MILWAUKEE – If you’re a knitter, the craft can offer a perplexing mix of pleasure and frustration. It’s gratifying to make one-of-a-kind gifts, but disheartening to give them to people who don’t always appreciate your handiwork.

Rarely does the knitting culture discuss the sting a knitter feels when she bestows a well-crafted item on someone who won’t wear it or, worse, loses it.

“I think it’s a common problem,” says Susan B. Anderson, a Madison, Wis., knitwear designer. “I’ve talked to quite a few knitters who have had that experience. I know one woman who said she’s only knitting for herself from now on.”

Knitting for yourself at least guarantees you’ll be giving your item to someone who will appreciate it.

Few of us could quit knitting for others entirely – knitters tend to be a hopeful and patient bunch, after all – but we could all do with a little self-doting, if just to remind ourselves of the value and elegance in our craft.

This is where the small-scale project, the weekender, comes in handy. An adult sweater can take weeks to complete for even the most diligent knitter who has nothing else to do. (And, really, do you know any knitter, or any modern human, like that?) Small items require the same skills as a large garment – stitching, shaping and finishing – but on a satisfyingly manageable scale. In a couple of weeks you can finish three nursery toys, a funky tea cozy and a clutch purse instead of two-thirds of a sweater.

The promise of instant gratification has turned designer Leigh Radford’s book, “One Skein” (2006, $19.95), into a phenomenon for Interweave Press, a small publishing house that specializes in craft books.

“It’s our biggest-selling title ever,” says Interweave publicist Jaime Guthals. “And it’s inspired this whole Internet community.”

The site www.oneskein.blogspot.com has entries and photos by knitters all over the world who have made Radford’s “One Skein” designs. There are tips on substituting yarns and suggestions for variations that give the items a personal twist.

Thanks in part to the success of “One Skein,” books about small, quick-to-knit projects are rejuvenating the craft publishing industry, which was flooded with titles as publishers tried to capitalize on the knitting and crocheting renaissance of the past five years.

Storey Publishing just released “One-Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn-Shop Favorites” ($18.95, 2007), featuring original designs from little yarn shops.

Apart from using up orphan yarn balls, the small one- or two-skein item you make entirely for yourself has other benefits:

-Polish your skills or accelerate your learning curve. Forgotten how to shape a V-neck? Finishing techniques need a tune-up? A doll sweater can help, and Barbie or Ken can wear it tonight.

New knitters who start small pick up skills faster and develop confidence to try complex designs by creative talents.

-Perfect your own designs. Maybe that fabulous wrap you created in a mohair/rabbit fur novelty yarn isn’t quite so fabulous when the thing’s wrapped around your neck and fur is drifting up your nose.

-Try something new. Felting, twisted stitches, cables, intricate colorwork – all can be done, and done quickly, on a small canvas.

-Luxury becomes affordable. Skeins of pure cashmere or exotic blends of bamboo, linen or alpaca can be exorbitant if purchased for a large project. But you might be able to swing a pair of classy fingerless gloves out of a ball or two of that $25-a-skein silk blend hand-painted in Wales.

Why not start now?