The other day my daughter asked me to knit her a pair of mittens that “look like bear paws. You know, with two colors so that when I hold up my hands they look like paw prints?”

Yes, yes, I do. My teeth ground slowly as I considered her request and thought of Mitten One just bound off for her Christmas gift, Mitten Two cast on only the night before. Knitting is like this. The process is slow, our minds change before we can finish a project. We must consider carefully the projects we undertake as each will be with us for many many hours, on the needles in hand. A knitted gift is more than an object, it represents the time a knitter is thinking about the recipient as the needles weave in and out. As we all know, time is the most precious commodity of all, something even the wealthiest cannot obtain in excess to store for later.

We’ve tried to eliminate some of the holiday stress with fun classes designed for gift giving - we hope even if the class schedule doesn’t work out for you, inspiration is found in some of the ideas. This Friday, December 11th from 12-6 at my house, we’ll be hosting a holiday shopping and party event. Some of our favorite Craftstitutes will be here with beautiful items they’ve made - Laura Rowley, Sarah Gotowka, Tiana Trost, our own Erika, as well old pre-Craftstitute friends, who hopefully will teach a class or two in the future. Come eat, drink, and be merry! Worry not if your shopping is complete, we would love to see you and say hello, so come check out lovely old woodwork.

Thank you for your friendship and support in this first crazy Craftstitute year. It’s hard to believe that we opened our doors in March; the experience and community we’ve discovered has been so wonderfully rich and fulfilling! We’ve learned a lot and hope to find other ways to support this fabulous creative community as we move into the new year.

-Robin

Gift Giving