Do you mostly knit for yourself, or do most of your handknits end up being for someone else? I find that I mostly knit for myself these days. I’m not sure why. I decided pretty early on that if I was going to do gift knitting, it was going to go to someone who’d really appreciate the time and effort that went into it. (Like another knitter, or someone else who works with their hands.) The exception is knitting for babies. I haven’t had any babies to knit for, but when I do, it will be just for the fun of making those tiny cute outfits/socks/hats/whatever and it’s totally fine that the baby won’t know the difference between that and the storebought ones! Babies are the exception. (Now I just need to wait for some babies to appear in my life. Well, not in MY life, per se, but you know what I mean.)
Miss Violet emailed me yesterday to let me know about a special new concept in dyeing that she has come up with, and it started me thinking about knitting for others. She calls this line of hers “Intention Yarn” and here is what she had to say about it:
“As prayer-shawl knitters will tell you, there is a certain power in knitting something with meditative intention. There’s a whole school of thought that says that the love you’re feeling when you’re knitting something for someone can be felt when the recipient uses the item.
Lime & Violet’s Intention Yarns takes this concept one step further, attempting to start the process from the very dyeing of the yarn to be used in the project of your choice.
Intention Yarns are dyed using the same process as most hand-dyed or hand-painted yarns, with colors that are selected for a relevance and conveyance of the yarn’s purpose. During the last step, however, just before the skeins are steamed and the dye set, we write the word or phrase on the skein, like you see in the “love” photo.
The final knitted object doesn’t show much sign of the original word, but while knitting with these yarns, every so often, you come across a very small “spot” of the word, which serves as a mental reminder to refocus your attentions back on your wishes and prayers for the project. It’s very subtle, but effective as a reminder to keep your attention and intention on the recipient or focus of the project.”
We are so happy to be getting Miss Violet’s first batch of Intention Yarns here at The Loopy Ewe. (And in the future, you will only find them here and on her website.) This first batch will include 15 different colorways. They are: Peace, Balance, Love, Clarity, Strength, Connection, Healing, Patience, Joy, Faith, Hope (shown at the top of the page), Fertility, Perserverence, Courage, and Creative Inspiration (shown here).
She also says, “The colors will remain constant (but handpainted, expect a few variances between skeins and dye lots), with one exception: Creative Inspiration is different every time, an explosion of colors on a white base, to simulate the creative process.”
Watch for this yarn to arrive and go up on the website in about 2 weeks. We think it’s a very special idea and we know you’ll like it for knitting beautiful things for those you love.
Now we have some prizes to give away! Y’all outdid yourselves in the comments section from last Friday – woohoo! We have loved every comment that you left and we’re going to go back to them whenever we have a bad day! (Not that we have many bad days. But I’m a little concerned that several of you mentioned we ought to avoid “The Terrible Twos” stage. We hope to do just that.) For this contest, we had over 1600 comments, so we’re giving away prizes to 16 different people! Each prize package includes one skein of Wollmeise, one skein of yarn from another one of our awesome indie dyers, one Loopy Red Canvas Sock Bag, one sock pattern, and one Loopy Ewe pin for your knitting bag. We hope you love it! The packages are going out to these 16 randomly drawn people: Julie-Ann in Jamaica, Theo in OR, Teri in VA, Kirstie in Canada, Debbie in WA, Cathy in VA, Erin in MN, Nancy in IA, Liz in IL, Adina in OR, Heather in OH, Janet in CA, Karin in NC, Michelle in IL, Tammy in CA, and Sheryl in VA. All of the winners have been sent an email, so if you’re wondering if it’s YOU, check your in-box!
So – do you knit more for yourself or more for others? We’re curious!
Sheri thisnewyarnmightjustinspiremetoknitforothersmoreoften
Congrats to the winners…I must admit…I;m a little jealous! I knit primarily for others – lots of gifts! Socks I knit primarily for myself, although I’ve gifted 7 pairs.
Who do I knit for? It seems that the project starts out for myself (picking through the stash stage)….but by the time I cast on….it ends up being for someone else. I love the fact that my older brother and dearest cousin wear the same size socks that I do….makes knittig easier!
I also love deadlines….don’t ask me why…but I do! My husband and daughter complain because I stress out when I am nearing my deadline…but it’s fun!!!
I start out thinking I will keep this work – but I’ve only kept one thing I’ve knit! (And I knew I wouldn’t be one of the winners – story of my life.)
I knit for myself because I do almost everything else I do for other people/places/venues.
I’d say it’s probably about 75% for others, 25% for me. That might change once I start knitting sweaters. Well, if I start knitting sweaters.
Thanks for the contest! I’m excited to get the goodies! It’s fun to share in your celebration, too.
I knit mainly for me but every now and then someone special gets something. I want to know where is the scarf you promised???? I have just finished some handspun and I am planning on knitting with it but was so excited to see your scarf.
being nearly 30, i have a lot of friends getting married and having babies so i knit mostly for others. i’ve gotten in the habit of knitting a matching pair of socks for wedding couples, and there are endless things to be knit for babies. i recently got married and knit gifts for the wedding party–3 shawls for the women and a pair of socks each for my husband his best man.
i knit a lot of socks for myself, though. i have small feet and prefer ankle-length, so i can knit myself a pair with a 50-gm ball and still have some left. my husband likes socks and hats, but he loses the hats fairly often. i’ve started my first sweater ever to give him for christmas. so far, so good.
I mainly knit for myself and a very, very small group of people who appreciate it. Right after I started knitting, I made the mistake of knitting for several people who didn’t value handknits and the work that goes into them… even to the point of making snarky comments and/or refusing to wear the item. Now, I just knit for myself, my mother, my boyfriend, and three of my knitting friends- and that’s just fine with me! 🙂
I knit a bare few gifts. One a year, at most, typically. For the most part, it’s all for myself, or for carefully planned swaps with other knitters, where we both get what we want. But I can’t buy my own socks, hats, or gloves, due to a serious latex allergy, so…..
I always feel guilty when I knit only for myself. I actually had a huge pang of it when I realized that of the last 3 pairs of socks that I knit…they were all in colours that I’d enjoy, and in my size.
Luckily, the other folks that I knit for (family members) all have feet around my size, but whether they’d enjoy the colours as much, I’m not sure.
So yes, I do knit for others. Usually the ladies in the family get socks, and the gents get warm winter wear like hats & scarves.
The next big project “for others” will actually also be for me. We’re hoping to start a family sometime in the next year or so after we’re settled in a new home and have our lives on track. I’ll be casting on a Snowdrop shawl in hopes that it will eventually belong to someone tiny and cute. Hee…this actually might get my Mum knitting again! 🙂
More so for others right now. I’m not skilled enough to knit for me yet.
I knit mostly for me or my mom. I do the annual Christmas pair of socks for a few people but I usually use DK weight yarn. That way they knit faster but look just as good. 😉
I do both, though I’m with you on the baby gifts…all knitted. Last year I didn’t have enough advance notice before a baby shower to knit/finish anything, and had no idea what to get!
LOVE the new L&V yarn. What an awesome idea.
I knit mostly for myself (shawls). However, I have made a sweater for my son and a shawl for a friend and I’ve also made some scarves and gifted them.
I love the intention yarn!
Congrats to the winners — AWESOME packages you’ve won!
I only knit for others. The new Intention yarn – great concept!
Joan
I do both. BUT, that said, I know who I will never knit for again! And I know which people I can’t wait to knit for again! It’s not always who you think it will be, by the way. I recently got back in touch with a guy I used to work at FedEx with, we ran into each other at a ball game. He saw me knitting and was immediately consumed with what I was doing! After I saw his enthusiasm, I offered to knit him a hat for winter. You would think I had offered him my first born!! He will definately be getting some hand knits! LOL!
Love the idea of the intention yarn!! I have knit a lot of prayer shawls and they are very powerful. I am more careful than several years ago about giving away my other knitting. Found it wasn’t really appreciated.
All my knitting ends up for someone else! The one time I knit a Noro multidiagonal scarf for myself and wore it to school–it wound up going home with one of my colleagues. I knit for my grandbabies and nieces as well as socks for all my family and friends. I love giving them away as much as I love the process of knitting. I LOVE the intention yarn concept and I am looking forward to seeing it!
I knit 90% for others. I always start projects for myself, and set them aside to make gifts for others, or mittens and hats for kids at school who need them in the winter.
I knit primarily for myself, although I do occasionally knit for a dear friend of mine (fingerless mitts for her last birthday). I made several sweaters for her daughter (now 8) when she was a baby, and those sweaters are carefully packed away. I enjoy knitting for these two, because they really appreciate it. Actually, I just taught them both to knit!
When my Mom was alive, I knit for her all the time. She loved everything, even the mistake-filled stuff I did as a 7-year-old new knitter!
I knit sweaters, scarfs, hats, mittens and blankets for others. Socks I used to knit for others but now I knit them mostly for myself. I do not want to wear another store bought sock ever.
I hate to admit this, but I knit mostly for myself with some teacher gifts, baby gifts and things for my kids to round it out.
I knit for others but, like you, only for those that I know will appreciate the hard work and love that goes into a hand knit item. Knitting for babies is my favorite though.
I knit more for others. I always have a hat going for knitting on when I’m someplace with time to waste, so I end up with a lot. Sometimes I decide ahead of time ” X-person needs a hat!” and choose yarn specifically for that person and other times I end up with hats and decide who they go to afterwards.
Definitely others……I start for myself and then stop and go on for someone else.
This year I have been knitting mostly for myself. I have the occasional item I will knit for someone else (my Mom is exceptionally sock-worthy), but I’ve had several years where I knitted or quilted tons of stuff and kept almost nothing. It has been fun this year to focus on some very basic things in yarns that on the surface seem almost boring to me, but then I have very basic, wearable items that get a lot of use when I’m done. I quilt so much faster than I knit that I think my “balance” between making things for myself vs others will be to mostly knit for myself and quilt for others 🙂
I knit mostly for myself, although I do knit Prayer Shawls that we give away to people who are sick or just need an uplift, I do this with our Church. I make mostly socks for myself. Elaine
I love the concept of the Intention yarn.
I knit mostly for myself, with a few exceptions for my husband and some others who truly appreciate the effort and expense. Occasionally I will knit for a swap too 🙂
I knit mostly for others. Out of all the yarn I have bought I think I may have 8 pairs of socks that are mine. I makes gifts, my daughter claims many while I am knitting, I sell a few scarfs and baby socks, knit for friends who have breast cancer and need special “Laughing socks” (colroful) for chemo treatments and check ups, and for people who I know who do special things for others. Besides my critters this is my passion. that leaves about 10 minutes a day from myself so I have learned to bathe quickly, LOL.
I ususally knit for me. But latley, when I get really anxious about some changes in my life…I knit on a simple project that will be given away. I don’t know exactly who the recipient will be, but I know it will be someone who has needs far beyond anything I could ever imagine. Doing this has helped me find thankfulness…even for the stress, to get out of my own head, and to focus on another….whose problems are truly dire. It’s amazing how much my breathing slows, the anxiety starts to fade, and I get a better perspective on this part of my life.
Primarily for myself, although I do knit baby things as gifts and have knit for my nieces and nephews when they were small. (Oh the days when I could knit 4 sweaters in 6 weeks because they were so small.) I have one sister who really appreciates the time and cost of handknits and she’s actually bought me yarn and patterns to make her things. But she’s also clever enough to realise that if she picks things that can be machine knit she’s far more likely so see it in the near future.
I knit mostly for others, although I keep saying I’m going to do more for myself. I grew up with a wonderful Mother who was always doing for others whether it was baking or sewing, and this continued up until 3 months before she died of Ovarian cancer before I turned 23. I think I just naturally feeling that I’m carrying on the tradition that she instilled in me when I was growing up.
Encouraged by friends, I started a Prayer Shawl Ministry at my church. We have a hard time keeping up with the demand! The recipients are so grateful, I actually feel guilty because knitting the shawl was meaningful to me as well. I love the idea of Intention Yarn. Any idea of weight/fiber content/care?
After I started knitting again after way too many years of not knitting, I knit all of my girlfriends something for Christmas. Not too well received, and one was even returned! 🙁 So now I knit for me.
sorry I do so much for others 24/7 that my knitting is soley for me, me, me!
I mainly knit for myself. I work on stuff so hard I am not giving it away. Last Christmas I did made some dishcloths for a coworker and some Michigan dishcloths for my boss. Other then that it is all for me. But with a Mom who also knits I cant really see myself knitting for my knitting teacher/mentor now can I.
Sheri,
Speaking of knitting for other people is the contest for Q@-08 challenge over? Who was the winner?
Thanks!
honestly about half and half. I knit many items not specificlly for a person but gift it once finished when i find the right person. Of course many are knit specific as well…and then there is the share of me knitting! I love the idea of the intention yarn…may have to dye some up for personal use but can’t wait to check them out!!! (love new yarns!) Hey, congrats you lucky LUCKY winners!
Congratulations to all the winners! And the Intentions yarn concept is wonderful—I’ll be looking forward to that!
My knitting is split about 50/50 between making things for myself and making things for other people. As you said, you want to make sure a hand-knitted gift goes to someone who will appreciate (and take good care of) it, so I’m pretty picky about who gets a scarf or, God help me, a shawl. The exception is the dishcloth. It’s still handmade, but it’s cotton, it goes in the washer and dryer, it knits up quickly so it’s not a major time investment—and it might actually get used!
Good morning! I knit mainly for others and very little for myself. I love to knit baby things and my daughter and her fertile friends keep me in business. My two grandsons (1 and 3 years old) reap the benefits of much of my efforts. As far as for me, although I do love to do socks, I have feet the size of the seldom seen Yeti and cannot stand the endless rounds. My new hobby is collecting patterns to “someday” do for me. Actually I just might collect patterns and forget about ever knitting them!
Gosh, I start out knitting for me, then if its a sock or scarf, or somehting not sized for me or can fit someone else, it is gifted.. sigh.
I am working on a huge circular shawl. how can I NOT give it to my mom for her 72nd birthday??though she is definitely not a shawl person 😉
sherry
Love the concept of the intention yarn! When I cast on a project my intention is to make something (socks) for myself, but it never ends that way . I have made a num ber of gifts of knitted projects (cabled baby sweaters, scarfs, wedding shawls). I would love to make something just for it just never ends that way – my daughter has an obsession with handknit socks. I finally told her she has to learn to knit herself some!
Most of the sweaters I’ve made over the years have been for myself. On the other hand, I have never owned/worn a pair of handmade socks. I really love giving something I’ve made to someoneI’ve had in mind while I was making it.
Depends on what I am knitting….. Felted bags I knit mainly for others or to sell to raise money for a woman in Russia working with young girls in prission. Socks; scarves and things I knit mainly for myslef; close friends or swap partners. (I’m like you in that I am a little nervous to give a pair of socks to someone who doesn’t knit and who doesn’t appreciate the hundreds of hours I have invested in the things, and, OOPS, throws the 100% wool ones in the washer and dryer). Love the new intention yarns! What a great idea!
I definitely knit more for other people…….but I *intend* to knit for myself! Really, I do!
The knitting that I do is for me. The items that result from the knitting are almost exclusively for someone else. I rarely wear socks and am too warm blooded to wear sweaters, so it is unusual for me to make something for myself. My family and a few select friends are the recipents of my pleasure.
I love the idea behind the Intentions yarn. I have made a quite a few things that have love knitted in but not in such a literal sense. I will certainly look these over carefully and hope to pick just a few. (My boxes runneth over).
It seems I’ve always knit for others in the past, either as gifts or for charity. BUT lately I’ve been buying yarn & patterns with the intent to knit for myself. Guess it’s the upbringing, but I’ve always taken care of others 1st, then myself, so maybe sub-consciously I’ve decided that now is my time!
I’m not a prolific knitter and, now that I think about it, most of my output has gone to others. In 20 years I think I have kept for myself 4 sweaters, 1 shawl, 1 hat and 3 pairs of socks. There have been a dozen or more baby sweaters, 30 or more pairs of socks, 4 adult sweaters and a dozen chemo hats that have all gone to someone else. This doesn’t mean that I don’t plan and buy yarn for things for myself but the things that get finished are for others. That may be why my stash is so big…
I knit primarily for myself. Most of the people in my life don’t really appreciate the time and effort.
It’s funny… I usually start out by buying yarn that I love with the intention of knitting something for myself. But as the days, weeks, months go by, oftentimes the yarn reveals its true self to me and I use it to knit something special for someone else. Of the 20 or so finished items that I’ve made in the last couple of years (I don’t have enough knitting time – boo!), I’ve only kept 1. I love the process of creating more than the product sometimes so I guess it works out in the end. 🙂