Weekly Topic #2 for Defeat the Winter Doldrums Dishcloth Swap

There are many people who ADORE receiving hand-knit or crochet items; but there are just as many who have no appreciation whatever of how much love, work, and time goes into a hand-made item. Share a story of a hand-made gift you gave to someone and how it worked out - good, bad, or ugly!

I can't imagine why people join knitting swaps if they don't like handmade items. But that was my experience in one swap a year or 2 ago. What I think is most annoying is that a lot of people are just so...meh...about a handmade gift. It's like they feel cheated out of a "real" gift if you give them something handmade. Forget the time you slaved over it, picked a pattern and colors especially for them, it means nothing if you didn't spend cold cash on it in the store.

One time, my sister and I worked really hard making a sampler (cross-stitch) for her sister-in-law who was getting married. We made our own design, with icons and such that were meaningful to her and her husband-to-be. It was a rather significant undertaking, as we had to design the whole thing ourselves, then stitch it out. You would have thought that we gave her a set of bedsheets or something. The response was: "Oh...it's a...is that supposed to be Big Ben? Ah, I see. Yeah...well...thanks." My sister and I were so crestfallen. Incidentally, we put Big Ben on there because they were going to London for their honeymoon. GRRR....