At this time of year, knitters everywhere are frantically knitting away to create hand crafted presents created with love for those about them. Every year I set myself up for a fall here. I get stressed and don’t enjoy it and then feel guilty about what I can’t finish.
But everyone loves something made by hand. I truly believe that the most precious thing that any of us has to give is time – be that at home, at work, with friends, or on knitting a scarf. When I give you something a bit loppy and holey what I am actually saying is ‘I care enough that I spent this long making something to show you I care’. When you don’t wear it because it’s green / the wrong size / got holes in it / you don’t even know what it‘s meant to be – I’m hurt. So for this reason many people will only knit or craft for people who will truly appreciate it.
I truly appreciate – and one of the gifts I received this year was this.
I know – hours right? My Mum made it for me and even colour-coded it to the van – love it.
So I am really on board with crafting to show you care. Go onto any knitting blog at the moment and everyone is powering through Christmas presents, hats, socks, even jumper are all rolling off needles across the world. Spreadsheets and lists are created. Sleep is lost, curses are flung and the desire to strangle someone with your yarn increases.
Not me.
This year I have come to the conclusion that I am going to reconsider the whole thing.
I’m not knitting anything for anyone. It just makes me feel unsuccessful and lots of people don’t like it anyway. So I have decided to buy all my gifts this year. But I am working on the basis that really this shows I care just as much. After all I will be spending money that I earned by going to work, which is an amount of my time I have spent earning money (instead of knitting), to spend on buying you a present. It’s just a different route to the same thing. Honest.
And you can take it back if it doesn’t fit or you don’t like green.
I’ve totally cleared my conscience with that one.
Pass the mulled wine while I go do some random stress free knitting with no deadline….
The Knitting Sailor 
Congratulations. This is sound advice for all knitters.
The truth is no one likes getting handmade stuff of any kind. But they feel so guilty you’ve spent all this time making it, they make a big show out of how wonderful and unique it is. The false impression this emotional outpouring creates just sends knitters and wood turners and duck decoy carvers back to their workshops and the diabolical process begins all over again.
You could save mountains of time by just getting people things that everyone wants, like hiking pants and carbon fiber tiller extensions.
I take by ‘unique’ you mean ‘holey’, ‘mismatched’ and ‘ill-fitting’…