Five in (about) one.

Last night was a "wintry mix" event with all sorts of things, including the Triangle Fiber Guild holiday party, cancelled or postponed.  So errands didn't happen.  That meant I had five or six to accomplish today, and at most a 90 minutes timeslot in which to achieve them.  Could I manage all the errands in an hour?

Not quite, but I tried.  Part of it was maximizing the route:

• First to the library, to return a book and drop off a couple jackets for the Welcome Baby collection.  As I did and turned to leave, I heard a happy "thank you, dear!" and over my shoulder responded "Absolutely!"  The guard and I then wished each other a happy day.
• I thought that if there was a close post office I could shave a bit off the route, and the car's navigator claimed there was, but after following the directions I didn't see one.  It could be that the gas station or another shop on the strip mall next to it had a postal kiosk or a courtesy station, but I wasn't going to spend time looking.
• Instead, I headed to the Durham Rescue Mission to deliver a duffel bag of mostly clothing, plus a lot of unused wallets that could be likely holiday gifts.  I wanted to be sure they would arrive as early in the month as possible, and we'd just located them during a drawer-cleaning.
• Then to the post office, and the automated machine was available and working!  Package was quickly postage'd and in the big rotating slot.
• Off to Kohl's to pick up another couple jackets, the result of rolling Kohls Cash credits.  While waiting for the item I realized I'd forgotten to grab my knitting, so I checked work email and dealt with a few things.  Which is how I noticed that a meeting was just beginning, less than an hour after I'd left.  Ooops!  A new addition to my calendar.  I joined, apologized, accepted the bag of jackets, and headed to the loggia where a bench waited in a sheltered spot.  Luckily the call was quick and I could continue on my route.
• Stop at the pharmacy for a prescription and an OTC ear-unblocking spray recommended by my PCP that I use before flying this week.  I have until tomorrow afternoon to figure out how it works.

So it took a bit over an hour, almost an hour and a half, but I think there needs to be some adjustment for the meeting and of course the stupidity penalty whilst hunting the snipe of a post office.  And a lot of extra slowness and stoppages due to construction on or next to the roads that took them to one lane in places.  So I came close.

This is the current knitting: I reached 99 hats for the big collection I've been doing (some were made by others, which I figure balance the ones I made and donated to the Blue Elves and otherwise) and stalled over the weekend for the final hat.  All the yarn was too thin, or too pink, or already used in other hats and I didn't want to make one more for this year, or........  So I started the scarf:

I knitted the first ten inches of the scarf in a knitting group
online gathering on Sunday.  Garter stitch moves quickly.

Then yesterday, a box arrived that included some mystery skeins, and one immediately spoke to me about turning it into a hat!  So I am doing that and may have it done before I leave tomorrow.  If not, it will be quickly finished when I return, then THAT box can head out too.

Some people may ask why I used hand-dyed yarn for charity work instead of cheap acrylics.  Well, I can afford it; the purchase helps a small business indie dyer; I get the pleasure of making something with the yarn; and somebody gets a warm and unique hat.  Wins all around!