By all to whom....

...these presents come....So begins a formal document in legalese, or in fancy presentations at Court in the Society for Creative Anachronism: "Be it known, by all to whom these presents come..." Presents. Gifts. Accolades, rewards, kudos. I feel very awkward about them. I know the Deep-Seated-Psychological-Reason behind it, but it's not something I need therapy for. Situations in which I'm faced with receiving presents, &c are few enough as to present (har) no real difficulty.

Having said that, of course, when coupled with my hyper-sentimentality, this becomes a Big Deal. (I may be buried with my first present from Mr Dearling, which he was very low-key in the giving: a copy of "Bartlett's Quotations", which I love and consult oftener than one might think.) NOTE: check it OUT, although be forewarned - like looking up words in a great dictionary, if you look up a quotation you may suddenly realize you feel a little hungry because it's THURSDAY!

OK - last night was the Late Night Knit at The Sow's Ear, and it was a Beach Party theme. There's a new book by Sheryl Theis: "Ocean Breezes: Knit Scarves Inspired by the Sea" . (I'm not great with link stuff, but it IS available at Amazon.) It was also knit-night-with-Donna, a weekly event with my former colleague from American Girl. She actually crochets, by the way - and let me say that if I were as good at knitting as she is with her handy little hooks I'd be make Fasse sweaters and nothing but fitted fairisle sweaters and stuff. So Donna came with me. We also met the Lovely Daughter there.

It was FABULOUS! There were starfish- and crab-shaped spangles on the tables and floor, we were all given flower leis, and it was as close to a Balmy Beach as one can get when surrounded by record-breaking snow depths and single-digit temperatures.

DIGRESSION: no matter the day, no matter the time, no matter the weather - inside my favorite LYS, it is invariably comfortable, warm, friendly, yarn-y, knitty, and nice; the combination of the rich fragrances of coffee, tea and yarn fumes blended with the buzz of conversation punctuated with laughter and the subtle clicking of needles is the ultimate in comfort. Homilies notwithstanding, it has all the coziness inside of a silk purse.

THAT being said - I added a bit to the festivities in the form of three French tarts: a lemon tart, apricot-almond tart and chocolate and almond tart. These were to celebrate my birthday, Valentine's Day (after the fact) and the launch of Dolores von Hoofen's bid for the Presidency. (My campaign slogan: "FOLLOW THE SHEEP".)

I had hardly been knitting but a half-hour when Melinda of Molly Bee's Attic slipped over and handed me a present and card. Again, she was sitting a bit out of sight behind the column (Beth of Chocolate Sheep and Lovely Daughter and I were sitting in a cozy corner, other side of the door).

Then later, when I returned from a little trip to the necessary, I found sitting upon my chair a package wrapped in calico, tied with a beautiful red yarn....and later on, another friend, Jennifer, came over and set a small envelope on the little table next to my chair. What were the contents of these three items?

One might expect family members by birth or marriage to know EXACTLY what a "right present" might be for someone. Precisely what "trips the trigger". But ladies and gentlemen - these are from friends! (Admittedly ladies with whom I share an affinity and more, but still....) Melinda gave me - oh, not four chocolates but a WHOLE BOX of these extraordinary chocolates (and NO, those four are NOT all that's left. There must be one or two ...some...MOST of the box still intact. I just got them last night, I do have SOME discipline! Come ON, gimme a break.)

From Beth - three books on Writing. At a time when I'm starting a Creative Writing class. After making myself a resolution to try for publication this year. At a time when I'm hungry for learning the nuts and bolts. Furthermore - TWO of them are on the resource list from my class (and the third was enormously helpful to HER, says Beth, who IS a writer!)

And last? WELL! You may surely have guessed by now, one thing that delights me ENORMOUSLY - is whimsy . Whimsy is an elusive quality and I think if it disappears from the face of the earth it will take creativity and imagination with it, and the world will cease to be. Jennifer gave me a pig. A tiny, eensy, pinky KNITTED fingerpoppet Pig. He appeals to me on so many levels!

To you all, my knitterly friends, THANK YOU is insufficient; just know that no matter how good a writer I may be or may learn to be, I could never express how much these things mean to me. Know that they mean as much to me as anything I have ever been given by anyone in any of my 65 years.


Editor's note: as if all that weren't "a cup running over" - we were all given scratch cards at the party with a variety of prizes...and I WON a FREE COPY OF THE BOOK! I was going to buy it after finishing the toques! (I've put it in Beth's care until my toques are done because there is SUCH a cowl I want to cast on right this minute.......)