a fledgling maker’s christmas list

I’ll be honest right off the bat. The real motive for this post is so that my family knows exactly what I want for Christmas this year. This is my real, actual wish list, things I need and things I want. Scissors, calendars, pretty things, functional things, a dream of a weaving loom, some interchangeable knitting needles (wildly practical) a cookbook, some patterns, a french oven, a fry pan. I want to make things all 2017 long: food, clothes, socks, quilts.

Pictured above, my first Christmas gift to myself, a fabric remnant bundle from Sara Parker Textiles, a maker who hand prints fabric in Georgia. I met her at the Renegade Craft Fair yesterday after wandering the booths feeling unenthused. I found her booth like a beacon. Gorgeous fabric, intricate patterns, perfect colors, something real. So I bought myself some remnants to make some somethings with. Tiny bits for quilts, a patchwork pillowcase, napkins, who knows! The promise of it is the thing. A lot like Christmas.

I stood at her booth for a solid 15 minutes deliberating between five or six different bundles of fabric she had on hand, trying to pick the perfect combinations of fabrics, fantastically overwhelmed by the choice. I love the one I picked, and I can’t wait to use each of these little bits of fabric for something very special.

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For inspiration:

A Year Between Friends: 3191 Miles Apart by MAV and SCB

For food that feels possible:

Small Victories by Julia Turshen

Staub French Oven in Graphite

Zwilling Madura Plus Nonstick Frypan in 11″

Stoneware Pie Plate

For remembering what day it is:

2017 Calendar Tea Towel by Sara Parker Textiles

For filling in the gaps in my gear box:

These fancy Putford Scissors for snipping threads. (I like the pink!)

Gingher Dressmaker Shears for cutting fabrics

For stowing projects in:

Field Bag by Fringe Supply Co in natural.

For knitting with:

Clover Interchangeable Circular Knitting Needles in bamboo. Or these which are even more beautiful and amazing, but, sadly, out of stock. Or these on the higher end.

Black Stitch Markers. 

For sewing:

Grainline Studio’s Farrow Dress. 

Grainline Studio’s Scout Tee.

For intensely generous gift-givers:

Cricket Loom for learning to weave.

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This is my Christmas list this year. If I’m to be given a gift, I want it to be a useful one. Things to help me keep learning and growing. New projects to tackle, tools to use and use well, and guidance from people who know more than me. I have hope for 2017 after the slow-burning sadness of 2016. I refuse to believe that we are already doomed, even though bad news keeps coming and some of the initial refusal is dying down. It must not die down. 2017 will be a year for being loud, for making things, for standing for truth, for speaking into the void, not knowing anything of returns. A whole new year! A hopeful thing!

But, now, it’s still 2016, and it’s Christmas of all things. The jewel of the year. I’m sitting on my couch and it’s snowing the first big juicy flakes of winter and I can hardly believe it. I’m an adult, I have my own apartment, on my sewing table I’m making myself a tank top, I’ve knitted a sock and a sweater, Donald Trump will be the dang president of the United States, I’m making meatballs tonight, I’m in love with my husband, and very few things make sense. We are all just here, having Christmas together. It’s lovely, really, despite the blinking weirdness of the world.  It’s lovely if we let it be.