Oh, I've knitted things for people before, and it has led to horror, disgust, and only a tiny bit of pleasure. I had one friend lose a scarf that I had made for her. Oh, she felt horrid about it, but I'm sure that wasn't matched at all by the pain I felt for spending all that time making it. There's no telling who is having the pleasure of wearing that lovely scarf now. That same Christmas, I knit one of my cousins a lovely, mohair scarf, and she didn't seem to like it when she opened it. In fact, she even said something a few minutes later about how it didn't really match anything she had. The problem is, I almost kept it for myself. Again, the pain continues.
That year, I also knit two other scarves - one for my sister, and one for my friend, Amy, and they both wore those scarves to shreds. So, that was time well spent, but I'm just not sure it was as much fun as I would have had if I had been knitting for ME. I even knit a pair of bright yellow "underpants" for a friend as a joke. For a silly joke, those things took longer than hell. The joke was duly appreciated, but shit.
Now, this all sounds selfish, I'm sure, but if I knit for myself, I can be sure that I'm going to like the finished product, and be proud to wear it. And probably not lose it. I can't guarantee that with any of the rest of you. Plus, I just don't have the time, with all the things that I'm knitting for myself right now. Haha.
Last year, I knit some armwarmers for a very dear co-worker, and he seemed to really enjoy them, but they took a long time to finish, because it was my first time trying intarsia. Oh, I don't regret making them, and it's not that it wasn't time well spent, but I'm not going to say they weren't a pain in the ass. I'm just saying maybe I wouldn't have felt that way if I had been knitting, say, socks for ME.
Oh, I am a terrible person. *sigh*
In the upcoming months, I do have some things I need to knit for people. I am going to make these socks, once the fall issue of Interweave Knits comes out, for my boss for Christmas, since I promised her some slippers last year and failed to deliver on that promise:
Yes, yes, they're very nice. And I'm sure they'll take a lot longer than I want them to. At least she has requested that they be brightly-colored.
I'd also like to make one of these for one of my other co-workers, since I had jokingly said I was going to make her one one time, and I totally lied:
Very dorky, I know. I'd like to surprise her by actually making it.
I also "owe" my mother a pair of socks for her birthday, which is coming up on November 13th. We'll see if I can do that or not. If I don't end up making some for her, I'll feel like a giant terd, because as she pointed out, she knit me a beautiful cabled sweater to wear last winter.
For the record, I love giving people things. But dang. This whole knitting for everyone you know thing is overrated.
I also have a friend who recently requested that I duplicate this sweater for him:
He said, "Make sure it's done in time for the Superbowl." And, no, he wasn't even kidding. Unbelievable. It would take forever to knit a load of navy stockinette. I told him I didn't want to. I told him that if he could find a plain, navy blue sweater, I'd try swiss darning the logo on top of it. He didn't seem too thrilled about that.
I don't really know what I'm getting at here. All I have to say is that I must be a somewhat of a decent knitter if people keep asking me to knit things for them!!! I just...kinda wish they would stop.
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