The problem is that knitters have a tendency to disregard the wishes and personalities, not to mention taste, of their knitted-gift recipients. I know this because not only am I a compulsive knitter but because my own mother was a compulsive knitter. I'll never forget my first married Christmas watching my husband lift a heavy 100% wool, bright aqua, fussily knitted wool sweater out of a box. For Him from Her.
I knew I'd love my husband forever when he found the words to thank my mom for all her hard work. It was a beautiful sweater- as a fellow knitter there was no denying it. As a wife, however, I had to work not to shout with laughter. We lived in West Texas at the time- such a sweater could have been worn for about 3.17 days out of the year... by a very cold-natured gay interior designer who had little fashion sense.
With uncharacteristic compassion I hid the sweater in the back of our closet planning to unravel it and re-use the yarn to do something truly cruel; I was going to knit one of my brother-in-laws a tie out of it.
I digress. My mom was a truly beautiful person and in the love language of knitters she was trying to tell my husband that he was a fully accepted member of the tribe. The problem was that my husband was and is a warm natured, low key, earth tone, stockinette stitch kind of guy. Why had my mother lost track of that?
I know why my mom forgot about my husband- because she was a KNITTER. She found some yarn that she fell in love with, possibly on sale, possibly it came with a cool pattern, and she was off and knitting. My husband may have been the recipient but he was not the object.
My own mother-in-law is fabulous. I'm pretty sure she sees me for exactly who I am and she loves me anyway- but then, she's not a knitter.
This post was accomplished during nap-time as part of Steady Mom's 30 min. challenge.
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6 comments:
You gave me a chuckle! I have knitters in my family, so I really laughed!
Hah! I love it! I'm a knitter too. Just a couple of days ago I needed to borrow a pair of my mom's socks and digging in her drawer I discovered a pair I had made for her balled up and tossed aside. First I thought how she never wears them, then I thought how balling them up can't be good for them, last I realized I needed to be thankful that she kept them. My mom is not a knitter and never understood my interest in it.
Thanks for this post. It is great:)
Oh that is too funny!
Thanks for the laugh this morning! You nailed it -- knitters have to follow the passion of yarn and pattern no matter the recipient. (And you area very kind wife too)
haha I have discovered that since becoming a knitter my gifts are always made from a sudden whim....luckily the majority of my recipients are under the age of 3 :)
Makes me laugh! I'm working on a few crochet projects for Christmas gifts and wondering what the recipients will appreciate more....the effort, or the actual gift? Oh well, it's been fun to work on them whatever the outcome!
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