Monday, December 10, 2007

Gifting it in a generally progressive direction

When the Secret Knitter did a little Pay It Forward thing earlier this year, I thought about participating for about five seconds. And then I thought: I hate the whole treacly idea of paying it forward. Besides, I'm not done knitting for ME yet! I will sit on the sidelines and curmudge instead.

Then came Christmas gift knitting for assorted relations who cannot yet be revealed. And teacher gift knitting. And possibly baby shower knitting this week. And suddenly I am enamored of the idea of giving stuff away. I get the joy of knitting it, you get the finished object.

So when Tracey posted on Ravelry announcing that she was starting a new round, I jumped before I had time to think. Let's hope I land on something soft (like yarn) and not something pointy (like needles).

So if you want something handmade by me -- knitter's choice, no requests, but you can see most of the possible range over here -- be one of the first three commenters promising to, um, Remit It Ventrally. I.e., to make (sew, craft, bead, whatever you do) a gift for the first three people to comment to your own, um, Compensating-It-Onwards post making the same promise.

Since my handmade holiday pledge musings fell victim to my usual shopping procrastination and recent oh-no-I-have-to-ship-Christmas-to-Georgia realization, maybe this will get enough of the handcrafting love going around to reimburse my karma for all the corporations that are getting my money this month.

5 comments:

katie j. said...

Okay, this is a fun game. I'll paint if you'll knit.

Paul C. said...

I'm not a crafty person, or a particularly arty one, so those things are out. About the only thing I can doing creatively with my hands is cook, and it would be pretty expensive- and risky to boot- to ship a jar of my famous cinnamon applesauce across the country.

But darn if those knit goodies you make don't like nice and toasty. So tell you what I'll do. I'm going to allow the first three people who respond to the requisite post on my blog to request any movie- good or bad, seen or unseen by me- and I'll watch it and give it the full-on 500-word review treatment. You read it here first, folks. You can't exactly wear it, but it's the best I can do.

Eric Grubbs said...

Like Katie J., I'll paint if you knit.

Tim Sisk said...

I realize I'm too late for a handicraft (darn paper writing!), but I am intrigued by your idea and would like to maybe employ it. The thing is I do my creative work with words. So had I responded early enough, would a suitable handmade gift have been a poem by Tim? I'd be happy to receive you. Then again, I'm a bit partial to his stuff...

Oh, and your kids are so cute. SO cute. Please post pics of CG in a tutu after Christmas.

Tim Sisk said...

Though I'm always happy to receive you in UCA Honors College camaraderie, I actually meant to type "one" instead of "you" in the fourth sentence of my above comment. ;-)