Can It Be "Uncool"?

My boyfriend of 4 years is utterly convinced that most people, especially young men and teenagers, don't think knitting and crochet gifts are "cool." I was thinking of a quick gift idea for the teenage cousins of a friend of mine, since we'll be having dinner with them on X-Mas Eve. They are very smart and a bit eclectic, so I though they would appreciate a nice hand-made accessory. So I opted to make a cellphone/ MP3 player case for the 17 year-old Thomas and a headband for Megan, who is 15. I shared my ideas with my BF and he basically said that they would never use them because knitted and crocheted accessories for teenagers are not cool. I couldn't believe it. Has he not seen all the volumes of hip new designs on my bookshelf? Does he have such little faith in my ability to choose good gifts (I am a pretty good gift selector, if I do say so myself)?? I even started to suspect that my assumption of knitting and crochet being cool has been cruelly thrust upon me by the yarn industry and knit/crochet designers.

I was a bit irked by he assertion, but then I realized why he likely thought such things. As a teen in the late '90's, knitting and crochet were for old ladies, not teenagers and twenty-somethings. Grandmas would make or buy frumpy sweaters in obnoxious colors and gaudy cables. And don't forget the doilies. I can remember being in junior high wearing bright orange, turquois, teal, or purple cable-knit sweaters, handed down from my sisters who wore them 5 or 6 years earlier. I kinda liked them then, but once I got to high school, I wouldn't be caught dead in them. The ol' BF was quite the goth back in the day: long hair, black clothes, make-up, and a Cure fan. Of course! Since he didn't like that stuff at their age, he thus assumes that they won't either (BTW they are not goth). And because he and his friends would've made fun of stuff like that, he assumes that their friends would make fun as well.

Still he had a point, what if they didn't like it? What if I pick the wrong colors of it just isn't their style? So I decided on a non-accessory, but I didn't have the time for a scarf and I'm a bit bored of the boy beanie from the Happy Hooker book. So I was cruising through www.crochetme.com and I found the perfect idea: amigurumi dolls! They'are fast & easy, yet new and fun. I already have the head and torso complete. I should have the other done before X-Mas Eve dinner.