Tag: knitting

Knitting a Dress for the First Time

Knitting a dress, how hard can it be right? It was actually pretty managable garment as an intermediate knitter. I would not recommend unless you have made a sweater before but would definitely recommend knitting a dress if you want a soft and stretchy garment that hugs you!

Inspiration

I have made plenty of dresses over the past 5 years, but they have all been cut and sewn from fabric. Knitting kicks it up a notch, asking you to assemble the dress, but make the fabric to boot. I thought it would be silly to try until I discovered some lovely crochet designers on You Tube who make with imagination!

I was inspired by Mama Gwen of TL Yarn Crafts to give designing a knit dress a try. She makes such beautiful dresses all from self-drafted patterns in knit and crochet. Along with Dana from Blondie Knots. Her Coachella scrap two piece outfit helped me have the boost of confidence to try something new.

Materials

Last summer at Joann, before the shenanigans began, I purchased 14 Big Twist Cotton 50g skeins on a sale with the intention of knitting a top. Many months later, this yarn was sitting in my stash with my mind uncertain if the punchy color changing yarn was my cup of tea for a cotton knit top. But a dress? Yes, that could work. Did I have enough yarn though? I’d have to make it so because there was no more being sold.

Because of the circumstances, I decided this dress would be my goodbye to Big Twist.

Design

I knew from sewing, my design would need to be a dress that was either tubular or empire waist to suit my body shape. I decided to knit this on US 7 needles, straight needles. Sometimes I would shift to circular, but this was not knit in the round. With the combination of yarn minders, a measuring tape and patience this dress came together!

To start I knew I wanted the bodice to be the anchor I worked out from so I cast on stitches to work horizontally. From the bodice, I then added one strap to plan the width and placement of the top. I was uncertain how much yardage the skirt would consume, therefore I paused to determine sleeves later.

My plan for the skirt was to knit a section by casting on the bottom of the bodice, adding stitches to increase width until I finished a skein. Repeat and fill out the row by picking up stitches to join the sections vertically into a tube. I continued on, and on  until weeks later I had a skirt but panicked that I was not going to achieve my desired length and second sleeve!

I decided to pull a teal yarn from my Landscape Painting with Yarn project. This hue pulled the cool tones into harmony in a pleasing way. I used two skeins of this teal color and then finished with the original Water Lily tonal yarn. I finished the second sleeve and tried on the piece with relative ease. There was one fit issue – plunging neckline. But it was a lovely, cozy knit from scratch dress!

The final touches to this project were addressing the neckline and the sleeves which were set too deep. I cast on to the neckline to fill in the gap and provided structure to the straps with several rows of decreases to give the dress a cap sleeve befitting my vision.

Final Thoughts

I am definitely making more dresses with knit! It’s far more pleasant than sewing if you want a comfy yet elegant style. You have both control of the drape and the fabric design. It’s your world, as Bob Ross would say.

This project was more than a goodbye to Big Twist, it was a new chapter for me. I began this journey 5 years ago to learn how to make and now I feel empowered by knowing I can make my own clothes, not just with fabric but with skeins of yarn and needles. It has been a wonderful journey of discovery!

If you want to knit a dress, I’d say go for it! If you’re a beginner, make one but not as your first project – you will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of time this project took. It was weeks of work that as a beginner, would have scared me. In time I know you can do it though! ❤

Starting a Knit Garment

Do you ever get stuck in start mode when beginning a new thing?

Like you’re wandering through a maze of ideas. Maybe it’s the planning stage, too many ideas, not enough organization? It’s weird. I feel such a rush when I have multiple WIPs on my needles. The satisfaction of binding off stitches and slipping that garment onto my body makes every week of work worth it!

The void though, between new idea and casting on a new project, is a shape shifting process. The indecision sets in.

  • What yarn should I use?
  • Do I have a color palette
  • Stockinette or a new stitch?
  • Texture?
  • Colorwork?
  • Do I have an inspriation garment in mind?
  • Have I thought about how I want to garment to fit?
  • How much positive or negative ease should I plan for?

The next phase is choosing needles, selecting the amount of yardage, and gauge swatching the stitches to inches ratio to calculate the size of the garment.

It feels as important to start with the correct amount of stitches as it does to pour a concrete foundation evenly. I think this is why I get stuck in neutral instead of shifting into gear – when you get a creative idea sometimes the final design outcome is a little fuzzy.

So how do I get out of it and move forward with my design? I sketch, even simply shading the colors together in simple patterns helps me see if the image in my head will fit the realized garment. I also start working with the room to frog the yarn and begin again.

That is my favorite thing about fiber art, you can tear out and begin again without ruining your materials. Even though the first stitches feel like concrete the process is flexible.

Do you get stuck in planning? How do you move your mind forward? Thanks for spending time with me today. You are amazing and I hope you know that you are loved. Until next time. ❤

Playing Animal Crossing Has Improved My Style

As a kid, one of my favorite pastimes was designing. I loved the fashion styling flash games from Lizzie McGuire and My Scene. I designed my own catalog of clothes for a made-up brand with my friends in 4th grade, illustrating with my school supplies and piecing it together with scrap paper. Mary-Kate and Ashley’s movies captured my imagination through their use of clothes to characterize each sister’s personality.

That’s So Raven enveloped me in imagination, not from her psychic abilities, no, Raven Baxter’s closet pulled me in! Raven’s room was a stunner as well, like Zenon Kar’s space station cabin, and my Fashion Polly’s colorful playsets that folded out like Richard Hammond’s caravan. My friends and I discovered shows like What Not To Wear and Trading Spaces, which launched my sketches from clothing brands to interior design. I had a notebook full of room drawings. There were designs with slides, hammock beds, and intricate themes. I drew a Survivor-themed room with a tribal council area on the lower level, an outer space room with circular windows and futuristic lighting, even a beach room with a lofted bed, sunset paint scheme, and a pool placed in the middle of the floor. I wish I knew what happened to these sketches; it’s been such a long time.

When I discovered Animal Crossing in 2020, I was curious what the fuss was about, and later the next year, we bought a Nintendo Switch, opening a world of design I thought was lost to childhood. I was thrilled! Animal Crossing New Horizons debuted in March 2020, and because of the unique time, it had a huge following for its charming island life. You begin your game landing on a deserted island as part of a Nook Inc. Getaway Package, and assist Tom Nook in developing the island with the help of Timmy, Tommy, Dodo Airlines, Blathers, Isabelle, and the villagers who move to the island with you.

But what about the fashion and the home decor? This game first places you in a tent that you upgrade into a house, with subsequent expansions costing large sums, but with a relaxed payment policy. You also gain the ability to design custom things with Nook Mile redemption upgrades, craft unique recipes from resources on the island, and buy items from Nook’s Cranny and clothing items from Able Sisters. A ridiculous amount of my gameplay, even years later, comes from pairing and collecting new clothing items for my character to wear on her adventures. This game loves coordination!

As a player who is well-versed in the Animal Crossing fashion catalog, I wait and anticipate finding my favorite pieces with each new island. The game has four seasons, with clothing corresponding to the season at play, including specialty garments for holidays. Currently, as I play in June, it’s wedding season and Able Sisters is selling traditional Japanese wedding attire, Nook Shopping is selling Father’s Day items, and International Children’s Day pieces, which include a paper crown that is oh so cute!

How has this impacted my own personal style, though? Well, it has brought me back to the mindset of creating a full look. Working from home or working in professional painting at jobsites for most of my adult life has killed the style I used to have. I no longer felt the need to put together a look, but instead I got used to throwing on pieces and wearing things for function, not fashion. But that’s not who I really am, just what the environment of life drifted me into. I was missing intentionality, Animal Crossing lit that spark once again. My little character doesn’t just get dressed to do life; she wears a head-to-toe look with hats, bags, glasses, specialty socks, clever shoes, cute tools, and interestingly paired garments. This game got me out of jeans and a t-shirt, or a hoodie and leggings, because this game has trousers in many fabrics and shapes, shorts in colorful prints, skirts in a bouquet of fancy, coats, hats a plenty, tops that span the seasons – it’s a blast to explore! There are dresses – modern and traditional. I can where a kimono! I change her outfit at least once, maybe three times a session. You can also curate hairstyles and experiment with colors.

This exercise has shown me that pink hair is something I’d like to try. It’s my most-used fashion color. It has inspired me to introduce cute socks of varying heights and weights to my wardrobe, even making some of them. I’ve started wearing hats anytime I leave the house – it pulls the look together! My taste in bags has changed; no longer an option for a sleek purse that looks designer, instead give me a duck bag with feet. I love colorful knitwear, flowing skirts, and shoes that are beyond my comfort zone of boots and Converse. Taking those moments in the game to pair weird combinations together has positively impacted my design sensibility. When I plan a sewing or knitting project, I take into account what I’ve learned from dressing up my character, seeking to inject the whimsy and delightful wares of Animal Crossing into my real-life closet. I’m not the only one; I’ve seen this across Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.

But what about interior design? Well, this game not only presents the opportunity to design your house and the island, but you can also download Happy Home Paradise to design vacation homes for clients. This has really challenged me in a fun sandbox way to care about how a room is put together. I’ve become far more intentional about my furniture layout, what types of pieces I want to bring into my space, and how I want to pair pieces for a style that tells a story.

Buying a house last year was the icing on the cake of this new foray into design, as we have painted rooms and dug the garden beds, I’ve felt like it is Animal Crossing come to life. I have this canvas to put my stamp on. Moving from rented landlord-beige homes to a space where we can be colorful, it has shown me that the little details do make a space more welcoming and conducive for creating. The simple act of moving our dining room table from one side of the room to the center, allowing for walkways on either side, has made the room a place I want to be instead of a place I pass through. By filling the empty gaps of cabinets in our kitchen with tables, shelves, and a microwave stand, we have transformed the empty space into a room that feels complete. The simple change of painting my sewing room lavender created an entire mood, a calming and happy vibe that makes me excited to work within those four walls. The garden beds and the screened-in porch have been works of dimension, the outdoor space has useful and designated spaces for us to use that make it more beautiful and purposeful.

I am filled with a sense of possibility again, like the girl who sketched those rooms in a notebook, instead of a person muddling through life. In this time when we feel burned out by AI and stale creativity, it’s been electric to feel the sparks of imagination. The crafting aspect of the game has inspired me to be more creative in my own house. We repurpose, re-finish, and build things in our house from scratch. Because of life’s twists and turns, I have a lot of second-hand pieces that at first felt like a let down, like I was poor, but now I see them as incredibly meaningful items that I have the pleasure of caring for in my home. The game’s customization tools, such as kits for sale or the custom services of Cyrus, demonstrate how a coat of paint truly pulls a room together without buying something new.

Did I think when I purchased Animal Crossing New Horizons that I would see an impact on my own design sensibility? Not at all, but it has been the gift that keeps on giving. It’s an incredibly cozy game, full of wonder that I have grown fond of, year over year. Four years later, I still look forward to running around the island, hunting for recipes, wishing on shooting stars, and besting those pesky Happy Home Academy judges. I hope that I never lose my zeal for dress up and design because it is such a fun little way to relax in this wild and wacky world.

My 2025 So Far Has Been A Creative Slump

I can’t believe it’s May already, I’ve been so busy with our garden project and a follow up project of screening in our back porch, distracted by Joann’s closure and the evil running rampant in our world that I have been on a slow creative trajectory, and its really catching up to me!

Upcycling, Alterations, Mending

As of late, the bulk of my sewing projects have been preservation, updates, or reworking the garment into something new. In mid-winter, I decided to tailor every t-shirt in my closet. This meant I would be hemming every shirt to end above my hip and bringing the end of the sleeve upward, to end higher on my arm, which is more flattering to my vertical line. I’ve had to repair a few garments and mend some older pieces. I’ve also been taking some of my clothes in and tearing them apart to be upcycled into new projects I can’t wait to share. That I thought I already shared. This leads me to the next point: I have a backlog of projects I held back last fall.

The Head Games of Content

I still battle imposter syndrome, and in doing so, last year, feared that I would run out of ideas. So I slowed down my posting to keep these good ideas and projects in the tank for a rainy day, and instead of this giving me the freedom to create and write without pressure this gave my type-B nature and out to avoid writing, because I had the ideas, and so I sat on them and now it is almost a year later, without these projects having their time to shine. Grinding it out on Instagram last year definitely took my focus from me, and then these constant recession fears have kept me in a place of fear, which has stifled my desire to create, in case I can’t buy more materials in the future. I worry too much. Writing for two years, on this site, led me to a sophomoric slump heading into 2025. I lost the urgency to keep going and backslid into complacency and a lack of creativity. I have also transitioned into a slower creative process in hopes of gaining that spark again!

Hand Sewing 2: Electric Boogaloo

When I began sewing in 2020, I did so through sewing by hand through the tutorials of Bernadette Banner. I did this for two years and then acquired my Heavy Duty Singer, which I switched to using exclusively from the end of 2022 through the beginning of 2025. But this year, I am having some struggles with my sewing machine. I love the speed at which you can make things, but I fear that this boost in speed has dampened my craftsmanship.

When I was sewing by hand, I had the time to consider the project and to ponder where the design was going to lead me. With my sewing machine, I have fallen into a bad habit of making without pausing to ponder. I also started designing simpler, easier-to-sew garments for efficiency instead of art. But speaking of efficiency, I don’t think sewing machines are as efficient as we make them out to be. Mine is quite finicky. It eats fabric and thread. I go through the thread considerably quicker using my Singer than I do by hand. I have to rip seams and sew again, many times, because the machine messed up a stitch or skipped stitches altogether, and I’m tired of it. So my machine and I are taking some time apart.

Slow and Steady, A Life of WIPs

And so, here I am months later with a few finished garments, many WIPs, and a better life balance. Including a refreshed creative well. The time spent working outside with Kyle crafting our screened porch, tilling garden beds, painting, upcycling furniture, studying Japanese, drawing, reading, exercising, etc, has been a wonderful way to remember why I love creating. I find knitting to be my happy place. For a week, I barely knitted, and my mind was filled with far more rage without the needles weaving yarn into cloth. I’ve come to a place in my sewing journey where I want to learn and be ambitious again. I’ve filled my closet with good handmade pieces, but I want to create exceptional, one-of-a-kind things.

I have learned that knitting is my favorite mode of creation, and sewing is the freedom to make what I don’t want to buy or can’t find offered. The process is just as important as the final product, as trite as that is, creation and crafting are where we thrive, not consuming. I find moments of calm in working with my hands and feel satisfaction in stepping away to old creative haunts, like painting or gardening. I think the slump was an important part of growing. I hope that you find creative refreshment and know that you are loved. Stay safe out there, these are dangerous times, and know that I care about you all very much.

Is A Yarn Made From Recycled Marine Plastics Any Good?

As I have dove deeper into the world of fiber crafts and created often, I’ve become more conscious of the fibers I choose. Mainly because when a project doesn’t work, I feel like a jerk for making that mistake in hard to break down acrylic. I would feel less of a fool if my mistakes were constructed in biodegradable natural fibers like wool, cotton, linen, or bamboo. Starting in 2024, I began to migrate back to natural fibers, which I mentioned before in my Summer Knitting Plans post from last year. I had been hesitant to use wool before that, supposed allergies that I debunked in 2024, which led me to explore the many fiber offerings of Knit Picks.

When I was looking at sock yarns in the fall, a particular fiber caught my eye – Oceana. The Oceana line has this vibrant kaleidoscope of colors that evokes the tropical hues of a coral reef. It’s stunning! When my stepdad gifted me a Knit Picks gift card for Christmas, I knew exactly what I would order – the Oceana! Not just for the colors, but the innovative fiber content.

L to R: Sea Lettuce, Spirulina, Tiger Fish, Swordfish, Axoloti

This yarn is composed of 54% Superfine Alpaca and 46% Polyester SEAQUAL, which is made from marine litter cleaned from the ocean, and that plastic is then recycled into polyester (acrylic) yarn that is blended with the Alpaca fiber to create the Oceana yarn. The halo seems to be the Alpaca, based on my experience working with this yarn, and the interior chain fluffy fiber strand seems to be a combo of the recycled polyester and Alpaca fiber. Now, fiber blends are not the best for decomposing, but I like the motives behind this yarn. Instead of using newly created polyester, which doesn’t break down easily and is cluttering our environment, they are taking the trash out of the ocean and repurposing it into something useful. How cool is that? Can more polyester-based products start with recycling the plastic litter before making more? We literally have endless resources of trash, thanks to Shein and our rampant overconsumption.

So how does this yarn knit up? Excellently! It has this plush texture with a fuzzy halo that to me looks like those mohair strands knitters use to plush up a sweater.

I’d say the only cons I have are the price and the yardage. I didn’t find this yarn went far, and had to play yarn chicken a few times. I secondly was only able to order five skeins with my gift card, the yarn was on sale might I add, with a 50 USD gift card. When I ran out of yarn, I chose to supplement with Knit Picks Palette yarn in fingering weight, held in double strands to match gauge. I do understand that part of the price is the process of SEAQUAL and the Alpaca fiber costs as well, but it was just a bit too much for me to purchase more at full price when I ran out, especially when I had existing yarn in my stash that could work.

I had planned to have this project done by the time I reviewed the yarn, but as it is now April, and I’ve shifted to summer and spring knitting it is unlikely this project is wrapping up soon. Here’s a look at the project at its current state. 🙂

Potato Technology’s 2024 Autumn Winter Collection

This collection was about upcycling, trying new techniques, and making things that expressed what I like wearing based on previous designs I have made, but with a twist. The items I designed were 75% sourced from existing materials. They were upcycled from items in my closet, hand-me-downs from my mom or grandparents. They were made from destashed yarn I acquired or fabric that had been in my stash for a long time. I focused more on creating with natural materials like wool, linen and as always, I love cotton.

Vests were made from pillow cases and flannels. I re-worked a sweater from the existing sweater and leftover yarn. I dyed denim, deconstructed denim, and made some interesting new shorts and skirts. I combined leftover flannel from Christmas stockings to create a plaid and denim kilt. I used the cut-off sleeves of flannels from my vest projects to create a skirt from four flannel sleeves. I dove deeper into the world of trousers with two new patterns – a floral and railroad stripe. With each pair, I experimented with fastenings and pockets. I constructed my first “Mr. Darcy” shirt from teal linen using Bernadette Banner’s instructions for the body. I put my own spin on the collar, choosing a wider collar similar to a sailor collar that is popular in anime and J-fashion.

This was the first season I experimented with colorwork in knitting. I made a knit star motif hat from yarn that was leftover from my Magic of Scrap Yarn Cardigan. I made leg warmers, a squirrel motif mitten, and a melange of acrylic and wool to create this ear flap hat that reminds me of medieval European helmets. Although this season of creation was chaotic, I’m not sure if I even included all the projects I worked on, it was a time of great learning. It taught me that fashion design is more than taking raw material and cutting it into a new form.

Great design utilizes new and old. Fashion is about reusing, not wasting, and making things beautiful with careful craftsmanship. It does not mean it needs to be expensive, or need to be made by a great master couturier, it just needs to serve a purpose. We have lost sight of the purpose of fashion, but these projects of upcycling have reminded me that fashion is more than shopping, it is more than consumption, it is about the materials, the vision, the function.

I Accidentally Felted My Magic of Scrap Cardigan

In the summer of 2024, I returned to an old fiber friend, wool, and introduced a new natural fiber – alpaca. When I began knitting in the early 2010s, I bounced between wool and acrylic fibers, not really looking at fiber content and instead looking at the pretty colors and my stitches so I didn’t drop one. Oh, how times have changed! When you love something you begin to obsess, dig, and it becomes a fiber woven into your identity. That’s where I found myself as a knitter for 10 years. I am constantly thinking about fiber content when planning a new project because it’s more than just the make that matters; it is how the garment is worn and washed for many years to come.

Wool

I think we have deep scent memories just like how wool fiber remembers the shape it is blocked into with water and pins. The scent of wool is woven deep into my memories of traveling to Ireland as a child in 2001. It is the fiber my Grandma wore most of the year. She was always cold, even in summer. Wool has always seemed a bit scratchy to me. It triggers my neurodivergent aversion to certain sensations. It was not a fiber I would choose to wear a whole sweater out of, although small accessories I could handle. Coats were fine too, until they weren’t.

After my grandparents passed away, within 6 months of each other I suddenly had things they used to own. Clothing being one of those things, a lot of those clothing items contained wool. I couldn’t stand the fiber being near me. I’d get a head, a migraine really. I’d feel stuffed up and allergic, at least I thought. From 2020-2024 I avoided the fiber. Begging my mom not to knit me anything in wool. I rounded up the wool items and put them in quarantine in a box in my house, the “allergy” being such a wave of anguish to my body. Looking back on it, I can see it was an expression of grief and stress. That smell of wool, it felt like a ghost lingering in the shadows of my mind not a normal fiber. Grief makes things so weird!

Acrylic

Under this belief of a wool allergy, I pivoted solely to cotton, bamboo, linen, and acrylic. If you are looking for a cheap and cheerful fiber acrylic is your yarn. It’s everywhere in the big box stores and that’s exactly what I did. I experimented with Red Heart, Big Twist, and Caron. They come in value packs and the worsted weight is an excellent fiber weight to use when learning how to create complicated garments such as wearables like sweaters that involve sleeves, shoulder shaping, and necklines. I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, it’s part of the learning process, yet using these affordable and easy-to-source yarn options took the trepidation out of the creating process.

Acrylic is seen as the “low-brow” yarn for a lot of the knitting community. It’s looked down upon for not being a natural fiber. Take organic and insert natural fiber and it is the same sort of elitism. But honestly, aside from how it’s made, acrylic being a polyester fiber, I don’t get the hate. It’s washable. These garments I was able to block in the dryer. As a knitter who was new to blocking this process taught me how and why blocking matters without the high stakes of felting, shrinking, or destroying my hard work during the wool sweater blocking process. It’s an approachable fiber for beginners.

Fiber Curiosity

Acrylic was my bread and butter, but after a while, we all crave some variety. For winter sweaters the other fibers – cotton, linen, and bamboo aren’t going to cut it. This is where some field trips came in! I’ve mentioned Keystone Safari before on the blog, it’s a wildlife preserve and education center in my region and they have sheep, alpacas, yaks, camels, and llamas. All of which I feed and pet without any allergies! This is where I began to question my “allergy” to wool. How could I spend time around these fibers, in their natural state where there would be more allergens like hay and not have a reaction (when I’m actually allergic to hay and grass)? It didn’t add up.

So in 2024, I began to run experiments. In the yarn shops, I’d pick up wool and alpaca-specific skeins and feel them in search of the truth! At my mom’s house, I’d ask her to see her skeins of wool and I’d do the same, even sticking them in my face, demanding they show me an allergic reaction. Nothing happened. Nothing. Could it be, that was I ready to find my true knitting form? A natural fiber artist, possibly a spinner, with a vast knowledge of wool, alpaca, mohair, and more? Yes, it was time.

Magic of Scrap Yarn Cardigan

So how does felting come into play in this story? It doesn’t sound like a story of woe, but it is. I was quite inexperienced with wool and how one cares for wool, that lack of experience came back to bite me with this lovely cardigan. I made this cardigan from wool extra skeins from my mom. Some of those skeins I put right up into my face to see if the wool would make me allergic. But this cardigan was not just a project of wool, it was a project made of extra wool skeins, wool-acrylic blend skeins, and acrylic skeins. Those fibers require different strategies to care for them properly.

This was my first mistake. I mixed fibers willy-nilly without thinking about each one has unique advantages and disadvantages. Wool is naturally anti-bacterial and requires very little cleaning. You can spot clean and refresh in the air or the snow. But you can’t throw it in the washer, and if you wash you must be gentle to the fibers with delicate movements and gentle water temperature, or else it will felt. Acrylic on the other hand is very durable. You can wash it in the washing machine without worrying about the possibility of felting the fiber. Acrylic fibers do not felt. It does not have anti-bacterial properties though so you clean it. Can you see where this is going? I screwed up the washing portion of this project.

I washed it in the washing machine without thinking and the cardigan shrank. Next, I tried to stretch the cardigan as it dried, while it was wet. Not gently, although the washer had already set the stage for stressed wool fibers. The cardigan no longer fit my person. To remedy this I thought I would hand wash delicately and attempt to re-block the cardigan. This was the nail in the coffin. This fatal mistake transformed the project from a knit cardigan to a felted mess. It was too far gone, like a burnt cooking disaster. There was no coming back from this, the damage was done.

I began to panic. How would I continue using wool and alpaca? I was currently knitting wool socks, um how was I going to wash those? Was I screwed? I was convinced I could never hand wash again without feeling sick to my stomach. I had to find a new solution. Steam. Steam was the answer. I have an iron, an iron with steam. Could I use this instead of purchasing a garment steamer? The answer amazingly was that simple! I steam my wool and alpaca projects now and the steam helps them bloom, they almost block from the steam along. It’s incredible. Just a little steam and the fibers refresh, safely! It’s transformed how I care for my knitwear. Sometimes these creative misfires lead us to places we may not have tried without the failure as a catalyst to try something new. I feel equipped to work with natural fibers, confident that if I spend months on a project I can care for said item for years to come. Have you tried streaming your wool garments before?

#70 – The Cold, Patience, BBC Pride and Prejudice

This winter, it’s wildly beautiful with it’s near constant snow accumulation (uncommon for where I live) and icy drops in temperature where we spent a month or so below 32 Fahrenheit. These rhythms of snow, ice, and cold fronts entering the atmosphere on a Friday and lasting all weekend led to many weeks of waiting, being still, escaping to my Stardew Valley farm. Waiting for the winter to pass, knitting away my boredom.

Time Passing Marked By Candles

We made a balloon arch for my birthday, a Brooklyn 99 high honor, and I decorated the living room with Stardew Valley garlands, making the time lost to snow and ice marked with something to remember.

In this waiting, I’ve had unwelcome house guest of Winter, the lingering cold. I had a troubling cold over Christmas, with sinus pain that kept me awake through the night. I thought it was gone as we entered January but I realize now the cold retreated but hovered in the shadows throughout the long mid-winter until Valentine’s Day when it re-animated and gave me some of the worst congestion, ear-aches, and sinus pain I can remember. I couldn’t lay down without the sinus pressure pain building, I couldn’t sleep. I felt miserable.

The Grim Night

I think the hardest part of feeling sick is the mental part. The patience to do nothing, and let go of the goals in your  mind. It’s boring! There was a few days of utter boredom. Knitting felt like too much, taking naps would trigger the sinus pain, and I remember   feeling useless, empty, and void of joy.

I felt deeply frustrated. Why was I going through a second round of this? Why is this happening to the point that I can’t write, or work on my projects, I can’t even keep up with my share of the housework. How long until I feel normal again?

When we lack health, it is the only thing we crave. It truly is more valuable than money. As I go further into adulthood, I growing in appreciation for the little things like health, a boring day where you feel great, and you tend to forget this feeling looking back on it. It blends with the others, but those ordinary moments are what give us such rich life.

Like those mild days of the year, those 60s or low 70s and sunny days, they blur in the background of the weather extremes, but really those days were probably the most mood boosting of the year.

Shall the Shades of Pemberly Be Thus Polluted?

One of the few things that gave me joy during that week of sickness was BBC’s Pride and Prejudice 1995.

It was my first watch. I’ve read the book and watched the 2005 version, but this series had escaped me. I think I put it off because I though it was a hipster scheme. How could this one be so much better than the 2005 movie? With its soundtrack and cinematography? The hype was real, it’s spectacular.

It’s a series I could watch again, and again, for those nature shots and the beautiful furniture. The costumes are true regency in design, compared to the 2005 version. Each character is flushed out like book and it is simply a treasure. 😍

Nothing Nice to Say

February and January to be honest have been a challenge for me creatively. I haven’t known what to write about without it sounding like I am complaining. There is a lot of crap going in the world and it’s been a struggle for me to keep my eyes fixed on the good.

When I’m in this mood, like I was during our house buying process in May 2024, I struggled to write on here as well. I didn’t want to complain and also didn’t feel inspired because of the distractions. And so, time passes.

In this time I’ve been listening, reflecting. I’ve been enamored by the latest Bible Project series. I’ve been waiting for the final blow for Joann’s which happened. I’ve been researching new sources of yarn and fabric, keeping my eyes and ears open for new brands to fill the void.

I started reading again – beginning with an attempt to re-read Crime and Punishment which I shelved for now after Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov‘s long rant in the bar. I was feeling too sick at that point to envelope myself in that misery and pivotted to Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim.

I have filled my days with the soundtrack of Aespa, Stray Kids, and Red Velvet. We even started a new K-drama, Crash Landing on You, which I’d like to write about along with Business Proposal and Extraordinary Attorney Woo.

We’re re-watching Only Murders in the Building and laughing our way through Impractical Jokers. All the while I’ve been working on several knitting WIPs that I look forward to sharing! Along with a Mia update, she is one happy bun, and has become a cuddly little friend who desires our company. My heart is full. 🥰

I hope wherever you are in the world, you are feeling healthy, loved and know how much I appreciate you, reader, who spend time with me here. I wish you a lovely weekend!

Character Design: Mabel Mora and Her Sweaters

Going into the show, Only Murders in the Building, I knew the concept of the show was intriguing. It’s set in New York City, in a classic building, where whodunnit murders take place which the trio solve through their of the time true-crime podcast. The age difference between Selena Gomez and the other two leads Martin Short and Steve Martin gave the story layers from the trailer alone. I was pleasantly surprised by the character design and the costuming which layered depth to each character’s story, like a real person would express through the clothing items they choose.

The most relatable to my taste is Mabel Mora because she not only “knits” as a plot device for “Bloody Mabel” but also wears clothing that looks like someone who knits. Her knitwear throughout season one looks like pieces made by someone who enjoys knitting. They are not your typical off-the-rack sweaters and appear to be knit by hand instead of machine. What makes it feel real to me is the weight of the yarn compared to the knitting needles shown in her apartment. The needle she says would be her self-defense weapon of choice is a thicker needle, for bulky weight yarn. My guess would be somewhere between a size 11 and size 13 needle which is appropriate for bulkier projects.

The wooden knitting bowls, the needles, and the unusual designs of the sweaters featured in this scene speak to the craftsmanship of a hand-knit sweater and place Mabel’s knitting needle in her world. They appear to be knitting which is not always the case in TV shows or movies that feature acts of knitting, the best example of this being Gromit from the Wallace and Gromit series.

Although we don’t see this craft as often in Mabel’s scenes as we see her paint or sketch, the evidence of this hobby is peppered throughout the show from her infamous dream, her carrying the needle in her bag when she jumps tie-dye guy or what lands her the moniker “Bloody Mabel” in season two. Movies and TV shows of the last five years have fallen into a telling not showing manner of character development. For example, in the 2022 remake of Persuasion, Anne Elliot breaks the fourth wall to tell views that she and Frederick Wentworth are “exes” instead of developing the story through interactions, long drawn-out glances as we see in Emma (2020), or Pride and Prejudice (2005 & 1995).

Only Murders in the Building did not take the bait, and instead showed what a 20-something knitter would wear in New York City winter – her handmade sweaters made with yarn colors that look like you could buy them from your local yarn shop. It was a clever character hobby to give Mabel as knitting was growing in popularity with people my age and beyond in the last decade, truly exploding in popularity with the rise of crochet in the 2020s. Every sweater she wears in seasons one and two looks like something you could find a pattern for on the site Ravelry.

It was such a great way to add nuance to Mabel’s character, because how many characters in TV shows knit that aren’t older? She’s a girl with a troubled and complex history, you would expect her to be a party girl or have a dark streak, like the characters of Effie Stonem, Serena Van Der Woodsen, or Jenny Humphrey, but instead, she paints, she knits, she is relatable in a plot that can be quite over the top compared to reality. Mabel is a character I can relate to, which pulled me in from the start to a show that doesn’t feel like it is a modern TV show because of how thoughtful the writing is. It never feels like a cash grab and that has given me hope that maybe this time of reboots and CGI reliance will go out of fashion for stories that once again feel handmade, like a good hand-knit sweater.

Have you watched Only Murders in the Building? Did you like it?

#69 – Joann Fabrics, A Crafter’s Thoughts, LYS

We are in a clickbait world, with insane thumbnails and exaggerated headlines. Over time I’ve learned to stop clicking, stop believing, to wait and see if there is an ounce of truth to the “news” on the screen. That was my strategy for the ongoing Joann’s bankruptcy story. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2024, which raised many red flags in my mind, but I wasn’t allowing myself to worry. Bankruptcy happens, it should be fine. I decided to wait and see with a cool and calm demeanor. In the meantime, I would craft and mind my business.

In the fall of 2024, a news headline caught my attention – Joann’s was closing a few stores nationwide, one of them being my local Joann Fabrics. What a weird coincidence! But only a few stores nationwide, my mind pondered, that must signify this is okay, right? They’ll close my small store and a few more, not a big deal. No need to be concerned. I have other Joann Fabric locations within driving distance, I’ll go to those!

As the news cycle went, I continued to see thumbnails of a concerning nature as we entered the new year, questions of Joann’s future, and whether they were closing their doors for good. What an odd way to get traffic, I thought. They filed almost a year ago and the consequence was a few stores that would shut down, are these creators making a mountain from a small pile of dirt? I ignored them and carried on my way, thinking of the projects I’d like to make and the yarns I’d plan to use from the ever-growing list of inspirations I have saved.

I love Joann’s Big Twist line along with their collaboration with Eddie Bauer. They have been my two most used yarns aside from Knit Picks in 2024. I use the Eddie Bauer for sock and accessory projects, while the Big Twist has been my go-to yarn for wearables like sweaters due to its soft not scratchy acrylic structure, which gets softer with wear and washing, it is such an affordable yarn that has helped me create in lean times.

I have the same affection for Joann’s fabric department! The amount of inspiration I have found from Joann’s clearance section has been a huge blessing to my sewing journey. It has provided an affordable way to try new fabrics and hone my fabric knowledge without the pressure of learning by sewing expensive fabric for these experimental projects. Some of my favorite makes have been possible because of the clearance section. I also adore their lightweight quilting cotton fabric for summer. It makes a great sundress and no, people don’t automatically see that it is quilting cotton like some sewists fear. The ribbons, the notions, buttons, zippers, thread, interfacing, patterns, embroidery thread, not to mention Halloween decor!

Over the weekend, my alarm bells rang out while watching a new TLYarnCrafts video, because Toni is not a clickbait creator. She and her mom, Gwen, went to their local Joann’s for one last trip just in case of closure. That’s when it sunk in, Joann Fabrics filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy again in January 2025, calling for its sale and possible liquidation by said buyer until Joann’s is gone. I began tracking the updates on Reddit this week and the news was grim with each passing day. My fellow sewists and yarn enthusiasts seem just as heartbroken and confused as I feel by this ominous development. I truly thought Joann Fabrics was turning the financial woes around by closing just a few stores, but I was wrong.

It’s a staple for me to shop there. My local yarn shop and local fabric shop where there isn’t a small local business to support in my area. Joann’s filled that void. It was my first fabric store experience and will always hold a special place in my heart for supplying access to items that gave me purpose through crafting when my life needed a new direction.

On Wednesday, the updates became utterly ridiculous. An official document from Joann Fabrics named 500 of their 800 locations across the United States marked for shutdown. Including all the ones in my area. After I sat with the news I began to feel despair, not for me, but for all the workers who were getting the rug pulled out from under them. I’ve been laid off in the past and it is such a bizarre feeling. You’re not losing your job for a better opportunity or because you screwed up, nothing about the reason which led to your layoff was connected to you. Yet it directly affects your life and it leaves you feeling empty, in my opinion.

There has been a lot of bad news here in the last two months – fires, plane crashes, Tulsi Gabbard being confirmed, etc. The air is ripe with change and I hope that every employee who is being affected by this can transition to their next step with as little stress as possible. You guys did nothing to deserve this, the leaders of your company are taking away a great resource for the crafting community due to their mismanagement, not yours. What a weird year this is and it’s only February.

So this is my little reflection on what Joann Fabrics has meant to me and I hope this is not the end. Even with the sale looming, I hope they will not get rid of the company entirely, it serves a good purpose that cannot be filled by Michaels or Hobby Lobby. This will be a new adventure for me to find other yarn and fabric stores, not local to me but a local small business for someone. Thankfully the internet does exist so who knows where this will find me.

What will never be the same though is the ability to go look at fabric and yarn in person in a store that had it all in the same place, only catering to creative endeavors at an affordable price. It was a third place to be around others who liked the same crafts as me. I’m going to miss the connection to others and the lovely fabric-cutting humans who more often than not had more sewing experience than I had years lived that helped me numerous times formulate my sewing plans. Even if I didn’t agree with them, they were usually right when I went rogue and used fabric not meant for that project. I’m going to miss that.

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