As you know, I am blessed with the friendships of some outstanding women. Knitting may be what brought us to each other, but not what has bonded us as friends. Only time and kindred spirit can forge those bonds. We try to get together on a weekly basis, but with busy schedules our gatherings are informal. We don't add to the stress of our lives by demanding a weekly commitment through emotional blackmail. Locations vary according to need. As in someone needs to pick up a kid after school so lets meet close to home, or someone "needs" to visit the yarn shop, or the soup at this coffee shop sounds good today.....and on special occasions, or just because one of us feels like it, we'll meet at our homes, fix delicious lunches, try out new recipes.
During the Christmas season we have one of those special meet at someone's home days and we exchange our gifts to each other. This year there was a bit of a twist. When it came time to open our gifts from ConnieWhoNeverHeardOfBobbySherman, an emotional disclaimer burst forth. "My gifts for you are not ready!", she cried. "I've tried REALLY hard to get them all done and I didn't and I want you all to open them at the same time and you will understand why when you see them so I can't even give the ones that are finished until they are all ready. I am sorry!I really really tried!".... or something like that.
We laughed. We reassured. We understood. It was Christmas and if you can't get a bunch of knitters to empathize with the pressure of trying to get a gift finished, then you aren't gonna get anyone to understand.
Well, last week the gifts were finished and given. And let me tell you they were worth the wait. Each of us was given a unique and personalized counted cross stitch. (We made her sign and date the backs of our frames.)
I didn't have my camera with me, so GinaWhoCanParallelPark gets credit for the following photos.
Each picture has details that relate to the recipient-
And you know what? It was really FUN getting a Christmas gift in February!
Love,
Kim
