Yarn Pirate Shop →

then you should buy handmade.

Lots of people are making the pledge to buy handmade this holiday season.  There are plenty of good reasons to make gifts yourself or buy handmade gifts.  I do it because I like to support other crafters and artists, and because I hate going to the mall. 

Last year almost all of my holiday gifts were handmade.  A few were made by me, but most of them were purchased on etsy or at local craft shows.  Making gifts myself is something I truly enjoy.  Finding the time for it in the last year or so has been tough.  This year, thanks to my employee and my sister (both are excellent yarn helpers!) I have more time for making things, but sadly I am lacking the energy.  So three cheers for etsy!  Not only can I buy fabulous, unique handmade gifts, but I can do it all from my couch in between naps.

Here are some of my favorite etsy sellers.  I will attempt to organize them.  Oh wait.  First of all let me toot my own horn.  You know what makes a great gift for any knitter?  Yarn Pirate knitting needles. 

I have lots available, and in different sizes.  If you don’t see a size you like, email me and I can probably have Mr. Yarn Pirate make them for you.  How about some needles and a very special ball of yarn?  Something handspun (there are LOTS of great spinners on etsy) or something luxurious, like alpaca or cashmere?  That would be a spectacular gift.

Since I have babies on the brain, how about some cool baby stuff?  Babies appreciate handmade gifts.  Their moms do too.  Pearly Grey makes the COOLEST bibs out of very hip fabric.  I should know, I have about 10,000 of them.  She also makes burp cloths and blankies.  She does beautiful work too.  Everything is perfectly finished and very professional looking.  Just Kiddin makes super cute fabric baby shoes and overalls.  I’ve bought a few things for H from her and I am always very impressed with her work.  Look at these pirate overalls!!!  I think I’m going to have to buy them, unless one of H’s grannies is reading this…  Mamamonkey makes onsies with funny things printed on them.  I think every baby should have this one. 

For the fiber obsessed, you should check out Terrabellaspun for handspun and the most gorgeous spinning batts.  Middle Kingdom Fiber is a shop that just opened.  She’s still “undiscovered”, which means you can be the first of your friends to show off the gorgeous things you buy from her.  Lookie what I got last weekend:

I’m going to spin it into a nice, chunky 2 ply and knit H a Christmas hat to wear next year.  Lucky for me he will still be too little to complain about wearing festive holiday hats.  I’m also drooling over this roving.

What about gifts for the fiber freak who already has everything?  How about a Wool Pets needle felting kit?  Needle felting is really fun!  There are two new holiday kits in her shop, a snowman and a polar bear.  She also sells the cutest little felt sculptures, like this sheep.  Have you all seen the knitware pottery?  Alyssa Ettinger makes beautiful porcelain pieces with knitted “fabric” on them.  I bought a vase from her last year, and I love it.  Now she’s making these cute little necklaces and holiday ornaments.  What a lovely gift for a knitting friend!

This post is getting kinda long, so I think I’ll stop for now.  I’ll have more shopping ideas for you on Monday. 

Here’s my secret crochet project.  A ripple blanket!  I started one for our bed a while back, but I lost interest in it.  It was just SOOOOOO big.  I pulled it all out.  A baby blanket is a much nicer size to work with.  I’m using Knit Picks Shine, which is making a very easy job of all these double crochets.  The yarn is so smooth.  I can really crank out the ripples. 

I bought the yarn over a year ago.  I was thinking of making a mitered square blanket, but then I came to my senses.  I hate seaming and weaving in ends.  I love how they look, but a mitered square blanket is not a realistic project for me.  I’m picking colors at random for the ripples and so far I love how it looks.  I figure I’ve got about 1/3 of it done. 

We’re expecting a “big” winter storm this weekend.  We don’t get a ton of snow where I live, so when snow is in the forecast it always gets everyone in a tizzy.  Seriously, if we get an inch of snow all the schools close and the city shuts down until it melts.  I’m looking forward to curling up on the couch with my ripple blankie this weekend, watching an inch or two of snow fall, and decorating the Christmas tree. 

Sarah hosted a lovely baby shower for me over the weekend.  My sister helped with the planning, and they did such a great job.  You can see a few pictures on Sarah’s blog, and I made a flickr set as well.  If you’re looking for pictures of me, don’t bother.  I have banned them from the internet.  As much as I love being pregnant, I don’t really love how I look.  I think I probably look ok, but the hormones are making me incredibly irrational.  I know I’m irrational because the song “Cat’s in the Cradle” has made me spotaneously weep not once but twice in the last week.  Also, when I walk by someone who is smoking I feel like they are doing it to purposely inflict harm on my child, and I want to kill them.  See, that’s irrational.

My family and friends gave us so many thoughtful gifts.  You can see all of them in the flickr set.  I decided to post a few of the hand made things here.  My mom just got back from Peru.  While she was there she paid a local woman to knit some things out of natural colored baby alpaca.  Along with the things pictured above, she brought back a sweater, some pants, and a bunting.  They are all so soft and cuddly. 

Here we have the coolest baby blanket ever.  This was made by Kate, who drove all the way from Canada to come to my shower.  This is just a giant granny square (yep, that means crochet) made out of left over bits of sock yarn.  She even used a few of my colorways.  There are 3… see if you can find them!   

This blanket has totally renewed my interest in crochet.  The other night I was in bed, almost asleep when I had a sudden urge to crochet.  I did what any normal person would do.  I got out of bed, dug around in my stash for some yarn, found a crochet hook and got to work.  2 hours later I had a project well underway.  I’m revealing the project at knit night on Thursday.  I hope they don’t kick me out for bringing a hook into the mix!

I can’t believe December is almost here!  I think I’ll put together another guide to buying hand made for the holidays.  I’ve discovered lots of great etsy shops since last year.  Check back on Friday for the official Yarn Pirate Gift Guide and my top secret crochet project.

Ok.  All of the missing labels were printed and I am headed to the post office now.

I’ve gotten several panicy emails today from people wanting me to double check that their info was found.  Every single person I double checked was accounted for, so please try not to worry about it!  I have a master list on paper, which is how I knew there were missing addresses in the first place.  It seems like Click n Ship shipping notices are not showing up right away, so give it some time if you haven’t gotten yours yet.  If you haven’t heard anything  by tomorrow, double check that your subscription is still active and email me. 

Oh, and there are 5 people whose addresses were “incorrect” by post office standards.  This hapens every month, and it’s usually the same people.  Those people will get an email from me and your packages will be addressed by hand.

I am taking everything to the post office NOW.  After that, I’m heading to the grocery store to prepare for Thanksgiving.  Then I am going to start baking pies and cleaning the house.  I can’t promise that I will be able to respond to emails right away, but I’ll check my email once or twice tonight and try to answer any questions or concerns people have.

thanks!!!