Not Much

knitting content today. I spent the weekend in Indianapolis, getting precious little done but enjoying a chance to visit. I caught up with old friends, ate chocolate fondue (doctor's orders for one of the friends!), and got to see my adorable nieces, who get progressively more adorable every day. The older one begins every sentence with "Well," so she sounds like a small blonde Ronald Reagan, and the younger one is walking quite impressively, unfazed by licks from larger-than-her little bad dogs.

So now I'm back home, and working on my Mosaic Garter socks. It's possible I'll finish one tonight, which will be good progress toward addressing the rest of the to-do list. Elizabeth's socks are next, of course, and then I'm not sure who will step forward. It's time to start choosing which socks, and which projects, will go to Germany with me. I suspect I'll have more options after this weekend's fleece fair - my first ever!

I've just been shopping for my Secret Pal, and I bought more than I planned - for her and for me. I wonder why we do these exchanges? It seems to be only women who participate, which left my mother doubly puzzled - how do we find the time?

My father is the Christmas Grinch. Not the reformed, happy, roast-beast-carving Grinch, but the original model. He hates Christmas, and he especially hates Christmas gifts. "Why don't you just give everyone a $1000 check for Christmas?" he asks. "Then they can each give you one, and you can say you got $20,000 for Christmas."

The thing is, I like shopping for other people. There was the year my siblings and I all gave each other gifts from the Nature Company, so gift certificates may have saved a lot of wrapping, but in general it's fun to look for surprises. And I have to admit that I like presents - when I was a kid, I'd wrap up my own toys, just so I could have the fun of opening them.

And so I guess it's fun even when surprising a stranger. I'm going to have a hard time keeping close to the spending limit for my pal - there's just so much I want to share with her. And someone out there, someone who doesn't know me, has already spoiled me with all sorts of goodies that I never would have bought for myself. Someone else spoiled me in Secret Pal 8, and I'm still enjoying all those goodies.

But why only women? It's a competition, I suppose, like the hunter-gatherers in Jean Auel's books, trying to show who has the most foraging skill. Perhaps women are just more inclined to bond with strangers, to reach out and try to make friends. Or maybe it's because women always buy soap and candles, and it's hard to come up with generic gifts for men. Not that I'd mind beer and duct tape from my pal, but soap and candles are definitely easier to ship. Perhaps I'd better find out if my spoilee likes beer.....