Atlas Insider: At the Craft Table

Hey all,

A certain amount of tomfoolery happens at the craft table in our mezzanine at MDK World Headquarters. There’s a jigsaw puzzle that’s been there at least four months. It has defeated us. There’s a pile of little plastic dots that somebody is halfway putting into some kind of grid, like a latter-day Lite Brite or—who knows?—maybe you put it in the oven and it shrinks?

And there’s a full-on floorplan for Nash Yarn Fest, created with so much care—and tiny pieces of paper representing booths, tables, food trucks—that it’s basically Ashley’s dollhouse.

Ashley and Allison, launching Nash Yarn Fest

The craft table is also where we’re trying to meet on Monday mornings. Everybody’s schedule varies, so it’s helpful when we’re all in one place, at one time—with Kay and Adrienne inside the Zoom window at the end of the table, gamely pretending they’re in the room with us.

We put the speaker in the middle of the Nash Yarn Fest floorplan, and off we go.

I mention this because it’s at this table that these folks—Allison, Ashe, Ashley, Chris, Emily, Hannah, Natasha, Adrienne, Kay, and DG even though he never sits at the craft table, ever—do things like figure out our Holiday Shop. They are extremely creative, irreverent, and opinionated about coffee.

There are a ton of moving parts when creating a collection like the Holiday Shop, and everybody had a hand in getting it all together.

We’re really proud of the Holiday Shop Lookbook—we wanted it to be a delicious little collection full of experiences and special things, something fun to use in finding gifts for the people in your life. And for yourself.

Today, in the calm before the gravy, we hope you’ll spend time with our lookbook.

And here’s a straightforward one-stop shop of the Holiday Shop if you want to get straight to ordering.

When it launched in late October, we were a) relieved and b) curious to see what things readers would go for. The response has been really fun to watch, and we’re heartened to see so many of you ordering. We’re already running low on some things, and lord knows it’s only going to get busier as the holidays approach.

Some of Our Favorites (They Are All Our Favorites)

We imagined these as things you’d get for yourself, as much as to give.

Wool Tincture Dyeing Bundle: Dip your toe into dipping yarn. Includes our Atlas yarn, so you know it’s gonna be nice.

Botanical Embroidery Kit: Learn to stitch with this kit, and you end up with a beautiful gift rather than some weird swatch you don’t know what to do with.

Steel Tool Carrier: Cute for toting your crafty supplies, sure. But it also serves as a genuine toolbox, for when you need a hammer and you need it now.

Naomi Nesting Bowls Kit: Make these small bowls a) to learn a new craft and b) to give to your sister to show her how crafty you really are.

Julie Rosvall Knit Print Cards: This Nova Scotia artist works with knitted lace, and we love the sophisticated look of these notes.

Kiriki Animal Embroidery Kit: It’s their faces that get us. Hello, selkie. Hi, moth.

Kinua Blanket of Joy Bundle: We saw this tender organic Peruvian cotton, dyed with natural materials, and we were all “the newborns of the world need this to be a blanket.”

See you all soon—Kate Atherley’s class on reading patterns and charts on Friday was great. Our next virtual event is coming up on Friday, December 6, as Felix Ford—the kindest of the kind—guides us through the fine and forgiving art of bullet journaling. Details and sign up are here, and order up a bullet journal here if you need a shiny new one, so you can be ready for the year ahead.

Love,

Ann