I'll be honest--I know much less about crochet than I do about knitting. There are plenty of crochet techniques, such as filet or Tunisian, that I've never even done before. And in all honesty, switch a hook for the knitting needles and my knitting gift guide might end up working pretty well. However, there are tons of fun little crochet doodads that are pretty exclusive to the craft. Such as...
Now, don't get me wrong. Vintage .pdf knitting patterns abound on Etsy, eBay, and other independent sites. But they just don't have the same fun kitschiness that vintage crochet patterns have.The abundance of granny squares, bright colors, and smiling faces make me want to time travel right back to the late sixties and seventies. Most .pdf patterns on Etsy and eBay retail for less than five dollars, and from what I can tell, paper patterns run the same amount. You might even get lucky at a local thrift store.
Most of these are .pdfs, but a few of them are actual copies.
I'd frame them if I could. In fact, that would make a great gift for lonely crochet patterns. If you buy a pdf pattern, you might be able to print the cover image on nice photo paper to frame as a gift later.
Hooks
Unlike knitting needles where you have two--or sometimes more!--crochet is a single-hook endeavor. And there are a LOT of cool crochet hooks out there, if I say so myself.
Crochet, like knitting needles, offers an astounding array of tool sizes depending on the yarn or thread used. The smaller hooks are steel, the larger hooks can be aluminum, plastic, bamboo, or any other material.
There are lots of pretty yarn kits, but I think these boxed collections from Knit Picks are lovely and so full of color! You can also make your own "gift box" of an assortment of less-expensive yarns in your giftee's favorite color and fiber.
In addition to these gifts, a lot of the gift ideas on my knitting gift guide would work just as well...just make sure to use hooks instead of needles!
Unlike skills like spinning or weaving where there are a lot of tools to choose from, knitting is pretty simple. To knit, you need two things: needles and yarn. Stitch markers, ball winders, project bags, cable needles, and patterns might help, but I've managed to do just fine without all of these for my entire knitting career.
So, without further adieu, here is my gift guide for knitters!
Gifts less than $10
Stitch Markers
Surprisingly, you can get a lot of knitting gifts for under $10. While I don't use stitch markers, most stitch markers on Etsy are less than $10, and can be pretty cute! These also come with the satisfaction of supporting crafters on Etsy.
Yes, it is possible to get yarn for less than $25. In fact, you can probably get several balls of yarn for $25 from some retailers--certainly enough for a small project. (KnitPicks and Patons Classic Wool come to mind). But for luxury yarns from smaller brands, $25 is a pretty good limit for a skein or two.
Patons Classic Wool--Michael's and JoAnn's sells this, and you can usually get a pretty good deal with coupons.
Besides KnitPicks and your local chain craft store, Jimmy Beans Wool and Webs have a pretty good selection. There are also smaller companies online. And if you're into Etsy, there are lots of people selling both hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn.
And don't forget to check out your local yarn store if you have one! It's full of knowledgeable people that are more than happy to help you with a gift. Again, Ravelry is pretty good if you need help locating a local yarn store.
Gifts for $50-$100+
Needle Sets
This is where the knitting needle sets come in.
I actually have two from eKnittingNeedles, one single-point (seen above, retails for $24.99) and one circular. I've found out that I don't really use anything but tiny, tiny double-pointed needles and a janky homemade knitting sheath, but it's nice having both sets available for knitting blankets and bigger projects.
The bamboo ones work great for me, but a lot of people really like interchangeable circular needles. There are several different brands, but Addi Click, Denise, and Knit Picks seem to be the most popular.
If you get these yarns, they are oiled for industrial knitting, so remember to tell your gift-ee that they can knit with the oil still on the yarn and block after, or wind the yarn off the cone into a hank and block it before you knit; the yarn will then bloom, but it will not be as easy to block.
Other Tools
Speaking of cones, hanks, and balls, most knitting stores online and brick-and-mortar have swifts and ball-winders available. This will also help your knitter if s/he decides to be a spinner (the gift guide for that will be coming up in a few days)!
For more specialized tools (like extra-tiny knitting needles or nostepinnes), sites like Lacis and Mielke's Fiber Arts have a pretty good selection. There are also lots of specialty Etsy sellers retailing specific gifts. And if you're a skilled woodworker (or metalworker), you can make knitting needles, yarn swifts, nostepinnes, or anything else!
And finally...
Books and Patterns
I'll be honest, I'm not really the right person to ask for this question. I tend to Frankenstein patterns from various elements I've seen. But there are TONS and TONS and TONS of knitting patterns available from Etsy sellers, Amazon, local bookstores, chain bookstores, local yarn stores, Ravelry...EVERYWHERE. When I was first starting to knit, my mom loaned me her copy of Stitch 'n Bitch, which is a GREAT beginner's book (and my mom was a great teacher!).
Hopefully this will get you started!
Quick note: I am not affiliated with any of these retailers!
So you know a fiber artist (I hate that phrase, but I'll use it because it's easier than saying "spinner/knitter/weaver/crocheter/rug hooker/Kumihimo braider/etc."!) and you want to get them something related to their preferred craft. Unfortunately, as someone who doesn't partake in these activities (though you should try!), you have no idea where to start. Hopefully this guide will get you started!
Knitters, spinners, crocheters, and weavers are pretty hard people to gift. The highly specialized nature of the craft, as well as the fact that most products are created by small producers, means you can't just go into a local store and pick something out like you would for a film aficionado or heavy reader. (Obviously there are exceptions to this, but go with me here.) As fiber artists' skills advance, their tastes become more specific. For example, I can't count how many people have sworn they would never knit with cotton or acrylic. Unfortunately, this is the type of yarn most commonly sold in chain stores.
Painting by Albert Anker
Let me reiterate: sometimes there is nothing better than just asking someone what they want. But if you want to surprise them, make sure to do your research. See if they have a Ravelry profile and look at the type of things they like to knit, spin, or crochet. If they knit in public, ask some questions about their knitting. If they wear their knitted accessories, look at the weight of yarn they've used (check here for standards, although nothing compares to looking and feeling yarn!).
I've been working with yarn for over five years, and while I'm by no means an expert on all fiber crafts, I think I've picked up some info that might be useful for gifters!
I have a confession to make: I love Harris Tweed. I love that somewhere in Scotland, people are hand-weaving great quantities of cloth. What I love even more is the increased demand for Harris Tweed on both the high street (as in the case of Topman) and the runways. Coco Chanel was a big fan of tweed. Like her jersey, it was a fabric borrowed from men's workwear, ready for rough-and-tumble. Harris Tweed is at home in lap blankets, on Nike shoes, and in Vivienne Westwood's designs. It's incredibly versatile. It's wool (always a plus). It's got character. And it's warm.
The history of Harris Tweed is quite interesting as well:
During the economic difficulties of the Highland potato famine of 1846-7, Catherine Murray, Countess of Dunmore, was instrumental in the promotion and development of Harris Tweed as a sustainable and local industry. Recognising its sales potential, she had the Murray family tartan copied in tweed by the local weavers and suits were made for the Dunmore estate gamekeepers and gillies. Proving a success, Lady Dunmore sought to widen the market by removing the irregularities caused by dyeing, spinning and weaving (all done by hand) in order to bring it in line with machine-made cloth. She achieved this by organising and financing training in Alloa for the Harris weavers and by the late 1840s a London market was established which led to an increase in sales of tweed.
With the industrial revolution the Scottish mainland turned to mechanisation, but the Outer Hebrides retained their traditional processes of manufacturing cloth. Until the middle of the 19th century the cloth was only produced for personal use within the local market. It was not until between 1903 and 1906 that the tweed-making industry in Lewis ;significantly expanded. Production increased until the peak figure of 7.6 million yards was reached in 1966. However the Harris Tweed industry declined along with textile industries in the rest of Europe. Harris Tweed has survived because of its distinctive quality and the fact that it is protected by an act of Parliament limiting the use of the Sovereign's Orb trademark to tweeds made in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The Hattersley Domestic itself.
But loving Harris Tweed isn't enough. In an ideal world, I would travel to the isles of Lewis and Harris and learn to weave. Maybe I will, someday. In the meantime, I'll sit and admire--maybe even purchase--the Hattersley Domestic Loom.
The Harris Tweed industry wouldn't exist without the Hattersley Domestic. Geo. Hattersley itself has a pretty unique history, and while it no longer produces the sheer array of looms it produced in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the company still exists. Many tweed weavers have replaced their Hattersleys with the new Bonas-Griffith loom--a newer rapier loom that's still pedal-powered, but produces a lighter, double-width fabric. But like all Hattersley weavers say, the Hattersley Domestic--each Hattersley Domestic--has its own unique character. I like that.
The Hattersley Domestic Loom is not a single entity, however; like most looms, it comes with an ensemble of other machines dedicated to pirn-winding and warping. You can see those below.
Warping mill
Pirn winder
When the Domestic Loom was released, a dobby loom soon followed, but it was never as popular. The pedals were apparently difficult to treadle, but more importantly, the production of Harris Tweed did not require the extra functions that a dobby head provided.
The less popular Hattersley Domestic Dobby loom.
In all honestly, my "dream loom" would probably be a bit wider, and a dobby head wouldn't be so bad. But like my earlier post, the Hattersley Domestic Loom is a fascinating product representative of the intersection between home production and industrial output. The loom is also a testament to the tenacity of traditional skills. In short, I'm in love.
Bonus! Here's a video of a Hattersley Domestic in motion. I love the clackity-clack!
In addition to being interested in the processes of hand-spinning and hand-weaving, I'm also interested in the place in between domestic textile production and industrial textile production. You can still see this in places like India, where there is an entire movement behind home-spun and hand-woven, but in Western countries (like the United States), this period of transition happened during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As I wish to increase my output of yarn, early inventions like the spinning jenny and the water frame are of great interest to me, especially if they are hand-powered. Don't get me wrong, I love wheel and spindle spinning as much as the next person, but sometimes an increase in efficiency would be nice! This article (pdf warning) describes the Industrial Revolution in miniature, and compares the contemporary ambar charkha to the earlier spinning jenny.
The machine, which I encountered on one of my many adventures through handweaving.net, is a bit more of a mystery to me. While the spinning jenny and water frame are very well-documented, the only information I can find on the machine described above is from this broadside. A very similar ad appears in The Pittsburgh Gazette published on May 27, 1814. I have searched high and low for patent information, but cannot seem to find any. With help from the inflation calculator, the machine would cost ~$527 today--less than most spinning wheels! I suspect it was much like a spinning jenny or perhaps the water frame; from the description of it being "about the size of a bed", I'd guess it was more like a jenny than the frame.
If you know any more information on this machine, I would really appreciate it!
In the meantime, enjoy these lovely photos of early spinning equipment! (I admit I got a bit carried away!)
Right now I'm primarily spinning on a suspended spindle using American wool. I like to tell myself that I'm spinning for weaving, but I have no idea if I'll ever get to that point. At any rate, I'm spinning fairly firm yarns at about a 40 wraps-per-inch grist, which comes out to be lace weight, apparently.
I tried making my own spindles today, but they're too light. I can't get the right momentum. I guess I'm fine with my Ashford spindle for now, but I would like some more variety.
However, I was happily reunited with wool today. I just wish I could spin it faster! So I suppose at some point I'll be blogging about my attempt to build an e-spinner. I have all the components sorted out, basically, I just need to get it together. And whenever I think I have something figured out, something else comes up right after it. I am truly hopeless when it comes to electronics.
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