havirland

Announcement    11/30 - It’s almost Cagemas time. If you’re interested in knowing the movies/days ahead of time, check out the schedule below.

Also, a very belated apology to those who I had to print the shipping label for a hundred years in advance (or so it felt). Etsy has become so ridiculous with their constant weekly and monthly status/progress reports that I feel like I’m being graded each week by a stern teacher who hates to give out A’s. I was sent a vaguely threatening message about how my shop was not living up to their standards due to my “overdue orders.” This was the Cagemas advents that surpass the 10-week shipping deadline imposed by Etsy. Anyway, they mentioned that this could affect the status of my shop, which I took as a vague threat to close my shop. (And right before the holidays too. Lovely timing.) I’m 100% on all the other things contained in their status report and have no claims filed against me (knock on wood for all these), but the fact that they can’t seem to grasp advent orders was hurting my status as an Etsy seller. So I had to go ahead and print out the shipping labels and change to status to completed on several Cagemas orders to appease the platform. And guess what? A month or so later they are still claiming the same thing, yet all orders aside from Cagemas have shipping on or before the shipping date. So, we’ll see how this goes. I most likely will either forgo any advents/countdowns in the years to come, or switch to another site for ordering. Also, if you’re curious how ridiculous this platform has become, any item with a shipping cost of over $6 affects your search visibility and it is lowered. Super helpful when you have large items to ship or things like advents. And USPS raises rates every six months, so this anything over $6 in shipping isn’t “buyer friendly” and will hurt your shop/listing visibility seems ridiculous. Heck, I’ll probably get my shop shut down just for the statements made in this announcement. (Lol, and I hope not.) But for a site that is dependent on small sellers/small businesses, it sure feels like they do quite a bit to hinder the sellers on here. So, that’s my rant. Sorry for any confusion or inconvenience my early shipping labels may have caused. While I did not receive any messages or concerns regarding such, I just thought I’d mention it just in case. Thank you for the orders and support, and I hope you enjoy this year’s Cagemas offerings.

Dec. 1 – Longlegs
2 – Dream Scenario
3 – It Could Happen to You
4 – Running with the Devil
5 – Kill Chain
6 – Rage
7 – Army of One
8 – Haus of Cage (Wild Card – Choose your movie)
9 – Stolen
10 – 8MM
11 – Joe
12 – Season of the Witch
13 – Fire Birds
14 – Dark/Dying of the Light
15 – Arcadian
16 – Haus of Cage (Wild Card – Choose your movie)
17 – Looking Glass
18 – Dog Eat Dog
19 – The Nicolas Cage Mayhem Delivery System (Wild Card – Choose your movie)
20 – Birdy
21 – Trespass
22 – The Croods
23 – Peggy Sue Got Married
24 – Trapped in Paradise
25 – The Surfer

8/11 - Week 8 (Caution: Possible Spoilers Ahead)

I can’t believe these 8 weeks are up. I’m honestly sad that I couldn’t participate as much as I had originally planned/wanted to, but the most important thing is that everyone who purchased the Summer Camp Slasher Series enjoyed the yarn and film/book selections. And, I hope you all did. (Fingers crossed!) This week’s film selection probably did not come as a surprise to anyone. I thought it was fitting for the last week. It's also one of my favorite summer camp horror films. As for the colorways. I think I mentioned in a previous update/announcement about summer camp slashers have a very primary color palette. This is also true for the fictional Camp Blue Finch with their yellow and dark blue camp counselor outfits and the camp’s yellow and red accents. So there’s the camp’s primary colors but also, if you notice when the group ends up in the Camp Bloodbath movie the colors are very vibrant and saturated, like an “In Technicolor” film. The colorways are a mixture of both.

For extras, since summer is coming to an end soon (At least in terms of school starting and stuff like that. Definitely not the heat and humidity.) I’ve included a little fall-inspired mini skein of Is It Fall Yet? The name comes from one of the titles of the Daria movies. (Coincidentally, much of Daria’s summer in that one is spent as a camp counselor. A job she clearly has no real interest in. Lol.)

So that's a wrap! Thanks to everyone who purchased the series. I was thinking of continuing on with the horror book selections (as I miss the Spooky Bookclub). Kind of an informal horror book club with a new book selection each month and yarn inspired by it. Anyway, we'll see!

8/4 - Week 6 & 7 (Caution: Possible Spoilers Ahead)

I can’t believe it is already August. School will be starting soon… Yet the heat and humidity remain. (sigh)

Sorry I missed the update for week six. Surgery will be on 8/6 and it hasn’t been without some hiccups that had to be taken care of this past week. Let’s just say, getting an appointment with a cardiologist sometime within a 2-week time frame, to get clearance for surgery, was a task. (Fyi, this was never mentioned during any previous visits. My mom does not have heart problems and therefore does not see a cardiologist. She got the OK for surgery from her regular doctor, which was a requirement. And she never needed clearance from a cardiologist for the (major) surgery she’s had the last two years in a row.) Oh, and then there was the surprise 3-hour stress test. Fun times. Anyway…

The selection for week six was Stage Fright (2014), proving that even theater nerds aren’t safe at summer camp. Lol. For the film selections, I tried to pick some titles that you would immediately think of when you think of summer camp slashers, along with some lesser-known titles. I’m not really a fan of musicals but I have to say, musical comedy slashers aren’t so bad. An interesting concept. I’ve also got to give credit to writer/director Jerome Sable for trying something different. The colorway inspiration for this one was (again) inspired by one of the posters for the film.

As for the extras for the month. At some point this summer, I would have loved to have sent a s’mores kit since s’mores and campfires go hand in hand. Unfortunately, it is just way too hot and the chocolate would arrive a melty mess. So, a bag of candy contraband it is. I’ve never been to a proper summer camp, but in the movies there’s always one person who is in charge of getting all the things you’re not supposed to have – cigarettes, condoms, “gentlemen’s” magazines, junk food and probably candy. Hopefully the candy isn’t a melted mess by the time everyone opens it.

On to week seven. Can you believe it. We’re reading The Last Girls Standing by L.C. Valentine. If you’re feeling like a totally bad ass final girl (gal, guy, or non-binary pal) and have the time, perhaps you might want to read The Last Girls Standing: The Beginning as well. (Or continue on and make it a week nine thing? Maybe we can make a bonus/informal week 9 and 10?) The inspiration for this week’s colorway came from the very awesome book cover that’s made to look like a VHS/Video store rental. Since last week’s colorway was a bit on the dark and moody side, and it is summer after all, I wanted to go for something bright this week. And since this book (and The Beginning) had me at the cover art (Complete with the “Horror” and “Comedy” rental stickers), this week’s extra is a mini skein of Mind Melter, a colorway inspired by a VHS/Video Store rental sticker.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the Summer Slasher series so far. After this week, we are on to the (official/unofficial) final week. (Sob)

7/22 - Week 5 - Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead

Welcome to Week Five! This week’s selection is Dan Padavona’s Camp Slasher. To be honest, this book had me at the “Head severed and tossed into the bushes.” line in the synopsis. Now I need to know what happens in this one. For this week’s colorway, I wanted something bright and cheerful to contrast the “dark gory horror novel.” Also, if you haven’t noticed, a lot of summer camp slasher films feature primary colors – red, yellow, and blue. Anyway, during the “research and development” phase of this series, I came across an advertisement for a burlesque show called “Summer Camp Slasher” (I can only imagine. Lol.) with a late-70s/early 80s inspired striped and blood splattered font. I loved the color combination - so cheerful looking, but with a side of sinister blood splatter. (If any of that makes sense.) It was obviously a very summer color palette that reminded me of striped tube socks, “Staff” counselor shirts, and those short gym shorts. The extra this month is an additional 20-gram mini skein of “blood splatter” called Heads Will Roll. (Named after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song, and also fitting with the synopsis line.) So, let’s dive in to Camp Slasher. Oh, when will folks learn to quit rebuilding and reopening these summer camps? Ha!


7/14 - Weeks 3 & 4 – Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Week 3
That’s a wrap on week 3. Did everyone survive Camp Mirror Lake? (No spoilers please. I’m on chapter 11.) The inspiration for the week’s colorway was not inspired by the book cover art, but instead an illustration about summer horror movies, which included the subgenres of “Creepy Cabin in the Woods,” “Vacation Nightmares,” and “Summer Camp Scares.” Unfortunately, I could not find any mention of the artist(s) to give proper credit. Since I’m reading along with everyone, I had not read any of the book selections prior to dyeing. But since the synopsis said this camp was set up as an interactive terror game where the crew recreate scenes from the slasher classic "Curse of Camp Mirror Lake," I thought the infographic was very fitting. It is even set up like a camp map, noting the cabins, the lake and canoes, various buildings, etc.

As for the extras, this week included a small travel size survival/emergency kit for fiber related projects. It’s not everything that I would include in an emergency kit, but it is a start. I purposely left some room in the container for any additional items each of you would like to add to personalize it to your needs. (And in case anyone is curious about the empty bobbins, those are for keeping a couple of waste/scrap yarn on hand, or possibly heel thread for the sock knitters out there.)

Week 4
It’s another movie week! Next up is the 1988 slasher film "Cheerleader Camp." The film is like a mash-up of those 80s raunchy sex comedies and a horror movie. Admittedly, it is not a very good film. It’s definitely a late-night B-movie. But if you follow me on social media, you may have heard that I love awesomely bad movies, or late-night B-grade movies. I had seen the film years ago, but I didn’t really remember too much about it. I wondered if this was the kind of movie that would have been featured on USA’s Up All Night with Rhonda Shear. And yes, it was featured on the program. The thing I do remember though, is the very 80s and very awesome film poster with a cheerleader with the skull/skeleton face. The poster artwork was my inspiration for the week’s colorway. The film can be hard to find, both streaming and in a physical copy (A used dvd is priced around $46 and some change on Amazon. Wild!). But, as I’m typing this, you can watch the film for free on YouTube.

And speaking of YouTube. (Or writing about it, that is.) You may need to check out some refresher videos on the site for this week’s extra. It’s Arts & Crafts time. I’ve included a kit to make your camp bestie (or yourself) some old school friendship bracelets. I haven’t made these since I was a kid so I definitely needed to watch a few tutorials to get back into the swing of making them. Since summer camp movies tend to be products of the 80s and 90s or are more recent and set during those decades, I thought this kind of project would be very fitting. There are also a couple of safety pins included if you really want to relive some childhood nostalgia and pin the bracelet you are working on to your jeans. Lol.

Enjoy!

7/1 – Week Two of the Summer Camp Slasher Series (Warning: Spoilers Ahead)

Starting off the film portion of this series with one, if not THE, most iconic summer camp slasher film, Friday the 13th. Although the film was made in hopes of obtaining the same success as John Carpenter’s Halloween and the franchise tends to “borrow” a lot from other films, the original Friday the 13th has become the blueprint of the summer camp horror genre. And, it has gone on to become one of most notable and successful horror franchises.

Do you have a favorite sequel to Friday the 13th? My first response would be Part VI (Jason Lives), but I also love Part II because of Amy Steel and how she uses her intelligence and knowledge of psychology to help her become the Final Girl. I love Part III because this is the one where Jason gets his infamous hockey mask (Thanks Shelly!), the gimmicky 3D, the death by knitting needle scene, and it has that disco theme. I love Part IV because of the special effects and Crispin Glover’s dance moves (lol). So yeah, apparently, I can’t pick a favorite sequel…

Anyway, you are obviously welcome to do a full Friday the 13th marathon this week, or watch the original plus your favorite sequel. Or, maybe you want a week of the classics in which you can watch Friday the 13th along with Sleepaway Camp, The Burning, and/or Madman. Let me know what you watched this week. I'd love to know. And also, I’m very curious if anyone has any favorite Friday the 13th sequels.

For the colorway this week, my inspiration came from woodsy camp colors (also, lots of primary colors in summer camp horror) and the infamous Camp Crystal Lake sign. Also, remember when they tried to rebrand Camp Crystal Lake by changing the name to Camp Forest Green? Hence, the mini skein name and inspiration. Hope everyone likes it!

Next week is a book selection week with You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight. I’m really excited to start this one.

Now, a bit of a personal sidenote. (And you can totally skip this part if you want to.) If you read the listing in its entirety, you may remember my little back story where I mentioned that this would finally be a summer of no surgery, no recovery, no PT. Well, guess what? Someone (Not me. Mom. Always.) has to have immediate knee surgery. We found this out on the official first day of summer. (Timing was on point. Lol.) Apparently, the earliest we could schedule is the first week in August, but I’m basically back to where I was the last two summers as she can barely walk and is pain most of the time. So basically, caring for her like she has had surgery, yet she hasn’t had surgery. Lol. Thankfully, I didn’t have a lot scheduled for the shop as I wanted to tackle the mounting inventory of extras this summer. I’m still going to try to clear out as much inventory as I can and still try to participate in the Summer Slasher Series as much as I can. I really wanted to get back to more knitting and I did clean my poor neglected CSM, so fingers crossed! But of all the things. Maybe I jinxed myself. Oh, and my dad has been in and out of the doctors/ER this past month as well due to heart problems and a few other things. Keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn’t find out that he needs surgery soon as well. Sheesh. So, that's keeping me busy while I still try to keep the summer goals.

Also, Sailor Moon boxes are shipping soon. I’m winding the full skeins into minis now and getting boxes together to go out after the July 4th holiday.


6/29 – It is almost the end of Week One of the Summer Camp Slasher series. I held off from posting this week as some last-minute orders were still “in-transit.” I’ll be back with some info about Week Two tomorrow. But just a few things to note. First, you can open the package for each week on any day you’d like. It doesn’t have to be on Sunday. That is just the day I chose as it is the day that is like the end of one week and the beginning of the next. (If that makes sense.) Second, you don’t have to read (or listen, if you’re listening to the audio version) the book selections within one week. Of course, if you do that’s great, but since movie selections obviously take less time to watch than reading an entire novel, I figured the reading portion could continue on throughout the following (film selection) week. I hope everyone enjoyed (or is currently enjoying) Don’t Go To Wheel Camp. Next week is a film selection, and is one that is considered a classic within the genre. (I’m sure you can probably guess which film I’m referring to.)

6/28 - A quick note that due to some unforeseen circumstances there will be no Spooky Slumber Party, Natural History, or Peacock Spider series for July. Pre-orders for August will be available mid-July. Sorry for any inconvenience.

12/1 – Happy December (and Merry Cagemas)!
It is the first day of Cagemas. As promised on the insert, here is a list of the films featured in this year’s installment (in no particular):

Zandalee (1991)
Renfield (2023)
The Best of Times (1981 tv pilot)
Moonstruck (1987)
Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
Pig (2021)
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
The Old Way (2023)
Sympathy for the Devil (2023)
Adaptation. (2002)
The Family Man (2000)
The Retirement Plan (2023)
History of Swear Words (2021)
Between Worlds (2018)
Kiss of Death (1995)
Lord of War (2005)
Sonny (2002)
The Weatherman (2005)

I’m sure you’ll notice the list does not consist of 25 films total. Without giving too much away, there are some days with colorways based on things other than Cage’s films. I consider those days as wild card days where, if you are watching a Cage movie a day or the film that inspired each day’s colorway, you can watch one that is not listed above. Or, you can rewatch one of the films featured in last year’s Cagemas. They include:

Snake Eyes
Con Air
Face/Off
Vampire's Kiss
Raising Arizona
The Wicker Man
Valley Girl
Leaving Las Vegas
Honeymoon in Vegas
Willy's Wonderland
Mandy
Color Out of Space
Prisoners of the Ghostland
National Treasure
Primal
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Mom & Dad
Gone in 60 Seconds
Drive Angry
Wild At Heart
Ghost Rider
Red Rock West
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Pay the Ghost
The Rock

I figured I’d also include some info about some of the teas included in this year’s installment, just in case of allergies or if you’re watching your caffeine consumption.

Eastern Shore Tea Co. Teas:

To brew: Pour water at a boil over one tea bag per cup. Steep for five minutes. Remove tea bag and sweeten to taste.

Black Raven (Regular and Decaf, Decaf will be mentioned on the label) – A blackcurrant blend flavored black tea (inspired by Edgar Allen Poe)

Blood Orange (Regular and Decaf) – Blood orange flavored black tea

Gingerman (Regular and Decaf) – Flavored black tea that includes vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Christmas Spice (contains caffeine) – Flavored black tea with cinnamon, cloves, orange, lemon, and lime.

Jack Frost (caffeine free) – Red bush (Rooibos), peppermint, spearmint, and vanilla.

All Eastern Shore Tea Co. teas are gluten and pesticide free. Individually foil wrapped, square, tagless teabags use less paper and are whitened by oxygen. Full leaf tea is cut to size so teabags have the same flavor as loose teas.

If you find yourself wanting more of any of the flavors in this year’s installment or would like to try other flavors, you can find them at Baltimore Coffee and Tea Company (baltcoffee.com).

(And just in case anyone was wondering. I’m not sponsored or affiliated with Eastern Shore Tea Co. or Baltimore Coffee and Tea Company in any way. All teas included in Cagemas and shop orders were purchased by me. I’m just a fan and like to include some local, to my home state of Maryland, teas.)

***Bumping this up for Cagemas***
For those who have purchased Cagemas Calendars (2022), here is a list of films that have inspired colorways (in no particular order). If you'd like to know the films in order, please send me a convo and I'll forward that information along. I just don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone, but also figured a list would be helpful if you'd like to watch throughout the month.

Snake Eyes
Con Air
Face/Off
Vampire's Kiss
Raising Arizona
The Wicker Man
Valley Girl
Leaving Las Vegas
Honeymoon in Vegas
Willy's Wonderland
Mandy
Color Out of Space
Prisoners of the Ghostland
National Treasure
Primal
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Mom & Dad
Gone in 60 Seconds
Drive Angry
Wild At Heart
Ghost Rider
Red Rock West
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Pay the Ghost
The Rock

DTO = Dyed-to-Order
RTS = Ready-to-Ship

Base Yarn info is provided in all listings.
Please click on the "Learn more about this
item" link to view full listing info.

Unfortunately, I'm no longer taking wholesale orders at this time. But, there may be some yarns still available at certain yarn stores. My last wholesale orders were to Wild Hand in PA (self-striping minis) and to Fibre Space in VA (full skein self-striping).

*Please call ahead for availability, just to be on the safe side!

Instagram: @havirland
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