Deadline Knitting: Yay or Nay?

[Me, knitting over Thanksgiving weekend in Houston.]

Hey Y'all,
Taking a little survey here. So last week, for the holiday, I ran away from home and went to Houston to hang out with my partner's Dad and his friends. I'm a workaholic but lately I've been having some serious discussions with myself about the need to carve out time for things I want to do, like read more and knit more and just sit around and talk. Toward that end, I did an experiment. I wanted to see if I could go the whole long weekend without working. Technically, I didn't have any writing projects due Monday, so this was a do-able goal. On the other hand, I have some pending deadlines, so I could've worked on those.

I did very well with not writing. I took long walks, ate too much, and watched a couple of silly movies. All good. And yes, I knitted. I knitted and knitted and knitted and knitted. I'm going to France in a couple of weeks and I am hoping, so much, to finish this sweater I'm working on before I go. I honestly can't tell yet if I'll meet the goal. I've got the back and both front pieces done, and am working on sleeve number one. (I was going to try to do both at once but thought better of it, given my limited spatial relations skills-- I worried I would get to the shaping part and screw up both sleeves at once.) So was I/am I relaxing when I do Deadline Knitting? Or am I just applying all the anxiety that comes with deadline writing to the pastime that is supposed to help me chill out?

This is not a really Big Question. Let's face it, if I have time to sit around mulling if I'm knitting "too much," then life must be pretty good, right?

Anybody else out there get a little nutty with the knitting when either a) you want something done in time for a specific occasion and/or b) you're getting close to the end which makes you feel you must drop everything else and knit until it's finished? I actually think holiday knitting prompts this sort of action.

Speaking of holidays, I think I posted the following pictures last year, but let me drag them out again. My boyfriend, Warren, loves to ask me to knit him ridiculous items. Last year he wanted a roasted turkey hat for Thanksgiving and a menorah hat for Hanukkah, both of which I managed to create without any sort of real pattern. I kind of invented as I went along. My Fair Isle leaves something to be desired, so when I Fair Isled the 3-D menorah, I wound up making it way too tight at the top, which is why Warren can't pull it down properly. Now he's begging me to make him a hat that looks like the French flag, also in time for our trip, so he can let the folks over there know just how pleased he is to be visiting. Tres gauche? Perhaps. But I think I can knock it out on the ten hour flight.