Eugene Weekly‘s Gift Guide 2009:
Tak a Cup o’ Kindness Tippling under the tree
The Art of Holiday Shopping Campus museums make the season bright
Beyond Water Pipes Alterna gifts from the “pipe & tobacco” shops
Won’t You Light My Bike Tonight? Seasonal cycling gifts
Purl It Together The joys of fuzzy yarn shops
Plantin’ in the Rain Winter supplies to brighten a gardener’s heart
First Time’s A Charm Two artists take on the Holiday Market
Annex of Art DIVA delights in new holiday space
Purl It Together
The joys of fuzzy yarn shops
by Katie Wilson
After an Oregon City meth addict broke my passenger-side car window and stole my knitting needles, a half-made scarf and an extra ball of yarn, I gave up on knitting.
My logic was similar to: if God intended us to fly, he would have given us wings. Thus, if I were supposed to knit, I would have knitting needles instead of index fingers.
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| Knit Shop |
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| Soft Horizons |
While I’m still rabidly bitter about the whole event, I can once again appreciate knitting, mostly because knitting-related paraphernalia will make for killer gifts this holiday season.
I don’t know if it’s a requirement that all yarn shops are cozy, crowded rabbit warrens, but in Eugene it seems to be the way These Things are done. Soft Horizons Fibre at 412 E. 13 Ave and the Knit Shop at 2811 Oak St. are bursting with yarn and knitting-related products — floor to ceiling packed as tight as it all will go.
You can’t not touch things. This is what I adore about yarn shops. You are allowed (if not actually held at gun point and forced) to touch the merchandise: soft pillow piles of angora yarn that make you want to fall asleep and never (ever) leave, whorled crochet hooks that look more like chess pieces than yarn implements, hundreds of different yarns, each with their own peculiar feel. It’s crack cocaine for your fingers.
Soft Horizons carries handspun yarn from the Ozarks made out of mohair locks — $26.95 a skein. It’s like knitting with dreadlocks minus the human hair, human scalp and general human nastiness.
If you have a knitter in the family, SHF will make it easy for you to find a gift. Around this time of year, the store publishes a newsletter with gift ideas broken down by subject.
“Good holidays gifts: what people crave, but don’t usually indulge themselves in,” said owner Mona Rummel.
Such indulgences include hand knotted, made-up-of-20-different-yarns skeins; handcrafted yarns; “Absolutely Fabulous Throw Kits” of animal and vegetable fibers; all that good stuff. Or perhaps you could sign someone up for one of the many classes Soft Horizons offers. At the very least, buy someone a felted animal ornament, $15-$20, no knitting required.
Across town at the Knit Shop, they’ve got something every knitter needs: fabric/fiber wash for $3-$11.
For shoppers on a budget, Miriam Pike, who works at the Knit Shop, says stitch markers ($10-$11) are always a good idea as are Thergonomic Hand-Aids ($15.50), for knitters with constant or recurring wrist pains.
“I have a co-worker who swears by these,” she said. “They’re tight and provide warmth.”
My favorite item at the Knit Shop had to be the yarn made from yak down. Yaks! What’s not to love? If a skein of that showed up in my stocking this December, you can bet I’d pick up the knitting needles again.
Prices at both shops tend to be higher than the non-knitter might expect, but it’s the holiday season. Would you sooner buy a “fun size” packet of peanuts or bake a pie to shout out to someone how amazing they are?
While we’re being honest, the perfect gift is really just discovering a way to herd the people you love inside a yarn shop — blanket them in all the happy, warm fiber-ness.
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
That’s because of you!
Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.
Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.
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None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.
As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.
Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
P.S. If you’d like to talk about supporting EW, I’d love to hear from you!
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