Tea of Immortality: A Recipe for Jun Kombucha
“In a world full of sodas, be a kombucha.” ― Anonymous Also known as Jun Tea, Jun is a variety of kombucha specifically brewed by fermenting green tea with honey, bacteria, and yeast. It isn’t too different from vinegar, which develops from fermented juice with a bacterial culture. However, unlike vinegar, it’s a whole lot tastier.…
Let the Good Times Roll: A Recipe for Raspberry Cream Cheese King Cake
“Laissez les bons temps rouler (Let the good times roll).” ― Anonymous Raspberry Cream Cheese King Cake is a marvelous traditional pastry associated with the celebration of Mardi Gras, particularly in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, most notably in Louisiana. It is a sweet and colorful cake that is typically enjoyed during the…
3 Historical Knits Used to Protest Fascism
“We think too much and feel too little.” ― Charlie Chaplin from The Great Dictator Why Arts and Crafts ARE Activism Oftentimes many see “craftivism” ―a form of civil disobedience and political protest that uses traditional domestic crafts to fuel societal change―as a Paper Tiger that produces few if any results, or as a form of…
Daily Art Musings: Only Crafting for Fun In 2026
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” ― Maya Angelou My Life is Being Rewritten This year, I’ve been thinking a lot about my high school and college self. I used to be enraptured by all of the Great American (and International) Novels we read in our literature classes… The…
How to Knit: The Stockinette Stitch
“I do know that there isn’t ever going to be a time when there aren’t any knitters…” ― Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Perhaps the most well known knitting stitch of all is the classic Stockinette Stitch. Most will recognize its iconic V-shaped pattern, smooth finish, and curling edges. It is the quintessential stitch for nearly all stitch…
Daily Art Musings: Two Extra Hours
“Where your worth is underestimated, your time will be wasted.” ― Gift Gugu Mona The greatest news I’ve received in a long time is being told that I would receive the gift of time. That seems insignificant when I could have received greater news that could move mountains or be someone’s difference between life or death.…
Daily Art Musings: Your Aesthetic vs. Prepackaged Aesthetics
“To find out who you are is like putting yourself on a psychiatric couch, but you have nobody to help you. Really it isn’t easy. I was talking with my nephew this morning and he gave me one of the best quotes I’ve heard in years, ‘Personal style is curiosity about oneself.’” ― Iris Apfel I…
Happy Imbolc and Candlemas: A Promise of New Life
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ― Shel Silverstein A Dream of Spring Imbolc marks the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. The word…
I Painted My Own Regal Pet Portraits
“Everyone is taught that angels have wings, but the lucky ones of us find they have four paws.” ― Anonymous Harmless Fun and Practice Since 2011, I had only painted seven or so pictures, often feeling inadequate and constantly comparing myself to my late uncle, who was fabulously talented. Add on a slew of internet…
I Made My Christmas and Yuletide Gifts This Year
“Your absence has gone through me Like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color.” — W.S. Merwin Who are the biggest influences in your life? Influenced to Make Gifts This year, I am undertaking something different for Christmas. First, I am shopping early. Second, I am barely shopping. Third, I…
The Year of the Snake
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ― Confucius Share what you know about the year you were born. When I was in elementary school, I had a classmate who was Chinese and his family had invited the class to their Chinese New Year exhibit, where we all learned about our zodiacs…
Daily Art Musings: Judging Fashion in a Different Way
“I’m not pretty, and I’ll never be pretty, but it doesn’t matter. I have something much better. I have style.” ― Iris Apfel Let’s ramble a bit about judgement… Have you ever wondered about whether or not you are a good judge of character? I like to think that I am decent at it, however,…
Happy Yule: A Recipe for Happiness
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ― Mahatma Gandhi Today is the Winter Solstice, and last night we experienced the New Moon. An extra dark and long night paved over us, so now we must make way for the return of the sun and brighter…
The Art of Patience: The Three-Year Sweater
“Goals are like apples in a tree. Some are a little higher than others, so you just have to jump higher.” ― Morten Andersen If there is one thing people have said to me over and over, it is that I have an incredible amount of patience. However, I hope one day that that they…
Daily Art Musings: A First Time for Starting Over; The Necessary Evil of Frogging
“You can’t be afraid to burn everything down and start from scratch. Because the only direction you will go from there, is up. New opportunities will have no choice but to eventually open up for you.” ― Robin S. Baker I was once in love with a very expensive yarn, heathered in shades of olive, moss,…
Daily Art Musings: Forest Walks and Local Colors
“entering the woods a hiking stick selects me to carry it” ― Cor van den Heuvel, Modern Haiku 44:1, Winter–Spring 2013 There was a time when I was incredibly active: soccer, track, gymnastics, martial arts, weight training, and swimming were all part of my life simultaneously and as easy to conduct as breathing. However, being an athlete…
Daily Art Musings: Admiring Folk Art
“He stepped down, avoiding any long look at her as one avoids long looks at the sun, but seeing her as one sees the sun, without looking.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina It occurred to me just how much American culture has undergone a sort of “grayification,” “squarification,” and “boxification,” which has inevitably led to a…
Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: A Recipe for Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate
“I don’t see how a pumpkin patch could be more sincere than this one.” ― It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown I thought I should share yet more pumpkin spice this season. I am unashamed to love this flavor, especially when lovingly mixed with one of my favorite hot beverages: white hot chocolate. I know……
Yarn Weights for Regular People
“There’s great value to knitting or digging up your garden or chopping up vegetables for soup, because you’re taking some time away from turning the pages, answering your emails, talking to people on the phone, and you’re letting your brain process whatever is stuck up in there.” — Chellie Pingree The World of Yarn When…
Daily Art Musings: I Really Needed to See This
“I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” ― Frida Kahlo Other than the brutal ice of the December cold, my own mind has been chilled, often wishing I existed in an alternate timeline. I drown the realities out with work and alcohol, and exist daily in a purgatory of action and denial. It occurred…
How to Make an Elegant Fabric Bookmark
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are” ― Mason Cooley Although admittedly I never get through as many books as I wish annually, I love to read. It began as a struggle when I was a child, falling behind in elementary school while watching my classmates vigorously complete those old…
Alchemy
Happy Halloween! Alchemy is one of my favorite words. I distinctly remember the first time I saw it. I was in middle school playing a stunning fantasy video game on my Game Boy Advance called Golden Sun. In a nutshell, the game is about eight young people on a quest to save their world. The…
Soup is Witchcraft: A Recipe for Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ― from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery This is the ultimate season… for colds! I adore October, but for some reason this is also the month where sickness sweeps over the household. Like clockwork, it is on time, keeping us…
Pattern: Knit Hogwarts House Scarf
“I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” ― Harry Potter I am one of many millennial Harry Potter fans that was mesmerized by the book’s mysterious and otherworldly setting, memorable characters, and themes of differentness, love, and bravery. I remember the day I got the book. I was in fifth grade―ten years old just like…
Fall Knitting Plans: Autumn Colors and Memento Mori
“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” — Edgar Allan Poe I always feel giddy at the slightest, sexiest scarlet leaf poking through the woods during late September. It is the sign that I require to mark…
Genuine Souls are Found at Horror Conventions
“Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else’s dreams?” ― Tim Burton Even though I find it obnoxious that Corporate America loves to showcase their Halloween goods around July 31st, I do adore Spooky Season. I can never devour enough autumnal colors, eat enough squash, corn, and beans, and drink enough apple…
I Sewed My Own Clothes For A Year. Here’s What I Learned…
“But to use the knowledge of the threading, you must learn the making of the shades. When to sadden with the iron pot. How to bloom the colors. How to bleed.” ― Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue I remember that fateful day when I was still a full time baker trudging away during the COVID-19 pandemic as an…
Big Girl Needles
“I don’t think you turn thirty and become immune to mistake-making or lesson learning. You grow wiser (supposedly) but never omniscient. There’s always something you need to be taught, and so you keep learning and you keep growing up- until you’re dead.”― Jessica George, Maame I just finished cleaning my Velvet Room―the name of my little arts…
The Fancier Take on a Childhood Classic: A Recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Filling
“Chocolate is happiness you can eat.” – Ursula Kohaupt A Fancier Take on a Childhood Classic I was shamefully addicted to Hostess Cupcakes growing up. After school, I’d buy them at this sketchy corner store near my house. They were always “fresh”. As an adult, I decided to make my own! They took a lot…
Feverishly Knitting Socks: A Feverish Ramble
I am not a sock knitter. I am happiest cuddling between my husband and kitty on the couch, knitting away at cardigans―my preferred project. But, something inspired me to try something different. I am losing my mind while trying to complete a simple black cardigan that has been in the works for three…
Cozy Crafting and Art 