Gift Guide

Below is a list of some of my favorite tools and brands to help you find the perfect gift for the crafter in your life!

Gifts for Crafty People

Craftlit is one of my favorite podcasts! It is hosted by Heather Ordover who began the podcast back in 2007. Anyone can listen to the regular feed for free by going to https://craftlit.com/library/ or YouTube. Each episode begins with “crafty chat” on a variety of topics including knitting, weaving, sewing, crocheting, and quilting. Then Ordover gives some literary and historic background to the chapter(s) that follow. As a literature history nerd, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Craftlit! There is also a premium feed for paid subscribers which you can access in a few ways including at Supercast which gives you the option to gift a subscription.

Knitting

What Would Madam Defarge Knit and the subsequent books in the series have clever, literature inspired patterns. The series is an offshoot of Craftlit.

Pacific Knit Cois one of my favorite knitting companies, although I do not agree with the company’s anti-pro life stance on political issues. I love PKC patterns because the colorwork charts are meant to be interchangeable so that you can use practically any charts with any base pattern. The chart patterns come in both digital and physical format. I like the cards because they are small and can be tucked into my knitting bag.

Some of my favorite PCK items are

  • Doodle Knit Directory: this is a book that includes the base patterns and 200 doodles.

  • Rhinebeck Doodle: this one has yarn themed doodles.

  • Sports Doodle: I used the basketball chart to make an RCA basketball hat. I learned I need to space the letters out more so that there is no question as to if it is supposed to say RCA, CAR, or ARC.

Some items on my list to add to my collection are

Crochet

Chiagoo Shorties are great for sock knitters. I did not buy them for a while because they are so costly and was afraid they would not be worth it, but now that I have bought them and used them, they are the best set of interchangeable knitting needles! The cable and needle join seamlessly so that there is no snagging!

They can be found in several locations:

Susan Bates Crochet Hooks are my favorite because I like the way the hook is shaped and I find it easier to push through stitches and pull the yarn through than other more rounded hooks. Then can be found at Michaels and Amazon, and possibly at your local yarn store.

Journey Chanel Designsby Anastasia Smith has elegant, size inclusive designs. I have test crochet several of her patterns including the Royal Shrug and Date-night Blouse

Yarn

Cozy Color Works is one of my favorite yarn dyers. I met the owner, Sandy, and a trunk show at my local yarn store. Her assigned pooling and bright side yarns are designed for people who are skilled knitters, but have trouble following written patterns due to brain differences. For these yarns the color change indicates the stitch change. CCW partnered with Chic and Regal Knits for the Barbie Chic Shawl that I wrote about in my “Barbie Girl” blog post.

Cape May Fiber is another one of my favorite yarn brands. I met the owner, Vanessa, a few years ago at Ewenited Stitches. I love her ocean themed yarns! I test knit her Seashell Pullover design and used that pattern mixed with some doodles to make the Polar Bear Pullover.