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…
My Complicated Relationship with Fashion… because, I’m Probably Overthinking It
Not sure if this is quite a “skill,” but… I find that discovering our personal style can be deeper than we could ever imagine. “The worst fashion faux pas is looking in the mirror and seeing somebody else.” — Iris Apfel Conforming for the sake of conformity… My style is still pretty chaotic. It certainly does…
Oaks Should Stand Taller Than Skyscrapers
“Many a genius has been slow of growth. Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed.” —George Henry Lewes After leaving a huge city, it is incredible to see how much taller the trees are. It is a detail worth paying attention to. I felt trapped by…
Consummating the Knitting Marriage
“I made this for you. I thought of you while I made it. I guess I kind of love you.” ― Elizabeth Berg My number 1 priority tomorrow is… to keep showing my unfinished knitting projects some love by actually knitting them. Sometime in 2009 or so on a fateful spring afternoon, there was…
The Beginning
“Where should I start? I texted my old Jiko this question, and she wrote back this: 現在地で始まるべき. You should start where you are.” ― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being I am shaking with overstimulation. After an eclectic and chaotic month of teaching, emotional professional clashes, mass shootings, political assassinations, and an inconvenient…
AI-Free Childhood
“Distracted from distraction by distraction” — T.S. Eliot It was the first time in perhaps ten years that I opened a half-filled scrap book I started in elementary school. The book has thick pages dyed cream, much like the exquisite resume paper that once was the expectation at job interviews. Between the pages are scraps of…
Simple Crochet Terminology
Back Loop Only (blo): Refers to working into the back loop of a stitch, creating a ribbed or textured effect. Bobble Stitch (bo or bs): A cluster of stitches worked together to create a raised, textured bump in the fabric. Chain (ch): The foundation of most crochet projects, formed by making loops with the yarn and pulling them…
Simple Knitting Terminology
Bind Off (bo): The process of finishing a knitted piece by securing the stitches and creating a final edge. Blocking: The process of shaping and setting the final dimensions of a knitted piece by wetting and drying or steaming it. Bobble (mb): A small, raised decorative ball of stitches often used for texture. Cable Stitch: A technique where stitches…
Simple Sewing Terminology
Appliqué: A decorative technique where one fabric is stitched onto another to create a design. Blind Hem: A hemming technique where the stitches are nearly invisible on the right side of the fabric. Backstitch: A reverse stitch used at the beginning and end of a seam to secure the stitches. Basting: Temporary stitches used to hold fabric pieces together…
The Alchemist Diaries 