I’m going crazy with knitting xmas gifts, as I’m sure you all are.
What keeps happening to me, is that I start a project with a person in mind, knit it up and then at the last minute decide it’s not really a good gift for them (or has an error) so it goes into the pile to be re-gifted to someone else. Then I start a new project for that person, but again, I re-think it as I knit.
Am I the only one with knitted gifts completed, but with no clue who to give them to? On top of that, now I have to make something different for the original person! I am making more work for myself and am about to go insane…!
Rethinking Xmas Gifts
Bless your heart, you have knitting overload. I think that more than likely the original gifts you knitter were probably really ok to begin with and you are just stressing to be perfect. Give the gift with love and everyone will enjoy them no matter what!
I’m just trying frantically to finish up my projects before my family shows up!!!
I would say give the original knitted gift to the intended reciepient. I also knit a lot for gifts, and have found over the last few years that people usually like the gifts a lot more than I thought they would. For example, I knitted 13 pairs of felted clogs last year, yes 13. All of them were for kids age 3-11. At the last minute I thought I must be insane, and there was no way they would like them. They turned out to be a big hit. I about fell to the floor when every kid opened them and IMMEDIATLY put them on, saying how cool they were. This year 2 of them have asked me to make a new pair because they are outgrown. So, trust your original instincts, I bet you will be surprised.
Thank you all for the encouragement! I haven’t given knitted gifts before, so I feel like they have to be perfect, even though my skills are far from it 
13 sets of clogs, my gosh, ChrissyB you are incredible! What did you make this year?
I am under the delusion that I actually have [I]time [/I]to start new projects and then panicking in the middle of the night when I realize I still haven’t finished the original gift… I brought some seaming today to work and have been doing it during the slow times… :doh:
And I agree with Chrissy- give what you have made, they will love them because you made them…
I actually did hats this year Zeb, it wasn’t nearly as much fun. I spent an awful lot of time looking for new and interesting patterns, but a hat is a hat is a hat, mostly. :teehee: I think you will find that the people you are gifting to will be in awe of your knitting skills, and unless they knit themselves, are unlikely to notice and small blips in your projects. What sort of things did you make? And by the way, for future, I highly reccomend the fiber trends clogs for gifts. (I only had time to finish 13 pairs because I was laid up with back problems for several months before christmas, but the pattern is easy!)
Hi ChrissyB, I’ve been in hat mode too, so far have 4 done. It seems like it takes forever before I get to shape the crown, but I do like the quick fix a hat gives. I’ve seen the felted clogs, and it seems everyone has made them. I shall definitely give them a try next year! Here’s some pics of a few hats + 1 scarf I’ve made for xmas this year. (I made a hat to go with the scarf, but haven’t taken pics yet)
They look very nice. I think it’s a great idea to put the ball band in the picture for future reference! Clever.
I can’t wait for christmas to be over so i can knit for myself again!!! But i’m no where near being done all my stuff, i feel for you .
That all looks great!! you have nothing to be worried about. Give it all and bask in the glory of everyone telling you how talented you are! I just finished my last hat this week, lets see I made 9 hats, 1 pair of mittens, 1 pair of fingerless gloves (these were a pia!) and a pair of slipper socks, whew! Let us know how much they all loved your gifts, Happy Holidays!
Ditto on what everyone else said. Give your original gift to the intended recipient and just let it go. Handmade gifts are just that - hand made and not perfect. That’s one of the things that makes handmade gifts unique! Let go of your self imposed idea of perfection and enjoy the process of creating and giving! I make lots of gifts and rarely do I complete a project without something I’m not thrilled about. But I’ve learned that if I expect perfection I would not finish many projects and get so frustrated with the constant frogging and restarting (and I do enough of that anyway when playing with new stitches, patterns, yarns, etc.), I would lose my joy in the entire process.
So that’s my .02 … just go with your instincts and don’t second guess yourself.
Thanks for everyone’s cheerleading! It certainly makes me feel a bit better about the gifts this year. I forget that non-knitters really won’t notice the little boo-boos that glare right at me from the fabric.
Another issue is that apparently my boyfriend doesn’t think the knitted gifts are enough, so he has to buy them something to go along with it. Since when is a hand-knitted item gift not enough?!
Ditto. I’m doing knitted gifts for a majority of my gifts this year. Fortunately, my mom loves me enough that she was VERY understanding when I told her that hers would be packed STILL OTN and that I’d finish it while there BUT that I was behind on knitting for OTHERs who I couldn’t ask to be so forgiving. I’m going to be a knitting fool on my 9 hour drive home tomorrow night/Sat morning (When it isn’t my turn to drive) trying to finish dad’s gift and grandma’s gift. SHOOT ME NOW!!! I DID decide that my bro’s gift would have to just wait and be a bday gift next year. LOL… so I BOUGHT socks instead.
It is SO nice to know that I"m not the only one wiggin’ and struggling to finish gifts…
I hear you Astonh! I thought I started early, but then kept changing my mind on who would get what, so that I wound up making more things than I had originally intended. I have learned my lesson!