Handmade gifts are supposed to be stitched with love, not strings attached.

So when one knitter gratefully accepted a sweater from her sister-in-law but quietly dyed the yarn into a color she’d actually wear, family dynamics unraveled fast.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for dyeing the sweater my sister in law knitted for me?

My sister-in-law, my brother’s wife, offered to make me a sweater.

I am also a knitter, and I understand the time and effort that goes into a project.

So she went out of her way to help any way she could.

I said yes, but asked if I could pick out the color.

I also said I would happily pay for the yarn.

Her friend told her it would be no problem, so she assumed everything was fine.

She declined and said she wanted it as an excuse to use up her stash.

She is a big-time “tee hee I have a stash beyond life expectancy!” type.

She finished the sweater for me, and it fit great.

But there was one big catch.

But it was in a beige color that I would never wear.

I’m a soft autumn who favors plums, roses, terra cottas, olives, etc.

I don’t like plain colors very much.

Not wanting to waste a perfectly good gift, she improvised.

But I loved the look of the sweater.

So I ended up dyeing it to a pretty green.

I reach for it all the time.

I wore it when I was hanging out with family, and she was there.

She said it looked like the one she’d made me.

I said that it was, but I’d dyed it.

Her friend was not a fan of this.

She stared at me for a long time and finally said, “I wish you would have told me you were going to do something like that. I wouldn’t have wasted my Malabrigo on you.”

She tries to defend herself.

I was taken aback and told her that I absolutely loved the sweater.

I just would have never worn it as a beige sweater.

But this wasn’t good enough.

She got the sour lemon look on her face and said she would keep in mind to never knit anything for me ever again.

She got up and left the room, and I didn’t talk to her the rest of the night.

She understands the situation wasn’t ideal, but she doesn’t think she deserves the third degree over it.

I live in a different city than my family, so I probably won’t see her again for a while.

She has every right to not knit for me again.

But was dyeing that sweater really that big of a deal?

I thought it would be better for me to dye it a color I would wear than for me to never wear it.

AITA?

Once the sweater was in her hands, she had every right to do what she pleased with it, right?

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

This commenter thinks this SIL should just be happy she managed to get rid of the yarn.

This yarn was practically begging to be dyed!

This crafter isn’t near as precious about her gifts.

The greatest honor should be the gift being worn at all.

Making a gift actually wearable isn’t ungrateful — it’s just resourceful.

As long as the sweater got worn, then who cares what color it is?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.