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Lavender Stripes
Gabber Extraordinaire
417 Posts |
 Posted - 06/05/2005 : 2:16:42 PM
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| So I never used to knit for myself, until I made this mock abfab afghan. That's where it all began. Right now I'm knitting Tempting in Andean Silk, and a modified Candy in Cotton Fleece, both for myself. (Though I did just finish a baby sweater...) Anyways. So I've also been knitting Kiri in Shimmer, for my sister, and just finished blocking it last night. I took one look, put it on, showed it to some people and was completely convinced I should keep it for myself. My sister doesn't even wear shawls in the first place. So then I started Branching Out in recycled cashmere (for my sister... ha). Guess where that one's going. I feel so selfish! |
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Lissa
Permanent Resident
USA
4942 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2005 : 2:59:11 PM
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There's nothing wrong with using your talent to enhance your own life. There's no law that says you have to knit for other people. ENjoy!
Lissa
"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian." --Dennis Wholey
Oh, and I now have a blog:http://knittnlissa.typepad.com/knittnlissa/ |
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midnightskyfibers
Gabber Extraordinaire
579 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2005 : 3:47:35 PM
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Well you are the one who appreciates your own work the most- keep it!
http://www.midnightskyfibers.com handspun and handpainted yarns, fibers, and kits. |
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RachelKnitter
Permanent Resident
USA
2995 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2005 : 3:57:33 PM
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No!
Just because you have a hobby is no reason why you should have to give away the fruits of that hobby. Before I started knitting, did my mother-in-law nag me to bestow random gifts on people? No. If I went and bought a sweater did she say, when are you going to buy your husband a sweater? No. If I bought a scarf, did she ask me to buy her one? No. Don't even begin to understand why that should be different now, but evidently it is. I just don't get it.
Nature is a haunted house--but Art--is a house that tries to be haunted.
Emily Dickinson |
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Boogie
Permanent Resident
USA
3073 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2005 : 04:02:45 AM
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I run in spurts of making stuff only for myself and no gifts.
But you could also think that I'm selfish when I buy yarn for a gift because I just want to knit. When I knit a gift for someone else it's half for ME anyway because I get to knit it. So I guess I'm sort of selfish all the time  and I'm ok with that.
amy
http://theboogerblog.blogspot.com
http://www.spunkyhats.com |
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mokey
Permanent Resident
15375 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2005 : 07:15:57 AM
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Not at all selfish. Is the carpenter who only makes things for herself selfish? Enjoy!
"I firmly believe the Bible is the misinterpreted word of God." Mokey
www.femiknits.blog-city.com |
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pjkite
Permanent Resident
1198 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2005 : 08:03:13 AM
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Nope - you're practical! This way you not only get the fun of making the garment, but the fun and satisfaction of wearing your handwork. There's nothing quite like saying "I made it" when somebody asks where you found that lovely...whatever!
And RachelKnits, my invariable answer to my own MIL is: "I'll be happy to teach (insert name) how to knit - then (insert name) can make his/her own (whatever). But it's my time, and my decision as to what I do with it!"
Pamela Kite
East Tennessee
http://fiberlife.blogspot.com/
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Atavistic
Permanent Resident
6604 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2005 : 08:06:14 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by RachelKnitter
....If I bought a scarf, did she ask me to buy her one? No. Don't even begin to understand why that should be different now, but evidently it is. I just don't get it.
Exactly--when I cook dinner, nobody expects me to give it to the next door neighbors. When I read a book, nobody expects me to read it out loud to the people around me. I don't understand why everyone expects me to give up my knitting.
What a joke. I count more than 10 garments in my wardrobe that I knit for myself in the last year. I don't feel guilty about it at all.
Amanda
A good friend: You knit faster than most women shop. |
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azknitter
Honorary Angel
5539 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2005 : 09:02:29 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by RachelKnitter
No!
Just because you have a hobby is no reason why you should have to give away the fruits of that hobby. Before I started knitting, did my mother-in-law nag me to bestow random gifts on people? No. If I went and bought a sweater did she say, when are you going to buy your husband a sweater? No. If I bought a scarf, did she ask me to buy her one? No. Don't even begin to understand why that should be different now, but evidently it is. I just don't get it.
Nature is a haunted house--but Art--is a house that tries to be haunted.
Emily Dickinson
Rachel wins the prize for "Best Answer"
Trish |
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Tam
Permanent Resident
Australia
2810 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2005 : 4:53:29 PM
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Before I had kids, I could count on one hand the number of items I knitted for other people, and I have been knitting for about 30 years.
Of my current WIPs, 2 out of 3 are for me.
Happy Knitting,
Tam in Melbourne
http://photos.yahoo.com/lillysmum2002
2005 Stats: 3 WIPs, 15 FOs
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dragonridermom
Warming Up
USA
72 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2005 : 08:56:53 AM
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I have to echo Boogies comments. Sometimes I selfishly make an item for a gift for someone else because I want to try a certain yarn or technique. I use the fact that it is a gift for someone else as justification for the additional purchase. So I selfishly choose the project, but then unselfishly give it away. |
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achrisvet
Permanent Resident
USA
5986 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2005 : 11:23:02 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by dragonridermom
I have to echo Boogies comments. Sometimes I selfishly make an item for a gift for someone else because I want to try a certain yarn or technique. I use the fact that it is a gift for someone else as justification for the additional purchase. So I selfishly choose the project, but then unselfishly give it away.
Oh. Yeah. I'm making this lace sampler seamen's scarf from Blackberry Ridge because I just had to make it. I'm knitting it thinking, "this is fun but why am I making this?" Then it occurred to me I could give it to my cousin for Christmas. Now I have to decide if the triangle shawl I'm making is for me or my other cousin. We shall just have to see.
Anita
My completed projects |
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vicky by the bay
Permanent Resident
USA
4768 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2005 : 11:47:56 AM
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I generally knit most projects for myself... but lately it seems my two lovely girls are stealing my stuff.
I knit gifts for Christmas and birthdays. The rest of the time I knit for my kids, my home, or myself. Feel guilty? No way! Enjoy!
I too use the statement. I would love to sit down and teach you to make one...it's very easy once you learn the stitches. No one takes me up on it lately. I'm slowly teaching a couple of my co-workers, but no one else is interested. Oh well. They don't know what they're missing.
Vicky (Queen O'Yarn archivist-QYA) |
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Two Sticks and a String
Permanent Resident
USA
1453 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2005 : 05:34:12 AM
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Being a relatively new knitter (since January), my first projects were all given to others. That is because I was knitting things, just to knit and to learn. I knitted scarfs, hats, pocketbooks, and sweaters. NOW, I am having the best time shopping just for the most perfect yarn to complete the most perfect project FOR ME!! And I don't feel guilty at all.
Dorene |
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SR5Rfan
Permanent Resident
USA
1232 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2005 : 8:08:58 PM
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I knit mostly for myself - mostly scarves - and don't wear 'em! I'm enjoying the knitting, even if I don't wear the end result. Some of the items that were given as gifts, I don't feel the recipients appreciated the time it took to make them. Ok - I know that is very grammatically incorrect, but oh well. You all know what I mean! My point is: knit for those who will really appreciate the gift - and if that is you, more power to you!
Beth
"I never met a piece of chocolate I didn't like." |
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DorsetMartin
New Pal
USA
43 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 03:05:28 AM
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Well I'm fairly new to knitting, having started early this year. I've not made one thing for myself. I've made 2 baby blankets, a shawl for my daughter, a cowl in very expensive pashmina for a friend's 40th birthday. Other things I've made out of acyrlic to ease the cost & practice my craft which I'm giving to charity. I'm teaching knitting as an afterschool class this fall & I'm knitting examples from this great book I've found with projects to get the kids started. As for me, I'm waiting until find a pattern that screams ME. Then I'll choose the yarn.
You are correct though once friends knew I was knitting the orders came flying in..... No offers of providing the yarn or if I even mind knitting them something let alone the time or complexity of the project.
After all is said & done I am enjoying mastering this ancient craft.
You made a mistake.
It's homemade. Nobody's purlfect in this world! |
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luv2knit944
Permanent Resident
USA
1789 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 03:40:42 AM
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At least someone appreciate your work,and wears what you knitted.
YOU!
Pauline |
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becka always
Permanent Resident
USA
1959 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 04:35:02 AM
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this month will be the 1 year anniversary of knitting and i have made well over 50 or 60 projects if not more (not big ones, naturally, and remember, I am disabled & home all of the time, so I knit alot)I could count on 1 hand the # of items I had made for myself...until I started socks, now I have several pairs of socks...but that's still it...and people r still lining up with do this or that for me....well I've made a project list, and on this list are projects for ME and I hope to get these done well before Christmas bc I would love to knit Christmas gifts again this year bc it was a favorite last year (and .... face it, this year, they will be better bc my skills will have improved)....I said all of this and MEAN IT....well, MEANT IT...until I just found out YESTERDAY that another nephew (brother's child, not sister's as last one was) is getting married...when?...IN JULY!!!! And he will expect an afghan bc a certain family member has already blabbed that that's what I'm doing now for wedding gifts....can u believe?!...I have a VERY IMPORTANT project in the works with a deadline now and i just picked out some beautiful sock yarn from simplysockyarn.com that I am ordering today to make my 1st pair of socks out of the book SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS that my sweet, sweet man surprised me with....so...yep...projects r going to be for me...wedding gifts are going to be very late!!! be different had I some notice...but...such is life...don't u all agree?!
Addicted to the Knit
Becka Always |
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jel50@sbcglobal.net
Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 05:15:31 AM
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Absolutely not!!!! I have been knitting since I was a teen-ager (many centuries ago). Last year I noticed I had NOTHING I had made, not even a pair of socks. My son gets one or two sweaters a year. My daughter-in-law gets one or two sweaters a year. My granddaughter gets two or three sweaters a year. Other family members and friends get at least one knitted thing a year.Is there a pattern here? I have now resolved that every other pair o socks is mine (unless, of course, there's a birthday or Christmas. I will do at least one complicated thing with wonderful yarn a year for ME - maybe more. It's about time.
Jamie |
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typingN
Chatty Knitter
145 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 05:59:25 AM
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We really do have to make something for ourselves to give us the love that we are trying to pass onto other.
I am itching to get my fingers on some beautiful yarn that I bought, one skein to try first as a scarf. If I like the feel and the looks (and I am pretty sure that I will), I will go back and get enough to make a nice sweater for next winter.
Recently all of my knitting has been for charitable cause--Relay for Life and Shawl Ministry.
J |
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donnawatk
Seriously Hooked
659 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 06:30:14 AM
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HI All, I never knitted anything for myself. Its so bad that when I shop for yarn my family tell me what they like. I do have a sister that travel Alot and brings me yarn from all over the world. So I guess we have to take the good with the bad.
Donna watkins |
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