It’s always a great gift to give something useful for the cold winter season…oh and cute and cozy too!

I have quite a few artists selling their cozy winter wear at the sale…for both adults and kids!

The hit of the sale last year were Karol Tomlinson’s recycled wool mittens. Using wool sweaters she puts together these one-of-a-kind, beautiful and warm mittens! They make a great gift for others (trust me…I gave quite a few pair out) and a fabulous treat for yourself! Stop in and see what Karol’s selection has to offer this year!

A new addition to the sale this year is Lil Noggin Tops (this is a link to her facebook photo album of more hats and things). Amy of Lil Noggin Tops crochets adorable hats for kiddo’s and adults! Another great gift!

My Aunt Betsy has been knitting me things for years and years, along with the rest of her family…especially her grandchildren. I still have the sweaters she knit for me when I was little stored away for when they’ll fit my daughters! Above is a picture of a couple of the hats she knit for Cedi and Capri last Christmas…so adorable and fun! You’ll find some hats and scarves knit by her at the hoedown this year too!

So between felted mittens, and crocheted and knitted goods we should have your warm and cozy gifts covered!

The Handcrafted Hoedown for the Holidays 2009 will take place on November 20th and 21st from 9 until 5 at Lapacek’s Orchard.

Yesterday was the first day for the hoedown and it went spectacularly. We saw lots of familiar and new faces which is always wonderful. We had a little bit of a lull in the afternoon time and during dinner, but overall it was fairly steady. That being said, we still have TONS and TONS of really neat hand-crafted items.

One of our biggest hits yesterday were the recycled sweater felted mittens....people just love them! Luckily, Karol made a lot of them so there's still variety for you to choose your favorite pair today.

I also wanted to note for anyone who likes to knit or crochet, we have hand-spun yarns by Kitty Grrlz (http://www.kittygrrlz.com/) for sale (she's from the Milwaukee area). She does an absolutely beautiful job and I hope you stop by to check them out. (My favorite are the bamboo yarns!)

This year, I was lucky enough to get some of my Aunt Ellen's rosemauled items for our sale. A few Christmas's again, she was chosen to have her ornament hung on the White House Christmas Tree. She has written two books (Rosemauling with Ellen, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) and just paints gorgeous items. My mother's family is very large (we will have around 100 people there this year) and instead of doing gifts, we all make ornaments to decorate the tree with (we rent a hall...too big for anyone's actual house). At the end of the Christmas Party, we all draw a name and whoever's name you draw you give them your ornament. Every year we all hope that our Aunt Ellen draws our name :)

I could go on and on about other crafters/artists that are at our sale, but I really hope you decide to just come and see for yourself!