Secret Santa spying

Last week, one of the high school teachers told me that I was in a unique position for Secret Santa spying. Since I supervise both high school lunch periods, and I get my steps in walking around the cafeteria, I should be able to pick up Secret Santa hints. Ha!

I'm sure you can imagine how loud it gets in a high school cafeteria at lunch time. While I can hear an inappropriate comment made across the room, I find myself asking students to repeat themselves when I'm standing right next to them. Aside from the noise level, these kids are very crafty. As I walk by, I hear them talking about sports, relationships, classes... I haven't heard one word about Christmas or Secret Santas!

My Secret Santa is especially good. We each know if our Secret Santa is a girl or boy, but that's it. To make things even more difficult for me, I've known most of these kids since preschool. So, it's hard to pick up on things that I may have said or done that would give me clues.

Yesterday, my Secret Santa gave me butterscotch hard candy and embroidery floss. No clues there. I love butterscotch, and I always had some at my desk when I was teaching. A piece of candy can be a miracle cure to a little one who's having an off day. How many butterscotch candies have I handed out over the years? I can only eliminate one student who wouldn't know this about me.

As for the embroidery floss... who can resist the beautiful colors and the softness of a skein of embroidery floss? The kids have seen me cross stitch with it, and they've seen me make Kumihimo braids with it. Again, there are no clues there to help me out.

I do know that the high school girls love sweaters, hats, and scarves made with soft, chunky yarn. I found a wonderful short row hat tutorial on YouTube. I should be able to finish the hat today, and my Secret Santa will be receiving a hat and cowl crocheted with the green Bernat Blanket yarn that she gave me on Monday. I'm pretty sure the color and style are right for her.

How can I be sure? I think I've guessed the identity of my Secret Santa!