We’re getting there – the time of year when people start to think about Christmas gifts, then forget, then panic and just buy something at the last possible second.  To help with this process, I’m going to talk about things crafters might like to receive as gifts.

I plan to do at least a couple of these posts – ideally one a week or so until the week Christmas. Because by that point, there’s no more options but gift certificates.  I’m a knitter, so that’s what I can speak to mostly.  However, as any of you that are multi-craftual know, a lot of the stuff you use for knitting can be used for other crafts as well.

So I’m going to start with one of the most common multi-use things: yarn.  If you are a crafter getting a gift for another crafter, you very likely have some idea of the other crafter’s taste in yarn.  For non-crafters buying yarn for crafters, this is a trip through the swamp of infinite peril.  Unless your crafter has specifically told you what they want, in the form of an annotated catalog or wishlist on a yarn shop website, it may be wisest to avoid this, at least in terms of giving a person a specific skein or two of yarn.

There are a lot of reasons for this.  Yarns come in a variety of weights and types and fibers.  There is also a wide range of yarn quality available.  Unless you are very clear as to what your crafter wants, you are much more likely to get this wrong than right.  And while no one likes to look a gift skein in the strands, there is a lot more yarn out there that your crafter doesn’t want than they do. Though it may not seem that way when you are looking at their stash.

One way around this is the yarn club subscription.  This works because you are giving your crafter an array of yarns, at least some of which they will probably like. There are quite a few of these out there – Jimmy Beans Wool has a couple different ones. Plenty of individual dyers have them as well, such as Madeline Tosh and Space Cadet and Hedgehog Fibers (though good luck getting a slot there) and Pancake and Lulu.  There have also been several companies over the years that do yarn subscription boxes, but they seem generally fraught with difficulties.  Mr. QuiteaYarn tried to give me a Knitcrate minis subscription two months before they stopped offering that subscription.   So he wound up giving me a Madelinetosh shawl subscription from Jimmy Beans and also an ombre minis subscription from Space Cadet.  I have enjoyed both of them quite a bit!  The yarn quality has been good, and they are nice sets.  I haven’t always loved the colors, but that’s the thing with subscriptions – you aren’t going to love everything, sadly.

Have you had a yarn subscription?  If so, did you like it or dislike it?  And also – what is your favorite crafting related gift to give or receive?