This isn's a storyline out of Portlandia season 5, though it could be: Orphaned baby birds are being rehabilitated in hand-knitted nests created by local residents.

San Rafael nonprofit WildCare put the call out in April for knitters to craft nests that mimic baby birds’ naturally warm habitats. So far, the Chronicle reports, 529 nests have been donated, half of which have gone to California wildlife hospitals and bird rescue centers. Below, check out a video by WildCare that shows these adorable chicks hanging out in their knitted homes.

The nests are primarily being used for songbirds that have fallen out of their nests during the spring season. Once they fall, the baby birds' mothers are often unable to pick up the chicks and fly them back to the nest.

WildCare keeps the baby birds in knitted nests for two weeks, feeding them 15 times a day until they’re strong enough to be moved to a larger cage. The birds are usually released to where they were found within two months.

The Baby Bird Nest campaign started two years ago, following in the footsteps of Sebastopol's Native Songbird Care & Conservation, which first designed the pattern for the knitted bowls that’s still being used today. Previously, WildCare used hard-surfaced bowls that caused the fragile birds to bruise or develop other problems.

[SFGate]

Craft blogs are full of inspiring handmade gift ideas this month, here's a round-up of some of our favorites.

Ornaments are quick and easy gifts to make, plus they can be used year after year, and if they're sweet enough they may even stay out long after the tree's down. We love these yarn ornaments on Craftster which we first saw on Craft. Three simple supplies are all you need, yarn, an old ornament and party drink umbrellas that will turn into knitting needles! Diane of Crafty Pod has a great tutorial up on how to make an adorable ric rac ornament. Homey not your bag? How About Orange has a simple tutorial for retro ornaments made out of foam. Another fun suggestion is buying some hollow glass ornaments and filling them with anything you think would look good-- beads, buttons, old photos-- the possibilities are endless.

Ric Rac ornament and photo by Diane Gilleland

If you have some basic sewing skills pillows are an easy project that can be made in a day. Sewing machines speed things along, but all you really need are thread, needle and fabric. Eye pillows also make a great gift, fill them with rice and lavender and you have a therapeutic present for the stress case in your life. Sew, Mama, Sew! is loaded with instructions for the beginner to more experienced sewer. Of course if you don't feel like sewing you can buy one of love forever's eye pillows from her Etsy shop.

It's been a productive year for us. Between knitting and cupcakes, we've been crafting up a storm. Our favorite new craft has absolutely no function other than looking cute. We're talking about softies, soft homemade toys that may not be all that functional but are certainly fun to make and coo at. For inspiration head on over to My Paper Crane, where master softie maker Heidi Kenney has an incredible gallery of softies for sale. Flickr of course has a great gallery of softies as well as some fabulous pictures of amigurumi. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed toys. These beauties take a little more skill and time, but they're certainly fun to look at.

We made our first softie this weekend and although it took most of the afternoon, we're going to blame that on our hangover and not the skill level required to make a softie. A cupcake may have been a bit ambitious for our first hand sewn toy, but it made a cute birthday present and Richard seemed to appreciate its homemade appeal.

One of our personal favorites this year was Leah Kramer's 'The Craftsters Guide to Nifty, Thrifty and Kitschy Crafts'. Kramer, a craft maven by every definition of the word, is responsible for starting the fabulous craftster.org, an online community for crafters of all stripes. Kramer is also one of the organizers behind Bazaar Bizarre, and if that weren't enough she is also part owner of Magpie, a crafty boutique in Sommerville, Massachusetts. A self proclaimed craft junkie, this book was inspired by Kramer's collection of craft books from the 1950's and 60's. In fact, about seventy percent of the projects that appear in the book are taken from those retro publications.

We'll admit at first we thought some of the projects seemed a little silly, Terry Loincloths anyone? But part of what makes this book so great is that these outlandish projects are the ones from the 50's & 60's. And there's something sort of charming about the crocheted doll face fridge magnets and beaded fruit. The actual images and text are reproduced so you can read pack-o-fun's (a manufacturer of many of these vintage craft booklets) original directions and delight in the drawings that accompany them. As Kramer states in the introduction, there's something sweetly nostalgic about craft projects from this era, not that we would have wanted to live in the 50's either, but it would have been fun to make a gold macaroni frame with your grandma back then.

SFist Christina Loff, contributing

We have a winner in our Fake Tales of San Francisco contest! As you may recall, we're giving out "The Heart Is Deceitful" movie swag to the person who came up with the best, most fakest San Francisco story. After disqualifying Matier and Ross when the Gavin dating a Scientologist actress thing came true, our winner is...... KWillets, for this tragic tale of San Francisco gone very, very wrong.

"Speak up Patrick", I said breathlessly as I dashed out the door and across the spotless sidewalk, "I can never hear you, and my bus will be here in 60 seconds." He pointed up the street, where I noticed a police car. "Big graffitti bust" he said softly, "biggest thing since the drug bust back in '97!". "Drugs?" I said, flabbergasted, "on Lower Haight?" He nodded soberly. "Yes, who would believe it, now that we have the HOPE VI program. Hey, watch out for those dirty needles." Looking down, I noticed a pair of beat up knitting needles on the sidewalk, and stepped over them carefully. "Used rubbers too" I remarked, gesturing at some worn galoshes. "Yeah, they're left over from that shooting we had last night", he added, "looks like another Robin Williams blockbuster."

A man in chef's garb passed by, carrying a broken saucepan. "Which way is the pot club?" he asked. As I pointed him up towards the 400 block, I saw the 71 making its way around one of the hourly meter patrols. "Darn, my watch must be slow!" I muttered.

Suddenly a man dashed into the crosswalk, pursued by a group of what appeared to be reporters. "No interviews! No photographs! Not until this crack problem is cleaned up" he cried. "But Mayor Newsom! What possibly do you mean" shouted one pursuer. "I'm talking about this!" he cried, pointing at the roadway, where a tiny hairline fracture had developed in the year-old pavement.

Congratulations, KWillets!! We'll be getting in touch with you to figure out where to send your prize.