The 10 Best Pumpkin Beers of 2026

I think fall is the best season of the year. There’s something magical about the crispness in the air, the magical colors of the leaves changing, and the incredible flavors that come with it. Pumpkin is one of my favorite things to enjoy throughout fall, and I’ll eat it in pie, cookies, rolls, coffee drinks, and even soups, but one of my favorite ways to enjoy it is in beer.

Wikipedia says that the first mention of pumpkin beer being brewed in the United States was in 1771, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that it was commercially brewed when Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in California did so. Since then, pumpkin beer has skyrocketed in popularity, and Magz and I were in college during the 2010s when it felt like every independent brewery was releasing a pumpkin beer at a time when craft breweries were all the rage. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it felt like the popularity of pumpkin beers lessened toward the end of the 2010s and the start of the 2020s, but it appears to be back now. Go into any reputable distributor in early September when I’m writing this, and you can find more than a dozen different pumpkin beers to try. Here are the 10 best pumpkins beers for 2026 that I’ve drunk this year.

Top 10 Pumpkin Beers for 2026

10.) Pumpkinville Latte

Brewery: Ellicottville Brewing Company – Ellicottville, NY
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 17

Ellicottville is located in the Southern Tier of New York about 30 miles east of Jamestown and directly north of Bradford, Pennsylvania. When you picture a beautiful fall day, the Southern Tier is the kind of place that comes to mind. Close to Ellicottville is the tiny hamlet (that’s what they’re called in NY) of Great Valley, where each fall the spectacle that is Pumpkinville comes alive and everything that is fall is celebrated. It’s this Pumpkinville attraction that the beer gets its name. Pumpkinville Latte is a smooth beer that builds upon its regular Pumpkinville beer by combining it with elements reminiscent of a pumpkin-spiced latte. I’m not sure how accurate this is, but it tastes like the regular Pumpkinville beer was mixed with a milk stout to give it a creamy mouth feel that is often associated with lactose being present. It’s certainly a unique beer, and I recommend it to anyone who likes quality beer, pumpkin, and lattes, but I don’t think it’s an improvement over the original Pumpkinville. It can also be a bit pricey at upwards of $12 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans.

Score: 5.5/10

9.) Jack-O

Brewery: Samuel Adams, Boston Beer Company – Boston, MA
ABV: 4.4%
IBU: 8

Prior to about two weeks ago, neither of us knew this beer existed. In the past, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Sam Adams beer apart from the Boston Beer Company’s partnership with Dogfish Head, so I wasn’t researching their fall beer offerings. We saw a six-pack of this in the grocery store; the description was intriguing and the price was right at less than $10, so we picked it up. I think it’s safe to say that it’s the most unique pumpkin beer I’ve ever had because it’s heavy on the nutmeg. Most spiced pumpkin beers are heavy on the cinnamon to replicate a pumpkin pie, but nutmeg gives it a different flavor profile. I really enjoyed it and think it’s worth trying or even buying a six-pack, but it isn’t a flavor I could have all the time.

Score: 6/10

8.) Pumpkin Ale

Brewery: Block House Brewing, Pittsburgh Brewing Company – Pittsburgh, PA
ABV: 7%
IBU: N/A

Magz and I differ a bit on our opinions of Block House’s Pumpkin Ale. She likes it a bit more than I do, but I still think it’s a quality beer. It’s definitely on the sweeter end of things, but you get all the notes of pumpkin pie, which is clearly what Block House is trying to offer given the artwork. Even the beer’s phrase “spice & everything nice” indicates what you’re in for with this beer. I personally think it’s a bit too sweet, but the spice blend works really well. My biggest complaint with the beer is its price. At $21 for an 18-pack of cans or $11.99 for a six-pack of bottles, it’s not too expensive until you learn that Block House is the “craft” division of Pittsburgh Brewing Company, the same brewery that makes Iron City. That price point is on par with some higher-end imports, and I’m not convinced this belongs there. Regardless, it’s worth trying if you live near Pittsburgh.

Score: 6.25/10

7.) Double Zombies

Brewery: New Trail Brewing Company – Williamsport, PA
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 4

I think this may have been the first pumpkin beer we had this year, as our local distributor had some leftover four-packs from last year. I think it was also our introduction to New Trail Brewing Company. This beer hits hard at 8.5%, plus it’s only sold in 16-ounce cans, so it’s not what you would call sessionable. Still, in spite of the fairly high ABV, it’s easy to drink and is smooth. In addition to the standard pumpkin flavors, Double Zombies also has maple syrup in it, adding an extra bit of sweetness and another flavor. Like other New Trail beers that are only available in four-packs, it’s a bit pricey. I’m not sure of the exact cost, but I would guess anywhere between $12 and $16 for the four-pack. But if you can find it in singles or have someone to split it with, it’s still worth trying.

Score: 6.5/10

6.) Pumpkinhead

Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Company – Portland, ME
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: 17

This beer has some of the coolest artwork of any pumpkin beer, depicting the headless horseman from Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; however, this horseman does have a head, but it’s a pumpkin. I first saw the artwork when a distributor we like shared pictures of it on social media. I read about it and had to find it. Interestingly enough, our local distributor (the same place we bought Double Zombies) had a case of last year’s Pumpkinhead and sold it to us for $15. This is one of my favorite things about trying new beers. Sometimes, it’s the artwork or design that entices you, just like the cover of a book. Pumpkinhead lives up to its design with a flavorful beer that is light and refreshing. It actually tastes like beer, which isn’t always a given with pumpkin beers that are often full of spices. Pumpkinhead isn’t too sweet with a subtle pumpkin flavor, making it easy to drink, and at 4.5% ABV, it’s very sessionable. And even though we got our case really cheap, it’s still an affordable beer full price, at around $9 or $10 for a six-pack of bottles.

Score: 7/10

5.) Pumpkin Ale

Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Company – Hampton, NH
ABV: 5%
IBU: 25

We became big fans of Smuttynose beers earlier in the summer when we found a discounted fall variety pack that was outdated. The pack had four great beers, including their Pumpkin Ale. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve had their Pumpkin Ale, but how smooth and easy to drink it is stood out. It’s a beer that reflects the earliest versions of pumpkin beer, so its flavor has more pumpkin than spice notes. It put Smuttynose on the map for us, and now we know that we’re likely to enjoy any of their beers. It’s also an affordable brewery to buy from, so it’s possible to find a six-pack of it for around $10.

Score: 7.5/10

4.) Pumpkin Ale

Brewery: Saranac Brewery – Utica, NY
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: 15

Let me start by saying that Saranac makes some unbelievably good and affordable beers. Their Pumpkin Ale was our introduction to them, but we’ve since had the rest of their fall beers and their 12 Beers of Summer variety pack. It’s all delicious. Their pumpkin is darker in color than many of the others on this list, but it’s lighter in flavor, making it really easy to drink even at 5.3%. You get a nice pumpkin flavor with hints of the typical spices – cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and clove. It’s simply great and is comparable in quality and flavor to the three above it. For around $10 for a six-pack of bottles or $15 for their summer variety pack, you can’t go wrong.

Score: 8/10

3.) Punkin Ale

Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery – Milton, DE
ABV: 7%
IBU: 28

Punkin Ale was one of the first pumpkin beers I tried in college, and it’s because I love all things Dogfish Head. It’s been brewed since 1994 before the brewery started, and the story behind it is great. Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione brewed the first batch of Punkin Ale to enter it in the annual Punkin Chunkin contest in Delaware, putting it up against pumpkin baked goods and other homemade items. He won the contest, and it’s been brewed every year for a fall release since. Using all natural ingredients, you can taste authentic pumpkin, brown sugar, and pie spices. At 7%, it’s a bit heavy, but it drinks lighter than the ABV suggests. It’s a staple in our rotation of pumpkin beers. However, beware, because, like other Dogfish beers, it’s not cheap at nearly $14 for a six-pack of cans.

Score: 8.5/10

2.) Johnny Rails

Brewery: Erie Brewing Company – Erie, PA
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 12

We looked for Johnny Rails for weeks before eventually finding it in our grocery store. I think Erie Brewing Company may release it later than other breweries release their pumpkin beers, and despite living just an hour away from Erie, we couldn’t find it at any of the distributors. We first had it years ago, but it had been since at least 2019 that we drank it, so the first sip this year felt like the first one. As a blonde ale, it’s really crisp and refreshing, and with an ABV of 6.5%, I think it’s the perfect balance of refreshing and heavy. It’s flavorful but not overpowering, establishing a great balance. It was worth waiting for, and I also think it’s worth the high price tag of $15 for a six-pack of bottles.

Score: 9/10

1.) Pumpkinville

Brewery: Ellicottville Brewing Company – Ellicottville, NY
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 17

I referenced Ellicottville’s original Pumpkinville earlier, and here it is. I think it’s the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had, and I don’t think it’s that much of a debate. At 6.5%, it’s right in the sweet spot of being heavy enough to notice the alcohol without being overpowering. You get plenty of pumpkin flavor, and the spice adds a nice touch to complete the tasting notes. It’s one of several reasons that Ellicottville has become my favorite brewery. Pumpkinville is also pretty affordable at $12 or $13 for a six-pack of 12-ounce cans. If you can find this in your area, you should give it a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Score: 9.5/10

Pumpkin Beers Left Off the List

If you’re an experienced pumpkin beer drinker, you’ll likely notice that some popular ones are missing. I’ll address those here. I’ve had Southern Tier’s Pumking and Maple Warlock, but I think both are too heavy at 8.6%. I like pumpkin beer to be smooth and easy to drink, and anytime a beer gets above 8%, it gets into a range that I don’t find enjoyable. Both are also crazy expensive at nearly $4 a bottle. I also had a pumpkin cider from Penn Brewery that was a collaboration with a local orchard and didn’t enjoy it at all. I didn’t think the pumpkin flavor worked well with the cider and will avoid those moving forward.

There are also plenty of pumpkin beers that I want to try but have yet to find. I’d really like to try the pumpkin beers from Elysian, especially the Night Owl and Punkoccino, but I’ve yet to find them in singles to try. I’ve seen them in six-packs and variety packs, but at their price point, I’d really like to try one before committing to multiple of them. Good Gourd from Cigar City is another popular pumpkin beer that I have yet to see in stores.

Do you enjoy pumpkin beers? If so, what do you think of my list, and are there any that I need to try? I’m always interested in trying new beers and like to expand my horizons each fall.

September 11, 2026 0

AI Overviews and Renaming the Things

I feel like my brain is getting stuck in a quagmire of stupidity in 2026, like wet concrete under the feet of my thoughts when I am writing a blog post or crafting a conversation. It’s not because of using AI that is melting my brain, instead I feel like my brain is constantly having to jump through hoops to navigate the day’s new nonsense. I’ll explain.

Okay, so you’re having a quick search, ideally Duck Duck Go but habits die hard, so I Google only to be bombarded by AI overviews. Now comes the first hoop to jump through, remember to scroll down and ignore the overview to find a reliable source, scroll, scroll…then find a source to reference. Remember how a few years ago you could get Google search results, indexed and organized? Remember how simple that was? The mental effort required to find what you were looking for was streamlined, and now it is not, unless you want the “AI overview” which is nothing more than Google ripping information from the sources and digesting it for you, no matter how inaccurate they are. Creating more chaos, and more barriers to understanding. To be honest, maybe we were idiotic to leave the physical sources in the first place. Microfilm and archives are time consuming, but at least they are organized and unchanging.

For an example of how flawed this new overview format is, I present Dejeon Love. I recommend you look it up, because it is complex. For a reliable overview, I’d recommend Ashley Viola’s commentary on this. In short, Dejeon Love is a scammer, who was able to pad his online persona with so many videos claiming he was a San Francisco player, that it tricked the Google AI Overview. Why does this matter? When his victims searched for him, AI Overview confirmed the lie, and therefore it gave him credit. How disgusting is that? I personally think Google should be held accountable for assisting Love scam 1.3 million USD from 26 women, but of course they won’t be, because this is “the future”.

The other nonsense that is melting our brains day after day is the renaming game being facilitated by Google Maps, an 80 year toddler with a pen, and weak sauce government officials. First we had the Gulf of America in 2025, now we have the Lake of America, and now the state of New America, which I am sure Google Maps will bend over for that one. Aa long as the Kleptocracy of 2026 continues to line Google’s pockets, they will be whoring themselves out for it. I mean the scam worked for Elon, Meta, just give in for the money right? Who cares if it dilutes and corrupts your product, with legal and safety consequences. That seems to be of no concern, because they’ll just tell the machine to propagandize its safety. Case in point, the new Meta ads claiming its safety, while Meta in court over a lawsuit of the contrary.

My mind is so tired of critical thinking this much, over analyzing, factchecking things that used to be reliable, just to communicate the most basic things in 2026, because we have given into nonsense and the dissolution of standards. What are we doing to ourselves?! How will future generations view this time period? The regurgiation of everything era? The Golden Age of AI Slop? Honestly, I hope the state of New Mexico, which is the only governing body that can name itself, uses this as an opportunity to rename itself Nuevo Mexico, and educate our nation of its longer history in North America. The capital city of Santa Fe was founded in 1610, that is 166 years before America was created by the Declaration of Independence.

There are so many things, lofty things, we could be doing instead of debating the names of things that can’t be changed. Or how about how all the things we are having to debate because one person is doing things that he can’t do, with powers he doesn’t have? Or how about the time wasted everyday getting around the AI tools that have been integrated into our lives, slowing things down and stealing our resources? It is a quagmire, draining our focus and mental energy to avoid these idiotic improvements. I mean, after the Lake Ontario incident, how many of downloaded Map Quest? It’s not easy to use! I’m tired of this. Must we leave technology behind to escape this farce of progress? I hope not, for all the resources extracted to create this system that was helpful, that has been made more difficult to use, over and over again.

I’m just a girl, who hates change, especially when it is useless change. Do you agree?

September 8, 2026

Why Not Fall Cleaning?

It’s that time of the year when I come alive the most, and that means I prepare like its a new year, before the frozen embrace of winter sets us in place. I feel a flurry of energy to take stock of my yarn and fabric, go through my wardrobe to declutter, up cycle, and repair. I organize, I dream, I plan home improvement projects for those slow, hunker down days. I don’t feel this way at all in the Spring, I feel worn down by the winter icy, and dry air. I feel the weight of the garden, on my shoulders, and the desire to be outside again and sketch on the porch. The last thing I want to do is re-organize my house and clean. So is it the cadence of the four seasons that brings this rhythm of preparation to fall? Is is our fixation on the academic calendar? I’m not sure. It has been a time tested fixture of human culture. Forever, we have been preparing for winter, harvesting, hunting, and making.

So why, is it called Spring Cleaning? Surely Fall Cleaning would make more sense. I found that it is an ancient and modern phenomenon. The earliest mentions of a “spring cleaning tradition” are found in two west Asian cultures – Persian and ancient Israel. Iranian culture celebrates Persian New Year, Nowruz, on the first day of Spring. To recognize the new year, Iranians prepare by “shaking the house” a thorough clean, or “redd up” as my Western Pennsylvania culture would say. This makes a ton of sense to me. Honestly, I wish our modern New Year wasn’t in January, for my climate dictates the New Year kicks off during the coldest month! Not a time to do anything really other than waiting for the snow storms and negative Fahrenheit temps to pass. It makes for quite a boring holiday. The latter should have been obvious to me, growing up in the church, but I did not connect the two that Passover preparation could be the origin. During Passover, all things made with leavening or fermentation were removed to remember the Israelite flight from Egypt.

For a more modern origin, coal based heating systems would prompt a cleaning ritual in North America, to open up the windows and clear the soot. Honestly, quite a lame origin story, but important. I think a house down the road is burning coal in an burner, and I absolutely despise the stench of it. The smoke is thick and dark, permeating the air in the cold pockets of January’s bitter wind.

My fall cleaning, I’d say has a lot more in common with Nowruz than Passover or cleaning away soot. I love the description of shaking the house, it reminds me of how my Papa would describe my Grandma’s penchant for order, “She’s mean on clean.” As a child, I had no appreciation of her passion for cleaning, now as adult with my own spaces to keep tidy, a good straight up of the house brings me joy. I’ve been tackling the ever-present chaos of my craft room. It began with a sort through of my inventory, organizing it all into banker boxes and a new drawer set from Amazon to keep the fabric folded and yarn skeins arranged by fiber and weight. I can actually find what I need, when I need it, for the first time in my sewing and knitting life! Who knew a few boxes could be life changing? Organizing my stuff the way my mind processes it, well it has cut down on distractions. My easily distracted Neurodivergent brain used to find everything in my tornado of a closet, but the project I was looking for. It made everything take longer than normal, a simple search, an odyssey of investigation and forgetfulness. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I rode this high into my closet, going through it all and organizing more, t-shirts by color family, mixing up my storage solutions from hangers, to zipper bins, to planning shelves to make there be a flow. Putting clothes away can turn into a series of doom piles, because the system was badly designed by me. I needed a way to keep the organization going, while I sorted and folded my clothes, yet again a bad plan led to me sorting through a random drawer for the third time that month, instead of putting the rest of the laundry away. It was a waste of time, leaving me frustrated once again at my squirrel brain. A flow to getting dressed, and a choreographed dance of freshly laundered clothes waltzing into their places once again. But why stop there? Less to organize would be ideal. Thus began a lovely fall purge of clothing into piles – donate, up cycle, repair, and trash/scraps. All the clothes, shoes too! I feel so empowered. I have struggled to part with anything since experiencing grief and trauma in the 2020’s, and it has been embarrassing. I will live with too much stuff, wanting to re-home it, yet being unable to part with it, in some guilt that I don’t understand. I think the burden of my mind is fading, with healthy clarity returning to my heart. I’m not saying goodbye, over and over again, I am being a good steward of things, and sometimes that means you have to let things go. Even my handmade items that may not serve me, but could make someone else happy.

With a clearer mind, I feel inspired to create. This comes ever fall, with a flurry of ideas for new sweaters, accessories, and clothing. This year is a special one as I have been making pants, from scratch and from up-cycled materials. I will be fine tuning my cold weather accessories too, with plans to make excellent hats, mittens, and socks. I’d also like to make a bag or two. My sweater plans are more focused this year. I understand how to make the thing now, so how can I make them better? I guess I shook the house of my creativity too, in this clean.

Do you feel motivated in fall to get things done? Are you a fall cleaner or a traditional spring cleaner?

September 8, 2026

NCT 127’s New Era

On August 24, NCT 127 released their first album in 2 years, Blingy. After such a long time and a plethora of changes, I wondered if this band, whom I found at the beginning of introduction to KPop, would still feel the same?

I was introduced to NCT 127, one day listening to the KPop station of Sirius XM, while mowing the grass. This was back in the summer of 2022. The station served up Sticker and I was hooked. From that point, I fell down the rabbit hole that is the Neo Zone and became a NCT’zen. I experienced the 2 Baddies, 1 Porsche era, Baggy Jeans, and the beginning of their solo era to prepare for the military hiatus of their leader Taeyong. It was an interesting wave of music, and change ups.

But as life, the positive momentum turned into waves of chaos. NCT 127 gave me the first taste of a band managing military service and staying active. It was weird, Taeyong and Jaehyun are two of my favorite performers in the band, the band without them felt a bit hollow, until I realized that new members fill in the void. One band, one sound. I began to notice the voices that had been the background all along – Yuta, Jungwoo, Haechan, Doyoung, and Johnny.

Another wave built beyond the breakers, waves of solo albums to pass the time with range beyond my expectation. Haechan’s melodies, Yuta’s J-Rock edge, and Taeyong’s vocal fry were the sounds I began to appreciate as colors of the NCT 127 rainbow. Neo’s got your back, even in the rain.

This band is resilient. Two scandals, two members down, and they seem sharper than ever. Even though they are still dancing the final number of the military hiatus shuffle, they are stronger than ever. For their 10th anniversary they have comeback and reclaimed their identity.

I really like Blingy. The album has range and fighting spirit. We even get a track of all seven members reunited for a moment (recorded before Jungwoo and Doyoung began their service). The five members who carry the rest of Blingy’s sound, have weathered the road blocks, with sophistication and range. Each voice shines, the melodies are cleaner, and the chaotic noise music style of this experiemental band has been fine tuned by these limitations. I don’t miss Mark or Taeil for a second.

This gives me hope as the Stray Kids military era could begin at any time now. BTS had such a messy military era and their return has been, odd and featured a strange display of values. It’s the Chris Brown of it all, and a pinch of personal schedules that feels disjointed from the pre-military service BTS. With all that NCT has gone through, it would be understandable for the band to be unrecognizable, instead they remain familiar, and feel stronger. Instead of the change subtracting from their sound, it has intensified the flavor. My hope is that however SKZ navigates this upcoming change, they will take a page from NCT.

L to R: Taeyong, Johnny, Yuta, Haechan, and Jaehyun

August 24, 2026

A Sea Of Shifting Sand

The more I feel like I should suppress my feelings about something, the more I feel it pressing upon my heart to be bold and talk about it. Can you relate?

I feel like my world has been swirling around me since 2024. Change. Good or bad, I never feel prepared. Leveling up in life, it is rewarding yet sometimes it is more akin to biking up hill and shifting gears downward for the tough pedaling ahead. And I wonder if there are more people feeling this way?

My early thirties have been incredibly rewarding – buying a house, adopting a rabbit, building a garden, successfully sewing pants, etc. But they have also been a sea of shifting sand globally, professionally, and personally.

We all know the public, political bad – the orange fool that has put us all on blast for 2 years. The price of everything, including yarn & fabric has challenged my professional goals because it is so expensive. It zapped my creativity and threw me off my game. I mean, how can I feel inspired to create when neighbors are being kidnapped and put into concentration camps, and our tax dollars are going to fund a war and a genocide. It’s dark. Like where is the joy when that is happening and your “representatives” are trying to silence your right to vote?

I basically took a year off from sewing to regroup, picking up my thimble again this August. I threw my focus into yarn crafts – knitting and crochet, pondering what my plan is going to be to fight for what is right. It’s been humbling to understand that I can help and also this whole situation is systemic, and will be far more difficult to get to the bottom of then I realized. But game on.

AI and the poor economy has been discouraging to my professional goals of becoming a pattern designer. I would like to be a full time, fiber artist, that is bringing in money. But AI has been a one two punch of stealing work and stealing engagement of artists everywhere. It has made creativity feel hopeless, and sharing work online, like I am contributing to a malevolent overlord.

AI and data centers are like a curse dropped into our lives, disrupting what worked and what gave us joy. Now, we have to fight for our water, environment, and creative expression. I know we humans will win this one. I fully believe AI is a fad that will cause a bunch of damage and then collapse – like mining and steel, it is just going to be messy in the present and future.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the personal complexities of marriage, healing from childhood trauma together, and the doom spiral of parents having health issues and also toxic parents dropping in to rock your world. I have felt some days like nothing feels familiar. Some days, this healing journey that Kyle and I are together has feel like a canyon, spreading between us, and we’ll never rejoin on the same road again. It has been so weird.

Why doesn’t anyone prepare you for how hard marriage is? Or how outside forces and generational cycles can seriously fight the strong bond you have with your spouse. I feel like he and I have been in the trenches on one of these outside problems for a decade now, and I just want us to be able to climb out of this together and walk home hand in hand, but people are complicated and so for now, we keep holding on together and waiting for the hard work to be over.

I have never tried so hard across so many different relationships, and tasks (gardening, house responsibilities, social media marketing) to grow and succeed just for things to unravel over and over again. I have felt like I am on a boat that cartoonishly keeps springing leaks, and I am out of limbs and props, to stop the leaks. Some days I wish the cartoon rapids would just appear already so I can sail over the waterfall and smash the boat to bits, because my best efforts feel so futile. I get burnt out and want a change. Because perseverance is exhausting. Choosing to be hopeful and keep going can feel like a cruel joke.

What has shaken me to the core though, and I’m nervous to talk about, is the way the church doesn’t feel like the church to me. My churching friends have become far too comfortable with Christian Nationalism and it is freaking me out. The blind eye to suffering, and the hyper fixation on “sins” that are not sins. I have always found it baffling that the concept of a person in the church getting a divorce, or seeing Catholic believers as “real” Christians is controversial to some people. It’s those kind of opinions that get canonized by the group, that are so destructive.

That’s not even dipping our toes into the sexism, purity culture, and racism that has been alive for centuries. Seeing how normal this is, has been infuriating to me. It has made me feel like I don’t know where I belong anymore. And to be honest, has awoken real life pain of never feeling good enough to be a “good Christian” to some because my parents divorced.

To be clear, I 100% believe in God and that God is good, and that it is the church, the humans, that are taking things to a bad place. I’d like to elaborate more on these reflections in another post, because I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like I am at risk of being sucked into the corruption in these normally “safe” spaces.

It’s not what I thought the church and my christian friends would become. The corruption is running rampant here, and I hate it. But this is not the first, and won’t be the last, because constant sanctification is needed to continually keep our focus on what is important – loving others as God loves us.

I have a ton of stuff to work through, and I am so far from perfect. I just want to open up about things I have been too afraid to open up about because of the highly controlling religious school settings I have found myself in as a kid, and no I did not go to Catholic school, I went to very Calvinist leaning private schools.

So we’ll see if I am brave enough to keep unpacking. I think we all just need to air this stuff out to move forward as the body of Christ in a healthier place, that is not wrapped in a fake cloak of hidden sin and cyclical shame of those who want to talk about the sin being tolerated, because the church in America is fine with teaming up with the political machine and money chasing.

This was a rambling one, but if you stuck through, I appreciate you.

August 20, 2026

3 Ways To Upcycle Your Hoodies

The harvest season awakens something in me. I know it is the season that everything dies, but it does so beautifully. Humidity, also bids farewell for 6 months, and with it the best time of the year for getting dressed awakens from its slumber. But what are you to do when the itch to buy something new descends, as it did upon your mind last August? I’m determined to find new ways to scratch this itch, without over consuming and overspending. May I introduce you to my newest sewing obsession – applique?

Applique is like drawing on my clothes. I love it! Items from my wardrobe that I don’t like anymore can be erased and sketched upon once again with needle, thread, and scrap fabric. Or sometimes you get the double whammy of upcycling a garment with applique, from another garment you aren’t vibing with anymore. This is what did to re-imagine three hoodies from my existing wardrobe with patches and cut up scraps from projects that didn’t work out, to recycle and enjoy those projects in a new form.

1: Removing and Replacing a Portion of the Garment

Sometimes, try as you might, you have to cut out a portion of fabric from damage. This is what happened to this hoodie. It used to have block letters, embroidered by machine, that I had grown tired of. Even though I had good memories from the destination this hoodie used to spell out across the front, I had grown tired of being a billboard for this place. I tried to remove the embroidery, very carefully, but my stitch ripper did its thing too well and made holes. To remedy this, I cut a large section of fabric, bigger than the area I needed to replace to fix this problem. Next I secured this to the hoodie, by hand sewing, but you could sew this with your machine very easily. Just watch for pins! Finally, I cut out a moon and some birds, abstract style, from scrap fabric, sewing those to the newly repaired hoodie. It’s ready to wear once again!

2: Why Not Add a Separating Zipper and Patches?

Sometime it is not the graphic, but the overall function of the garment that needs an upgrade. I do wear this light blue hoodie, but not as much as I could, if the hoodie had a full zip, so I could wear it as a jacket. To make this upgrade, I purchased a separating zipper, usually labeled as a jacket/coat zipper. Before I began my cut, I marked where to cut, ensuring I would cut evenly in the middle of the garment. Next, I pinned the zipper in place, adjusting this several times, for perfect placement. I sewed this by hand, which I highly recommend, since a special sewing foot and some direction is needed to sew zippers without obliterating your needle.

I was quite pleased with its new functional form, but it was still missing some personality. It was time to cover the Nike logo. Once again, I tried to seam rip the logo, but those logo’s are quote stubborn. Instead, I changed it up to sew these Canadian Geese patches and a moon to this area of the hoodie, inspired by the film Fly Away Home.

3: Cover and Forget the Old Screen Printing

Now for the easiest upcycle – covering a screen print graphic with applique. For this design, I layered pieces of the background fabric, which was cut to be mountains, into a night sky. When choosing an applique this sizable, I recommend trying this one before you sew the pieces into place. By doing this first, I noticed the graphic was extending into the armpit, not desirable for comfort or the image I was creating with this applique pieces. I trimmed from the sides and tried again, before I began to sew. I first sewed the sky and then placed the bats. These bats were also free hand cut on the fold.

By changing up the graphic from a business, to piece of artwork, I can share something I am interested in with the world. Bats. Bats are great pollinators and help us maintain the mosquito population. They are also ambassadors of spooky season. Through some sewing and a little imagination, I transformed an unworn hoodie into a favorite piece of art. I hope this inspires you to get creative with something you might toss in the donate pile, and give your garments a second chance with a dash of applique!

August 17, 2026

3 Reasons You Should Go Bowling

I wrote a blog post earlier this week about rediscovering my love for bowling after Magz and I watched a Phil Edwards video and went bowling last Friday. Today, I’m back with another bowling-related post, this time making 3 points that argue for why you should go bowling. I was originally going to include this in that first post, but when it reached 2,000 words, it was time to split them.

1.) Easy to See Improvements

This really only applies if you’re interested in bowling on a somewhat consistent basis and are interested in improving. If you’re just going to bowl occasionally, improvement isn’t as important, but it’s still fun to be good at something we enjoy doing.

I’m the type of person who takes all my hobbies seriously. I want to be the best at them. I think everyone enjoys being good at stuff. Bowling is great because you can make small adjustments mid-game and figure out if they’ll help you improve. You can alter where you stand to start, which arrow you aim at when throwing, and what ball you’re using and immediately see results.

You don’t want to change multiple things at one time because you won’t know the impact of each change, but limiting it to one change at a time allows you to see how much of an effect it has on the results. From there, repeating your mechanics until they become second nature allows you to find consistency and will lead to overall improvement.

Not all hobbies, sports, and activities are like this. Compare it to playing guitar, which takes time and a lot of practice to improve. Learning to apply the correct pressure when holding a chord or not picking the wrong string when learning a riff is really difficult. And when you make a mistake, it sounds like nails on a chalkboard, even if no one else can hear it. It can take a lot of drive to not be disappointed when you mute a string or play the wrong note. Bowling being an activity that provides immediate feedback when making improvements makes it a great hobby and sport.

2.) Affordability

Another reason you should go bowling is because it’s affordable. At a time when everything seems to be expensive and only increasing in cost, bowling remains fairly cheap, or at least it is in our area. I don’t remember how much it cost when I used to bowl consistently, but at that bowling alley, it currently costs $4.50 per game per person, with it being more expensive for glow bowling and cheaper Tuesday afternoons. That seems to be an average rate in our area, with some alleys charging up to $7 per game and others being cheaper. The bowling alley we went to last Friday was an incredible $2.50 per game. For the two of us to play three games, rent shoes, and each get a fountain drink, it was $24. That is amazingly cheap. It’s hard to find anything that provides more than an hour of fun for that low of a price.

If you want to get serious and buy your own equipment, it’s also an affordable hobby to invest in. Of course, you can spend a ton of money, but you can also buy your own ball for less than $100. If you want your own shoes, they can be purchased for $40. Add in a bag for $25, and you’re set for years. You just need to maintain your ball by wiping the oil off it, and it’ll last you a long time. There are very few hobbies and sports that have such an afford buy-in and don’t require further investment down the road.

Let’s look at playing guitar again. I have very affordable guitars (a Yamaha Pacific electric and an Ibanez acoustic), and both were around $200. You don’t need both an electric and an acoustic, but it’s fun to be able to play different types of music. You also need to buy an amp for your electric, picks, a capo, cables, and strings. Plus, there are pedals that can alter the sound you create. When you really get into playing, it’s hard to not want more equipment. This is the second reason bowling is worth getting into.

3.) Year-Round Activity

My third reason people should go bowling is because it’s a year-round activity, which can’t be said for a lot of hobbies. Because it’s indoors, a lot of people bowl in winter when it’s snowing or too cold to be outside. It’s also a great rainy-day activity.

But I also think it’s a lot of fun in summer when it’s hot and you want to get out of the sun for a bit. Summer is also when bowling alleys are the least busy, so you usually won’t have an issue getting a lane. We were the only people bowling the day we went. Realistically, any indoor hobby can be enjoyed year-round, including playing guitar. However, I often don’t work in my woodshop when it’s too hot, since there’s no air conditioning, or too cold, because even though I have propane and kerosene heaters, it still isn’t fun when your hands are cold. Bowling being a hobby that you can participate in year-round, regardless of the weather, allows you to improve without taking time off.

If you have thought about bowling recently but haven’t gone, I hope these three reasons encourage you to give it a go. And if you haven’t gone bowling since you were a kid, it’s just as fun bowling as an adult. It’s a blast to do something that doesn’t cost too much, can be done in any weather, and is easy to improve at. If you do go bowling again, I hope you have an independent alley near you and that you have a blast.

August 8, 2026 0

Thank You

I hope, dear reader, you know how much this WordPress community means to me. I have shared before how frustrating it is to share my designs on Instagram, how I have chased the algorithm and have been disappointed over and over by the shifting sands of Meta. The algorithm has felt even more desolate lately, not even showing my posts with my friends. It feels like yelling into a void. I feel like the rat in a cage from a Bullet with Butterfly Wings.

The reason why I started sharing my work on my Facebook and Instagram when I began sewing and picked up knitting again in the 2020, was to connect with others and find community. I’m tired of my feed drowning in advertisement, and feeling disconnected from others when they post and I post because we are not monetizing our every post. I don’t want to sell you anything. I want to inspire and learn together. I want to make art. I want to not feel alone, just like we all do.

WordPress has been the exception and your community makes me feel hopeful that in the AI Slop, short-form content, linked-below hellscape that is the internet right now, that we can still be there for each other. Thank you for every view, every like, every comment. You mean the world to me. Being an artist right now sucks, but you all make it magical.

I have been making a lot, organizing my work room, finding a lot of inspiration from like-minded folks on the internet and listening to good music. My favorites recently have been Haute & Freddy and rediscovering The Smashing Pumpkins after their amazing Lollapalooza performance. I wish you a lovely Friday! Until next time ❤

August 7, 2026

Using Doodle Decks for the First Time

The Doodle Decks from Pacific Knit Co had this aura, pulling me in from the first instance I saw online. Maybe it’s because of my 90s and 2000s childhood? It reminded me of the crafts we do as kids – the mini weaving looms, tie dye shirts, friendship bracelets, bedazzling etc. There was something about this deck cards.

If you are not familiar with the doodle decks, they are curated colorwork charts that are combined into a small deck of cards, with a design per card, and additional cards to teach you how to make the most from the themed deck of your choice. I love the approachable nature of this pattern! Instead of a paper pattern, with line by line instructions, you get miniature charts contained per card, that is far easier to keep track of when you are knitting.

I found this format incredibly easy to use! I could quickly flip through my options, and choose my pattern cards. You can compare options or brainstorm sections of your project by easily laying out the cards on a table. The small card, the size of a playing card, was easy to manage in my project bag. To pause my work, all I needed to do was slip my card on top of the deck, and slide the deck back into the box. No graph paper to fold or book to mark, easy peasy!

As a self-drafter, I am not the best at following patterns. I think some of this stems from neurodivergence, and some from the fierce individuality instilled from girlhood in the 90s-2000s. I remember, not wanting to be accused of “copying” someone’s style, or locker layout, or room decor. It was a major social faux pas. Even though knitting patterns are literally sold for this purpose, to share your design with the world, I can feel myself resisting. But with these doodle decks, even though I was not the one to draw these charts, I feel like it is a choose your adventure kind of pattern.

There are ideas for sure suggested in the deck, but you can follow your own heart. I like the customization of Pacific Knit Co’s format. I have learned a lot from them through this experience of using their color work doodle decks, including new perspective in regard to my own self-drafted color work charts. I always go big, with these large graphics, that span the front of a piece, when big is not the only way. Small designs, with repetition, in the fair isle tradition, are just as effective and a new way to tell the same story.

I would highly recommend giving these decks a try. I purchased the Farm Doodle Deck from my local yarn store, Moon and Yarn Craft Room to make the Town Farm Cardigan. For copyright reasons, I did not show the cards, aside from the front of the deck, but as you can see from these photos of my finished object, they contain lovely variety that will spark your imagination.

August 7, 2026

Rediscovering My Love of Bowling

If you’re familiar with my posts on the blog, you may be surprised to see my name attached to something that isn’t related to gardening or woodworking. But today I’m writing about something Magz and I did last Friday: we went bowling. As two adults without kids, why would we go bowling in the middle of summer?

My guess is that nearly every American has gone bowling at least once in their life. When Magz and I were kids, they almost became a third place. It’s where friends had their birthday parties, where you went with your youth group, and where you’d go to kill an afternoon in the winter or when it was really hot. And I think that most people stop bowling once they reach high school and stop having birthday parties…or at least that’s how it has been for us. Despite that, we have still thought about going bowling for something to do.

We often look for fun activities around us. Because we love our home, both inside and out, it can be a struggle to want to go places. What we really enjoy are local activities where we can kill a couple of hours and not spend a ton of money. We’re fans of mini-golfing for this reason, but with only one course in town, it becomes repetitive, and the place needs a bit of TLC. Two years ago, not long after we bought our house, we tried going bowling at our local alley, but the vibe was off. When you entered the building, it felt like you were walking down a labyrinth just to find the lanes. Plus, everything was poorly lit, even in the middle of the afternoon, so we left without even talking to someone.

For nearly two years, we stopped talking about going bowling until early last week when we watched a YouTube video from Phil Edwards. If you’ve never heard of Phil Edwards, his channel dives into various historical and cultural topics, and he presents them in very intelligent and creative ways. This video was about bowling alleys replacing traditional pinsetters with string pins. It covers the history of bowling alleys and pinsetters, why some bowling alleys are switching to string pins, and how bowling is becoming the latest victim of private equity and commercialization. The biggest takeaway is that we need to do everything we can to keep local, independent bowling alleys open and thriving. So, we started looking at the bowling alleys in our area and were shocked to see how many there are. Within a 30-mile radius, there are probably 10 of them. And the best news is that they all appear to be independently owned. So, last Friday on a day off from work, we went to the closest one outside of our town.

My Love of Bowling

I used to really enjoy bowling. Like others, I would go to friends’ birthday parties, glow bowling as part of church youth group lock-ins, and the occasional summer afternoon when my dad had off work. But unlike others, my interest in bowling stayed when it cooled for others. In middle school, I played as an extra on my mom’s and stepdad’s team in their church league. I have no idea how I did, but I remember enjoying it and began bowling at least once a week. I had my own ball, learned how to throw a hook, and steadily improved to the place where my average was in the 140s. I bowled as much as I could until it all stopped.

During my sophomore year of high school, I moved with my mom full-time, and the three of us moved two hours away, and everything changed. We stopped bowling. We went bowling at the local alley once, but it wasn’t as nice as the old place, so we never went. Eventually, even the conversations about bowling stopped. The balls were never thrown, and I don’t even know where my ball is anymore. I finally went bowling again in 2011 or 2012 during my sophomore year of college. My dad, stepmom, and brother visited me for a couple of days, and we went bowling one evening. I don’t remember all the details, but we had a lot of fun. And until last Friday, that was the most recent time I bowled. I don’t think my enjoyment of bowling ever ceased, though; it just became hard to find the time or gather enough friends to go bowling with. It felt like something that would be lost to my past. Thankfully, that proved to not be the case.

Bowling Again After 14 Years

Let me describe the bowling alley we went to last Friday. First, it’s primarily a pizza restaurant that is in a bowling alley. The entire business goes by the pizza restaurant’s name. So, it’s a pizza joint where you bowl rather than a bowling alley where you eat pizza. Because they make the majority of their money selling food, it’s more affordable to bowl there than other alleys in the area.

This setup also helps keep the bowling alley classic. In the Phil Edwards video I linked to earlier, two ways private equity is negatively affecting bowling alleys are through unnecessary “upgrades” and by selling advertising space everywhere. This bowling alley used traditional equipment, and there were no TVs showing sports or playing music. Otherwise, the only sounds were from bowling.

This bowling alley also had the smell we wanted from a bowling alley, as weird as that sounds. We like when bowling alleys are older and have a faint grease or stale cigarette smoke smell. Those smells mean that the bowling alley has been around for a long time and has survived the decades.

This bowling alley had all the hits that you look for: the multicolor leather shoes with too-long laces, the racks of balls, some with chips taken out of them, and the swivel chairs by each ball return. (Side note: I recently learned that you can buy these rental bowling shoes brand-new.) Feeling comfortable was great, but now to the real question: How do you bowl? When you haven’t done something in more than a decade, it’s really awkward doing it again for the first time.

What weight of ball do I want? Where do I stand before I throw? Which arrow on the lane do I aim the ball at? How do I throw a hook again? These questions all went through my head as I got ready to throw my first ball. And it was only made worse because Magz did really well on her first frame, knocking down nine of the ten pins. Meanwhile, three of my first four balls went into the gutter. As someone who used to be a pretty good bowler and is very competitive, yikes!

Eventually, I got more comfortable, found the ball I liked, and settled in. We played three games. Magz took game one by more than 20 points, as I failed to break 100. I pulled it together in game two with 150 points and regressed a little in game three to the 140s. Magz did quite well and was consistent across all three games, and I am so proud of her. Those three games flew by, and we had such a great time.

Support Your Local Bowling Alley

Even though we ultimately went bowling because we like doing it, we were initially nudged to go by that Phil Edwards video. Any time I hear of something being in the crosshairs of private equity and unnecessary modernization, it frustrates me, and I want to fight against it. Finding a bowling alley that still has all the traditional equipment with classic styling is a wonderful thing. It’s like stepping back in time, but everything still works. If you have an independent bowling alley around you and haven’t gone in a while, I recommend checking it out. It is a great way to spend a couple of hours, and who knows, you might just get the itch to go more often. I know that we’ll be going back in the near future.

August 5, 2026 2