Reflections on gifts and friendship – (part 1) – to receive
A thoughtful gift need not cost the world. Indeed, some gifts may not cost anything at all in monetary terms, but a truly thoughtful gift reflects both the sender and the person who is to receive it, and I know that I have in the past been truly touched by the thoughts of others.
Monkey knitting needles
When a friend who seeks to know you well, even if you are separated by hundreds of miles of ocean and continent, they pick up on the things that make you you. The needles above have come from the kindest of friends, though we have never ‘met’ who realises that I love monkeys and knitting alike, saw these and realised how much I would love them. And I do. They arrived with a beautiful bumper box of bounty which I am sure will all make an appearance on my blog over the next few weeks, bit by bit.
A box of friendship and yarn sent from across the waves
I have received a gift of yarn before, when I hit upon a few hard times and a friend sent me some of her unused stash. I still have some, because I always thought it too lovely for me to use, and I have been saving it for ‘best’. I have tried and I have failed to knit this absolutely gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn before now, before deciding that whatever I knit wasn’t going to be beautiful enough and re-balling it up for when I was a better knitter:
Cherry Tree Hill - saved for a year for when I can knit 'better'
But, really, I shouldn’t be scared of gorgeous yarns. I have become so entrenched in the ways of buying only what I can afford at the low end of the yarn spectrum that these special yarns seem like an indulgence I do not deserve. I treat them the same way as I do my food. When I eat I start with the least appealing, least tasty item on my plate, to ‘get it out of the way’ as it were, to save the most tasty item which I most look forward to until the end, at which point I am inevitably too full to eat it. What joy can my friends who have sent this beautiful yarn for me to use find if I am scared of it and keep it sealed away? So, once my £1 a ball Kaffe Fassett socks (even though I do love this cheap and cheerful yarn which seems to be on perpetual sale) are finished I will cast on with something lovely, because friends that have thought ‘Mimi will really enjoy that’ are always right, and sometimes I have loved something too much to think that I am worthy of it.
So, when a friend knows that you love Dick Van Dyke so much that they buy you a Mary Poppins Bert doll for Christmas or when you come home from hospital and your medication makes your skin so sore and tight that they send you some soap that they have hand-made, or when someone shares with you some of their stash because you have none, or when someone gets some powdered drink and thinks ‘I’m sure my friend could put that to some crafty purposes’, or sends you some left-over denim yarn because you are daft enough to want to make a pair of monkey jeans, don’t be scared to enjoy what you have received, because you will smile every time you knit a stitch with a pair of monkey needles, or feel that extra special yarn as it passes over your fingers, or say ‘Hi’ to Bert as you pass by him every morning.
these are a few of my favourite things
Hi Bert!
This post just made me smile, a lot. A bit like this
Just knowing there are kind, thoughtful, wonderful people about makes me smile.
I’m filled with joy and tearful eyes. A beautiful post indeed.
Wonderful post. I covet your monkey needles, even though I don’t knit with straight needles anymore.
Enjoy your gifts, I can’t wait to see the next post.
Awww, sweetie
What a wonderfully sweet post. I totally agree with you on the “nice” yarn issue! I have some yarn I got for a deal on clearance a few years ago and it’s just sitting here waiting for when I can knit well enough to use it.
Lovely post! You have wonderful friends!
I know what you mean about the yarn, I have a few skeins like that too.
yea .. it really is the thought that counts… what a beautifully written post
This is a sweet post:D You’ve got such lovely friends!
So true!
Mum always tells me that the giving and recieving are some of the few things in life that will always make you feel wonderful
You’re so lucky and a girl after my own heart. Knitting and monkeys are my favourite things!
That Bert doll is amazing! I can’t wait to see what you knit with your “special” yarn, I started off using budget stuff but now save up to try afford more special yarn or I get it in sales because I think a craft I love so much is worth the best quality I can afford…that said I still have some precious skeins I don’t dare knit with because I’m not yet “good enough” and I don’t want to ruin them with rubbish knitting!!
I do love those monkey needles too, I am a fellow monkey lover
This post really touched me. I have been blessed to receive many things while we have hard times and I do the same thing as you, save it as if it’s too precious for me to use. It’s silly, isn’t it?
Well said. I think it’s all too easy to be a little too ‘precious’ about some things, and then never really enjoying them as intended.
[...] are? I have been awaiting autumn so that I can cast on for a very special Monkey Scarf with my monkey knitting needles and now these stitch markers will definitely be used for possibly the most monkey-ish project ever [...]