I thought we were going to dive in to blocking the cowl. But enough people ask what stuff you need for blocking that I wanted to talk about that first. The answer, as with so many things, is it depends. Remember, blocking is OFTEN just wash it, smooth it out, let it dry. For that, you need somewhere to wash your knit (I use my bathroom sink) & somewhere to lay it out (I use a towel on the counter or floor). If you want to go slightly more involved, you can wash it, smooth it over something that matches [...]

When you're deciding how to block something, you need to consider what sort of fiber you're dealing with. Most things you knit with (animal fibers, plant fibers, man made fibers) will benefit from Basic Blocking. That's where you're just washing it to get it clean, primping it a bit to even out the stitches, & letting it dry flat. It's the equivalent of hanging up a damp shirt & running your hand down it once or twice to smooth it out a bit. Just about anything you knit needs this, & I'm going to recommend you always do it. (You [...]

You know how I say 'blocking is often just getting it wet and smoothing it out?' Yeah. Well. Sometimes it's more than that. There's a fancy version too. And this thing will just absolutely shine once we get it blocked the fancy way. But I know the fancy blocking can be scary! So I want to show you how I do it. Because it's not hard, but there are some tricks to it. But before we dive in, do you have any particular questions about the Fancy Version of blocking? Because I bet we can talk about most of them [...]

I got these questions a bunch last week, so I wanted to put the answers all in one place. I'm not a doctor or a lawyer, but this is what I've been able to find (it's fine to share).⁠ ⁠•EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION VS ABORTION PILLS: You take emergency contraception (also called plan b or the morning after pill) after sex (within 72 hours is best, within 5 days can still work). They prevent pregnancy. You take abortion pills when you are less than 10 weeks pregnant. they end an existing pregnancy.⁠ ⁠ •WEIGHT LIMITS: Emergency contraception is less effective in higher [...]

You can buy abortion pills online. Right now. In all 50 states. Even if you're not pregnant. If you can't afford them, there are resources to help you pay for them. The folks at Aid Access will help you. Their website is aidaccess.org. The folks at Plan C will also help you. Their website is plancpills.org. I ordered abortion pills earlier this week, because if I get pregnant, I want an abortion. And this country might not let me have one. So I want to have abortion pills on hand in case I get pregnant (they last for several years, [...]

Did I spend the weekend sewing? Yup, yup I did. And we all know what the first step in sewing is right? No, not picking a pattern. No, not buying fabric. No, not even washing & ironing fabric (my petition to change the name from 'sewing' to 'advanced ironing with occasional stabbing' remains active). No, clearly the most important thing is to knit yourself a spool of thread to use as a pin cushion. That's my theory & I'm sticking to it. This is also one of the most marvelous of things, an excuse to use magnets in your knitting [...]

I did this on instagram stories last weekend, & when I said something about how I should probably stop bombarding unsuspecting knitters with the ongoing saga of What Yard Trash Will I Shove In Jars This Week, a whole bunch of folks said they actually like it. So, since I'm trying to do less work stuff & more life stuff this summer (while still feeding the gaping maw of the content machine that rules our lives), I figure cool, perhaps weekends are for life stuff instead of work stuff. Right now, that means chive vinegar (plus it's gorgeous). So, this [...]

Nope. I'm fine. I'm not completely undone by something so achingly simple that it should amuse no one, least of all me. Nope. Not at ALL. Totally in control of myself and liking this only the reasonable and normal amount. Nothing to see here.⁠ ⁠ [Begin Suuuuuuuper Seeeeeeeeecret transmission for those of you who actually read the caption...though to be fair, it's the same as yesterday's, so if you read it then, you're officially excused and can go get on with your Friday (I hope there's some lemonade in there somewhere)]⁠ ⁠ So, later this summer, as part of the [...]

Yup. Yup I like where this is going. I like it rather a lot. I seem to like basically anything that lets me doodle on my yarn. One of these days I'm going to just buy some markers and...have an incident. But for now, for now we do it with yarn.⁠ ⁠ [Begin Suuuuuuuper Seeeeeeeeecret transmission for those of you who actually read the whole post]⁠ ⁠ So, later this summer, as part of the new business name/shiny spiffy patreon thing, I'm taking down *MOST* of my existing patterns. A handful will come back under the new setup, but most [...]