If you were out participating in that full-body contact sport known as Black Friday, I hope you got everything you were looking for. I hope you didn’t need medical attention by the end of the day. I hope you didn’t find yourself spending an eternity in a place like this:

…and I hope you bought something for yourself while you were at it.

You didn’t did you? I knew it. That’s why I put together a (short) list of things you might not realize you really need.

For the record I don’t do Black Friday. Never have. I’m not tough enough for it. I get wiped out after 45 minutes at the mall on any random day in June. A Black Friday sale might kill me. When I shop my feet hurt and I’m bored and the stores never have anything I want and I whine. I whine a lot. I’m no good at shopping. I’ll leave Black Friday to the pros.

In spite of my shortcomings as a shopper I feel perfectly confident in dispensing this advice: always get yourself something for Christmas. You, and only you, truly know what you want/need and you deserve to get at least one of those things this season. Think of this as my bloggy intervention into your shopping habits. Here are three things I think every crafter should have. Get yourself one. Or get all three.

An Ottlite 

If you have one, great. If you don’t, you’ve probably heard other crafters talk about them. I have two desktop models. I’ve bought two floor lamps for my mom. I’m a big fan. Buying an Ottlite is like buying younger eyes. That’s because its a full-spectrum light with low glare. I know they can get pricey but they are worth it. With my Ottlite I can see more colors in my yarn, I can see smaller stitches, and I don’t get eye strain.

They are sold all over. I’ve always bought mine at Jo-Anns because they periodically go on sale there. I’ve seen them at Target recently and you can buy anything from Amazon (or course). Try one out and I’m sure you’ll find they are worth it. You can’t put a price on your eyesight.

Lotion Bars

The wonderful folks at Louet sent me a Lavishea lotion bar in the limited edition Spinzilla scent. When I passed it around a craft night, I was surprised that not everybody had tried a lotion bar before. Which was foolish of me. Never make assumptions Jenn!

Lotion bars are must-haves for crafters on the go. Rough hands, dry skin, torn cuticles can make a interlude of yarny fun… not fun at all. Plus we should all pamper our hands; they make such wonderful things. But if you carry a bottle of regular hand lotion in your purse, sooner or later that cap will pop open and lotion with squirt all over.  Yuck. Even worse, one of those sharp pointy sticks we knit with could viciously stab the lotion bottle you carrying in your project bag. Then it will bleed lotion out all over your WIP. I’ve had that happen. It resulted in tears and many, many bad words.

Lotion bars are like bars of soap so there is no squirting and no foul language. You just rub the bar over your hands and viola, no more rough hands. Also, no yucky lotion disasters.

There are different lotion bars on the market and Lavishea makes a nice one. Its very smooth, the smoothest I’ve tried. One of my knitters called it “satiny”. As for the scent, which was cucumber melon, most of the people I forced encouraged to sniff it, liked it. No one hated it. Scents are so subjective. If you like fresh,clean scents you’ll probably like this one.  Lavishea makes other scents of course and they even make an unscented. You can order a bar from Louet or find them at most  LYS’s.

 A Worm Binder

No really, you need a worm binder. A friend of mine, who is a power-shopper, discovered them for me. She did all kinds of research, and product comparison, and other shopping stuff I never do, and bought me the one from Bass Pro Shops for my birthday. It’s perfect for a traveling crafter.

Its a zip-up canvas binder with ziplock-type baggies for holding your stuff. Except those baggies are far tougher than ziplock. They are made to hold fishing tackle so they’re really, really thick. I’ve had mine for months and no knit needles have poked through yet.

With pockets for the little things and baggies for the big things, it holds (nearly) all of my knitting supplies. As you can see I’ve got it really stuffed. I’m not sure how I got along without it.

So there you go, three things to preserve what’s most important to a crafter: your eyes, your hands, and your tools. But… if you already have these things… and are feeling sad because there is nothing left in the whole world to get yourself for Christmas…. I have two words for you.

Feline. Overlord. 

Pet adoption groups  and animal rescue organizations have huge drives during the holidays.  You can start with Petfinder  or Paws. There is a special emphasis on adopting out black cats and black dogs for Black Friday. Check your local animal shelter because lots of them are waiving adoption fees this weekend.

Yes, yes, yes. Give yourself a fur-baby this year. You deserve that kind of love.