Hm, that's a good question. It's a lot easier for a knitter to figure that sort of thing out, yes. I can say things like if you see what they like to knit, or if they keep a blog or something see what type of knitting they talk about, except sure, it's easy for ME to say "oh, I read So-and-so's blog or watch her projects, she loves doing self-striping sock yarns, I'll look for those" - but a non-knitter is probably not going to know from, eh? There's always a gift certificate, best if to one of the good local yarn stores - fun places like Simpatico or Jennings St or Cabbage Rose. (Hm, although that's showing my bias, if it's the kind of knitter who's all about acrylics, then Hobby Lobby is better)
Hm, that works best if it's someone local, someone across the country is harder. Well, if you get a specific location, I could probably find out what the small yarn stores in that city are, if there are any, and I bet you could arrange a gift certificate there. Picking out yarn is a lot of fun for most knitters, so that could be cool. Or there's lots of cool online stores, and even if you don't feel confident picking out yarns for them, there's always things like poking through the tools and accessories section - don't bother with needles, but pick cute fun things that they might not get themselves. www.knitpicks.com has a bunch.
Hey, for that matter, knitpicks has a whole category of "Projects" - if you have an idea what sort of thing they like, you can pull up projects in that category - can be things like "shawls" or "socks" or just categories like "lace". Some of them the pattern is in a book, some they'll sell the pattern and tell you what recommended yarn goes with it.
There's knitting books - although you've got the problem of do they have that one yet or not. For book related stuff nowadays I generally check to see if they have an Amazon wishlist, many people do. If not, there are some great amusing knitting related books out nowadays - a LOT of knitters already have At Knit's End : Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much by the Yarn Harlot, but she's got two newer books out, Yarn Harlot : The Secret Life of a Knitter, and Knitting Rules! : The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks, that 2nd one is brand new. If I was looking for something for a knitter and I didn't know much about their preferences, I might get those.
Boy, this has been a fun question to answer.
Also, if you'd like, I'd be happy to give you a hands-on tour of my stash someday ;-) explain to you what's worsted, what's fingering weight, etcetera, and a quick layman's overview of different yarn fiber types and what they're good for.
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Hm, that works best if it's someone local, someone across the country is harder. Well, if you get a specific location, I could probably find out what the small yarn stores in that city are, if there are any, and I bet you could arrange a gift certificate there. Picking out yarn is a lot of fun for most knitters, so that could be cool. Or there's lots of cool online stores, and even if you don't feel confident picking out yarns for them, there's always things like poking through the tools and accessories section - don't bother with needles, but pick cute fun things that they might not get themselves. www.knitpicks.com has a bunch.
Hey, for that matter, knitpicks has a whole category of "Projects" - if you have an idea what sort of thing they like, you can pull up projects in that category - can be things like "shawls" or "socks" or just categories like "lace". Some of them the pattern is in a book, some they'll sell the pattern and tell you what recommended yarn goes with it.
There's knitting books - although you've got the problem of do they have that one yet or not. For book related stuff nowadays I generally check to see if they have an Amazon wishlist, many people do. If not, there are some great amusing knitting related books out nowadays - a LOT of knitters already have At Knit's End : Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much by the Yarn Harlot, but she's got two newer books out, Yarn Harlot : The Secret Life of a Knitter, and Knitting Rules! : The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks, that 2nd one is brand new. If I was looking for something for a knitter and I didn't know much about their preferences, I might get those.
Boy, this has been a fun question to answer.
Also, if you'd like, I'd be happy to give you a hands-on tour of my stash someday ;-) explain to you what's worsted, what's fingering weight, etcetera, and a quick layman's overview of different yarn fiber types and what they're good for.