In the past I've written about both a minimal knitters Christmas and also about gift knitting - and specifically about giving without constraints or expectations - “If you knit something set if free”

But it occurred to me that there's another aspect to gift knitting - primarily whether folks are worth knitting for in the first place.

I don't mean that in a negative or derogatory way at all. But rather, unless someone has at some point expressed an interest in or a desire to have a hand-knit item, they why would you assume that they want one.

If someone has expressed a desire for a warm woolly hat for example then by all means - all speed to your needles. Knit with a passion, a love and a burning desire to keep that loved one's head warm. If they haven't, why not save yourself the time, trouble and possible anguish and just buy them one? They won't know the difference and you will saved valuable time - and yarn

Let's face it, knitting takes time and effort and it's a deeply personal thing to do. It's an expression of our love and obviously as knitters we see that. But the average person with little or no appreciation of handcrafts might not, almost certainly will not.

You have to weigh up your time - after all that’s the most precious resource here. Even the simplest of knits can take a few hours to make and most items - scarves, shawls, cowls etc can take considerably longer. That’s time you can’t get back. Time you could spend knitting for someone you know will really appreciate it - YOU