The 30 Day Knitting Challenge – Day 21

Day 21: Do you knit gifts for friends and family for the holidays or birthdays?

Well, yes! And no. It just depends. Last Christmas I knitted lots of gifts for family, mostly. I don’t know that I can do quite that much this year and in the future. No one expected me to do it, I just wanted to. At least any pressure was self-imposed! I think that moving forward, though, I’d rather just knit things for people on an ongoing basis. That way, if I stumble across a project that I think would be great for someone, I can just work on it and give it to them whenever it’s ready. That way my knitting time won’t be entirely co-opted by gift knits. I do like knitting for myself, as well.

And, honestly? I don’t think I could come up with a yearly knitted gift for my fil, among others. Not everyone needs or wants a million handknits.

The best way to get knitted gifts out of me are as follows:

• Recognize the large amounts of time, energy and often money that go into handknits.
• Appreciate any previous handknits you’ve received, from me or others.
• Use your handknits! That’s what they’re for! Just don’t abuse them.
• Ask me! If I don’t know you would like knitted socks, for instance, I certainly won’t make you any. That said, there’s a difference between asking and demanding. Be prepared that I might say no. But, if you ask in a way that makes it clear that you understand bullets one through three, I’ll know that you get it, and that goes a long way.
• If I am making you something, for the love of all things cashmere, TELL me if you are unlikely to use whatever it is I’m making. If yellow makes you look like a liver patient, don’t let me make you something yellow. Don’t just accept whatever I suggest to be polite (but do be tactful). I don’t want to put hours into something that will just fall flat.

Just a smattering of gifts I’ve made in the past year (okay, one or two are still in progress, but you get the idea).

What about you? Do you give your knits away? Are you a selfish* knitter?

*I don’t think knitting for oneself is selfish, but some people adopt that label for themselves.

The 30 Day Knitting Challenge is the creation of Meggiewes who blogs at Knitting in Wonderland.

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