I have a lovely MIL. She is kind, tactful and is great with all the cooking / sewing /knitting / gardening stuff. She also lives in California (we are in London) and we do not really see each other often.
I am now expecting our first child, and MIL is enthusiastically knitting baby clothes - with acrylic and nylon!.. The thing is, neither DH nor I wear any manmade materials, really none (ok, nylon stockings and lingerie (for me!) and I guess ski gear is also some sort of polyester), and I am certainly not going to dress my baby in acrylic!!
She has already sent us a few parcels of all these tiny cardigans and hats which look quite adorable but... After the first parcel I thanked her profusely and then told her at length how I choose all organic cotton baby stuff and will try going with reusable nappies hoping she'll get the hint about my slight obsession with all things natural. Now we got the second batch - all acrylic, and apparently there are more...
I feel so bad - I know she is having so much joy making all this stuff, and it is knitted with much love, but it just won;t be worn! My husband spoke with her yesterday and in a joking way tried to pass the same message about me being strictly cotton / wool, and if perhaps she could knit with cotton instead. She kept insisting that it is difficult to wash cotton (??!), it is perfectly acceptable for babies to wear acrylic because it is soft, and also mentioned that cotton is more difficult to knit with. I suspect that cotton and wool yarn may also be more expensive than acrylic, but I'd rather she made one piece which will be worn and treasured than a dozen which will live in the bottom of the drawer. If we lived close enough I could just buy the yarn I like and ask her to knit with it, but seeing that we are on different continents it's too complicated - ordering something online etc.
Sorry for the rant, it is such a minor issue, but now I feel guilty and ungrateful...