I know I'm not the only one feeling some combination of scared and heartsick and overwhelmed right now. Which is why I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Connecting with people and doing something nice for someone else is a great way to feel a bit better for a moment. So that's what we're going to do today.⁠ These are some of the wonderful goodies that my friend Crystal McLain makes. Crystal is a powerhouse with more energy and good cheer than any three people should have. Art is her passion, but she also runs a massage [...]

Are you still with me? Still following along on the Frankly Alarming Parade Of Swatches? If so, I commend your dedication.  The good news is we're getting close. Swatch 1 was proof of concept (the wee blobbies can be awfully cute). Swatch 2 was instructive (skinny fluffy yarn is not bold enough). Swatch 3 was also instructive (thicker fluffy yarn is good, but you need a more mellow background yarn). And now we're at swatch 4. Swatch 4 has an awful lot of promise. The fluff is thick enough it doesn't disappear. The background is solid enough it doesn't look [...]

Ok, more tiny slices of time in stitches, more tiny things to think about for just a little while at a time. ⁠ ⁠ This is the third swatch. In the previous one, I learned that super skinny fluffy yarn just can't really hold its own in this stitch.⁠ One option would be to hold the fluffy yarn double. But that's not really what I wanted to do here. But that's ok, because there's a second option, and that's to use a slightly thicker fluffy yarn and a slightly thinner background yarn.⁠ This swatch is using a sport (ish) background [...]

I finally have something on my needles that I like. This is most assuredly not it. This is one of the half a dozen or so swatches I went through before I got to the version I liked. Since I currently can't pay attention to save my life (and I've heard a few things from some of you that suggest that you may be in a similar state), I thought perhaps I'd show you all the steps and swatches that happen between 'hmm, that might work' and 'by jove I think I've got it,' and talk about the process a [...]

I don't know about you, but I have the attention span of a gnat right now. ⁠ I feel like this shouldn't really be affecting me. I work from home anyway, as does my spouse, and we don't have kids. I am queen of staying home under normal circumstances. But somehow...somehow this just feels really fraught. I can't concentrate, I can't settle in to work, I find myself just sort of bouncing around like a pinball.⁠ So I'm swatching. Because I need to keep my hands busy, and maybe it will help. I hope you're finding something that helps you [...]

Stuck at home? (Please please please tell me you're staying home if you possibly can...I will totally think less of you if you're still going out if you don't absolutely have to.) Need to do something to fill the hours?  Let's see who can find the most absurd tiny chore to make being at home feel satisfying and productive. No really, there is something you've been meaning to do.  Take fifteen minutes and do it.  You'll feel better. Today, I'm delinting my favorite socks. Seriously.  I bought a six pack of these things (there's something to be said for having [...]

The hat should have been enough.  And if knitting the hat once wasn't enough, surely knitting it twice would satisfy that itch.  But somehow, no.  No it was not.  And so I found myself with matching mitts. Now, I'm certainly not complaining.  Both the stitch and the yarn continue to be more fun than they have any right to be.  And goodness knows I wear mitts more than you might suspect.  So this is not something I'm sad about. But I am rather amazed that something so mellow managed to hold my attention for so long.  Perhaps it's the power [...]

So look. Before you go about adorning your eggs with woolly bits, you need to get the eggy bits out of there. The traditional way of doing this involves making a tiny hole on the top, a slightly larger hole on the bottom, sticking a toothpick or nail up in the egg to break apart the yolk, then using your mouth on the little hole to blow the raw egg out of the big hole. And that's totally what I did as a kid.  And I might still be able to bring myself to do that to a bright white [...]

So I already have something of a reputation for being fond of blocking.  I'll assume you already know the lecture on how it's magic and it's not that hard and your knitting is totally worth it. So instead I'll give the lecture on how it's good problem solving practice. On how it will encourage you to use the stuff you already have in new ways. On how, at the very least, it will confuse the heck out of anyone who catches sight of what you're doing.  Which really? Totally a bonus!