Walls straining to contain the warmth a room dimly lit with strings of blinking light Vince Gill softly sings let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me tidings of comfort and joy shared by those lovingly gathered whatever rages outside countered in equal measure or even in greater abundance by the joyful spirits within.

My project style is "spreader." I scatter my supplies around me, and then if I have to stop before I'm finished, I'll stack everything and leave it in place. This is a somewhat maddening trait to others if those I'm sharing space with are of a tidier inclination, and a dangerous one for me if those I'm sharing space with are under the age of three. Both of those parameters are currently in place, so I've discovered trays and carts. A little three tiered cart currently acts as my nightstand, each bin assigned a different theme, and perfect for dragging to wherever I'm working and then putting away safely when I'm finished. I've also started getting up before everyone else in the mornings to take online classes, write these posts (and other things), and ease my body into wakefulness with a gentle yoga routine. Especially this year, when we're all stuck inside together, I think it's important to maintain sacred spaces for the individuals i...

While my mum did her best to instill me with domestic virtue, I always preferred handing my dad tools while he did car repairs or built something to cooking or cleaning. I know how to do those things, but I never was able to match her enthusiasm for Cleaning Fridays, and I was baffled by her nostalgic love of hanging laundry out to dry and hand washing dishes, especially since we had functional machines that did those tasks for us, and using them meant more time to read or make something.  Now, as an adult, I do what it takes to keep everyone clothed and fed and to keep the ants at bay, but if anyone else expresses interest in any of those sort of tasks, I am happy to let them at it. Are your clothes put away in such a way that you can find what you're looking for? Great! Are the dishes in the dishwasher sufficiently rinsed and properly spaced so that it can do its job? Spectacular! I do not care how it's done, only that it's done. As the adult who is home the most and th...

Way back at the beginning of the year, I had the great idea to replace all of my store bought cardigans with hand knit ones. The first one I tackled to replace was a sage green cocoon that I wear a lot.  I found some acceptable yarn (one of my requirements for this one was washability) and cast on. I finished the sleeves and started the back, and then there was a pandemic and I briefly abandoned it. Now that it's cool enough to wear large squishy cardigans, though, I went ahead and finished it this month. The pattern is a Hannah Fettig one from an old issue of KnitScene, and I used Ewe So Sporty yarn from Yarn Kandy. Someone on Ravelry did a lovely two tone version (I believe they did a burnt orange and a dark red), and although my yardage calculations were a bit off (I ran out of the sage green a row and a half out and had to switch to pistachio, of which I ended up having an entire extra ball) but overall I'm quite pleased with the finished piece. Next I'd like to repl...

It's finally fully fall here in central Arkansas. The leaves turned overnight, along with the temperature, which dropped from 80s to 50s quicker than I could hide all of my five year old's flip flops. It's too dark too early for evening walks and too cold for morning ones (I'm a delicate blossom with an admittedly narrow range of temperatures that I consider acceptable), so I'm turning my efforts indoors. I've begun my yearly mini migration from the north side of the house to the south side - during the summer I sit by our deep front windows and look out at the little potted garden I have right off the front step. But as the leaves drop and the sun shifts, I move to the south side, where the double glass doors in our bedroom let in wide and glorious swathes of sunshine for me and a few sun-loving plants. I am a housecat in human form, watching the birds at the feeder, napping in the sun, and refusing to go outside when it's raining. As exasperated as I'v...