There are some people that I don't really knit for. When an occasion comes along where I feel inclined to give them a gift, say a birthday or Christmas, I'd rather just buy something thoughtful rather then knit them something. It's not because I don't like them as much as I like the people that I do knit for, it's just that I've found that some people just don't understand the effort, the time and the love that goes into knitting a gift by hand. They receive the gift and graciously say thank you, and they probably even think that it was really nice that you knit them something, but then they put it aside with all their other possessions and don't give it the importance it deserves. I don't blame them, chances are they probably weren't raised in a household that emphasized crafts and hand made gifts. They just don't realize how much of you is actually a part of that gift. I once gave a friend a sweater for her baby and despite seeing them every couple of weeks since the day he was born I never once saw him in the sweater. Now, I just buy them gifts. I still love them, but I shop for them, I don't knit for them.
My cousin Michelle is not one of the people I shop for. For her, I knit so much she's probably sick of it! When I was first figuring out how to knit I made her baby a sweater that was falling apart at the seems after one afternoon of wearing it, but she still put it on her every chance she got! I once gave her a sweater that I'm sure was kind of tight in the armpits and knit out of a particularly scratchy wool, not very comfortable, but she wore it like a champ whenever it got chilly. And she still wears all the stripy, pooly, crazy socks I knit her when I was nuts about multicoloured sock yarns, even though they are pretty outrageous. She's the kind of person I love to knit for. But we grew up with a grandmother who knit in all her spare time, and we had the value and importance and specialness of hand-knits engrained in us since we were little. That's the kind of person that's rewarding to knit for. Someone who understands and really appreciates the process, wether the result is as perfect as something that could be bought at the Gap is so not the point, it's the fact that you made it yourself, that's where the value comes from.
Another wonderful person that I love to knit for... my Dad! When it comes to my dad it's all about the hand knit socks. Last year I made him his first pair of knit socks and after about a month my mother begged me to knit him another pair because she said that it was all he would wear! She would have to pull them off his feet to put them in the laundry and then he'd put them right back on the second they were dry. Clearly, he needed another pair. So I made him another pair. During the following 6 months or so of appropriately cold weather I did not see my father even once when he wasn't wearing one of the 2 pairs of socks that I had knit him. That's the kind of person I like to knit for! So here you go Dad, your next pair of socks to help get you through the winter:
They are the Retro Rib Socks from Interweave Knits Favorite Socks. I knit them in my own yarn in the Moss colourway. Hope you like them!