When I first saw these dragon egg skeins, it was right in the wake of Joann’s closure, I felt a sense of wonder. Like, maybe there was more to see outside the cave, to paraphrase Plato. I began to look at niche and new to me yarn brands, and Noro stole my heart.
The yarn is effervescent, floating on the loveliness of its craftsmanship. The yarn looks hand spun, although it is made on a hybrid machine. It called to me, as a knitter who had stuck to the budget yarn and avoided wool for years because the scratchiness was all I could remember. I didn’t know that wool, in spite of the scratchiness, has unique properties that enhance your stitches and make caring for your sweaters easy. Wool is antimicrobial naturally, meaning you don’t have to wash them consistently like other garments in your closet. They can be spot cleaned and refreshed between wears. The other important thing I was missing out on was the way the wool grips onto itself, it has memory, and a squish that is unlike what I had experienced with my acrylic and cotton based fibers.
Now, the Noro had me from first sight, but how was this self striping yarn to work with? Great actually! I chose the colorway Kori, a cool toned blend of blues and purples, with occasional hints of green, red, and gray.
The pooling was well behaved and the transitions were gradual. The hand spun feel of the yarn did pose some issues for me, when it came to gauge. There were sections that were quite thick and disconcertingly thin. I did cut some of thread like sections out of my yarn, because one snapped on me as I was working with it. This led to some yarn chicken, unfortunately.
My lack of yardage was also my own fault. When I first ordered this yarn, from my local yarn shop, I had planned to make a vest. But once I felt the fabric the yarn created, I wanted a whole sweater. This was not going to be possible with 900 meters of yarn. I had to get crafty, and sourced some yarn from my stash that was a similar color and weight, and most importantly, was a non-super wash wool like the Noro. To mimic the color story of the Sauin, I was careful to splice in the other yarn where the colors made sense and I think it is hard to tell what is the Noro yarn and what is Knit Picks Palette.
So what is it like to wear? A dream honestly. It feels like a vintage sweater, like a wool sweater from the 80s or 90s, a find that would make you do a happy dance if you picked this up at a thrift store. It is minimally scratchy, warm, yet breathable. It’s made me a wool convert and a Noro stan. I want to make this over and over again. What will keep me in check is the price point and availability. Each skein of the Sauin was 35 USD. That is why I chose to add in yarn from my stash to keep this project at 70 USD, instead of 105 or 140 USD, since I am bad at guessing yardage. This yarn brand is incredibly popular, which has made it tricky to get my hands on, but I am seeing that is 2026 the yarn is becoming more common in the US. That makes me happy to see – every knitter and crocheter should give this fiber a try!
This is my own observation, and may or may not be in my own algorithm that I am seeing this, instead of being a wide spread pattern, but it’s strange enough that I’d like to talk about it.
The catalyst for this blog post, has been the extreme swerve in content on Philly and Keely’s vanlife channel since May 2026. I found this channel in November 2025, through a collaboration with The Endless Adventure, and have been watching it consistently until recent. I’ve been a viewer of TEA since 2018. Their content has ebbed and flowed with the pandemic, buying a house, and dealing with grief, yet has remained steadily them even if the format changes for a time to accomodate RV renovations. They are one of the rare ones to do this. Reddit sure has some TEA haters, but the snark is subdued compared to other channels, because in my opinion, their content style is not fueled by drama. They are not everyone’s cuppa and that is okay.
Another channel I used to watch from 2017-2022, Kara and Nate, do try to be everyone’s cup of tea, and it became less interesting to me as time when on, for the sheer uncanny vibes of the videos. It felt plastic. I got bored of the luxury trips and unsubscribed. The last exception to this I would say, is the Way Away, who I think are disqualified from this discussion due to personal reasons that they announced publicly in 2020, following their divorce. They no longer make videos together, yet I believe they would follow a similar trajectory to TEA if they had carried on their channel together.
K&N and TEA are rare outliers to the great scope of what I want to look at though – this trend I am seeing of travel couple channels, that were successful in the late 2010s to early 2020s, who are now bringing some strange energy to the party in the form of questionable video topics, and child endangerment.
To name a few, that have veered into a bizarre reality show space have been Flying the Nest, Kinging it, Samuel and Audrey, Eamon and Bec, Louis and Raya, Philly and Keely (the inspiration for the post) and The Travel Beans (apparently, by P&K’s admission, the reason why they hurredly sought out, having a baby). All of the channels listed above, aside from Samuel and Audrey, have dabbled in vanlife. All but Kinging It are married and have children. But all have shifted their channel focus from travel to family life, in the style of reality television or “lifestyle influencing” as it is rebranded today.
Have you ever watched Teen Mom 2? Or seen those spinoff shows for celebrities like ‘Newlyweds’ featuring Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson? Or the show Donnie Loves Jenny featuring Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy? It’s all about monetizing your life, your relationship, and your family for the drama. The more drama the better! The infamous Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Duck Dynasty, and Teen Mom 2 are great examples of these reality shows that try to monetize family life, and in doing so, lead kids to grow up with a camera in their face, without a break. They have been born into The Truman Show. Thumbnails seem to grow increasing exaggerated as these channels move towards these reality show videos, and drift away from real life. It’s an interesting phenomenon. These channels once had beautiful thumbnails pointing to the destination, now they manipulate you to click to make sure these strangers are okay. They play on the emotions of the viewers, even using their pregnancies or children as bait.
Why does this part fixate me so? Ruby Franke.
Ruby Franke was a lifestyle vlogger from Utah, that ran a Youtube channel called Eight Passengers who was convicted of aggravated child abuse and is now serving four consecutive sentences of between 1-15 years, determined by the State of Utah Board of Parole. For a deep dive into what happened, I highly recommend watching the Hulu docuseries ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke‘ for multiple perspectives, particularly the POV of her oldest daughter. Her story provides an excellent account of what living as a character in your parents’ lucrative income stream does to your relationship with your parents and sense of security.
Now do I believe, any of the travel couples I listed above are going to follow the path of Ruby Franke. No, but the chance is never zero. Already, Flying the Nest has changed their whole channel to center their children and have written childrens’ books featuring their own children. Birthday parties are peak content for them. In a similar but creepier vein, Eamon and Bec, demonstrate no sense of boundaries between life and content. They are endangering their daughter by sharing footage of her that is innappropriate for viewing for anyone. It is sick and wrong, yet they seem willing to cash in on their daughter, after the success of monetizing Bec’s cancer. It’s very disturbing.
Getting back to the start of this discussion – Philly and Keely. They have amassed followers quickly, since coming to the US to travel the states in an RV. P&K focused on National Parks and the western vistas, the hits that put the butts in the seats. On the heels of reaching 100k followers, there was a sharp turn to family vlogging with raw, in my opinion oversharing that turned me off. I seem to be in the minority though, because from what I saw in the comments towards the end of my subscription to their channel, was pure parasocial gold. Their fans are not fans, they are stans, as delusional and voracious as K-pop stans who will fight to the death to get noticed by their idols. It’s bizarre! I’ve never seen such a quick change to a channel’s vibe as I observed with P&K. E&B’s change to family vlogging was a slow burn and was harder to see the change at first, but with P&K, like the Travel Beans, chaos is the currency.
Why does this concern me? Because social media has created accessibility to overshare and gather fame unlike we have seen before. We are no longer in the days of celebrities being the only ones who could cash in on their relationships and kids for more money and more fame. Everyone can, the floodgates are open. I’m not bothered or concerned about consenting adults cashing in on their life and sharing on the internet. I overshare all the time about my life and would like WordPress to pay out someday.
What is different to me is the lack of protection and consent of the children. I think we should be talking about how pervasive this has become in our present day, and speak up for the children who are at risk of being pedophile fodder and their parents paycheck. Child Labor Laws are ignored by society when labor is done for a camera held by your parent. I don’t think that is good for humanity, and I think a lot of kids and families are going to be hurt because of family vlogging. I believe we don’t see the problems because these videos seem relatable, but they could easily be programming for MTV, TLC, Bravo, or VH1. We scoff at the reality stars plastered on those channels, exposing their lives for a buck, and we judge harshly this trashy television. But what if it is just a couple and their van? I think we have blinders on because they are “normal” people just sharing their lives with us, so we feel kinship with them. This bias, from parasocial situations, normalizes this kind of content.
Travel sells. Vanlife sells. But drama sells more. Pregnancy put the butts in the seats, and dollars in your pockets, quickly. We all know the phenomenon. It’s why Trad Wife influencers bring home the bacon. It’s subtle, parasocial, propaganda. This is the reason that the works of fiction, Yesteryear and Tradwife, have been at the center of book discourse in 2026. It is a hot topic for debate.
Is this trend just a fluke? I don’t know. I hope so. I miss the more wholesome days of travel vlogging. I am not saying that people are not allowed to change up their content or life. That is their life and their right to do so. What I am saying is that I don’t like this trend, and I don’t want people on the internet to use their children as a way to grow the channel or bring them engagement. Children deserve privacy. Even before they are born, they deserve to be treated with respect and privacy. Having a family and walking away from the camera is an admirable choice here that puts your health, and your family first – I’m talking to you, Philly and Keely! It’s not too late to change course.
I would like to thank Ashley Viola and Tiffany Ferg, for educating me and so many others about the dangers of para-social relationships and family vlogging. I would recommend checking out their channels for a deeper dive on these topics.
This post is a little bit of a mash up, I guess the connecting thread is Zac Posen, or maturity? I’m not sure. I’ve been mulling over two topics that have been in my head this week. The first is the premiere of Project Runway Season 22, the second, being a knitting “controversy” that I believe is not a controversy at all. So, maybe, the connection is drama fatigue?
The Television Evolution from the 1990’s to the 2020’s
Social media is bad for us, we can agree on that. It compresses nuance, and that is exactly what is happening here. But, in the case of television and the fashion industry, it seems to be brain chemistry altering, to borrow an internet term, and the effects are getting strange. This is far from a comprehensive history, just a quick snippet for context.
Television has gone through several iterations in my lifetime – from the rise of cable, to the golden age of reality TV in the 2000’s, to streaming. In 2005, YouTube transformed who could occupy our attention, shortly following in 2007, the Iphone brought a new screen to our lives. In 2020, Tik Tok became the supreme ruler of culture, with the short-form content revolution. Now, in 2026, streaming platforms of shows and film, are self aware that they are the second or third screen vying for our goldfish-like attention spans. This is bad for business. What are networks supposed to do? I’d say they are letting this short form content culture lead.
Enter Project Runway Season 21 and its new, Tik Tok and YouTube editing style with quick cuts and comedy edits, that are self-aware to a level, that was a bit jarring to me. It was like internet culture was uploaded to an established show of 21 years, in order to modernize it. It did just that, it laid its cards on the table of what producers think a successful television show must have in the mid-2020’s – drama and internet-personas instead of contestants, in my opinion. It’s only gotten worse with the announcement of Season 22.
Why is it so loud here?
It’s noisy. I feel like everything about the show is shouting at me. I tried watching the first episode, and quit after the intro. Instead of letting the viewer sit back and engage with the show, the show demands shock, shade, and a level of seriousness that is simply undermined by how the contestants, presenters, and judges act. They are caricatures of humans. Like Zoolander or The Devil Wears Prada, it’s not an accurate representation of human behavior. The drama has been dialed up to a point of puppetry and theater, which would be fun if it was for say, in the pursuit of comedy like RuPaul’s Drag Race, which I am a fan of. This version of Project Runway is not about the clothing or the craft of sewing. It is for the purpose of creating internet buzz and translating that into streaming numbers. It feels so trite to say that. Project Runway is a business, what I miss is the illusion of the storytelling.
Tim Gunn, Zac Posen, Michael Kors, and Nina Garcia brought an industry seriousness to the show that provided context. With the elimination of all but Nina Garcia, and the death knell of losing the spot to show at NYFW, the legitimacy of the show is in shredded. What is all for? Internet fame. Even the challenges were different last year, with sponsorship themes shoe horned into a semblance of “design criteria” and it felt off. For example, the PNC “brilliantly boring” challenge to use boring fabric. There was the Eczema awareness challenge, that should have gone deeper, but instead gave us a concept and then quickly shooed it off screen.
In contrast, I have gained greater appreciation for Drag Race and its the commitment to staying on topic.The causes presented on the show seem genuine and it is refreshing! Like it is all in alignment with worldview.
Lack of Integrity in the Fashion Industry
I think this is because to have a clear worldview in the fashion industry right now, it has to be political, and they don’t want to do that at Disney, and so the political stances are muddled for the sake of saying nothing. Which is a political stance, indifference is infuriating with the amount of clout the show claims to have. This show is fashion “influencing” but make it a reality show.
The worst part of this muddled stance is the inclusion of Tyra Banks. The Netflix documentary from this winter makes sense now, it was a PR project to rebuild Tyra’s image. I grew up with America’s Next Top Model, created by Tyra Banks. I watched ANTM long before Project Runway, and it was a sh*tshow.
She let the cameras roll in Season 2, when a dangerously inebriated contestant, Shandy, experienced SA, and then Tyra had the gall to keep her from the hospital and police, to keep filming. She framed Shandy as an example of cheating, and publicly shamed her for a decade. She pressured contestants, Joanie and Danielle to undergo dangerous dental procedures. Tyra created photoshoots promoting blackface.
She fat shamed and encouraged ED on the show, ignoring the dangers of ED, all while shaming contestants who couldn’t “hide it” well enough. This is just a short list of the problematic behaviors on the ANTM show, a show that preyed on young women of color, and then made a mockery of them, reinforcing racism again and again for profit. I have no interest in watching a show that Tyra Banks is a part of, when she danced around an apologize in her documentary and, in my opinion, did not take any responsibility. Just have integrity, it’s all I ask for. Apologize. Truly make amends and rebuild your reputation through real change. This path is not fooling anyone.
Connecting the Two
Okay, so how are my two topics connected? Well first off, I wish they had brought a quality judge back like Zac Posen, but secondly, I think as much as people are not up in arms enough about Tyra coming back to television, I think the internet is always trying to drum up knitting controversies, that are not that serious.
I was definitely dragged into caring about The Game of Wool, by my corner of the internet, and proceeded to make a bingo card, as my farewell, once I realized I didn’t give a hoot even if this show was a let down. The most recent “controversy” I’ve seen is the Gap Happy Stripe collection for Summer 2026, promoted by the CCO, Zac Posen. The collection is not a knitwear focused throwback, instead it utilizes technology to make something “knitwear” centered. The image of the original knit has been printed on a mesh collection, that I believe has a decently high polyester content, because mesh.
As a fiber artist, if I want a happy stripe inspired piece, I’m just going to recreate it. Done. I don’t need to feel slighted by Gap, or be frustrated that they are not centering knitters with “fake knitwear” as I have seen touted on the internet. Gap is a fast fashion company, the knitwear would be machine knit, and the workers are not being compensated fairly. It’s the fashion industry, its problematic. They make poor choices and they create a ton of pollution. They also favor tech “innovations” so this is not radical, it seems inline with Project Runway to be honest.
I don’t think Zac Posen should “canceled” for this or for us to spam Gap, with anger that knitters have been slighted again. I don’t buy store bought knit anymore. I certainly don’t buy store bought crochet, because its either fake or created with slave labor. I try to buy thoughtfully, make what I can, mend, up cycle, and treat clothing as a permanent object. I think that is the best we can do right now. The problems with the fashion industry are not contained to Gap. It’s world wide. I have no reason to buy a mesh printed garment, so its a moot point for me. Protect your peace, the world is incredibly messy right now, this is a drop in the bucket.
Do you remember the Gap Happy Stripe collection? I don’t. I remember colorful knitwear from the early 2000’s and wearing one from Old Navy or Aeropostale. I’m getting tired of the internet shouting. I’m getting tired of endless knitting drama. I’m quite tired of dumb reboots of shows I liked. Whew, I think it I did it! Thank you, reader, hanging in with me on this random post. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. ❤
I’ve mentioned this before, but as a maker, I revisit a single project many times before it is done. Sometimes I will live with a finished object for a month, a few months, or even a year, and suddenly pick it back up again to adjust something that feels off. Honestly, taking a season or two away from that garment – such as, putting away a dress for the winter, or a sweater while you sweat it out for the summer, can give your mind the space to forget and re-acquaint yourself to the garment like you picked it up from the store. It is a whole new piece again, which can lead to me be less than thrilled with past me and her design choices.
Take this vest for example, I began this project in December 2024, wrapping it in February 2025. I wore it a few times, as it stands as a vest that winter and spring, then it was put away for the warm weather. When cool air returned in the fall, I pulled it out of its drawer and set it on my dress form. This vest did not feel complete, it had more to say, even though my hands were weary back in the winter, so I stopped and called this piece done. But its not done, it would be a gorgeous colorful sweater, and it was time to go back to this garment to make it whole.
Now, this was a self drafted piece. A complicated self drafted piece that helped me cut my color work chops in a garment. This was the first sweater I made with such a large color palette and the first time I decided to make a knitted piece with the motivation of telling a story. I wanted to evoke a winter sky, with a moon that was visible on the front and back. A moon with stars, and clouds, floating above a forest. This sweater would not only feature colorful forms across the fabric, it would have texture. I chose to use the ‘seersucker stitch’ as it was labeled from a Pinterest chart, to weave a diamond texture into the fabric for a 3-D plush effect. I chose large and miniature color work sections to create ebb and flow in the color story.
For the bind off, I had grown tired of the classic 1×1 rib, so I tried something a little different! I chose to create tight stripes, knit stitched together. Instead of stockinette which used knit (right side) and purl (wrong side) for it’s classic construction, I decided knit stitch, knitting the right side and wrong side, would stabilize the stitches for a lack of curling in the finished fabric. And it worked! The technique and color changes ground the color palette for a cohesive garment.
Keeping these previous choices in mind, when it came time to add sleeves and a new collar, I chose to employee a new to me technique, crochet. I wanted the sleeves to be made in the round, and be completed quickly so I could wear this piece for most of the winter. Crochet is much easier to do in the round, and to make progress quickly. The crochet stitches allowed me to work in new directions too, so the sweater had vertical texture to contrast with the horizontal lines of the original vest. With sleeves complete, this is one of my favorite pieces to date. It tells a story. The color palette reminds me of Stardew Valley. The cloud on the back reminds me of an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender when Appa is missing, and Aang thinks a cloud flying above is Appa floating above. I love the variety of colors – gold, navy, magenta, violet, and cream.
This was a labor of love, but I would highly recommend trying a complex project such as this if you are interested in making your own garments. Not only does this piece express my identity, it taught me how to be a better fiber artist. I feel proud each time I wear it. Get inspired and start stitching something from your own imagination!
A project that I have struggled with as a fiber artist, has been the classic cardigan. Like menswear, there is something deceivingly simple yet downright complex. This is my journey to make my first successful cardigan project!
To make this garment, I used 3 Caron Blossom Cakes for a total yardage of 1443, give or take a yard or three left over. I used a 5.5 mm hook and chose a combination of single crochet for the collar and cuffs, and double crochet for the body of the garment. This was my second crochet project, and I’m shocked with how well it turned out, compared to my first knit garments! Crochet is such a forgiving medium, compared to working live stitches between two needles in knitting. It’s simple to pull back progress to correct mistakes, without losing the integrity of the garment. Seaming the garment was far easier, using the hook to single crochet slip stitch the panels together. For the sleeves, it was a straightforward transition to crocheting in the round, compared to how confusing I find knitting in the round to be. In the same way, finding the stitches to pick up for the collar and button band, was a piece of cake!
Honestly, I have struggled with cardigans in the past – including felting a finished garment less than a week after I finished knitting it. It was devastating! The only thing I struggled with in this project was button color, size, and placement. As you can see from the featured photo and this one below, I have changed the color and button placement with wear. The vintage teal buttons I bought secondhand are brittle, one actually snapped in half. These tortoiseshell buttons are darker than I planned to use. I originally wanted to use buttons in a similar color value to the yarn hue, but the contrast is not bad. I think it brings more polish to the finished piece. The tortoiseshell buttons are actually the same I used on my felted cardigan. Always save your notions!
Because this cardigan is made from Caron Blossom Cakes, it is a combination of cotton and polyester, and is quite breathable for how chunky and fuzzy the yarn is. Now, the crochet stitches are certainly helping, but I am impressed by how comfortable this yarn is to wear. It tempts me to buy more, in a different colorway to make another sweater or cardigan. I have pause though. All the color offerings are vibrant. What if two garments with this yarn style is too much?
Overall, I loved my experience making this garment and wearing it. It’s a solid cardigan for Fall and Spring, with appropriate layering I’m sure I would feel warm enough in Winter too.
Have you crocheted a cardigan before? What was your first crochet project? Have you worked with Caron Blossom Cakes?
It’s been a strange year for Kpop. We’re six months into 2026 and it’s not vibing the same. There has been a lot of change.
In the spring, I shared my feelings, after hearing news of founding member, Mark Lee‘s departure from NCT. In that post, I wished him well and shared his plans to pursue christian music. Well in a few short months, he’s done a lot and very little good. He launched a new christian music label called Upper Room (UPRM Label), sharing very stylized, atmospheric posts to set the tone. And then he shattered it.
Now, I have to say I was not excited about the direction it was going. I think that artists who are believers, can do more good staying in the secular space, than running off to the christian music space. There are a ton of hymns and worship songs, and far too many pseudo-worship songs, that feel more like bizarre love songs or out of touch declarations that your life is bankrolled, because now “you are a son/daughter of a king”.
But I wasn’t expecting Mark Lee, to sport a confederate flag tee this week, post it to UPRM Label, and then avoid dealing with the aftermath. He should have condemned the racist symbol for what it is, but he didn’t.
Foolishness and Systems of Evil
Yes, there was a standard PR apology. He deleted the post of him in a confederate flag shirt, but instead of posting the apology to his feed, as a pinned post, he shared it to his story where it would expire after 24 hours. I don’t think this was a professional move. As Christians we are going to sin, be foolish, choose the wrong thing. Transparency and aligning all we do, mistakes and sincere apologies included, is part of the sanctification process. We must own up to the sin.
When we cut corners and put up those walls, we are not allowing others to see the sanctification process happen.
I think it is a huge red flag for Christians to skip this step, because it dimishes the work of Christ in us. We are bearing false testimony of what salvation is all about – that we on our own are not enough. Left to our own devices we will screw everything up. It is througb divine grace that we are transformed into new people. Not showing that work, like the choice to not show your work on a math problem, makes people question your integrity and who you represent.
Because the math doesn’t math properly. You could easily be faking. That’s not a good witness. Christian nationalism has been and continues to run rampant in the West. This situation with Mark, is part of a bigger problem in the church right now, and was a problem when the confederate flag was invented too.
Why The Confederate Flag is Antithetical to God and Humanity
The confederate flag was used by the confederation of southern states, after they seceded from the United States. They separated from the north to preserve slavery as a fundamental part of their way of their way of life. (Slavery was legal in all the US, and had been before independence. The north is also guilty of profiting from slavery and allowing this evil to take root.)
The southern states who joined this confederacy are South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Virginia. The Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow Era, and the Civil Rights Movement were all part of a long fight for freedom for black communities that are still being fought for today. In the 2020s, the Black Lives Matter movement put the spotlight back on systematic racism still baked into the US today. It is still, an on going process to protect the civil rights of BIPOC communities.
Quick Facts:
Mississippi continued to feature the confederate flag on their state flag until 2020!
Confederate flags were used by members of Klu Klux Klan after the war to suppress civil rights, torture and murder black Americans, and intimidate those around them that condemned Jim Crow laws and racism.
O’Brother Where Art Thou shows an example of this in the movie.
White supremacy is evil. Slavery is evil. There is no wiggle room there.
Final Thoughts
This flag represents oppression, violence, and racism. It is not a “vintage” shirt as Mark claimed in the public response. It was the wrong choice, so own up to it. Being Canadian is not an excuse, the internet exists, so do your research!
Kpop music borrows from black culture, black artists, and black music. Yet Kpop artists continue to disrespect black people, dehumanizing them with confederate flag shirts, racist slurs, and for Kiss of Life, livestreams where they act like offensive stereotypes of black culture as a “birthday party” concept for fans. I’m sick of it!
I have lost a lot of respect for Mark through his choices this week, and hope he makes it right some day by owning up to them, by speaking out against the symbol he chose to wear on his shirt to represent his christian music label.
I wanted to make a cardigan that celebrated our garden, with a yarn inspired by Beatrix Potter, that was made from wool, and featured a fair isle design. To do this I used Pacific Knit Co’s farm doodle deck and Knit Picks’ Chroma Worsted Weight yarn in the colors Beatrix and New Leaf. The Chroma yarn has become a fast favorite of mine for its durability and delicious halo. The yarn is comprised of 70% super wash wool and 30% nylon. This was a bit of a stash busting project, and a splurge. I wished to use up three skeins of deadstock New Leaf, finding the pink-orange-white of Beatrix was the perfect spring-inspired color palette upon which to build. Using a gift card from Christmas, I purchased 6 skeins of Beatrix, although I had to repurchase more with this project using thirteen skeins in total. Not cheap! But worth the splurge to create a piece I plan to wear for the rest of my life that celebrates the garden we have created here at our new house. It’s our in-town farm, as our friend calls it.
The bulk of this project was done on US 8 straight needles, and seamed together using a 5.5 mm crochet hook. The bottom ribbing was created using a US 4 circular needle. The size reduction of 1.5 mm, changed the gauge to create this floral ruffle along the bottom edge. At complete accident! But I like it. In addition, I used mostly stockinette stitches, with 1×1 ribbing at the cuffs, collar, button band, and bottom hem, and the seersucker stitch for added texture, in between color work sections. Will I add buttons? I am uncertain. The original plan was to use buttons, and have purchased buttons, yet I like to wear my garments first beforehand, to see if I want to wear the garment closed. Since yesterday was the Summer Solstice, I have a while to wait!
This garment took approximately 4 months to complete, along side other sewing, crochet, and knitting projects.
When someone is attacking your character, threatening pillars of security like your house, your cars, your bank account, for their own revenge, and is inciting derision in your relationship, how do you stay calm? I’ve been wrestling in these thoughts for the last month as a very unexpected thing happened that threw us for a major loop. I’ve been slow to write for this reason, because I felt so angry and bitter. All is good now though, in spite of the stress and the anger at the perpetrator of this stupid drama, but it begs the question, what does one do with these emotions?
When someone is attacking me, it’s a real struggle not to fight back and defend myself, or respond from a place of past pain and fire back with more gusto than the other person in an attempt to shut the argument down. But does that actually work? A younger me thought it did, but then younger me got the butt kicking of a lifetime by my uncle, who took a declaration of frustration at him and him alone, and manipulated it into a full on family fracture to hurt someone I love very much, my mom.
Lesson number two came from another family member, on a different side of my family, who doesn’t stop arguing. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, this person won’t stop nagging, or pushing their agenda. They refuse to take responsibility for their choices. They are the final boss of arguing, and it has taught me that fighting with this person in any way is futile. It doesn’t matter how wrong they are, they will not concede and so arguing, although it may feel good in the moment, for the temporary release of the emotional pressure valve, is dumb. There is nothing fruitful in addressing the problem with them, because they are denial of what the problem is really about. It’s terrible.
This has a paradoxical shift in my mind. Addressing the problem and dealing with it, is what I believed the healthy purpose of arguing was based in, but life is not that simple or noble. People are far more complicated and broken for that simple notion to be true. Learning to not engage, and walk away, even when someone is hurting you with their words, is the only way through sometimes. And it is incredibly difficult to master. It’s something you usually don’t learn until you are faced with impossible people. In the moment, you feel like the weight of their words outweighs what you know to be true. It feels like giving into manipulation, but it is not about surrendering at all. It is about preserving what is left of the relationship and moving on.
It is the art of learning not to argue. In both examples, my uncle and this other family member, created a stressful environment for me that left one option left. I have to walk away and not defend myself. I have to leave the argument behind. It is not weakness but instead a firm boundary rooted in the promise of a better tomorrow. It is taking the space to breathe and realize this relationship meant more to you than it did to them, and letting them go to fester in their own creation of chaos. You want better for them, but you can’t change them, or control them.
I have not mastered this, not even close. And to be fair, I have had many one sided arguments in my head. Their has been tears and lots of ranting. But not trying to explain myself or defend myself has helped me understand that their minds are already made up, and peaceful co-existence not being possible, is a them problem. I can’t want it more than them, I just have to let that part of our relationship evaporate into the sunshine. I have to focus on protecting my mental health by releasing the stress and hurt in healthy ways, like laughing, exercise, and quality time with family and friends that value the relationship with you, and want the best for you.
In time, walking away from arguments will get easier, I hope. This has been one of the most difficult lessons I have learned, in life. With both of these people, being members of the church, it has been a rough one for my faith. There is such hypocrisy in these relationships, and they both claim the high ground.
Leaving these relationships unsettled and broken feels like a failure, as we are supposed to live in harmony with each other, including other believers. Why doesn’t this bother them, like it bothers me? It makes me feel like a bad Christian. But that is probably another argument I need to just walk away from too.
Do you ever feel this way? Have you mastered the art of walking away from arguments? What helped you develop this skill?
What are the biggest mistakes people make when visiting your country?
Before I dive in, I’d like to acknowledge that the United States is a very big place, and it’s not easy to see all 50 states. Most Americans haven’t done that, nor do many of us have the opportunity to visit all the National Parks in our lifetime. There is a lot to explore, but that’s also why I am sharing this, because getting off the beaten path of travel vloggers and notable cities could be the key to making one-of-a-kind memories for yourself as a traveler. I want you to get the most bang for your buck and make some great memories! My hope is to emulate Geography King’s spectacular regional guides, which have helped me learn more about my own country and inspired me to want to explore new destinations.
The Big Two Cities
Now, this could just be the travel vloggers I have been served up on YouTube, or potentially James May being singularly focused on Southern California and New York City as the defining regions of America, but it can create tunnel vision. These destinations, I would say, are highly influential on a world scale, but as defining all of the United States, they are just one topping on the pizza. One character in the film. The rest of the United States is different from these microcosms.
We have a lot of cities to see, each with their own unique flavor. Chicago has amazing views of Lake Michigan, deep-dish pizza, and kayaking in downtown. Cincinnati offers a rich German heritage and skyline chili. Portland is a donut capital and uniquely charming, with stores and hotels unlike anywhere else. Boston has history, walkability, and seafood. Austin has barbecue, music, dance halls, and more. Savannah is a low-country gem, with historic charm and a complex history that holds important lessons from the past.
Many Regions with Endless Variety
The contiguous US has many regions: the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, the Mid-Atlantic, the Rust Belt, the Midwest, Big Sky Country, the Southeast, the Deep South, Appalachia, the Rocky Mountains, and the Northeast. These regional distinctions are a great foot-in-the-door to research places completely unknown. For example, the Southeast and Deep South are known for their swamps, but did you know the Mid-Atlantic, specifically Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, have swampy-marshy low country too? Along with great beaches and seafood, due to their proximity to the Chesapeake Bay! For another example, did you know that natural hot springs are found in central California, Idaho, and also Arkansas and Alaska? What about sand dunes? We have big dunes in North Carolina, Indiana, and New Mexico. There are tons of options for whatever you are looking to explore!
Tahquamenon Falls, MILafayette, LAFallingwater, PARehobeth Beach Boardwalk, DE
Tour by Food
I believe food is one of the best ways to explore the US. Food tells the story of the people, particularly immigrants, by which the US has been shaped. But did you know, we owe a great deal of our food heritage to black culture and the seeds carried here, by African people who were kidnapped and brought here as slaves? They cultivated the plants and created the dishes, that have become mainstays of Southern cuisine and Soul Food.
Indigenous nations, long before North America was colonized, developed a rich food history that has survived genocide and cultural erosion. Without their contributions food staples such as beans, corn, squash, salmon, venison, etc would not be part of our culinary knowledge.
Thirdly, the contribution of Mexican cuisine is incredibly important to understanding the food landscape of the United States. Without Mexican culture, we do not have tacos, burritos, avocados, tortillas, chiles, salsas, mole, tres leches, agave, etc. Mexican food deserves respect.
In addition, exploring the United States through barbecue, pizza, hotdogs, sandwiches, beer, and hamburgers is a great way to learn about regional lore. Take for example Carolina style barbecue, Detroit style pizza, the Po’boy, the Wisconsin butter burger, Dogfish Head’s Punkin’ Ale, or the Primanti’s sandwich. Go check them out!
Our Third Coast and Great Lakes
What is the Third Coast? It’s the coastline along the Gulf of Mexico that stretches across Eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Western Florida. The Great Lakes sit to the North, along our border with Canada, and comprise five freshwater lakes. Moving from west to east, they are Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. These regions are generally more affordable, less traveled, and offer stunning scenery, seafood, gorgeous beaches, swimming, and sunsets.
Biloxi, MSPresque Isle, Lake Erie, PA
We are more than FL, TX, CA, CO, UT
Sure Disney World in Orlando is fun, Texas has Buc-ee’s, California has the redwoods, Colorado the mountains, and Utah has Moab and Zion. These are the big states for tourism, and they are booming, but don’t let FOMO and trends define your travels. These all very pricey, very crowded, except for Texas. Texas is just turned into the charicature, and this can drown out the real culture, for the kitschy cowboy vibes. Just like Montana and Wyoming, are more than just the Yellowstone of streaming. Looking beyond these popular destinations can break your trip out of the hive mind of the post social media landscape.
West Virginia and Kentucky
Don’t sleep on these two stunners. Along with Alabama and Mississippi, West Virginia and Kentucky are the butt of many jokes, even though the people are lovely, the scenery is picturesque, and these communities have been extracted to within an inch of their lives for coal that made a lot of people rich in other states, while making them very poor. Look beyond the hardships and the rough exteriors to see the good hiding underneath. Hiking, cave exploring, bourbon tasting, rafting, pepperoni rolls, and waterfalls are just a few things you can explore.
Kentucky BourbonCumberland Falls, KYAppalachian Mountains, WVAutumn in West Virginia
National Parks and Western Scenery Bias
Because of social media, I believe there is an intense focus on visiting National Parks. The views are incredible, the hiking is pinable, the content is effortless, I get it. These still exist at State Parks, without the extra fees. Trump recently added a fee of 100 USD, per person, for international travelers who visit the 11 most popular parks. Or you can pay 250 USD for a pass, but I think it’s wrong to paywall natural beauty that cannot be owned. NPS staff are also short staffed due to Trump’s DOGE fiasco, so this is plea to give these places a break while we sort out this mess for you and for all of us. Plus then, you don’t have to buy the 250th anniversary pass, with his ugly mug on it.
Take Yourself Out to the Ballgame
Why not go to a baseball game while your here? With 30 professional teams and 120 minor league affiliated teams, there are endless opportunities to take in a baseball game. MLB stadiums boast impressive view of their cities, with great snacks, affordable tickets, and a lovely day outside.
SF Giants, Oracle ParkATL Braves, Truist ParkPGH Pirates, PNC Park
I Beg of You, Skip This City and This State
Please, do not go to Washington D.C. right now. The White House looks like a pile of rubble because of the ballroom build, and the UFC arena being built on the White House lawn. Go another time, when this is all a distant memory. Please skip Hawaii too out of solidarity to the local people of Hawaii, who have been priced out of their homeland by the rich and the land developers. Hawaii was colonized by force for military strategic position, over time Hawaiian culture has been diminished by forced assimilation into white cultural norms, and now overtourism is hurting Hawaiians once again. Let’s give Hawaii a break.
Kindness Still Exists
My final point is to not throw away the United States just because evil is being done by those in power right now. The majority of my fellow citizens are outraged and fighting to stop ICE, the War in Iran, Data Centers, and corruption. There are still good people here, who will welcome you with open arms regardless of where you are from, what you look like, or who you love. You are welcome here. Please come visit and let us share this beautiful scenery with you!
I was pretty late to the Late Show party, becoming a fan after it was canceled by CBS, for ‘purely financial reasons.’ What a shame that is! I think what we need more of is laughter. Pure, intelligent comedy for the sake of the joke. Not for the algorithm, or to bow down at the altar of tech bros, or the gold Nebuchadnezzar statue of Trump. But to instead frustrate the heck out of these life-draining entities with comedy.
In both my personal life and the greater world around me, the stress level is high. Morale is low. I think we’re all feeling tired by the burden of man doing what is right in his own eyes. But wait, there’s more! Now, the so-called “Christians” are whoring themselves out again, like the Israelites did in the Old Testament, raising up idols for their own gain and neglecting the covenant God made with them. It’s infuriating to be an adult and realize that this story is not a Bible story from the past, but a living example that continues to evolve with the generations, in repetitive cycles of taking God’s name in vain. Being the absolute worst representatives of God’s image, and claiming their actions are blessed by God.
As a kid, I naively thought this was what people from the past did, not us. In our “Christian” nation. I feel so dumb remembering how duped I was by the authority figures around me. As I got older, like we all do, we begin to see the signs of hypocrisy and corruption around us. Nowhere was it more apparent than in the Christian bubbles and institutions I interacted with. I remember my parents and grandparents warning me that the deepest cut would be in these circles. That sinful actions would feel more harmful in these environments, because we expect the believers around us to play by the rules, but we don’t. We treat each other just as badly, and sometimes worse, than the non-believers around us.
Politically, the age of MAGA and the culture wars of the last decade have exacerbated the tension in this dance of Christians being terrible representatives for the gospel, but wonderful representatives for their political parties, and the sin patterns being held onto, instead of being transformed by the sanctification process.
What I have the most irony, as I reflect right now as I write this, is that for my whole life, I have heard that the problem with America is that the church doesn’t preach sin anymore. This is usually targeted at things like unmarried couples living together, promiscuity, homosexuality, and gender expression. But I realize that, yeah, this is one of the problems with America, but not for any of the reasons listed above; instead, racism, bigotry, political idolatry, Nationalism, greed, capitalsim, extraction of the global south, ICE, Fascism, and more recently, worship of Trump, are some of the sins that are not preached about in the majority churches – and these sinful behaviors are running rampant in our world, destroying whole nations like Palestine, Iran, Congo, Sudan, and Lebanon for the sake of these bloodlusts “sanctioned” by people who aren’t being taught by churches that this is sin.
Getting back to the point of this post, all this darkness has felt like a dense fog spreading across all the light and truth, but comedy, by those like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, has cut through the complicit silence. Now we only have one of these shows left, although Trump calls for Kimmel’s job constantly. I’m going to miss Colbert’s voice in the void and hope that he finds a new place to do the same thing – call out the evil and stand for the truth, while making us laugh. The sweet pressure valve release of laughing through things that scare us is essential, I believe, for us to maintain our humanity.
It is a non-violent fight against fascism, an unwillingness to buy the crap they are selling us, and remain focused on what is good and true, when the propaganda tries to drown it out. That’s what is happening here with CBS, a complicit, chicken-sh*t response to pressure from above. What they have chosen to silence is the reminder to be kind, to be unwavering in our beliefs, and to not let the bad around us determine who we will be.
I’m thankful for the time I got to watch Colbert’s show, for the comfort pause to laugh through the ‘Hormuz news you can uz’ segment, in the middle of a war that none of us want but can’t depend on our leaders to stop, while watching our tax dollars be ripped from social programs to bombs and guns. It was like a balm to the soul, a place to reset and breathe, with a laugh. A way to process together. Thank you, Colbert!
In the meantime, what will I do? Watch Jimmy Kimmel. Rock out to the Piedmont Raging Grannies, and laugh my butt off watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.
One Rabbit Riot 