You deserve it – choosing the right gift

As all crafters, I often give people handmade (mainly knitted) items. But I find it hard to choose what to make, especially as I have started to knit for almost random people to fulfil my knitting needs 🙂

So, I would be happily knit a lot for lots of people but I also don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable because they might consider it too much or too big (or because they wonder who on earth I actually am). And then they will make me feel uncomfortable because I really don’t like it if people admire my things too much, give me even compliments or are too thankful…. which happens about every single time when a person from the cold Austrian region of Vorarlberg moves to a polite and thank you – obsessed England 🙂

And what about local customs? I always feel very unsure about that. Do teachers in nursery and primary school get gifts at the end of the year as they would in Austria (well, as far as I remember)? At the end of each term? Christmas? What if they don’t celebrate Christmas? And who? Just the key worker? And maybe the class teacher? What about the head teacher? And actually the child is really fond of those other two teachers, so I really would want to give them something. But that might upset others. As they would be on the same level of hierarchy.

And not to forget the time issue, obviously. So I have become a big fan of small gifts. You can make them in a reasonable time and no one will get hurt.

After just a few smallish gifts for the main people in nursery in the first year and having offended at least one who didn’t get anything (receptionist, in my defence),

I have decided to make a tiny thing for each and every single one last year. The care taker seemed rather pleased with his knitted butterfly badge I have to say (He does have a small daughter, so it will get used) 🙂

I feel really confident with the appropriateness of those tiny gifts for the end of year occasion but I guess I will have to step up a gear for the final gifts when child No1 is leaving nursery.

On another very recent occasion I might have gone a bit over the top. I forgot to pay a friend of my sister a bread delivery worth a couple of euros. She might not even remember, but I am not happy about it, especially as I keep forgetting it since many many months. So I guess, an apology on a fancy glittery English card and the money would do it but on the other side, it is a really lovely person and I wanted to knit a Camino Bubbles by Kieran Foley since over a year and also finally make something out of a Zauberball as I had seen so many lovely projects on ravelry. So an apology scarf seemed to tick all the boxes.

I am a big fan of dropping stitches – after years of worrying to accidentally drop one, it is just so much fun to let them drop on purpose and even pull and stretch to open up those bubbles.

I love the airiness and fluffiness of this scarf – I made a small version for appropriateness reasons 😉 but I think now that this pattern really calls for something big to show those bubbles off rather than hiding them in a wrapped – around – your – neck – mess.

On my current gifts to make – list, there is a dress for a newborn baby of another mum in nursery. Should I now make something for the two other pregnant mothers too? One of them might actually not even know my name, she might get a bit scared of the weird lady following her around with her knitting needles 🙂

How do you decide on what to make for whom? How do you decide? Any advice? I clearly need help.