Edmonds is a magical, inspiring town, situated in the sweet spot of sea, mountain, forest, and sky…paradise. Brimming over with history, and endless possibility.

Naturally, Washington’s first Certified Creative District attracts artists, poets, writers, mavericks, and dreamers to its storied shores, yearning for expression.

That expression extends to gift-giving, for the holidays and other special occasions.

Here, you can find unique treasures — first-edition books, mid-century furniture, landscapes captured in encaustic, watercolors, and acrylics, vintage jewelry, garden suncatchers, designer sweaters and shawls, small-batch candies, pastries, ciders, and wine — thoughtfully sourced, designed, crafted, and curated for just about everyone in your life.

You can also make your own, with the help of award-winning, acclaimed experts in their field, be it the visual or fiber arts. Take classes in molding clay into pottery, crocheting fuzzy little penguin ornaments, or capturing your own landscapes. Share what you’ve learned with other crafty people in the community. Pick up the tools you’ll need, as well.

Here are just a few of the Edmonds shops to get you started, no matter your skill level:

All Wound Up Yarn Shop in Perrinville Village hosts Knitting and Crochet 101 classes, 30-minute help sessions to untangle those patterns, free Fiber Socials three times a week (two in-person, one via Zoom), “so that folks can connect as they stitch [co-owner Nona Davenport],” twice-monthly Zoom Fiberside Chats, featuring renowned authors, artists, and designers in the knitting/crochet community, and starting in February, a new Sweater Knit Along.

The yarn shop also sells yarn, notions, patterns, and kits — everything needed to put together a hand-made gift.

Both lifelong crafters, Davenport runs the yarn shop along with her mother, Leslie Greenquist, and is a designer (Nona Pearl Creations) in her own right.

Currently, they’ve been posting ideas for stitching ornaments, like trees, mushrooms, and penguins, and “Holiday Doodle Cup” cozies on their social media.

“We just had our big, twice-yearly sale over Black Friday, but there are still amazing deals in our clearance section. The best way for customers to hear more about our offerings, classes, and specials is to sign up to receive our once-weekly email newsletter,” she explained.

Located on the Edmonds Waterfront in Salish Crossing, Stranded By The Sea offers an extensive inventory of tools to knit, crochet, felt, and spin your own yarn for a wonderful array of creative projects.

Owner Tara Roberts, who learned to make her own direct from the source to the final product, does fiber arts right, emphasizing “sustainable and artisan-quality materials, offering only natural yarns from animal- and plant-based fibers,” she elaborated. “Weekly socials and classes for knitting, crochet, and spinning allow makers to explore the entire ‘sheep to sweater’ process…. We have easy kits for knitting and crochet projects or choose your own colors from the wide selection of yarns and colors [‘Get Your Stitch On,’ March 7, 2022, Explore Edmonds].”

Sign up for/check out a great mix of classes, yarn crawls, Knit Alongs, trunk shows, a Hook & Needle Knockers Group, and more. There’s even a handy section on the website for “Holiday Gift Ideas,” where you can purchase kits to make festive winter hats, Holiday Spice Mitts, a Verdandi Shawl, and an adorable Mr. Fox Stole My Heart wrap by Arctic.

On Dec. 3, Stranded By The Sea held a Needle Felted Santas, Elves & Snowman class with felting/acrylic artist Kerri Kirk. Check their Facebook page for the latest ideas, classes, and offerings.

These crafters aren’t just small business entrepreneurs. Stranded’s Roberts is a probate attorney. All Wound Up’s Leslie Greenquist, a knitter, soap-maker, and glass/jewelry artist, came from the corporate world, as well as held down jobs in the freight and fishing industries.

Urban PaperCrafter (originally, Urban Scrapbooker) owner Brooke was a software engineer before taking on her own scrapbooking store in 2007 on Edmonds Way in the Westgate area of Edmonds.

“My goal with Urban Scrapbooker is to keep paper crafting relevant in today’s ever-evolving world, while providing top-of-the-line merchandise, innovative crafting techniques, and enjoyable classes,” she described on her website. “We’re always trying out new projects, discovering cutting-edge companies with unique products, recycling old paper items, and reinventing scrapbooking and crafting methods.”

Among the art supplies available: die cuts, stickers, paper, Tim Holtz Media Grip mats, and more.

Brooke also provides updates on what’s new over on her YouTube channel, including the latest in holiday greeting card kits, embossing, stenciling, and stamps.

Talented local artists are behind the downtown mainstay, ARTspot, a one-stop shop for art supplies, resources, classes, and events.

Under the new leadership of costume designer/drawer Ziggy Fraker, with gallery artist/instructor Tracy Kay Felix as co-owner, ARTspot seeks to encourage new artists to pursue their muse and established artists to forge new territory in a myriad of ways.

Besides a huge selection of actual art supplies (check out the “Little Red Tag” sale going on now — 50 percent off certain items!), including a new “365 Drawing Kit,” allowing buyers to take part in a year-long sketching program and receive monthly art goodies, ARTspot also loves to reach out and pay it forward.

“We are [currently] doing a program with Washington Kids in Transition, where customers are welcome to purchase a gift or donate money to the charity for homeless children in the Edmonds school district,” according to Angeline of the ARTspot Edmonds team.

While browsing your comic strip boards and calligraphy sets, enjoy ARTspot’s gallerini, full of cute and charming mini-art pieces that shoppers leave behind. Take and leave a piece of mini-art for free.

Inspired, yet?

Featured images — All Wound Up Yarn Shop co-owners Nona Davenport and mother Leslie Greenquist and Stranded By The Sea's Tara Roberts with a customer — by Matt Hulbert.