So, I’ve decided to start a blanket club. (You can sign up at the link here.)
Continue reading The Nihilist Rainbow blanket club (and some cool patterns, too)The Nihilist Rainbow blanket club (and some cool patterns, too)
Knitting as radical, body-positive, self love
TW/CW: No numbers in this post, but discussion of disordered eating and the weight loss industry.
Continue reading Knitting as radical, body-positive, self love
A DK shawl in spring? OF COURSE!
I’ve been working on something exciting and secret: a brand new collaboration with Anna Nikipirowicz, my friend and also an amazingly fabulous designer. Sometimes I dye yarn that I love, but I’m not totally sure what it’s meant to be. In those moments I turn to Anna for inspiration. A few months ago, Anna and I met for lunch. I handed over a DK gradient set and a couple skeins of a semi solid, and I asked her to work her magic. There’s no doubt about it, Anna really is some kind of magical yarn fairy. Just look at what she came up with:
Mystery yarn club signups
Want to see what kinds of things the mystery yarn clubs have? 😉
(Spoilers, sweetie!)
We’re creative, we’re badass, we need a F*****g break.
I’m not just talking about those of us who earn all or part of our income through creative outlets, I’m talking about all of us. Do you painstakingly choose colors for a new project? That’s creative. Do you spend hours cutting out tiny little shapes for papercraft? CREATIVE, AND A BIT MAD. Fancy bullet journal? Creative. And so on. I’m talking to all of us.
Studies have shown that creative folks tend to be more empathetic, which means some of us are highly emotionally influenced by our surroundings. In today’s current sociopolitical climate, that’s not easy. We’re bombarded from the first moment we blearily look at our phones in the morning, until we (finally) drift off at night (if we manage to do that at all.).
Continue reading We’re creative, we’re badass, we need a F*****g break.
Crafting as therapy, when everything feels like Too Much
Sometimes, we have a week where everything goes wrong. Everything that can happen, does, and we’re left to the mercy of the decidedly unmerciful universe. From unexpected expenses to family crisis, problems large and small don’t hesitate to mount up in spite of our best efforts.
And sometimes, our threshold for being able to deal with life is lowered due to lack of sleep and and unending stream of the everyday crap that wears us down over a period of weeks or months. We’re left feeling like a husk, a mere shadow of our vibrant, capable selves.
Continue reading Crafting as therapy, when everything feels like Too Much
Stealing from a small business? You’re literally the worst.
I realized as I was packing up orders this morning that I was missing a bunch of skeins in varying shades. I ransacked the shop stash – nowhere to be found. I checked the car, my personal stash, and nothing. After some detective work checking over the last stock take I did, it’s become clear they were stolen from the last event we were at. (Yes, I realized that I should have taken a better inventory after the last event – when several events are clustered together, things can get missed when you’re the only one running a business.)
Continue reading Stealing from a small business? You’re literally the worst.
Getting your yarn wishes granted
I started off the week in a foul, toxic mood. We’d had a stressful couple of weeks, I had a pile of invoices to pay, and we’re facing a big move, immigration battles, and the normal day to day stuff like, “Are we really having spaghetti AGAIN because we forgot to get XYZ at the grocery store?!”
I know myself well enough to know that when I start on the toxic spiral staircase of doom (the kind where you go round and round in your brain and never get anywhere), I need to get off my pity party train, and FAST – before I succumb to stomping around the apartment and picking fights with my lovely wife while I devour every carb within a 10 mile radius and moan about everything that’s ever gone wrong in my life.
The secret allure of a mystery knit-a-long and regaining my knitting mojo
I won’t lie to you, fellow crafters: my knitting and crochet mojo has been on hiatus for awhile. Back in March I announced that I was going to publish a book of geeky, nerdy knitting patterns. I set myself very strict, aggressive goals so that the book would get published (my myself, which means lots of up-front costs) this year.
Well.
Continue reading The secret allure of a mystery knit-a-long and regaining my knitting mojo
Are you coming to Nottingham Yarn Expo?
Another month, another awesome, excellent, exciting yarn event! I had the month of October off from yarn shows to create new yarns and kits, and to make sure I had enough time to stir my cauldron and wear my tall, pointy hat. (Kidding. Mostly.)