All about your Solstice Box 2024

Welcome to your Solstice Box 2024!

It’s chock full of small shop, handmade, artist-forward, really useful treasures you are going to love.

At the bottom of your box, marked with a sticker that says “open me first,” you will find a three-dimensional Christmas countdown calendar, illustrated and made by one of my favorite artists, Esther Bennink. It is a whole world unto itself. When put together, it becomes a treehouse that’s also a bookstore and is where cozy animals will be gathering. Build the treehouse first, and then add one piece every day of December (from 1 to 24). Each piece is marked with a number, and there is a correspondingly-numbered slot in the treehouse.

How to assemble your countdown treehouse

When you watch the video, click on CC for captions, and then Settings to change the language to auto-translate and English.

Delight your 5 senses

In addition to the countdown calendar, there are five wrapped and numbered items in your box.  Open them in the 5 days leading up to the Solstice, or open them all at once, now! There are no rules: do whatever delights you!

Each wrapped bundle has an item to delight your senses.

No. 1: Something to touch: your yarn.

This is a woolen-spun DK weight (non-superwash) Merino-Rambouillet yarn which was manufactured by the now-closed 115-year-old fiber mill, Zeilinger’s Wool, in Michigan. You have in your hands a really special yarn that will never be repeated.

I’ve created four holiday colors for you, and they are perfect for the free Tin Can Knits colorwork hat pattern, Anthology. This is a bundle that will encourage you to be creative, to stretch your knitting skills, or to simply knit a happy and easy striped hat. (There’s enough yarn for a cowl or mitts, if you don't want to make a hat.)

Download the pattern on Ravelry | Download the pattern on the Tin Can Knits website

I knit two Anthology hats using colorwork choices from the pattern to test color choices and gauge. I found that this yarn, despite being named a DK weight by the mill, knits up more at a worsted gauge and, for the Anthology pattern, I used the Aran weight numbers. (My preferred gauge was somewhere in between the DK and Aran gauge.)

I have created a page of knit graph paper for you to color and test out your own colorwork preferences. I hope you have fun playing with this pattern, these colors and trying colorwork.

Download the PDF of knit graph paper

Remember: If colorwork feels daunting, just use the yarn to create a stripey hat. Knitting can be creatively challenging or as comforting as you need it to be.

When my hats have finished blocking, I'll insert a picture here. 😉

My project details are:

Hat no. 1

• Needles: US size 7 (4.5 mm) for colorwork and US size 5 (3.75 mm) for ribbing and solid sections
• Size: Adult small
• Cast on: 84 sts for ribbing and increased to 98 when beginning hat body
• Pattern repeat: 7 sts
• Pattern chart for my hat no. 1
• Finished circumference: (coming)

Hat no. 2

• Needles: US size 7 (4.5 mm) for colorwork and US size 5 (3.75 mm) for ribbing and solid sections
• Size: Adult medium
• Cast on: 92 sts for ribbing and increased to 102 when beginning hat body
• Pattern repeat: 6 sts
• Pattern chart for my hat no. 2
• Finished circumference: (coming)

No. 2: Something sweet.

Your hot chocolate mix is made by The Deliciouser, a Latinx-owned small business in the Midwest. They are a spice boutique and make really yummy drink mixes. I tested and love this spicy hot chocolate. I'll have their mulling spices (for cider or wine) in my holiday shop this year, if you're eager to try more. (Opens December 6).

For Day 2, you also have a woolly item, either a set of bright red wool felt coasters from Woolly Made, a small business in Portland, or a felt holiday wreath made by The Felt Pod in Los Angeles, my long-time supplier of 100% wool felt.

No. 3: Something to sound like silver bells.

I love the sound of bells during winter holidays, and so I made you a set of stitch markers plus a progress marker and packed them in a little glass bottle. When you shake the bottle, it makes a really lovely tinkling sound! These are my favorite beaded ring stitch markers and they'll fit a knitting knitting up to US size 10 (6 mm). The bead colors coordinate with your yarn, of course!

No. 4: Something to look at.

I firmly believe that outer order contributes to inner calm, and this item will help you corral all the small things knitters and crocheters accumulate. The rope bowl was sewn for you by Scout + Bean, a lovely one-woman small business in Maine. The sliding tin, with a vintage fir tree picture on top, encased in resin, is from Firefly Notes in Canada. I've worked with Sandy for years on various projects, and her tins are so sweet and well-made.

No. 5: Something luscious to smell.

These are not easy times, and the message of Solstice for me is to find the light of hope, even when times are dark. This candle was hand-poured for you in a bespoke jar. I have preferences about everything and a plain frosted white jar is my favorite way to use scented candles. It provides maximum light (as compared to amber jars) and any candle residue that might be apparent in clear glass jar is obscured by the frosted glass. These were made for us by Little Flower Soap Co., a woman-owned business in Michigan.

A word about values

One of my core values to partner with folks who are also doing their part to mitigate climate change, who support women's rights and trans rights, and who are not funding conservative movements.

It can be tricky to vet partners, since who someone votes for is private, and not all brands or people are safely able to disclose their liberal beliefs. Therefore, I've decided that campaign contributions are a suitable proxy for me.

For US-based partners, I use the Federal Election Commission public database to learn which campaigns someone has contributed to, over the long term. For partners in other parts of the world, I rely on that country's dominant values and/or have a direct conversation with the person.

When you make a purchase from me, you can trust that the folks I work with and the ones whose products I bring to you are in line with the positive and liberal social values you've come to expect from Little Skein. Together, we are contributing to the world we want to live in!

Thanks for trusting me with your holiday gift to yourself.

I hope you love everything in and about this box.