Red Gate Stitchery – The Lyf So Short

Yesterday I offered some ideas for knitting gifts and today I’ll be offering up some needlework treats. Finding needlework gifts is a little more difficult since the gadgets and paraphernalia are so much simpler, cheaper, and lasting. For instance, usually, there’s no need to buy new floss with every project like there is to buy new yarn, and if you’re like me, you have enough patterns, linens, and flosses to last you through to the end of the Ivanka Trump administration (shudder). Still, I doubt a gift certificate to The Silver Needle or 123Stitch (my new favorite–every pattern also lists the necessary fabric and flosses so you can order them all at once. Heads up, Silver Needle!) would go unused or unappreciated. Best of all would be to buy a gift certificate for your LNS (local needlework store). Shop local!

Before I present the list, I’d like to add that I did try to find needlework gifts for the many of you out there who do not celebrate Christmas. To say the process was frustrating is an understatement. If you are not at least culturally Christian but want holiday-themed designs, I’m sorry to say that you are going to have a difficult time if my searches are anything to go by. Of course, not all of the gifts below are explicitly Christmas-themed, but if any of you have any ideas where else to look, I’d love to hear from you.

Here goes…

At the top of every stitcher’s list this year has got to be the new set of flosses from DMC. You can read my review here. As of the time of this blog post, most of the stores were still taking names for the waiting list, but let’s hope that situation breaks soon. Even DMC doesn’t have any available until January 2018.

New DMC Colors 2017 — And yes, like Veruca Salt, I want it now, gold box included.

DMC’s ever-popular stitchable faux leather cuffs now come with Christmas patterns.

While Katrinkles products are usually marketed at knitters, I think stitchers would enjoy their ornaments, buttons, and other little wooden treasures as well.

In keeping with the wooden ornament theme, one of my favorite stores is Red Gate Stitchery. Susan Fitzgerald, the creator of Red Gate Stitchery, says that her goal was to design “a line of cross stitch accessories in unconventional materials like wood, leather, and acrylic…. combining the traditional art of cross stitch with unexpected and modern materials.” The pieces are, in fact, “fun and easy to stitch” (you can see a blurry picture of the flag of Ireland key chain/memory stick fob I made for the 2017 Craft Month Challenge below the pictures of some of her Nordic-inspired Christmas designs). Trust me, these few pictures don’t even begin to do justice to jewelry, buttons, pendants, pictures, floss holders, and other bits and bobs they offer on their Etsy store.

Of course, if you’re looking for fancy embroidery scissors, thread keeps, thread winders, and other assorted beautiful (but not strictly necessary) cross stitch gadgets, you should really check out Kelmscott Designs. These gadgets would make lovely little extravagances for someone you know who cross stitches but you’re pretty sure they have all they need.

Well, that’s it for now. Frankly, this was a difficult post to write. There simply aren’t a lot of cross stitch-inspired gifts out there. If you are considering treating the cross stitcher in your life, you might be better off just going with a gift certificate to the LNS. Take him/her out for a nice lunch and some floss-shopping.

*The Management apologizes for all the recent Christmas puns. Those responsible have been sacked. Mynd you, m00se bites Kan be pretty nasti …

**We apologize again for the fault in the post-script. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.

The best of Game of Thrones knitting. Winter is coming. So you’d better start knitting.
Dude, where’s my yarn? Ashton Kutcher knits mutant onesie in latest Lenovo television ad.
The unlikely resurgence of pixel art. Can a cross stitch renaissance be far behind?
And speaking of a cross stitch resurgence, I love the Red Gate Stitchery Etsy shop because it’s doing something different with cross stitch. These little necklace, cuff, and earring kits would make wonderful introductions to cross stitch for beginners — big stitches, quick results, and a tangible, wearable reward at the end. The designer’s home page even has a “Resources” link with a cross stitch tutorial for beginners and downloadable templates so you can chart your own designs.

Cross Stitch Leather Cuff by Red Gate Stitchery

This Etsy shop, stedi, is also doing some colorful and unusual things with cross stitch and wood, and even copper (see below). On a personal note, I have this some copper pot. My mother brought it back with us from Germany where my father was stationed in the 1970s. I have to admit it never would have occurred to me to decorate it with delft blue cross stitch but I admire the kind of “thinking outside the box” that this crafter promotes. It’s hard to think of new ways to display cross stitch.

And I just stumbled upon another Etsy shop, eWood Story, that’s selling some very unusual and beautiful Art Nouveau-style necklace kits featuring a combination of woodwork and crochet. More photos are available on Websta.

Art Nouveau Crochet and Wood Necklace Kit by eWood Story

And in my own stitching universe… I have started my October project for the 2014 Smalls SAL (icon in the right-hand column). I chose “Not Forgotted” by Plum Street Samplers, from the 2012 Just Cross Stitch Special Halloween Issue. Actually, interesting side note — the chart is actually not available in the Just Cross Stitch issue because it was somehow accidentally left out. Just Cross Stitch used to have a special page on their site where you could download the missing pattern, but that page seems to have disappeared. I happened to have downloaded the pattern just in time. If anyone out there knows where to find it, let me know and I will pass the information along. Thanks!

That’s it for now — I hope you enjoy the new spooky look. Happy stitching to everyone!