Katie: Jim, the crafting countdown begins as we enter December and time is ticking short on how much time you have left to finish everyone's gifts.
Jim: Tick tok tick tok!. Happy holidays.
Light From Lantern presents: Knit A Spell.
I'm magical maker: Katie Rempe.
And I'm the maker of magic: James Divine.
Join us as we stitch together the symbiotic relationship between crafting and 'The Craft'.
Jim: This is why the holidays have the pressure on them. Shouldn't the holidays be the time of like relaxation and enjoyment and just enjoying time with people. No, it's this pressure. Where does this pressure come from? Obligation. And, ah!
Katie: Yes, and over commitment because perhaps like many of us, you're new into some sort of craft or hobby or lifestyle and you decide, everyone I know needs to be involved in this, and so I need to craft for them one of X this year.
Jim: And I think one of the things is to remember this is sometimes rooted in the fantasy of the holidays. Yeah. This Hallmark movie type, BS capitalist inspired, perfection of everyone opens a perfect gift with this hand knitted Merino wool scarf that I made for everyone.
Jim: Yes, everyone gets one in their perfect color and all the tassels are combed out and it's this impossible task.
Jim: Katie, have you ever felt compelled to, and maybe being compelled is because you have love for everyone and you have the spirit of Santa.
Jim: It's early December, you're a pretty fast knitter. Right! You could blow through what, 17-20 scarves between now and Christmas. You could probably right.
Katie: Perhaps if it was all I did with the right choices of material, that could materialize.
Jim: So if you were at more of an immature mindset, yes. You might overcommit and say, oh yeah, 20 people, 20 scarves in 20 days.
Katie: No problem. That's a whole day of scarf. Come on. How much time could I possibly need? Jim, this is like ringing a little bit true for me personally because I was one of those people who when they started knitting, said, everyone's getting a scarf this year.
Katie: But I did not know how long does a scarf actually take? And how does that get affected by how thick the yarn actually is? So I didn't really realize any of these things. And so of course the day before I had one and a half done and a lot of guilt and disappointment in my mind, even though most of those people didn't even know they were getting anything.
Jim: So talk to me about the weight. A thicker weight. Yes. To make a scarf faster. Is that how it works?
Katie: Exactly. So think of how big a scarf can be. If what you're already starting with is a thick yarn, then you have to knit less to make the finished product.
Katie: Oh, yeah. So had I know,
Jim: yeah, exactly. Get a big bulky yarn and hand knit a scarf in three hours and you're done.
Katie: Yes. Or a crochet.
Jim: Get that fine yarn that you use for socks and you're screwed. You'll make one. That's right.
Jim: You'll make one scarf in a month.
Katie: We all know knitting is like my forte craft. And so because of that I have a little bit of experience on realistically how long something might take. So for all of those craft minded, ambitious people, let me just break this down for you to think about for you plan accordingly so you can actually have a life.
Katie: I don't wanna make 17 scarfs in 17 days. Come on! My hands don't fall right off.
Jim: You don't have anything else to do running your own business or eating or sleeping or anything or walking the dog?
Jim: You're not one of those Santa's elves.
Katie: Unfortunately. No, I don't believe so.
Katie: So let's consider how long something might take to make lots of new crafters, whether you're knitter, crochet, or a weaver might consider doing like a scarf because it's something that they learn to do.
Katie: But in my eyes, it's one of the most tedious projects to make. Think of something that's smaller, but still very useful. Think of a hat. You could probably make four or five hats in the same time as one scarf.
Katie: Think smart with your crafts.
Jim: That is smart. All smart. I would wear a hat more often than a scarf.
Katie: Yeah, or even think of like fingerless gloves. You can make those really easily.
Katie: People love them. They're easy to work with. And you could whip one of those up, especially with some thicker yarn. Again, a weekend project. Do it with a bunch of leftover yarns. You don't even have to buy extra.
Jim: Right, cuz fingerless gloves are basically a tube with strategically placed holes.
Jim: That's right. You don't have to do the weird like thumb and fingers and all that.
Katie: Lots of creative solutions around that. Yeah.
Jim: Yeah.
Katie: Okay. . Yep. Smart.
Katie: When it comes to socks, in the sock weight yarn, that could take maybe two weeks or more. I've had some, take me like a month if the design is really intricate and I need to concentrate in order to do it.
Katie: Guess what I don't have a lot of during this time of year: concentration. If somebody needs something for their feet, consider like a short slipper option instead. Instead of using thin fingering weight yard, use a bulky weight yard.
Katie: It'll make up really fast and it'll be nice and cushy for those cooler nights.
Jim: I need a pair of slippers, although slippers can be very slippery. Yes. So I always think about the hot glue thing on the bottom, or doing something to make 'em stick to the floor a little bit.
Katie: That's actually a great tip. You could use poofy paint like the fabric paint. Mm. Hot glue, like you said. That's a great idea. Those are great options if you have a lot of hardwood or slippery surfaces in your house, definitely do that.
Katie: I could go on and on and, is a sweater maybe the best idea to commit to at this time of year? Maybe next year.
Jim: So what's your advice? I am a beginner knitter, but I'm decent at knitting or crochet, if you're working at the yarn shop. Yeah. What would be your sagely advice for me? Like I wanna make some cute holiday handmade things.
Jim: Maybe I could do coasters or pot holders or hats?
Katie: Coffee cozies. Those are really fun. Okay. Cause then you can kind of decorate them. You could, yeah. Put people's initials on there. Or you could put like little wreaths on there.
Jim: Would I create one and then from that do like actual math and then figure out okay, how many of these can I do? Is that what you would recommend?
Katie: Yes, absolutely. And just consider after you do one or two, you'll probably get a little faster, you'll know how much time to expect.
Katie: You can put aside that time and your fingers will know what to do. It won't be that discovery process anymore. So you'll be a little more automatic.
Katie: But also consider over time hand fatigue. So if you're trying to crank out like 10 of these in four days, it's gonna take a toll on your physical person too.
Jim: I'm going to say you won't get faster because we're gonna get closer to the holidays and there's gonna be more things demanding your time and just measure and yes, keep it easy. Okay, so these are some great ideas.
Jim: There's other things besides, fiber arts that people might wanna give if that becomes too much.
Jim: We were both thinking about some other magical gifts as well that we can make.
Katie: Oh, yeah. Always comes to mind. Candles.
Jim: Oh my gosh, yes. So when we think about candles, of course you can make candles. And one of the coolest ways to make candles is to meltdown wax and pour wax into glass jars. You can order glass jars online and fill them and I always recommend a natural wax, like soy wax or a natural wax of bees. Wax can be expensive but awesome. Use a natural wax. I don't recommend using paraffin because it is a petroleum product. However you can, if you wish.
Jim: Or another way to do it is to roll beeswax, sheets into candles. Oh. And that's a great way to make candles for people. So these are two ways to make your own candles. You can put a very tiny amount of herbs in the base of a candle or within the candle, or at once the candle's dried at the very top. You can tie those with a little ribbon and put intention into them.
Jim: You can put a drop of essential oil or magical oil in the candle.
Jim: One of the cool things about making a candle, I should say, is you can make many at once. It's a big batch process, and so you spend a single day and you make 15, 20 candles all at once.
Jim: Yeah. If you don't have the gumption to spend an entire day making those candles, you can purchase candles in bulk. Buy a dozen or two dozen candles. And then you can dress them or, charge them in some way and then wrap them and give those as gifts.
Jim: And so that's another way to make candles special for people and then hand wrap them, or customize them for people with a special oil for abundance or for prosperity for the new year or with a Yule tide anointing oil that you can find from a magical practitioner.
Jim: Or make your own with a little bit of cinnamon and clove at the bottom. Cinnamon oil is a little caustic. You want to be very careful because one touch to the mouth or eye and burn. Burn city. Yeah. Yeah. Burn city . So I think about that with candles.
Katie: It sounds like also a great opportunity to do this craft with people. I know it's popular right now to do a holiday party where everyone leaves with a make and take. This would be a great opportunity to have friends do this, especially if they're fellow magical folk.
Katie: Even if they're not, yes. Maybe they find within themselves a little magic that night.
Jim: It's actually a thing that we do at candle mass in January. Oh. And or in bulk. And so this is halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. There's a holiday that we are gonna talk about.
Jim: It's around the beginning of February, actually, February 2nd or so. Which is when people make candles for the New Year and that is the time to do it. However, you can gift people candles around Yule tide and it's appropriate because it's the birth of the sun. So it makes sense at this time too, to burn candles and welcome in the light of the sun.
Jim: But you can also do other things. The Italian side of my family made pasta. And so we would make homemade pasta and do a pasta making party, and we would invite people over and with big bags of flour and, the ingredients are inexpensive and go a long way.
Jim: You can just be rolling out sheets of pasta and cutting them into fettuccini or making raviolis. And if you do that with a group of people, many hands make for light work. Yeah. You end up with a whole lot of fettuccini and that can be split up and put in really pretty, clear bags. You can get those really pretty biodegradable cellophane bags.
Jim: That look really beautiful with homemade pasta. And homemade pasta cooks in three minutes. Oh yeah. And is delicious.
Jim: We made 'em in green with spinach and red, with red bell pepper roast, red bell pepper, and then, the white, just the plain. And so then it looked like the Italian flag, or it was, The Christmas.
Jim: Sure. Yeah. And so that was a very common like holiday party to do where everyone's making pasta, you're making a pasta. And so a pasta making party's a lot of fun.
Jim: We would also make candy canes, so Candy McCain making party a lot of fun that's a little more involved. Wow. And we pull the candy from hard crack and, make candy canes and that's a heck of a lot of fun.
Jim: You have to know how to do that. So you could do all kinds of parties that are make and take. So if you can think of any kind of craft of especially food or making things, that is a great idea because it's a twofer.
Jim: You're creating community and a holiday party and you're crafting at the same time. And if you can do it with intention, bring some magic in. Start it with a little grounding exercise. Start it with a little intention. Yeah. What are the magical oils you're gonna use If you're gonna do a candy cane making party and you're gonna use peppermint.
Jim: And you're gonna use clove. I loved the clove. We used to do a blue stripe with clove. What's the purpose of the clove and what are you bringing into those candy canes? And a cinnamon? What's the purpose of that? And so we would do different flavors with the different batches of the candy canes, and those can have magical intent and magical purpose.
Katie: Oh, and then you're spreading that even further. Yes. Through gifting that to the next person, and then they get to eat that intent. That's so cool.
Jim: One of the cool things about a candy cane making party is the candy comes out of the pot just before hard crack, we're just people.
Jim: We're not candy cane making company facility. And so in order to make the candy canes white, you have to stretch it. . And so to do that, you have to pass the candy cane from one gloved hand to another, but it's hot potato, so you can only stretch it a couple times before it's too hot and you gotta pass it to the next person.
Jim: Ooh. So you're stretching your intention into the candy as it turns white all around the circle. And it's a really fun activity to do and can be super, super magical. And it's a community effort and it's just an awesome experience.
Jim: And it keeps you warm on a cold winter day.
Katie: Oh, and talk about literally handling the fire.
Jim: And you're flirting with certain death or burns.
Katie: That's exciting. Like running over coals, but with your hands. Uhhuh.
Katie: And it also sounds especially in a group setting, that this would be a great opportunity to practice some of your ritual math so that you you're not sitting around making candy canes for 12 hours. Cause at a certain point it's not fun anymore.
Jim: So what is ritual math?
Jim: Ritual math is: if we have 13 people and it takes each person five minutes to do a thing and everyone has to do it one at a time, that's gonna be an hour and five minutes. So immediately we're like, Oh my gosh, that's an hour and five minutes of everyone standing there while each person goes up and does a five minute thing. That's not gonna.
Jim: If each person takes one minute, that's gonna be 13 minutes of people sitting around doing nothing, waiting for people to do stuff. So we have to think about how to manage a group of people doing things so that people can do things together or simultaneously or what are they doing while other things are happening?
Jim: So this is that same thing if you're thinking about, I'm going to crochet pot holders and each pot holder is going to take me two days, that's a form of ritual math. You're gonna only be able to make, six pot holders between now and Christmas Day, or four potholes between now and Yule tide.
Jim: That's right. So you have to really think about that math to figure out how many can I actually make between now and the holiday. That helps us be realistic about what we're doing.
Katie: Set yourself up for success.
Jim: That's right. Yeah. This has been really fun. I think we should take a little break.
Katie: Yeah, let's do. We'll be right back.
Jim: Every year people have trouble finding the right gift for somebody. Does it fit, is it something they have to dust or that they're gonna re-gift?
Jim: One of the best gifts you can give somebody this holiday season is the gift of an experience. You can give somebody the gift of a palm reading or a tarot reading from me, James Divine.
Jim: You can purchase gift certificates at thedivinehand.com/gift.
Jim: It's delivered via email. And you know what's cool? It always fits! So, if you're looking for a last minute gift, no messing with the crowds at the mall or the store. Just head over to thedivinehand.com/gift and grab a gift certificate for your loved one today.
Katie: Always in stock and never outta style. That's James Divine.
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Katie: Join today to gain access to our entire post history. Visit patreon.com/lightfromlantern to learn more and sign up! Jim and I look forward to seeing you there.
Katie: And we're back.
Katie: Let's start with some time saving hacks to help you craft your best this holiday season.
Jim: Oh yeah. What are those?
Katie: While many of us may think let's go for big items to give people as gifts remember, small items can have big impacts too.
Jim: Wait, I was gonna make an Afghan.
Katie: Oh yeah. For everyone in the family. Good. Yeah. Good luck with that, Jim!
Jim: I have 20 days.
Katie: That's right. 20 days and 14 people in your family. So that's a small project and a short undertaking.
Katie: For the rest of us that don't knit as quickly as Jim does in his mind, think accessories and home decor. You can do a lot with a little tea toter bag that takes, less than an hour to make and perhaps is the perfect gift for your friend who always brings tea around.
Jim: I am a tea drinker. I would love that.
Katie: Or one of my favorite go-tos, a cowl. A quick circular project that if done in a bulky weight yarn again, could be done within a day. If every day counts, do the math.
Jim: In our house, you have to use a coaster. We're like the grandpas who are always, watching where you're putting your cup.
Katie: I have that too. And here's another time saving hack. If you are a , knitter, crochet, or weaver, and you do swatch.
Katie: You can save those throughout the year and give those as little drink beverage holders of your choice. I'm holding up an example right now of one that I made for a cowl that now lives as my mug rug .
Jim: Oh, mug rug. That's so cute.
Jim: I wanna talk about other ways to save. Is this a time when you could go through remnant yarn or saving in other ways.
Katie: I think that's a great idea. Ways to save time would also be not having to go to the store to get more supplies. So if you have stuff on hand that doesn't have a future or is just sitting there, maybe it's time to finish things that are really close to being done anyway.
Katie: Maybe you just use what you have on hand in order to save time, and you double up on some yarn in order to make it the thickness that you need. You could also undo past projects if you don't like them anymore and reuse that yarn.
Jim: And I think accessories can be made with remnants that you already have if you can use what you have.
Jim: How cool would that be for stocking stuffers or little gifts? What's really interesting is how special it is to get something made by you, from you. As a sentimental gift for someone. That's a really cool thing.
Katie: And use multiple skills if you are a cross crafter. Think okay, I knit this. Can I sew it together into something else? Or I have this leftover fabric. Can I crochet around the edges to make it a fun finished piece? Maybe that becomes like a table runner or place mat.
Jim: I have some gift ideas for magical folks beyond what we talked about on the last segment.
Jim: I think about tea blends. Oh, so this is something where you can purchase tees in bulk and then divide them up Oh, into smaller portions for people, and then label them with intentions. So for instance, if you buy a tea that is like maybe you buy one pound bag of a apple spice tea, and then you give that as warm your heart tea.
Jim: And you can put that in little biodegradable glassine bags with a cute little label and warm your heart holiday tea. Those are really great little gifts for people. You can put energy into them just by setting them up and meditating over them or blessing them in some way.
Jim: You can either make a talisman with materials that you can purchase online. You can buy ready made talismans for people. You can make talismans by crocheting or not work. You can make special talismans with seeds or beads. Different things that are pretty easy to make and then put on a cord or an inexpensive chain.
Jim: You can anoint them with oils. Those are really fabulous and they can have a purpose based on the materials you're using.
Jim: If you sew, you can easily and quickly sew bags for tarot cards or bags for runes or trinkets or tokens or for bones.
Jim: You can also purchase bags ready made. So these are things that are thoughtful gifts for magical folks.
Jim: Maybe you wanna do like a candle, like a pillar candle that you dress and anoint with certain oils and put in a special box and put a little label in there on what the intent is for that candle. Or you make a tea blend you can get a few plain teas and then add and mix some, herbs.
Jim: The other thing is you can put together your own herb bundle. So you can have a dried herb bundle with rosemary and sage, either edible or as something to burn if you wish. But I like the edible kind. I like the edible sage, edible rosemary and time, and make a little herb bundle that can be dried cuz that's both magical and medicinal slash edible. And those things can be really wonderful and beautiful to do for people as well.
Katie: Those are great ideas and I feel like a lot of them would have crossover for my ideas for folks who are magical makers. So again, like a bundle of cedar wood chips to put in with your Sweaters and whatnot, so they're not eaten by the little fairies slash moths.
Jim: And a tip for that. You can take one of those flakes and put a cedarwood flake on a charcoal, and you have a beautiful cedarwood smoke incense for a moment. You just want a single flake of it, but it is a really cool thing to do.
Katie: Ooh, if you have a finished cowl or something and you wanna cleanse it that way, assuming the person is okay with the scent smoke that's a really great way to do a charge and cleans. Too.
Katie: Some other ideas I had that we've talked about in the past are like, of course the blocking tea blends.
Katie: So having loose leaf teas or herbs that, again, go with the intent, making sure that they won't dye the water so that you don't have any accidents with your amazing finished piece that you took so much time to make. But you could also do things like including crystals in the water or next to the water if there's something that might be dye or not water soluble. Doesn't even have to be in the water necessarily.
Katie: You can also gift things that are like literal inclusions of crystals. So many times crystals are turned into beautiful beads. Many people will do knitting and crochet and all sorts of lace and tatting work that have beads in them.
Katie: And so this is a great opportunity to include those types of things. And again, if you wanna charge them before you even include them into the project, all the better.
Jim: Brilliant. And I have a stitch marker. Oh yeah. Which is a little like key chain like looking thing. So that could we put a beat on that?
Katie: Sure. Crystal. That could definitely be like a way to charge any work because it's not worked into the actual finished piece. It's just used as a tool while it's being made. So that's a great way to charge it with that energy without also losing the stone in the process like you would a bead.
Katie: And then lastly, the best gift that you can give any magical maker or any maker or anyone, or any person is a massage gift certificate. If they're into it.
Katie: And you'll know if they're into it because probably they talk about it a lot. Those are great. Even if it's just not necessarily a professional massage, let's say the person you know isn't really into that, but you know them well enough that you might be able to offer them like a hand massage or something like that.
Katie: That's a great and very kind gift as well.
Jim: This also reminds me of you can give the gift of an experience . And those are things that are memories that will last forever, and it's not something they have to dust or re-gift in the future. You can give them a gift of an experience, which is the gift of your time, or the gift of a service, of cleaning their house, of organizing their yarns, of helping them organize something of a massage or of time with them or helping them with something.
Jim: These are also things that are really great gifts that I think about for anyone that's an experience. Instead of a thing.
Katie: I'm super into experience gifts. Let's do something and have memories instead. That lasts forever in my mind.
Jim: What to give the gal that has everything.
Katie: Take her for a night on the town.
Jim: Let's go sing karaoke together.
Katie: Let's talk about some tips on how to avoid holiday burnout.
Katie: My number one, And this comes with experience, of course, avoid overcommitting to the gift making.
Jim: Okay? How do I do that? Because I really love everybody and I really wanna give everyone everything, and I really wanna give of myself. Everyone really deserves it. And oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?
Jim: Because I have Susie and I have Uncle John, and I have Frida, and I've got all these 16 people on my list.
Katie: Yeah, one of the solutions I came up with was doing a yearly lottery. So everybody who wanted a handmade gift got put in there. And yearly I would do if I had time for one or three gifts that I would make that year, that's the names that I would pull out.
Katie: And then I would keep pulling until everyone went through. And then when it was done, they cycle back in.
Jim: That's a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. How would you avoid this? I would work on self-awareness.
Jim: And that's what you're talking about. Yeah. My husband is really good at saying this. Charity begins at. Which is if there's no Jim, if there's no Katie , if there's no you, no one in your life is gonna get anything out of you.
Jim: So this is the time to really make sure that we are healthy and well and present for the people. What do people want from you? More than anything? They want you and time with you. Yep.
Jim: That's more important.
Katie: I don't wanna be stuck at home for every day having to knit the thing that you can't see the person who wants to hang out with you.
Jim: That's why the idea of doing a group activity can be so awesome cuz it kills two birds with one stone. So I think those are some things to really think about is this is a time when we can really spend time together and create community.
Jim: I think another thing is to allow ourselves to be real and to be aware of the capitalist expectations that we are unconsciously adopting that the house has to be perfectly clean. What will the neighbors think? That we have these unconscious things running inside us that the gift we give has to be a certain way that we have to be the Martha Stewart of our gift giving.
Jim: What is our activism around being committed to generosity and love? That is, anti, consumerist and anti materialistic. And what can that look like for us? Because that can maybe relieve some of the stress.
Jim: It creates another stress, which is that you're being counter-cultural.
Jim: But it can relieve the stress of trying to keep up with societal pressure.
Katie: Another tip that I have for at least avoiding the burnout of the season for the future. After a few years you're gonna be tired of making 16 scarves in 16 days for people, and you're gonna remember, oh my gosh.
Katie: I have the ability to craft all year long. So when I go on that trip in the summer with my kids to Disneyland or whatever, I'm gonna be sure to bring the pair of socks that I wanna make for my best friend, because that's really a high priority for me. And I know it's gonna take a month and a half, but I'm gonna be trapped on a plane and that will help me push through it and keep my sanity. And you will feel like a rockstar for having even one finished gift a year before December.
Katie: If you wanna promise, you'll feel amazing.
Jim: I think ultimately what we both wanna tell everyone is give yourself a gift, right Katie?
Katie: Absolutely don't give so much of yourself that your cup is empty and you're having a nervous breakdown.
Jim: Treat yourself as sacred and your body and your hands as sacred.
Katie: Yes. Even if you have decided only to do one crafting thing this year, it's still gonna take a toll on how you sit, how your hands have worked and everything.
Katie: So remember that idea about the massage? Even if it's just you giving it to yourself, your hands will thank you, and thus your whole person will be happier for.
Katie: Plus he won't resent the items you've made for people, which is such a bummer when you put all that time into it, right?
Katie: You're like, scarf number 13, I remember you and I hate you. . . That's no good.
Jim: I wish everyone a wonderful season of making and magic and of joy in what they're doing. And I hope that this episode gives you some cool ideas on giving both to yourself and to others.
Katie: And if you have any crafting tips that you do around this year to avoid crafting burnout, we'd love to hear from you. Drop us an email at [email protected].
Jim: Or head over to our Patreon where we'll post some additional little comments and ideas, and you can join the conversation and have some fun with us.
Katie: Give the gift to yourself this year of having some extra communication with Jim and I while also supporting one of your favorite podcasts.
Katie: We're almost done with the year.
Katie: Could you believe it?
Jim: I can't actually believe it. I thought it was still June.
Katie: Let's not talk about it. Time is weird, especially when we're recording podcasts. Until next week, I'll see you.
Katie: See you next week. Bye. Bye.
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See you next week. Next week.
