Lion Brand Yarn, A Spring Handmade Cavalcade Sponsor

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The Spring Handmade Cavalcade is coming this weekend! Today we would like to introduce you to our final event sponsor, Lion Brand Yarn Studio. With their showroom store in Manhattan on 15th Street, you have easy access to their wonderful yarns, supplies, classes, and workshops. Furthermore, their website has a wonderful array of great projects from the beginning student to the most ardent yarn enthusiast. 

Weft Weaving Club Project

Check out their free events in May, including the Weft Weaving Club. They also have great Mother's Day gift ideas, like this super cute Daffodil Pencil!

To get your creativity buzz going, check out their ever changing storefront window which always has something amazing perched inside!

Thank you Lion Brand Yarn for supporting the Spring Handmade Cavalcade!

Spring Handmade Cavalcade

Purl SoHo, A Spring Handmade Cavalcade Sponsor

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The Spring Handmade Cavalcade is coming up in less than a month! Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 4th, between the hours of 10am and 5pm at The Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

This year we have a host of incredible sponsors, one of which is the lovely Purl SoHo. Purl SoHo is a treasure, offering an incredible assortment of luxurious yarns and brilliant fabrics! With their popular blog, The Purl Bee, they offer tutorials and project journals galore. Visit their website or their store and you will never lack for inspiration or creative energy!

Purl SoHo has recently launched a new line of Purl SoHo super soft merino yarn, and they have graciously donated one skein for each swag bag given out at the Spring Handmade Cavalcade! Be one of the first 100 shoppers to score one of the most scrumptious yarns you'll ever see!

After getting your skein of yarn, check out their wonderful tutorials for project ideas. What will you make with your yarn?

Do you need a baby gift? Check out the Super Easy Crib Blanket Tutorial.

What about a new cowl to start off the spring? Take a look at the Garter Gaitor project!

As the weather warms, ditch those chunky mittens and knit up a pair of fingerless gloves.

Many thanks to Purl SoHo for sponsoring the Spring Handmade Cavalcade! Again, be sure to get to the event early to get a swag bag. More Purl SoHo information will be available at a table at the Cavalcade!

Spring Handmade Cavalcade

What was the best holiday gift you have received?

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When we’re kids the gifts we ask for are largely influenced by television. I can still recite all the words to My Buddy and feel the sense of loss at never having had one despite the fact that, thinking back, I always thought he was kind of creepy. It sure was a catchy tune though! Aside from the occasional She-Ra Cloud Castle or Popple that we dragged around everywhere (much to our parents dismay) a lot of the gifts from those early years are forgettable.

As time goes on we stop seeing our parents as bringers of stuff and things and begin to see them more the way we see Grandma…as a dispenser of cash. It’s not because we’re greedy. It’s because that’s what we need most at that time in our lives. How will you get through college if you can’t buy coffee and burritos?

This is generally followed by a brief, well-meaning, but delusional stage when we inform our friends and family that all we want for the holidays is their Love. This is a confusing time for many and, while you do mean it, you’re not doing anyone any favors. Your loved ones are going to get you something regardless and now they have no idea where to start. While you run the risk that everyone will take you seriously and you’ll get nothing but Love. That’s great and all but, let’s face it people, Love doesn’t keep the snow from getting under your coat collar and trickling freezing torture liquid down to the small of your back. That’s SCARVES! Scarves do that.

Now that I’m an adult I think I finally get how this whole thing works and, after interviewing some of the awesome vendors from the upcoming Holiday Cavalcade I think I can safely say that all great gifts fit into one of three catagories…

1. Gifts that help us find our way - Jean of Fiber Dance Weaving Studio tells us about the 35mm camera she got in high school, "Having such a great camera allowed me to explore my creativity in a way I never had before. I went on to make photography my career. (...) Eventually, I found my way to weaving, a craft which I believe has many similarities to photography.  Not only is weaving a wonderful collaboration between man and machine (looms do have a mind and a personality of their own) but also, because I never really know what I've got until I pull a woven piece off the loom, there's a good bit of mystery and anticipation involved, as well. So now, instead of envisioning things in black and white and using different papers and chemical processes to achieve my objective, I am working with colors and fibers, and adding a whole new dimension (literally) to my creative process, while continuing a way of life that all started with the gift of a camera."

2. Gifts that make our lives easier - Karina makes tons of cool toys and coloring books for kids in her shop Windows Of Agate, but with all the work she puts into her creations it's got to be hard to find time for anything else. That's why this gift was so spot on, "When I received a standing mixer from my husband the Christmas after my second child was born, I was elated! I was sleep-deprived and overwhelmed, and getting the standing mixer did wonders to my lofty goal of baking cookies for all my neighbors." 

Besides being incredibly thoughtful, and making the lives of the recipients better in some way these gifts share one more thing in common. The third and, what I consider to be, the most important category...

3. Gifts that show us we are loved - Sayo from Sarustar Jewelry says, "my favorite holiday gift to date is a marshmallow robot from my boyfriend. He presented it to me at dinner on our second date, a few days before Christmas and a few days after I had mentioned in passing that I would like to own a marshmallow robot. (I don't remember why I wanted one) Anyway, my marshmallow robot has red eyes that light up while he spins around and around... and he is made out of a marshmallow, and he is awesome."

Find your special holiday gift at the upcoming Holiday Handmade Cavalcade.

Jessica Alpern

A Crafty Life: Wish by Felicity and the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade

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I'm Birdy27 of Birdy27 Designs and for this installment of A Crafty Life, we thought it would be a great to shine a spotlight on the Etsy NY Team's Fifth Annual Holiday Handmade Cavalcade. Forty amazing artisans are frantically sewing, painting, silk screening, knitting, crocheting, making jewelry, and more in preparation for this market. The vendors will be there with fabulous creations, ready to help the attendees find the perfect gift or selfish indulgence. I interviewed Cavalcade organizer Felicity Stiverson of Wish By Felicity about the fair and the largest Etsy team in the NY area.

Felicity of Wish By Felicity and Kelly of Aperture Agog at the 2011 Cavalcade

Please tell us about this year's Cavalcade.

This is the fifth year of the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade. It will be held on December 1st and 2nd at The Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (N. 3rd Street between Kent and Wythe). The market will be open from 11am to 6pm both days and will feature 40 of the best artisans in the tri-state area.

Sounds like it will be amazing. How long have you been with the team? Is this the first time you've served as organizer?

I've been with the team for four and a half years, and this is the fourth Cavalcade that I've helped to organize.

Waiting for the 2010 Handmade Cavalcade to open

How has the Cavalcade grown over the years?

The Cavalcade includes more artists and designers each year. And this is the first Holiday Handmade Cavalcade that will be a two-day event!

Two days! That's fantastic. There are so many flea markets and craft fairs, especially during the holiday season. What makes this market different?

The Cavalcade is unique because it features the work of only crafters and artists who are part of Etsy New York (formerly known as The NewNew). There will be every type of handmade product you can think of:  jewelry, clothing, paper goods, soap and body products, accessories, clothing, and children's goods. There will be a number of artists that are new to the Cavalcade this year, in addition to many familiar faces who have vended at the fair in the past.

2011 Holiday Handmade Cavalcade at Public Assembly

The location this year is the super trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn. How did you pick the location?

We try to pick a different neighborhood and a different venue for each Cavalcade. Because we have even more artists and vendors at this Cavalcade, we needed a larger space to accommodate the event this year, and we're excited to have the Cavalcade at The Space in Williamsburg.

I understand some lucky attendees will receive goody bags! Can you give our readers a little tease?

The first 100 shoppers each day will get a goody bag filled with items donated by our sponsors as well as Etsy New York artists.

What a great incentive to attend. In addition to the goody bags, there is an impressive list of sponsors.

We have so many amazing sponsors this time! Some have sponsored our events before, and some of them are new sponsors. Our main sponsors include Etsy, Purl Soho, Brooklyn Charm, ECOBags, Outright, and Lion Brand. Our swag bag sponsors included The City Quilter, Brooklyn Bead Box, and Swap-bot. We also have several food sponsors who will be selling their delicious wares at the event: Brooklyn Dark, Cultured Confections, Slant Shack Jerky, and Sigmund's Pretzels.

Cavalcade banners are always a special little piece of art

How many events does the Etsy NY Team sponsor?

The team sponsors several events each year, but the Cavalcades are our signature event, and are held each spring and holiday season.

None of this would be possible without a hardworking, committed team.  Some of our readers may not know how the Etsy NY Team works.  Exactly how does everyone pull together to produce a team show? It's almost impossible for one person to pull together a show of this magnitude.

The Etsy NY Team is a collective of local artists, artisans, designers and crafters who sell on Etsy.com, the largest online marketplace for handmade goods. The Holiday Handmade Cavalcade is a totally vendor-run show. We organize the sellers into committees, such as press, sponsorship, decorations, and written content, and we assign a leader for each committee. Each committee targets their energies toward a specific task, such as conceptualizing and creating the decorations and signage for the event, or writing the press release and written content for our email blasts.

It's really exciting to see the members of our group pull together and pool our resources to create such a unique event. Our previous events have gotten quite a bit of media coverage, in everything from local blogs to Time Out New York, and it's a nice bonus to get good press for our group.

I thank Felicty for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk with me about the Etsy NY Team and the Fifth Annual Holiday Handmade Cavalcade. Please join us for one of the best shopping events of the year!

Until next month, this is Birdy27 signing off. Please support the handmade community. Successful creative artisans can change the world! Chirp, chirp!

Birdy27 is an actor/writer/singer/songwriter/graphic designer/knitter/crocheter/yarn-based accessories designer/jewelry maker/entrepreneur and founder/president of Birdy27 Designs (www.birdy27designs.etsy.com). Please join the action at the Birdy27 Designs Fan Page at www.facebook.com/birdy27designs.