Note: If you’re just in it to win it, scroll down and read the bold print.

I think it’s something that’s happened to every knitter. You put hours into knitting a present for someone- picking the right yarn, finding the perfect pattern, knitting, ripping back, knitting again (maybe that’s just me). In the end, you think you have the most perfect gift ever created. You just know they are going to LOVE it. And then they open it… and….nothing. No squeals of delight. No bear hugs of appreciation. All you get is, an “oh gee, thanks” and then the knitted item you toiled over ends up in a drawer or the bottom of a closet.

Despite the heartbreak, some of us just can’t seem to stop ourselves. We feel compelled to knit things to give away. The staff here at Knit Picks feels your pain, and we have a 4 pronged plan to help ease the pain

1. We make it easy and affordable for you to knit items to give it away. Many of our kits make two or more finished objects. We’ve started marking these kits with this icon-

Keep an eye out for it on the kit product pages if you are a compulsive giver.

2. We want to reward you for your generosity. A prime example of a kit that is excellent for gift giving is our new Montavilla Market Tote kit. For only $19.99, you can knit two organic cotton market bags- one you get to keep, and one to give away. Later this summer, we will be running a Montavilla Market Tote contest and anyone who has given away a Montavilla Market Tote can enter to win. That’s all I can say for now, but we wanted to give you an extra incentive to order that kit, start knitting, and give someone you know an Earth-friendly, organic reusable bag. To help keep you motivated until the contest starts, Marci is running a Montavilla Market Tote knitalong. Join her here.

3. We’ve added some new freebies and videos to the Knitting Community especially for you. Download our new gift tags (complete with washing instructions!), watch a new video on the best way to weave in cotton ends, and get free Simply Cotton wallpapers or a dashboard card or hang tag to help you remember to use your reusable totes.

4. We want to make it up to you. Sadly, we are not able to go door to door, hunting down every unappreciative relative or ex-boyfriend who has ever received a knitted gift from one of our customers and force them to properly thank you for your thoughtfulness (although that could be kind of fun). Instead, we are going to give one of you generous knitters a gift basket of organic, locally produced goodies, 3 pairs of Harmony straight needles, and Simply Cotton just for being nice. Go here and post your stories about giving away a knitted gift. They could be funny, sad, or sweet (we realize there are some lovely souls out there who actually appreciate our knitting). We will pick our top 5 on May 15th and post a poll so that Knitting Community members can pick the winner.

Don’t comment here to enter to win. Go here to enter. Before May 15th. I mean it. <