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Thanks, Grandma, my friends will love it

NADJA SAYEJ

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 9:17 AM EDT 18/12/07

Once good for little more than a cringe, tacky Christmas sweaters breathe new life into holiday parties ...Read the full article

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  1. Kay Ay from Canada writes: This a sweetly-twisted way of commerating our Grandma's attempts to dress us.
    I wish I had kept more of what my Grandmother's made for me.
    I only have a pair of fabulous mittens & wool socks. (No sweaters too many grandkids.)
  2. A C from Albertario, Canada writes: Didn't Bill Cosby base his entire sit-com career on fugly sweaters?
  3. MJ Patchouli from Regina, Canada writes: My 22-year old son is gearing up to go to his friend's fourth annual Christmas Sweater Party.

    He is very happy because his aunt bought him an actually really nice one -- no snowmen or over the top colour combos.

    He loves it so much, he even wore it over this week to help decorate the tree.

    All good fun (in bad taste) and don't we all need more of that?
  4. scavok einre from british columbia, Canada writes: This is one of the most mean-spirited articles I have ever read on any topic. It pokes nasty fun at an act of love: making a garment for someone you love with your own two hands. I began knitting again with the birth of my first grandchild, and every stitch was encoded with love. The results weren't perfect, but if I had seen them displayed in a hideous sweater competition, I would have been completely devastated. Whatever happened to accepting gifts (especially hand-made gifts, which can take a lot of time, energy and money to produce) graciously? How dare you state that knitters don't mind having their work held up to ridicule? (How many have you asked?) How easy is it to accept the message: "Your handmade work is hideous, so hideous that we can't help but display it in an ugly sweater competition"? This article made me wince; in fact, it made me want to cry with its completely oblivious cruelty. I guess it's OK to mock something that isn't a machine-made item from the Gap, identical to the sweater your friend is wearing. No matter how offensive it may be, it's "cool", whereas a sweater lovingly created, from the selection of wool to the final blocking, is only good for the blood sport of ridicule before being discarded. My only hope is that these people will some day be on the receiving end, with something they have made personally being merrily trashed. But that's unlikely, because plastic identical gifts with no distinguishing features have become the norm.
  5. Mythical Gem from Waterloo, Canada writes: First, let me start by saying I come from a family who knits & crochet.... People who loves to knit likes giving out their 'accomplishments'. They are often so thrilled about their own 'accomplishments' that they gave little regards to the recipient who would be stuck with it. Worse when the giver is sad & outrage that their gift is not used more often because it was handcrafted with love, etc, etc. As a fellow knitter, my advice is, if you truly want to give someone a gift that would be appreciated. First, think of what the recipient would like vs what you would like to knit. Do they even like hand knit stuff. Some people don't particularly like hand made sweaters. eg. solicit their honest opinion of your workmanship (you may think you are good, but.... OR what you think is cute is actually quite tacky), then their preference in yarn, colour & style. Perhaps even let them give you a few patterns & the surprise is, which of the three patterns did you decide to knit for them! I always have pattern books for my friends to choose their future gifts from me, and the surprise is, do they get it for birthday, Christmas OR some other meaning dates for them (not mine). As all good gifts, the key is the receiver, not the giver. Give people what they like, not what you want to give them. I have always followed this mantra & happy to say that my handiwork are always proudly 'showcased' by friends & family.
  6. Kay Ay from East of To., Canada writes: Scavok: No, people do not understand the amount of time, effort or money it takes to make a hand-made sweater.
    However, as M. Gem stated, what's cute in our eyes for a child does not generally translate for anyone over 9.
    My Nanny had many talents and as she aged she loved to knit for us. But everything was too big. Something about the tension? When you are 19 and a size 6 and your Nanny gives you a sweater for your birthday that's a 12 you just say thank-you and give it to someone who will wear it.
    The wool socks I still have and wear out playing in the snow every winter.
  7. Chris Robinson from Incheon, SK, Canada writes: Firstly, I don't think anyone will deny the amount of work that goes into knitting a sweater. It's not that people don't appreciate the sweaters, it's just that you can't really use them until next Christmas and yeah they can be pretty ugly.

    Here in South Korea we had a fabulous Christmas Sweater Bender Party this weekend. There were some great sweaters here: Candy cane couple, snowflakes, and a lot of reindeer. It was a great time with people from six different countries sporting their Christmas bests.
  8. Mike K from Canada writes: My grad school roommates and I had a Christmas sweater party last weekend and got so into it for weeks leading up. I even went as far as buying ornaments from Dollarama like gold french horns and wooden nutcrackers, then sewing them onto my 80s sweater. It was a lot of fun, especially when we headed out on a bar crawl.
  9. D K from Canada writes: Isn't consumer snobbery great?

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