Dislike knitted baby gifts from family member

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A member of our family continuously knits baby gifts for our children, there is not usually much consideration for appropriate seasons regards to age/sizing and the patterns/colours are always quite garish. We feel awful because there is clearly a lot of time and effort gone into these. The person is a beautiful knitter however she will not take any suggestions on colours, or doing a more neutral/single colour piece that would mean it can be paired with other items.

We are left with sooo many items piling up unused, many are completely inappropriate sizing so they are zero use to us. However the ones that may fit are always wild patterns or very dated styles. Photo is just recent examples

We have tried to talk to this person many times but as mentioned before they do not listen. I feel pressured to quietly donate many of them because we simply do not have the space to store so many unused items, and I would hope someone else can appreciate and get some use out of them

Our last ditch attempt is suggesting a specific pattern book so hopefully this works, do you have any suggestions? Am I being unreasonable, are these examples nice?

You're right of course. I agree.

I'd wear those in adult size! I like them! Ha ha. However, I was born a few decades ago so probably my tastes are dated as well.

My aunt used to knit for my children, initially very elabourage matinee jackets but I asked if she'd mind knitting simple jumpers in plain bright colours and she did knit me some really lovely things. Maybe you could buy her the wool in colours you like?

Buy her some wool you like?

The items are beautiful and so much time would have gone into them. I’m a crocheter and usually make a baby blanket when friends/family are expecting. I’d be absolutely heart broken after hours of work if they told me they didn’t want the item.

Us crafters make gifts as we think the recipient will appreciate the time, effort and love gone into making them. I’d rather someone did that than popped into Primark.

If you don’t like them, donate them on, but no need to upset the person who gifted the item.

Buy her some wool ?

Some people knit purely for the fun of knitting, and baby clothes are more fun to knit because the projects are smaller so you produce a finished product in less time. Don’t feel too bad.

Use them for nursery/pre school clothes they always get ruined.

I actually love the little pink jumper and matching hat. Not keen on the other 2 patterns but it's a shame as they look like they can knit extremely well and make some beautiful pieces!

Acrylic yarn is horrible, and encourages all this knitting of thousands of unwanted things because it is so cheap. I am a knitter and made my children beautiful, expensive wool/silk jumpers etc when they were babies. And lots of other people knitted and crochted them things out of vile pastel acrylic and they were never used. It is an environmental crime that plastic yarns exist, and people put the stuff all over the place, like on top of post boxes and along the sea, or put poppies in rivers and all the micro plastics will end in the ocean. Youre not unreasonable, those knitted things are awful.

Oh god, I was ready to kick the boot in and call you ungrateful, but these are so awful. Has she based them on liquorice allsorts?

I love the pink and white one with the hat!!!

I really, really hope the knitter doesn't somehow hear of this thread.
It's one thing to say something isn't your taste, but to call something made with love for a baby awful could really hurt their feelings.

You’ve given requests and she’s hasn’t listened so just give them away without feeling guilty- it isn’t your fault!

Seems like I'm in the minority but I absolutely love them, especially the pink patchwork one! I have 2 babies, 6 weeks and 15 months and definitely would dress them in these. Send them my way!

Well then, as a knitter you will appreciate how expensive natural fibre yarn is. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to afford it. Knitting and crochet are wonderful for people’s mental health and there are plenty of other hobbies which are much worse for the environment. You have stated that the garments you knitted were beautiful. I’m sure they were, but I think it is possible to create beautiful things with acrylic yarn. It’s largely down to colour choices and the skill to produce a professional finish. My youngest child was unable to wear pure wool as a baby as he was allergic, so it was cotton for summer and acrylic for winter.

No they’re awful, despite the time and care that has gone into them. My mother knitted numerous mustard jumpers for my three - think arms down to their knees etc - that were never worn and quietly disposed of.

I actually really like the pink with white trim and I’m not a huge fan of pink! Though I’d probably like it even more in a different colour. The pink, white and black I definitely don’t like though

They’re horrors. I had the same problem with my DM, we use to joke they were WMD Wollens of Mass Distaste. I solved the problem by buying pattern books, asking for a specific pattern and purchasing the wool.

Those items are realty lovely and could easily be paired with more plain items and they are from a thoughtful relative who has put a lot of time and effort into creating them I think you're being mean and ungrateful

I just couldn’t have been doing with stuff like that when my kids were little. I needed stuff that washed and tumbled all together with no fuss. My mil did crochet something for my dd so I put it on my dd for her christening. Dd outgrew it quickly so I sent it to the charity shop. Hopefully someone enjoyed it. Not my cup of tea at all, just not practical. But I would never have upset mil over it as she was a kind woman who did it out of love.

I am surprised people do stuff like this for babies all the time. The clothing isn’t practical and it will be outgrown in no time. Sometimes stuff like that can be itchy, shed fibres, be difficult to wash. Mine wore multipack baby gros and vests.

Why do you think those items are outdated? If you don't like what she knits,then go and get a knitting pattern and wool you do like and give it too her saying that you saw this lovely pattern and wool and wondered if she could knit them for you,

I think they are lovely. Especially this time of year they are warm and not too bulky which is more important than what is fashionable. When I had my first baby a few years ago it felt like every time I opened the door someone had knitted her a cardigan, a jumper or hat. I wouldn't have chosen them myself but I did put them on her just to please them. It's nice that someone cares about her even though I was new to the village and they didn't really know me.

There's no accounting for taste in any direction. My MIL made DD1 a lovey outfit in a soft cotton yarn, but I couldn't get over her choice of "hospital corridor green" for it. It would probably suited a family who only use wooden toys and paint their house in farrow and ball. But it just wasn't us. I preferred vivid colours.

My son is 40 and I distinctly remem er my MIL knitting him an all in one" pram suit" complete with pixie hood ! She had knitted the same one for her son when he was born, but didn't realise as a young mum I had more contemporary clothes, especially not itchy mint green wool ones . I thanked her and it never saw the light of day.Several years later she commented that she had never seen my son in it , so I said he only grew into it in the wrong season!
She was very kind but just not to my taste but when I asked her if she would make postman pat jumpers etc she made lovely ones , so maybe worth showing her what you like, you may be surprised !