There are people who can keep their gifts secret...

... I am not one of those people. I was just thinking about it, and I realized that each and every one of my gift recipients (okay, excluding one, but only because she lives over 3,000 miles away from me) knows exactly what they're getting, and have likely been subjected to rants and long-winded 'thoughts' about how I'm going to make it. 

Subject #1: MOTHER - socks - Complained about acrylic yarn. Taunted with finished product ("I know your feet are cold. Suck it up. Christmas is only five days away. But have I mentioned how cool it is to wear hand-knit socks?"). Watched me slog through final vortex of stockinette.

Subject #2 FATHER - slippers - began slippers as favor months ago. Promised to have done before weather got cold. Forgot about them, though was gently reminded in October that "Sweetie, my feet are getting kind of frosty". Implied he would get them for Christmas. Recently smiled sweetly when yet another cold-foot comment was made and said, "Wow. Sucks to be you. Wouldn't it be awesome if someone did something about that?" Most recently implied that he wasn't getting anything for Christmas, though the slipper components were sitting out in plain sight.

Subject #3 FRIEND - hat - at Thanksgiving, showed friend cool hat pattern I thought would look fabulous on her. May have made comment such as, "And I'm thinking a pomegranate or rich plum color. Do you think you need an Adult Small or Medium?". May have later stated that "I can't wait to start your awesome hat!".

Clearly I cannot be trusted to keep such a thing a secret. It might be combination of my zealous geekiness for fiber, and the fact that I don't want to give a gift that won't be well received, but I think it all comes down to my extremely 'straightforward' personality.

Luckily none of my peeps crave surprises.