Okay, as a millennial, I can’t hear the word pivot without thinking of this scene from Friends. But, silliness aside, Ross was correct; you have to pivot and pivot well. The longer I sew, the more agitated I get when I make foolish cutting or measuring mistakes in my garments. Like my shortalls from last year, I tried them on over the weekend because it is feeling warm and springlike here, and I was shocked by how poorly I fit the shorts. The top portion of the shorts fits excellently, but not the shorts. No one wants weird bunching when it comes to shorts, and that was exactly the problem!
At first, I went through the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance that no matter how delusional I chose to be, these shortalls are uncomfortable. I would not wear them. This made me feel so many regrets. The pink overalls I drafted completely from scratch, using a special fabric featuring corgis and bread from a Japanese fabric brand called Kokka Fabric, sourced from my local fabric shop, Firecracker Fabrics. The second pair was cobbled together as a challenge of fabric and repurposing. The fabric was 1 yard of 59″ cotton twill from Mood Fabrics, and the pockets were sourced from a pair of shorts in my closet. I refused to scrap these. But what could I do to fix these? With all the patterns at play, adding in a new fabric sounded scary. Cutting these into bags or future quilting projects was throwing in the towel too soon for me.
My solution came to me one night, as I was washing my face; I didn’t have to make a drastic change. I had to address the problem – the way I cut the curve of the pants. I could remove the section that divided the fabric into legs, and transform the shortalls into pinafore dresses with a few cuts and stitches! It was a success! The shorts are now a skirt, by cutting away the curved line and sewing a straight seam on the back and front of the skirt. I also made a quick swap to the back bib of the brown floral pair, adjusting the square bib to the triangle shape of the pink ones. This adjusted the fit of the dress in an excellent way. The purpose of the triangle, I believe, from the fit change on my garment is to eliminate gapping between your shirt and the back bib, so the fit follows the line of your body.
Now, sewing is not the only place to pivot, obviously. Problem-solving is a fundamental part of the creative process. Projects rarely work out the way you want, from knitting to cooking to building a piece of furniture. In this fast fashion, consume and donate, culture poisoning my country’s culture, we are losing the art of problem-solving. This has been exacerbated by the rise of AI and ChatGPT. Why think at all? Why imagine, ponder, or research? Why try if you aren’t going to get “expert” results? That is what the rise of optimization culture is creating: the fear of trying. But you have to try to become an expert. AI is not an expert; it is a thief, stealing the knowledge of humans who have spent years and decades striving to know, unafraid to try and fail. It’s literally the scientific method. So if you are an impressionable person, who is growing up in this current era, don’t give up your creative ability for AI to do it for you. You will lose crucial thinking and creative skills if you don’t exercise your mind and problem-solve on your own. Just do it.
I’ve been sewing for five and a half years, and yes, it took me close to that amount of time to learn these helpful tips. The skill of taking a needle and thread to fasten pieces of fabric together is one of the most complex technologies I’ve ever learned, and yeah, some of the more obvious things can go over your head because there is so much to learn. Even with half a decade of sewing experience, I am still a rookie. Here are four things I have learned about sewing recently that have changed my sewing experience from a laborious struggle to a relaxing craft I want to do.
Needles
I knew I needed to change out my sewing machine needle consistently (which I usually forget to do), but did you know you should change out your hand needles often? Nope, I did not. I recently began changing my needles after each large project or after two small projects, and wow, the difference in hand fatigue is mind-blowing! My issue with sewing by hand has been the wear and tear on my hands, particularly some on my finger joints, which felt exhausted after hours of pushing the needle through the fabric – apparently that’s not how it is supposed to be. The needle should glide; cheap needles or needles that are dulled from use will not do this. I feel like a silly goose.
Now that I know and have experienced the difference between fresh needles and started purchasing DMC needles from my local fabric shop, I am sewing more. Most importantly, my hands are happy, my stitches are small and straighter – it’s like night and day. The needle glides into the fabric and through to the other side with minimal pressure, my thread is not getting tangled, and I am sewing with more efficiency. If you sew, go change your needles.
Shear Maintenance
Did you know you should oil and sharpen your fabric shears? I did not. It’s such a simple concept, though. Own thing, use thing, repair thing, use thing more. Repeat. What’s silly is that, in our disposable culture, I thought fabric scissors had a lifespan and had to be replaced once they dulled from wear. But regular maintenance, like a car, keeps them around and working well.
I keep my scissors crisp by cutting aluminum foil from time to time. I oil my shears with a towel, very carefully. Please don’t cut yourself like I did the first time.
Know About Me: Fabric Edition
Kill the doubt, I don’t want it, kill the fear, I don’t want it Kill the rule, I don’t want it, kill the end, I don’t want it
Let me show you that, show you that, mm-mm Know about me…
Let me show you that, show you that, mm-mm Know about me (know about me, that’s that)
– Nmixx, Fe:304 Forward
Researching fabric is important, but when you are first getting started, you feel overwhelmed and like you’ll never be able to cram all this knowledge into your head. There are a lot of fabric types! With two main families – woven and knit that separate into a myriad of options that will make your head spin. But truly, what will make your head spin more is not buying the proper fabric for the project at hand, with one caveat being in the beginning. When you are truly beginning, you just gotta see what is cheap or available because you are going to mess up – don’t use the good or expensive stuff to keep yourself from heartbreak.
I’ve started researching any fabric I am looking at to know if this textile will be applicable for the idea I have in my head, and pivot based on the information I glean. I thought it would be time-consuming, but it’s not. It saves money and fabric from being wasted in the chaos of choosing an incompatible fabric for your garment plan. You don’t want a stretch when you need a structured fabric. When you need opaqueness, a sheer fabric would throw a wrench in your plans. Fabrics, like people, have their own character, attributes, and talents. It’s more of a matchmaking process than just adding to the cart.
Ask a human. Ask a reputable website. Don’t ask ChatGPT. OpenAI is a little busy now with its Department of War contract, but don’t worry, they “promise” not to do mass surveillance or help create automatic weapons.
Hand Posture
I learned this final tip from Abby Cox and Nicole Rudolph during a TikTok Sewing Tutorial Reaction video. Sewing hand posture will determine your sewing experience. Whether you can sew for hours or for half an hour before you need a break. I used to sew with a hand-straining posture that created wrist, hand, and finger discomfort. Pulling the needle to the side, horizontally, reduces strain compared to pulling upward. It uses a light wrist flicking motion. Similarly, holding the fabric to the side with your wrist loosely bent will keep your hands relaxed and reduce hand strain. I have applied this new hand posture to my sewing, and it was a game-changer. I’m not surprised that I was doing it wrong. I am self-taught, but dang, the ability to sew a pair of pants by hand without hand strain was incredible!
I hope these sewing tips help you as much as they helped me. I wish you happy sewing!
I want to start off by pleading with Pinterest, please don’t work with OpenAI. (I know this is purely a rumor, but even so, I think using the internet to voice opinions is important.) I have been using your platform since 2012, and it is so useful! It has become less useful over time, with the “purely financial” decisions of peppering in a multitude of advertising pins and allowing AI-generated art to invade the platform. Even so, it is still a platform I use and love to escape into for inspiration.
Without Pinterest, creative writing projects like Udal Cuain, knitting colorwork projects, sewing projects, and home decor ideas would have been more difficult to source and may not have been on my radar – ever. I’ve even learned simplified versions of songs to play on the piano before I bought proper books, for free through Pinterest. Now what about fandoms? On really difficult days, my Stray Kids board is filled with memes, SKZ Code, captured moments from lives, silly edits, and STAY inside jokes that would not exist in one place to make me smile.
I don’t want to leave Pinterest at all, but there comes a time when we must make a stand for what is right – if you integrate with OpenAI, as rumors have thrown around, many other like-minded individuals, and I will leave because, as artists, we will not stand for the theft being carried out by generative AI of our work. Art is human. Generative AI is regurgitation. Art is for an audience of many; AI-generated art is for an audience of one. Human-made art has emotion; AI-generated art is the result of algorithmic decisions. AI-generated things are not new; they are not groundbreaking. They are human effort and human creativity scraped by these computers and served up as “new” all while consuming vast amounts of electricity and clean water, for nothing but perceived “innovation” that makes these tech bros wealthier. It gives nothing to humanity; it feeds the greed of the few. Alright, that’s enough of looking into the abyss for me.
How do I plan to make this change if Pinterest is bought by OpenAI?
Crafting Books
Used Books, Magazines, and Catalogs
Respectful Fan Accounts on Instagram
Physical Notebooks
Migrating to Milanote
Blogs and Research
Building a Creative 3rd Place Elsewhere
Creating Your Own Charts
Physical Moodboards
Acknowledging Frustration
Diving into History
Utilizing Libraries
Yes, we’ll be going back to analog inspirations, like going back to the 1990s and 2000s. I’ll be crafting even slower, researching longer, and spending more time digging to learn how to do new techniques like fillet crochet or how to paint using gouache paints, but that’s okay. At least it will be honest inspiration. In time, we will all come back together through a new creative community platform, and it will be a bit of a waste of time. So, Pinterest, put these rumors to bed, please, because when it comes to AI, we artists mean business, and you will be left behind.
This is a new term for me, but it is genius. Craftivism is activism through crafting. It is using your art and everyday things to show what you believe and to speak out against injustice. And to use an internet term, this has completely “changed my brain chemistry” to think of using my knitting to say what I believe, just like art.
What made this a tangible thing for me to get started in community was the Welcome Blanket collection at my local yarn shop. Together, sections of knit and crochet squares would be collected and seamed into blankets, like receiving blankets, to welcome immigrants to the United States. With all the ICE-y conditions out there, it’s swimming against the current in a way that aligns with my beliefs and what we are called to do as Christians – love your neighbor and take care of immigrants. Not to worship power, money, and excuse racism like some so-called “Christians” in my country are doing. Seeing my crochet square stitched together with other like minded indivduals’ fiber art was powerful. It reminded me of how we are stronger together and how doing small things, as a community, makes a difference. I also enjoyed reflecting on my own immigrant heritage and sharing my story of how my family came to the US and why immigration is necessary.
As an American who is not Indigenous, every part of my family tree came from somewhere else. Some of my family came from Germany, I believe, in the early 1900s, since my great-grandmother, who was born in 1912 in the US, spoke German as her first language at home. Some of my family from Ireland left County Cork’s farmland during the potato famine to escape certain death from the genocide of starvation by Great Britain. Some of my family from County Armagh immigrated in the late 1800s to the US, went back to Ireland in the early 1900s, and came back again to the US during the Troubles. The rest of my family came from Canada in the 1960s. If we are not members of Indigenous nations, then we are all here because of immigration. To act like immigration is dangerous, un-American, and unwelcome is not American to me. We all came from somewhere else. Let’s love our neighbors and support them in this new chapter of their lives, which came about because of a very difficult decision.
The second opportunity that brought Craftivism back on my radar was the Melt the Ice hat. This hat was used from protest by Norwegians in the 1940s during the Nazi occupation of Norway. Minnesotans, many of whom are descended from Norwegian immigrants, but now are a rich community of immigrants from all over the world, brought the hat pattern back to raise money for the Immigrant Rapid Response fund, which provides assistance for immediate needs – food, rent, etc. This fundraiser raised $650,000 with a $5 pattern during the Melt the Ice MAL in February 2026. If you are not aware of what has been going on in Minneapolis, there has been violence, there has been death, there has been kidnapping, and unlawful occupation of a city by federal forces in the name of corruption and power. Making the hat felt like there was a healthy place to channel my grief and anger over what is happening while bringing community together – Craftivism is powerful.
Have you ever heard of Craftivism? Would you participate in it?
With a new year comes new goals, like should I get organized and make this the year I return to writing as my full-time focus? I’ve been mulling over this for the past six months. I started watching more book-focused media and picked up physical books again, all in the quest to jump back into fiction writing after a one-time try in 2017 – also known as Udal Cuain. It was the ultimate escape during a time when every part of my life was falling apart, and we were struggling. My family was struggling; it was isolating, but instead, I crafted a world that I could escape into. I couldn’t afford therapy, so I wrote about what was on my mind. And it helped. It felt like a high I had never experienced before, but then it stopped helping. Life got a lot more complicated, but also better, more on track, and I walked away from it. Then I lost the draft for 6 years until I found it last January.
Life has been messy again, and the world feels like it is literally on fire, and I can feel the pull to want a coping mechanism.
This is where our story begins.
As I share often on this blog, I have become a sewist and fiber artist. I began this journey to a career pivot after a layoff in 2020, and it has become my whole world, particularly knitting and crochet. I find the more I dive into the craft of yarn, the more I feel creative release and the ability to tell stories with my stitches. You can even protest with it. I have been a visual artist my whole life, the frequency depending on how many notebooks, pencils, or paints I have access to. It is my first love. So where does writing fit in?
I was always a writer who enjoyed essays. I like writing about something, researching the subject, and I adore historical research. I enjoyed poetry in school, but my affection for literature came much later. Mainly by force, if you want to take AP English, you must read this many books over the summer. I’m still not the most passionate reader, I definitely take breaks between reading sprints, and sometimes I won’t pick up a book for months, because my hands are always busy with a project. This has put my desire to write another novel, a more polished one, in conflict with my life and potentially my calling.
This week, I sat down to brainstorm another round of novel ideas. This is my third or fourth round of this since 2023. Every time, I think of some good options, narrow my list down, start plotting, and hit a wall. My heart is not in it. I don’t see the characters or care to take my time to meet them. I want to get on with it and then analyze the deeper meaning. The other thing that happens regularly is that I freeze, and I think about how the world has changed since 2017 – mainly BookTok.
I don’t read Romantasy, I’m not going to write spice because that’s not my interest. Don’t look to me for trauma or disturbing plot lines; I don’t want to write that. I am white, cis, and straight, so will I offend by not having representation? I also don’t have the proper experience to offer diverse representation. I don’t know what I have to say in a book, like in a bigger picture – I don’t know what the deeper meaning is that I am looking to point to that I couldn’t just write about in an essay or create with visual or fiber art. This is where the title should start making sense. I don’t think worldbuilding and dialogue are my paint and canvas, and I don’t think we spend enough time considering where our gifts are best suited right now because of social media content.
We are so concerned with getting our work plugged into the algorithm, jumping on trends, cross-posting, and getting successful that we aren’t considering if the medium is best for our art. We are trying to fit in, and that’s killing creativity and the editing eye to know that’s not for me. I feel like it is obvious now, since reflecting on why I have writer’s block, but taking the time to look objectively feels so hard to do when we are fighting the AI monster. But it is okay to specialize. It is okay to find your niche and not appeal to everyone. It is better to work within your wheelhouse and say something authentically you and express it in a medium that feels true to yourself than worry about keeping up with others.
Maybe the best thing we can do as creative people is edit and focus on where we feel the most alive. I feel the most alive planning a personal knitting project that features motifs that represent my life and my loves. I love blogging and talking about serious things, not in literary techniques but in societal critique. I spent the day today, sketching and drafting pet portraits, and I am the most relaxed I have been in months. It’s the same high I felt writing Udal Cuain. I didn’t feel that way while brainstorming a novel. I felt nervous. So I don’t think it’s for me anymore.
Have you ever fallen into this trap? How did you find your way out? Thanks for spending time with me today. Until next time. Stay safe out there and know you are loved.
So it’s 2026, and if you’re online, there is a good chance you have seen the 2026 to 2016 posts. The nostalgia for 2016 is real, even making me look at one of the most volatile years of my life through rose-colored glasses. But even though the 2010s were full of change for me, beginning with my junior year of high school, and ending with 2019, globally leading us into the pandemic. How weird is that? I got my license, my high school diploma, traveled to Europe, graduated from college, got married, moved out, had my first job (more like jobs), tried to have a career, reunited with my dad, met my siblings, moved out of state, wrote a novel, and lost several loved ones in 2016. My family fractured – it was so much personal change! But even so, I miss the optimism of the hipster era. I miss the simplicity of the pre-AI era and the pre-social media domination of our world. We were less logged in, less screen addicted. I’ve been drawn to watching Portlandia again, yearning for a coffee shop to spend the day in while listening to indie music, a simpler time. This week, I’ve found myself walking down memory lane in the form of 2010’s alternative music. Bands I haven’t thought of for a decade – The Joy Formidable, Phantogram, Joywave, Bear Hands, Sir Sly, etc. But one band, I determined in this holiday, into nostalgia I will not listen to again, even though they were a band I loved in the 2010s – Twenty One Pilots.
This is a bit of an oddball post. I haven’t listened to Twenty One Pilots since 2018, but for a three-year stretch, they were my favorite band. I collected merch, CDs, and ate up the lore. The para-social relationship was built on mental health struggles, faith, and being “quirky” felt comfortable. I mean, this was the mid-2010s and the height of the “not like other girls” trope. I relished in the alternative feel of their music, what I now understand to be noise music, and the darkness I felt in my own life craved the outlet to plug into. Josh understood my shyness, and Tyler understood the anxiety and depression I was feeling at the time. It felt safe because they were “Christians” and their music had “biblical references,” but they were also questioning everything and challenging the void. I didn’t see at the time how much un-aliving yourself idealization there was in the nihilistic moments of their music. The more I listened to their music, the more depressed I felt, and that is where I began to wake out of the dream I was walking in. I haven’t seen them or their music the same way since.
I think right now, with all the ways Christianity is being watered down, misused for political manipulation, and trampled upon by religious fundamentalists, I don’t want to listen to a band that is “somewhat Christian” again. That is not an estimation of their music either; that is what I found when I looked at the TOP subreddit today. That sentiment reminded me of what turned me off the most from their music, Tyler’s waffling. Or should I say deconstructing? That was another discussion I found on the subreddit. Now it is only fair to discuss this, with my own struggles out in the open. There were some things that came to light in recent months about someone I know, who is a pastor, which contradict the Bible, and it made me furious. Combine that with the DHS sharing misquoted scripture to claim their racism and violence as a “holy” thing turned me into this character.
What has my spiritual life been like in 2025 and now in 2026? Clinging to who I know God is in the midst of all these evil, power-hungry syncophants. Have I been reading my Bible daily? No, I have been a slacker. Have I been praying consistently? Yes, more than I have been reading my Bible. Have I been avoiding Christian culture? Yes. Where have I found myself gravitating towards? People who are acting out their faith and non-believers acting in ways that mirror what the Bible calls us to do. Never in this muck and mire have I wanted to imagine a world without God. If anything, it has made me crave God’s presence in this world with more frequency. It has to be a real connection. Faith is not a feeling, and it is not something you choose one day and rip apart the next. It calls for trust and for submission to align every part of your life under what you believe in. Faith is telos. Faith does not exist in a vacuum, nor do our relationships. Some days, having faith in good triumphing over evil feels like an extremely radical thing. There is no space for indecision.
Now, Tyler is allowed to feel and think what he wants, as long as he is not hurting anyone. I don’t care. But do I think he is a good example? No. There is an immaturity to his faith. A fence sitting that is only hurting him. As Earl Smooter says in Sweet Home Alabama, “You can’t ride two horses with one ass, sugarbean.” My need for conciseness and clarity is, for sure, part of my neurodivergence. I like it when people communicate directly. Honestly. I prefer the path laid out by another favorite artist.
I give life to my words (Yeah, I’m doing what I say) I reach heights from the dirt (Yeah, I’m doing what I say) You know I bite the way I bark (Yeah, I’m doing what I say) (Doing what I say, doing what I say)
Creed by Stray Kids
Decision matters. Being aligned with what you believe in, in every aspect of your life, which takes being truly honest with yourself, will bring mental peace. Mental peace was something I never personally felt from their music. I could feel the overthinking, tearing at the seams, the complete drifting in the current. It could be dressed up with lore or cringing lyrics, but the identity was never solid. Taking time away from their music gave me such relief. Ironically, my time of being part of the Clique was followed by a period of listening to mostly worship music for a few years before landing in K-pop. I think I personally matured out of the place where the Clique remains, waiting for identity. Where their leader remains. I think it is easier to not confront ourselves than it is, to have these times of personal crossexamination. But I think it’s a poor witness for your faith to never pick a side. How can something so integral to your life, your worldview, be left with unresolved doubt? What a loose end.
Deconstruct with integrity. Affirm your faith with integrity. I’m all in favor of confronting the church for its cowardice over injustice in America. Jesus showed us how. So did his servant Paul. But to leave it as a vague, Blurryface, is immature thinking. Through my research for this post, my searches for a clear answer about Tyler’s faith left me with more questions. Like a politician, it is vague and hard to define. Answers offered were that he can’t put it into words, he is wrestling, still defining, or can’t put it into words. What? More digging led to answers outlining TOP’s music as his way of communicating his search for understanding. To explore doubt by supposing a world without God – well, that’s why I found their music so dark! I am actively shaking my head. Again, there needs to be more maturity in songwriting, creative writing, philosophy – something to explore these themes with more nuance. I am just not impressed. Especially when you contrast Tyler’s exposition of his faith and the world we are living in, to the faith journeys of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. In summation, I find the faith and doubt of TOP to be cliché and played out. Go deeper. Tell us what you believe in, like fans have requested, concerning the genocide in Gaza.
Now, TOP fans, this is my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. None of this was written as an attack on you or your favorite group, just my honest reflection on a time of my life where Twenty One Pilots spoke to me. I’d say really the only part of this “lore” I’ve listened to is these four albums – Twenty One Pilots (2009), Vessel (2013), which was my favorite, Blurryface (2015 the album I started with, and Trench (2018), which I disliked so much I sold my concert tickets and donated my merch. You, Clique, have popularity on your side. I know I am in the minority, but I’m also in the minority of thinking Taylor Swift is a terrible songwriter, and that hasn’t stopped me.
What kind of music did you enjoy in the 2010s? Has your music taste changed? Thanks for spending time with me today, dear reader. Until next time ❤
For two years, I’ve been mulling over how to dive into Stray Kids and their music, the way I’ve done with other K-pop artists, like aespa, Ateez, and i-dle. I sipped my toes in with My Tagline and Skz Hop Hip Tape, but I have not shared anything deeper, because dang, this band can be controversial, fan wars suck, and I also deeply love their music. It’s got me through rough patches and high highs; it is probably my neurodivergent special interest. It’s a spiderweb of music, funny moments, and an overall safe place to land, thanks to elements like Chan’s Room. Borrowing the Song-A-Day challenge format and filling out my own card seemed like the perfect way to get back into K-pop deep dives. (Then I hope – I can finally get myself to write about Kpop Demon Hunters!)
DAY 1 – My first experience with the eight-member Korean boy band, Stray Kids, was their song Maniac (2022). Shortly after Maniac and its album, Oddinary, were released in March 2022, the algorithm served me the Maniac music video, and my taste in music has been transformed. For good, I’d say!
DAY 2 – Case 143, released in October 2022, was my first official comeback experience. With the release of Maxident, I discovered Skz Code, compilations of funny moments, memes, etc. I dipped my toes into the world of Stay and haven’t looked back. Case 143 is one of their songs that challenges song structure, the whole way through. It’s complex.
DAY 3 – Creed. I think this because Karma was released at a time (August 2025) when I felt lost, pissed off, and in need of a song that captured how fed up I was feeling about the world. But I needed a song that was not one of my old standbys of Breaking Benjamin, Evanescence, System of a Down, or Nightwish. Stray Kids, no matter what emotion they explore, always have light in the darkness. I listened to this song like an emotional release through August, September, and in the culmination of stress in October. It just scratched that part of my brain that needed a song to echo all my big feelings.
DAY 4 – Novel is a fantastic, underrated song with a great high note. It’s from The Sound (February 2023), a Japanese release, so it flies under the radar until you dig into their discography. I found it this year while listening to the full The Sound album while tilling the garden.
DAY 5 – My favorite SKZ record is Want so Bad by Minsung, also known as Lee Know and Han. I love this song for its music, the happy feeling it brings me when I listen to it, and the thrill of these two pals getting to write a song just the two of them. This is not because I am shipping them. I’d also argue this song would be lovely in a K-drama similar to The Potato Lab or Business Proposal. It is instant dopamine, give it a listen! My final thought is, listening to this song again, Lee Know’s song Youth from the SKZ Hop album feels like a sequel to this song in their discography, which is varied and, to be honest, vast for only being a band for 8 years.
DAY 6 – Haven is a song about identity and courage, being yourself, and it is so comforting. All I want is the space to be myself. This song was released in 2020, but it didn’t hit my radar until 2024, when they performed it at Lollapalooza in Chicago, and it was like it hit me in my core. I felt like I had found a little virtual home in their music. A haven, literally. I’ve always felt like an outsider – a stray.
DAY 7 – My Pace is a no-skip; it is a song that, when it plays, I must listen and soak up all the vibes of this anthem. I love Changbin’s barking, aggressive rap lines. I want to jump around. It was another stunner from Lollapalooza that I hadn’t appreciated in its true form until I watched them perform it on a big stage. My Pace is an original, from their early days back in 2018, when Stray Kids were still rookies. They have always been good and always deeper than the “noise music” or “braggy” accusations.
DAY 8 – Divine, you have bewitched me body and soul, and I love you most ardently. There is not a boring song on ‘Do It’ (November 2025), to be clear, but this new song, Divine, has eclipsed Do It for me. Divine’s music video is such a fun ride if you like vintage Asian cinema or stories like Smallville, Lord of the Rings, etc. They face down a dark force and defeat it, turning their enemies into the scales of a sweeping dragon in a painting. The song showcases a Korean legend, with the lesson being not to escape away from reality too far and neglect your responsibilities. There is an old school hip-hop feel, random noises, and the electric energy of God’s Menu and Thunderous.
DAY 9 – Just one favorite B-side? That’s cruel. The b-sides are where Stray Kids really shine. I guess if I can only choose one, Leave (November 2023). It’s such a bop. It’s one of their softer, melodic songs that, in my opinion, marked the new era of Stray Kids. By 2023, they were fine-tuning their sound, and I could see where the possibilities could be long-term. The way they share the lyrics across the song, they truly are one band. One sound. Also, that chorus, “Lalalala la Lalalala x3, I’m missing you.” It’s haunting and beautiful. I could see how this band would be one I would keep listening to, as long as they want to put out music.
DAY 10 – LALALALA from the November 2023 album, Rockstar, is magnetic. LALALALA is language play. The original Chinese character Rak, pronounced slightly between la and ra (To the best of my understanding, I am not an expert.) and represents emotions – fear, sadness, anger, and happiness. The song’s journey gets rid of the rest until only happiness remains. Using the repetition of “Feel the rock” and “Let it rock” to bridge the gap between east and west, delicately weaving together this metaphor. The dance, oh, how I wish I could do it. The beat is so catchy. Such a good hype song!
DAY 11 – I’m a sucker for a Seungmin soundtrack. If I had a clear bias in the group (I’m an OT8 bias for reference), Seungmin would most likely be my bias wrecker for how I have grown to appreciate his vocal range since 2022. For all eight members, my favorite OST would be ‘Why?’ from January 2024, but overall, I am enamoured by My Destiny by Seungmin and the growth of his voice over the years. There is nowhere to hide in My Destiny; it is all vocals. So again to the haters, if you think Stray Kids are phonies, they are most certainly not! My Destiny is a romantic song with a subtle melody, perfect for the K-drama, The Potato Lab (March 2025).
DAY 12 – Ceremony (August 2025) is the best workout song, full stop. Try listening to it while doing cardio. The song doesn’t have a chorus until the end; it just keeps building and circling. It will push you, but it will feel like an exhilarating party.
DAY 13 – Parade is a Japanese release from the Hollow album (June 2025), which I’d love to see them circle back to with a music video. A full-scale production with a real parade, a band, confetti, floats, and excitement. Something like Ceremony would be fun.
DAY 14 – When Hollow (June 2025) came out, it changed me. It melted me, and I cried listening to the lyrics. Like ‘Golden’ and ‘This Is What It Sounds Like’, it broke me. One of my loved ones and I were fighting, and I was worried about their health. A former friend was really piling on their problems, and I was drained and feeling lonely. This song got it.
DAY 15 – I love singing along to Surfin’ even though I can only sing half the words, but dang, what a masterpiece from Lee Know, Changbin, and Felix back in 2021 from the No Easy album. It’s summertime. It’s upbeat. It’s got a rhythm that echoes the cadence of the waves and sea breezes. It’s one of a kind.
DAY 16 – I’d love to see them perform ‘Slash’ from Deadpool and Wolverine (August 2024) live on tour, or maybe a festival performance. I don’t think they have ever performed it. It was released quietly with the Deadpool and Wolverine theater release. To the best of what I’ve gathered from people who saw it, Disney didn’t even put it in the movie…because they suck. But like, what about a tiger, dual sword-wielding, superhero? Yes.
DAY 17 – I’d be interested in them re-releasing Hellevator (2017) with the music production and style they have now. It’s a fantastic song, but it does feel a bit 2010s and Chainsmoker-y in the production, as was popular at the time. No shade to the original.
DAY 18 – I’ve been trying to save God’s Menu (June 2020) and have no duplicates, but the opening sequence of God’s Menu goes
어서 오십시오 eoseo osibsio
이 가게는 참 메뉴가 고르기도 쉽죠 i gageneun cham menyuga goleugido swibjyo
and sounds like Changbin is saying “shit show.” I’ve shared this song with a loved one, and they literally have remarked, “Ah, it’s the shit show song” upon hearing it. Still the funniest misheard lyric for me.
DAY 19 – S-Class (June 2023) from the 5-Star Album was not my jam the first time around. It took multiple tries, and feeling a bit lost, until this song won me over. It was so different in structure. But that whistle, the chorus, and the music video eventually got me excited. Now this is one of my favorite title tracks for its signature Stray Kids randomness.
DAY 20 – Tortoise and the Hare (September 2020) for me is the most meme-worthy song because of one simple chorus swap – I know, you know, we know, Lee Know. This was reprised in the song Jjam in July 2024 from the album ATE. It is one of my favorite little easter eggs, especially when Lee Know encourages it with random Tortoise and the Hare references.
DAY 21 – Okay, this might be a weird pick to play for grandparents, but they were both into music. I’m choosing my maternal grandparents for this. Papa was in a quartet, and Grandma was a pianist who also taught. If I could catch their interest with good vocals, solid music, and the romance of the song, I could have opened the door to showing them more. My choice, if they were still here, is Waiting for Us from the album Oddinary (March 2023).
DAY 22 – Cheese is a go-to sing for me when I have chores to do around the house and zero motivation. This song is from No Easy (2021) and has so much attitude. I love it. This song has a misheard lyric for me – “Hook ya? Cheese!” It’s also a song that makes me think of my dog Sully, who loved cheese.
DAY 23 – Since I already used God’s Menu, and I refuse to duplicate with this many songs to choose from, I say Thunderous from No Easy (2021). This song has swagger. I listened to this song second, after Maniac, with maybe God’s Menu or Venom afterwards. Upon watching the Thunderous music video, I thought, “How freaking cool is this band?!” I’d never heard a band blend modern and traditional with such skill before.
DAY 24 – DLMLU or Don’t Let Me Love You (2023) is one of their great, slightly problematic love songs. They do a fantastic job of capturing the dysfunction of relationships, and this song is just that, a song fighting the undeniable pull the narrator feels. It’s got a great beat, and doesn’t get the attention of other Stray Kids songs, such as I Like It or Collision. Honorable mention: Venom (2022), which gets sidelined for Maniac but is complex, satisfying, and has a fun music video.
DAY 25 – In 2023, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign covered All In by Stray Kids at a halftime show, and it was so flipping satisfying. I have been waiting for their music to show up like this, and when it did, I was over the moon. All In is a high-energy Japanese release from October 2020.
DAY 26 – Cover Me from 2023’s Rockstar album stood out for many reasons, one of them being the harmonizing, the slow pace, and the one-take high note from Seungmin that is phenomenal. But the lyrics got me; they captured the feelings I’ve felt for so long. Being the kid on the fringe. All my friends had two parents, didn’t live with their grandparents, had siblings with the same mom and dad, didn’t have childhood trauma, and now I understand the outside thing I felt was also because of neurodivergence. I’ve never quite fit anywhere, only in passing, and this song gets all of those feelings. Thank you, Hyunjin, for this gem.
DAY 27 – Rama Giant! That’s how Han’s recording sounds, and I love it. It’s supposed to be “I’m a giant.” I also love this music video, as the meaning is deeper than it seems. Han’s sneeze. The clever line of “do re me fa King giant!” This title track, Giant came out in October 2024, on an album of the same name. I’m not over this song. It was one of my most listened to albums of 2025. It’s a Japanese release, so it gets less notoriety, but that’s okay. I hope one day they add it to the regular set.
DAY 28 – Domino is iconic. It’s also a great car jam because there is no weird stuff in the background, as Kyle says. He doesn’t like how much chaos, sirens, etc, they add to the back track for driving, and I get it. It does create mental chaos. Domino, from No Easy (2021), has been a favorite since my first listen. The cadence, the creativity. I just love listening to it, but especially in the car on a zippy and winding road.
DAY 29 – Chan’s solo, Railway (2024), would be my choice for a superhero theme, maybe an odd choice, but I could see it working for a complex, maybe misunderstood superhero? Watching Smallville has shown me the levels, and somewhere underneath, Clark Kent is here in this song, in the moments when he feels like an outsider. Maybe a show where both Railway and Escape were the title credits and ending credits? That could be satisfying.
DAY 30 – Night (2024) is an original soundtrack, but dang, this song is so good. It’s like a rock opera. The guitar, the piano, the range of the vocals, and the orchestral swell of it all into a final crescendo. This song could easily be just a song for an album. I really want them to keep exploring J-rock and these big opus-type songs. It brings everything I love about classical music into the mix. I crave more.
DAY 31 – Chk Chk Boom has currently dethroned Miroh for me as the Stray Kids anthem, please Stay, don’t hate me. It’s just been the song that has had such massive reach for the past year with awards, the Dominate tour, and even the satisfying feature of Ryan Reynolds in the music video. It shows how much they have accomplished, and it is also a fantastic song.
Phew! I did it. That was a lot of decisions, and I could probably keep revising and revising. I truly love their discography; it’s self-produced, written by them, and choreographed by them. They recently won the Daesang (album of the year) at MAMA 2025. They broke the Billboard 200 record for No. 1 album debuts with Karma, and extended the record to 8 with Do It. It’s truly impressive. In this world of increasing convenience, AI slop, and conformity, you can still excel and be yourself. That’s what they have done.
If you missed it, I made a Game of Wool Bingo card for episodes 1-3, because in my opinion, this show should not be taken seriously. I’ve given up watching, interacting with recaps, etc. I’m not going to watch beyond episode 3, and that is because hate-watching is validation in the attention economy of 2025. That got me thinking, what do I wish Game of Wool was instead of what it is? Game of Wool, just like Project Runway, I have notes!
No Kits or Internet Dressing Projects
I don’t want any themed-making kits sold per episode. They have been doing this for the episodes I have watched, each week partnering with a big yarn company, honestly making kits that serve no purpose other than a cash grab. I also don’t want to watch weekly episodes with challenges that create useless items. Useless from a practical and technical standpoint.
Crochet and knit swimwear is dumb. You can’t wear it other than for a photo shoot, which places it in the “internet dressing” category. It’s for a photo. It’s not even practical for a music festival. But it does resemble a “Coachella” look.
A crochet deck chair had potential, but it was not used within the materials provided or the time frame.
A dog sweater with a required hat is not kind or practical for dogs. The sweater is comfortable, but the hat is not comfortable for the dog. Again, it is for a photo. Washability was not discussed either.
The mohair sweater was the only challenge that was the closest to being a useful challenge, for design teamwork and wearability, but they ruined it with the ridiculous time frame.
A couch cover is useless, because I have thought about constructing one for my own couch to stash bust, but it’s just not practical for anything other than a showpiece. Which is how they judged it, so a lot of wool was wasted to make a big, useless swath of fabric.
The fair isle vest misrepresented a heritage craft of the region they were filming in. Why not just film a historical film set in the Renaissance, and put the actresses in Victorian corsets without a chemise, tight-laced? Same level of idiocy to be flashy!
This Game of Wool presents everything that late-stage capitalism is in relation to crafting and hobbies, thanks to greed, social media, and the attention economy. The British farmers could use the income; how about sourcing locally? What about sustainability and slow fashion? Yeah, 12-hour challenges do not represent anything but hustle culture. Girl boss, slay!
How Would I Fix It?
Real experts, not these two ladies.
Either all amateurs or all expert contestants. Pick a lane. Either be the Bake-Off or be Project Runway and offer a CFDA mentorship kind of prize.
Bring in a real mentor to help in the wool barn.
Take them on field trips to see wool being processed, dyed, and spun. Same with flax for linen.
Tell the story of why textiles matter and why fair trade for the animals, farmers, and ethical standards matter.
Explain why local matters for the economy and the ecology of the region.
Teach the history of cottage industries.
Teach the history of how knitting has changed the world, such as the development of textile machinery and the creation of the binary code. Essentially, fill in the gap of what Sci Show failed to do.
Set real challenges that teach, showcase the skill of the fiber artists, and show innovation.
Do a challenge that involves unravelling sweaters for yarn and teach the world about this amazing, sustainable possibility.
Task the fiber artists to design patterns, and explore what goes into design and proper pattern writing, because it is a technical skill.
Make things that will be auctioned off for charity.
Bring in people as guest judges who will bring professional connections and opportunities for the fiber artists.
Set realistic deadlines, and slow down the pace of the show. Follow a timeline like Mind of a Chef that explores moments of cooking over an entire season.
Let the makers make, unencumbered by the pace of the internet. Take note from Bernadette Banner and other makers out there that celebrate true craftsmanship and sustainability in the heyday of microplastics.
I’m tired of this show discounting a skill that has been tossed aside as a Grandma hobby since the Industrial Revolution. In these weird and wacky times, slow fashion and an appreciation of craftsmanship are in short supply in the media. This show had such potential! But they are truly chasing the money over integrity.
This is a story of a winding road. It is not just passion that makes us try new and difficult things, but also the desire to fit in. Sometimes the road is bumpy, and bumpier still than we expected.
Last winter, I began a journey; at the time, I did not realize how technical this would be, and oh, how I miss the naive wonder of that time. I started my quest to make socks. The sock does not appear technical from the outside. It is a tube of knit fabric which we slip on our feet, most every day. Due to the Industrial Revolution, socks can be knit by machine with ease and speed. This has suspended our connection to the technology that first developed the sock—hand knitting.
In our modern day, socks are affordable and accessible. They are for sale everywhere in a myriad of textures, weights, and styles. We have socks for athleticism, socks for leisure, socks for style. They are boring, mundane Christmas gifts of childhood, and puppets with googly eyes. But what does it take to make a sock by hand?
I gave this a shot last year, and it challenged me! I cataloged my experience in Socks, A Journey, and Socks: An Update, where I began knitting socks flat on straight needles and three months later gave circular knitting a try. My first flat knit socks were made top down, in a tube style that negates the heel flap and requires sewing the sock into a tube. They are loose in fit but warm and great socks to wear around the house. My advanced tries, knitting in the round and turning the heel, were more of an adventure. My tension was tight, and my heel flap a nightmare, unable to be duplicated into a second sock, for how off script my technique became. I didn’t grasp the why of what I was doing and therefore messed up the pattern.
This summer, I went to a local yarn shop where I began my journey to sock more traditionally. I picked up a pair of small-gauge double-pointed needles and sock sock-making kit with proper sock yarn of wool and nylon, to do it “properly” and oh my, did this bomb. The toe-up pattern, new to me from my previous projects that were cuff down, pushed me far out of my depth. I sank instead of swimming. The four double-pointed needles and my uncoordinated hands created tension and laddering in the knit, which looks exactly as it sounds. I tried three times to knit a few centimeters before the stitches fell off the needles, the sock falling off with the stitches. In desperation, as the needles were 29 USD and the sock kit 29 USD, I was feeling very silly and wasteful purchasing new needles and new yarn that I couldn’t do anything with.
So I pivoted to my trusty straight needles until I saw my mom later that weekend, and she lent me a pair of small-gauge, small-circumference needles to finish the sock. Still baffled by the heel flap and the vague instructions on the pattern, I tried German short rows for shaping the heel. In a fortnight, I completed the first of the two socks. I cast off and handed it to Kyle to try on, and the size was all wrong. I tried to frog it back into a skein of yarn, but the splitty yarn tangled, ripped, and became a ball of knots. It was over, and I was furious with myself for wasting time, money, resources, and, honestly, hurting my eyes squinting to see my tiny stitches for almost two weeks to accomplish nothing.
Socks are madness. And maybe I should stop beating myself up about my failure when socks are one of the hardest things to make by hand. I am an overachiever and a perfectionist, so this type of failure cuts me deep. I obsess, I rage, and I fall apart in the madness of learning something that may take years to execute once, not even perfectly. But you know what? I have made good socks before! Comfortable, almost perfect for what I was looking to achieve, socks. But I rejected them as being good because I was embarrassed at how I made them. I didn’t follow the right techniques, I used the “wrong” yarn, and I didn’t turn the heel.
Sometimes I have major imposter syndrome as a knitter. I feel like a fraud because I don’t use the exact same patterns, same tools, same yarn as everyone else on the internet. But why is that a bad thing? I’ve listened to other knitters in podcasts discuss how the sameness of knitting is making it boring. Apparently, at Rhinebeck or other knitting events, it is easy to see the same sweater throughout the sea of people, and that is a new thing. Listening to knitters, who have been knitting long before 2020, when I really started knitting consistently, knitters used to do their own thing. Yarn suggestions in patterns were exactly that – a suggestion.
People were designing more and experimenting instead of knitting in the homogenized way we see today, which is one of the ways I feel like an outsider. I don’t want to knit the same things as everyone else, but I also want to be good at the craft, and it leaves me in this push-and-pull tension. It became clear to me, though, that my search to “fit in” with the proper sock kit and the expensive needles didn’t make me a better maker. It was honestly a bit of a handicap. So I guess my takeaway is to be yourself?
I don’t want to stagnate in my skills, but if I can find my own technique to make socks and other garments with the “non-standard” tools and yarn, then is it really stagnation or just getting creative with where my skill level is at? I’ve been pondering this a lot and have more thoughts on this from both the point of view of a knitter and a sewist. But that will have to wait for next time.
I’ve been looking at how to make a custom overalls pattern, based on drafting techniques, which I began with this post: Drafting Shortalls from Scratch. But how to construct them? Well, that’s what I plan to explore today! To do this, yesterday, I cut out another pair of overalls, this time for the fall-winter-spring season, to retrace my steps.
Step One
With your pieces cut out according to your measurements, you should have four leg pieces – two front and two back. The next two bib pieces should be cut out, with the back piece cut a bit differently to accommodate the straps. This is to anchor the straps at the middle of your shoulders to keep the overalls securely on your frame.
Step Two
I like to begin with the pants or shorts portion of an overall project, because they are foundational to the silhouette. I like to pin the leg pieces together to try on before sewing. Remember to leave several inches of the outer thigh seams pinned for the flies and buttons.
Once you know that the pieces will fit, with seam allowance accounted for, I begin sewing the leg pieces together, leaving out the crotch seam and the top part of the inseam, to attach the two pieces as one pair of pants. After these have been sewn together and I have tried them on, I will move on to the bib.
Step Three
For less bulk, I like to cut the seams of the crotch portion and leg seams that will join together, with pinking shears, to make my hems less thick. This lets the sewing machine, or your hand sewing needle, pass through the seam with ease, and is more comfortable to wear.
How do you join pants? Well, you leave the top of the inseam open so that those two inseams will line up together, making the two legs join at the top where the pelvis is. Remember this is a bifurcated garment, so you want your final shape to be two tubes, joined to make one tube at the top. I’ve messed this up several times; it’s okay even if you sew it wrong the first thousand times. That is what mockups and seam rippers are for!
Step Four
For the bib of these overalls pictured above, they were cut into short pieces, so I just had to join these pieces together. I added a facing to the inside of the bibs, which is just a piece of the fabric’s right side facing inside, so that the bibs are finished cleaner around the neckline.
I inserted the straps between the facing and the bib for a clean and secure stitch. The straps were finished with a loop on either side of the front bib to tie around, instead of the metal fastenings. I was inspired by Lucy and Yak Dungarees.
Step Five
The final touches are the bias tape, the side buttons, and the five pockets. I find the bias tape the most mundane thing; therefore, I choose to do that next, which is a 1-2″ ribbon of the fabric used to finish the raw edges still exposed on the sides.
Step Six
Next, I created the flies on either side by folding over the fabric to make the button placket and button hole placket. This was planned out when I cut out the overalls. After making the button holes and finishing them with either the machine or by hand, I mark out on the other side where the holes overlap to mark for buttons.
Step Seven
Finally, I sew the pockets. I chose a large, half-rounded bib pocket on the front, two smaller rectangle pockets on the backside, and medium side pockets sewn across the hip. Next? Enjoy your creation and feel a sense of accomplishment. You did something hard, and probably felt lost at times, but you persevered to learn a new skill. It’s not cringeworthy to try. So go for it! ❤
One Rabbit Riot 