After I posted about mending the terribly made Madewell sweater on twitter, I got an automated response from Madewell's customer service twitter account asking for more info. I've been generally reluctant to reach out to them (you can look back on some of the other posts about this process for more on why), but I figured since they reached out to me, I'd answer (again, you can see more of this on instagram). They asked for my order info, so here's what I sent (with my order number and email address redacted): Ok, since you asked, the order number is [...]

So I heard from Madewell about the sweaters I've spent all winter mending! And I totally want to show you what they had to say...but first, let's check in on the sweaters (you can see a video version of this on instagram if you want to see some of this in more detail). I bought these four sweaters from Madewell in the fall of 20222. By the spring of 2023, every single one was in tatters. Let's run through them. I first showed you the green one in January. It's the one that was unbelievably covered in pills after just [...]

I'm trying to get in the habit of doing a little housekeeping post once a month. The theory is that it will give me a place to run down what's going away, what's coming next, and what's in progress. Plus show off a little non-knitting something or other because we cannot live on yarn alone. This month that's hot chocolate paste. Aka how to do a bit of work now (when you have the brain power to stand over the stove and tend to something for a few minutes) and then have access to the good hot chocolate as needed [...]

I mean really, it took maybe an hour to embroider on this. And I have to say, I'm rather hopelessly smitten with the result. I mean yes, the original, unadorned version was spiffy. But this one is must magic. And I kinda feel like we should all know how to do this to our knits.⁠ Because really, now can you not love that? You know you want do play too!

Every month I write a post saying "abortions are good!" and send a donation to Aid Access to support their work providing abortion pills to people who need them.⁠ And every month, a few folks clutch their pearls and reach for their smelling salts and pretend they don't understand what I mean when I say abortions are good. So let's talk about it!⁠ Abortion is good in the way lots of other healthcare is good. Abortion is good in the way getting a suspicious mole removed is good or getting an inflamed appendix removed is good or getting a cavity [...]

So I live out in the country. Which means sometimes, when you're out driving around, you see quail eggs for sale on the side of the road.⁠ So of course the only thing to do is to buy them.⁠ Because I mean how could you not. ⁠ That seems perfectly normal so far.⁠ It's what happened after that that's kinda weird. ⁠ Because presumably not everyone then feels the urge to dig their little pile of knitted eggs out of the closet just to see how they look together. But really, I never suggested I wasn't weird, these things are [...]

Ok this is just showing of. I fully admit it. But really, look what a few minutes of stitching on the finished hat can do!⁠ I mean yes, the original hat (below) was delightful. I won't pretend otherwise. But if you play with a it a bit after you're done knitting, it can turn into something even cooler. ⁠ I cover this (and several other possibilities) in the digression on duplicate stitch that just came out. Wander over that way if you want more!