I have been reading about Christmas gifts in other blogs. While I agree that hand knit gifts are inappropriate for some people (like most of the males in my family), I do give hand knit gifts to those who want them. I dislike knitting on demand so this year I chose a variety of projects that interested me and knit them. Yesterday I divided my gift knitting into three piles for three long-distance girlfriends and their families. Since they all have growing families I have no desire to agonize over sizes so I've made items in a variety of sizes and colors. I'll include a note saying to use whatever they can and give the rest away. This is kind of similar to my knitting box idea.
Last year I didn't have time to give hand knit gifts. Fortunately I found Baltic Shop. If you look under Crafts, then Gloves & Mittens you'll find some beautiful authentic hand knit Latvian gloves for less than the price of a kit to make them. I believe all of them are under $20. I sent some gloves to my mother last year and she really loved them. I may buy myself some Kurzeme mittens one of these days to analyze their construction.
I doubt I'll get much knitting done this weekend. We're going to spend Thanksgiving with a big crowd at a friend's house so I can just sit around all day and knit. Ahhh, heaven. I hope you all have an equally perfect day. Happy Thanksgiving! I'll be back Monday.