The question appeared in my Facebook Messenger app a week before Christmas. “We are looking for a stocking for our daughter,” a friend explained. “Could you knit her one? We can pay you!”

I stared at the query for a long time. I’m a people pleaser, and I really liked this young mother. Her daughter is adorable. In an ideal world, I could search through my stash and come up with the perfect yarn, casting on a gorgeous colorwork stocking that I’d drop into the mail with just enough time for it to arrive for Christmas Eve.

Of course, it isn’t an ideal world. At the time, I was merging households with my parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and suitcases and bags were strewn throughout my house. I worked at home with my one-year-old son, and I hadn’t even finished his handmade stocking. Moreover, the United States Postal Service was so overwhelmed during the holiday season of 2020 that I doubted a package would make it to her house before the New Year, let alone before Christmas.

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