my presents, so I always start in August. To be fair to myself, however, I have made it most of the way through the rotation and there are 6 days left in August. I only have one project that I need to do ten hours on--Drawn Thread's Baby Band Sampler. I referred earlier to having made a rotation for the Christmas presents; here it is.

September
MIL, booga bag
SIL2, Sophie bag
baby, baby blanket (Leisure Arts "Precious Layettes"--gag)
SIL1, hat (pattern in Vogue Knitting on the Go: Caps and Hats)

October
sissy, poncho (pattern in new Woman's Day) (Please don't tell people I read it.)
cuz1, Glory Bee "Martini"
cuz2, scarf
mom, Heinz-It "Shoes" finished as flat fold
aunt1, afghan

November
gran2, scarf
greataunt, scarf
cuz3, scarf
aunt1, booga bag (Aunt One has a birthday on December 27)

Here's the exciting part. Instead of finishing my August stitching rotation, I've started working on the knitting. I've finished my sil's hat. I'm nearly done on the Sophie--ran out of yarn, even though I checked the gauge. And I'm 25% through the baby blanket. So, I'm flying right through this stuff. My signal success is that I got the Dude to actually think about presents for his family two months in advance, rather than having him wait until the week after the mailing deadline. (They're in England. Surface mail has to be sent in October.) So we have ideas for the men who received scarves last year. Still have to think about the nephews, though. They have so much stuff, and they live in one of those tiny English places with no place for stuff. And the clothes! Between the 7 sets of aunts and uncles those kids are well provided for.