NEW! Cute Gifts for Knitters from Fifty Four Ten Studio's Zazzle Shop
During the past month, I’ve been working on something new! I’ve designed some knitting themed tote bags, coffee mugs, notebooks, gift tags, and other fun things for knitters that can be purchased in my new Fifty Four Ten Studio Zazzle Shop.
This blog post features some of my new designs available in my Zazzle shop, as well as memories of taking courses in graphic design more than 30 years ago.
Enjoying my current favorite tea “April in Paris” from Tea Market in Kansas City (this shop is a must visit for any tea lover & you can shop online) in my new favorite mug that I designed! Shop for this knitting themed coffee mug in my Zazzle shop.
WHAT IS A ZAZZLE SHOP?
Zazzle is a website that allows artists and designers to set up an online shop and sell their creations through “print-on-demand”. Zazzle offers a huge selection of nice quality items such as tote bags, coffee mugs, water bottles, stickers and so much more. Each item is printed to order and shipped by Zazzle to the customer. It’s been interesting to learn more about the products available and brainstorm ideas for future designs! I earn a small commission on each item sold in my Fifty Four Ten Studio Zazzle shop.
Here’s a look at some of the items I have designed for my Zazzle shop that make thoughtful gifts for knitters and lovers of yarn:
KNITTER’S WORD COLLAGE - TOTE BAGS, COFFEE MUG & MORE:
It was so fun to design a knitting word collage using all the interesting font choices that I did not have access to when I took graphic design classes in college many years ago! Read more about that experience towards the bottom of this blog post.
The word collage incorporates many common knitting terms and abbreviations such as: cast on, stitch markers, K2tog, in the round, gauge, WIP (“work in progress”), and stockinette stitch.
The “Knitter’s Word Collage” design is featured on several tote bag options including black lettering or blue lettering on a natural, canvas bag, as well as white lettering on a black tote bag.
Click here to shop the collection of tote bags for knitters. There are multiple size options for these knitting themed tote bags.
When shopping my collection of bags on Zazzle… note that there are several choices of bag size including a basic budget tote bag, jumbo canvas tote bag (shown in photo below) and large grocery tote bag. The item price varies based on the bag selected.
The jumbo tote bag is made with heavy natural canvas and is big enough to hold a large knitting project. I put 14 skeins of worsted yarn in this bag and there was still room for more! Click here to get details and purchase this bag in my Zazzle shop.
This coffee mug makes a thoughtful gift for any knitter! The word collage includes common knitting terms and abbreviations such as: cast on, stitch markers, K2tog, in the round, gauge, WIP (“work in progress”), and stockinette stitch. I just received the one I ordered and it looks amazing! Click here to buy on Zazzle.
“I BROUGHT MY KNITTING” TOTE BAG & COORDINATING “MY TOOLS FOR KNITTING” NOTIONS BAG:
My new “I brought by knitting!” tote bag is super cute with a bold, modern font. It’s a great gift for knitters who prefer a simple, modern style. The tote bag is available in two sizes.
The “my tools for knitting” zippered notions pouch matches in design and is available in two sizes. This notions pouch is great for organizing small, essential tools for knitting.
Both designs are available in a number of color choices that coordinate so you can mix and match. Choose one color for the tote bag and another color for the zippered notions pouch. Color options include: dark navy, light blue, teal, soft green, khaki, dark charcoal, mustard and red. Click here to get all the details and shop on Zazzle.
The “I brought by knitting!” tote bag and “my tools for knitting” zippered notions pouch are designed to coordinate and available in a variety of solid colors with white lettering. Click here to get all the details and shop on Zazzle.
“IN MY KNITTING ERA” TOTE BAG, STICKER, NOTEBOOK & MORE:
I’ve been “in my knitting era” for decades and could not resist celebrating it with a design in bold retro lettering!
These “In My Knitting Era” items… including a handy tote bag (available in multiple sizes), fun sticker, coffee mug, notebook and key chain… are all perfect gifts for any Swiftie who loves to knit! Click here to shop this collection in my Zazzle shop!
“In My Knitting Era” Tote Bag is available in several sizes. Click here to get the details and shop on Zazzle.
Use the “In My Knitting Era” sticker to personalize a water bottle, laptop or notebook. The design features bold, black lettering in a fun, retro style font.
“In My Knitting Era” Sticker: Click here to buy the sticker on Zazzle.
And, here are a few more items that feature the “In My Knitting Era” black & white design:
The “In My Knitting Era” design is also available on a key chain, spiral notebook (personalize it!), ornament and coffee mug. Click here to shop the complete “In My Knitting Era” collection.
”HANDMADE WITH LOVE” GIFT TAGS:
Another favorite is a collection of cute gift tags that make it fun to wrap up special handmade gifts. If you love to make handmade gifts for family and friends these gift tags will look fabulous when wrapping up your one-of-a-kind gifts. Perfect for anyone who loves to create handmade gifts using their talents in knitting, crochet, sewing, quilting, woodworking or other craft.
The gift tag shown below can be personalized with your name, as well as your website and social media info (if desired).
HANDMADE WITH LOVE PERSONALIZED GIFT TAG: The front of the tag features a bold “HANDMADE WITH LOVE!” design in modern black letters. Personalize the tag by adding your name, website address and social media info… or your preferred contact information. You may also customize the three lines of text on the back of the tag to fit your needs! Sold in packs of 10. Click here to get more details and purchase from my Zazzle shop!
HANDMADE FOR YOU GIFT TAG FOR CRAFTERS: These 3.5” x 2” gift tags are sold in packs of 10. Printed on heavy kraft paper. Choose from one of four colors of twine to tie the tag to your gifts. The front of the tag features a bold “HANDMADE FOR YOU!” design in black lettering. The back of the tag has space to write in who the gift is for and sign your name. Click here to purchase from my Zazzle shop!
CAST OFF YOUR WORRIES AND CAST ON YOUR KNITTING TOTE BAG:
In the spring of 2020, I created a graphic design of the words “cast off your worries & cast on your knitting” to use with a blog post about that strange, worrisome time. Now, that design is available on a cute tote bag and coffee mug in my Zazzle shop.
"Cast off your worries & cast on your knitting." A cute tote bag to inspire knitters to pick up their knitting needles and knit a few rows. Click here to see the various bag options and shop on Zazzle.
THE PROCESS OF CREATING WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT IN THE LATE 1980’s:
When I took graphic design classes in the late 1980’s, including a class focused on lettering, my course assignments were hand drawn and usually included rub-off Letraset letters. The rub-off letters were sold in 8.5” x 11” (or smaller) sheets at the campus bookstore. They were basically a sheet of rub-off letter, number and punctuation mark stickers. Each sheet included one of a limited number of fonts (such as Helvetica and Futura) and one font size (24 pt., 36 pt., etc.). In my memory, the only color choices were black or white letters. One sheet of letters would have one font, most likely in one font size, and a limited number of each letter of the alphabet based on how frequently it is used in the English language. For example, a sheet would have exclusively capital letters in Helvetica font, 36 pt. font size, with seven A’s, two B’s, four C’s, etc. If you needed lower case letters you would need to buy that sheet separately.
It was a challenge to pick exactly what was needed for a design project. Shopping for a project required lots of pre-planning, as well as budgeting for the cost of the sheets of letters. At the time, it seemed like there were numerous choices to available. However, the selection of font options was extremely limited by today’s standards!
Once the rub-off letters had been purchased, there was the stress of placing the letters in exactly the desired location for your design and then cleanly rubbing the plastic sheet to transfer each individual letter to the project. There are unpleasant memories of errors in using those rub-off letters! Letters placed unevenly or rubbed inconsistently… where part of the letter did not stick and tore away. Having to pick off a botched letter carefully with an X-acto knife and trying to avoid destroying the project paper in the process. There was also the challenge of using the rub-off letters efficiently so you didn’t run out of the lowercase letter “b” in 24 pt. Helvetica before finishing the project. And, most significantly… once the letters were placed on the design… that was it. It was impossible to “tweak” the design with the click of a button. The only way to make a change was to start over from scratch. Creating a graphic design with rub-off letters was a test of patience!
The teacher for my lettering class was meticulous and closely critiqued the spacing between every letter in a project. (I learned a lot about paying attention to details from her!) Just before finishing school, I took one design class that used a computer. The graphic design software, as well as the desktop computer, were extremely basic but exciting to use at the time. I’m sure none of us realized how much the graphic design process would evolve and change in the years to come.
These memories and experiences are why I find it incredibly fun and challenging to learn how to use today’s online graphic design software. Being able to choose from hundreds of interesting fonts, edit the size of the letters with the click of a mouse button, and experiment with new ideas quickly and easily… it’s amazing!
There’s definitely a reason that my first designs for my Zazzle shop are mostly black and white… because when I was learning years ago with those rub-off letters that was the only choice, aside from hand drawing letters. Now, I’m challenging myself to incorporate more color in future designs for my Zazzle shop!
FIFTY FOUR TEN STUDIO KNITTING PATTERNS:
If you are a knitter… thanks for taking a minute to check out my collection of knitting patterns!
Thanks for reading! Happy knitting!
