Miscellaneous Design Studio

Category: crafting

  • Fridays are for finishing, Saturday Edition.

    But I really did finish stuff on Friday. I managed to be productive this week! I have been plugging away on my Spring, Sprang, Sprung Cowl (and formatting the pattern as I go to save time on the backend). I finished writting/formatting the pattern for the crochet triangular shawl for my class tomorrow; I have…

  • Revolution 39 Complete

    I have officially completed my 39th revolution around the sun. No I don’t feel any older, but today totally feels like Wednesday, because it is. My birthday wasn’t that big of a deal this year. Mostly because I’ve been sidetracked by designing, and blogging, and laundry. But Monday was a great day. I made a…

  • Super Slouch Saturday

    Yesterday afternoon I was lamenting my lack of finished items for the week. Then I got thinking… what is stopping me from creating and finishing something TODAY?? The answer was obviously nothing. I went through the run down of a quick project requirements. Small-ish finished size, available yarn, medium to large hook/needle size. But I…

  • Fridays are for Finishing?

    Except today. I haven’t finished anything all week. I’ve started a couple projects. I’ve worked on a couple of standing projects. I overdyed some old stash yarn. I THOUGHT about frogging my old WIP, Paulie. I purchased some yarn. I’ve had a bunch of new project ideas that I’m excited to start. I had some…

  • Making Fun Work

    Making work fun? I often lament there are not enough hours in the day. When my spouse is on travel, the feeling is compounded. He seriously keeps this place from falling into chaos. When I have my regular tasks PLUS his tasks, sometimes I feel burnt out and overwhelmed by the end of the day.…

  • My new WIP

    Last week, I mentioned that it feels like my unfinished projects were weighty. The looming uncertainty holding back my creativity to start something new. Since that post, I’ve finished piecing 2 former unfinished projects together, creating a FRANKENTOP! I need to weave in the ends, but for all intents and purposes, the project is complete.…

  • The Lost Knits File Series Part One

    Finish or Frog Projects from the WIP pile. Not every project is a winner. There. I’ve said it. I have a number of projects that I’ve started and abandoned in the hopes of SOME DAY. Some of these cast aside projects are over 10 years old. They take up physical space. Some of them emotional…

  • Organizing Creativity

    Some things I try with varying degrees of success. I try REALLY hard to organize my thoughts. The operative word is try. I haven’t been able to find a usable catchall solution for all the creative ideas I have. Brain dump notebooks from my 20s came close: part diary, part fictional chaos, my homework assignments,…

  • 60-Minute Cowl

    Greetings! It is currently January 3rd. Perhaps you have entered the doldrums of winter, where the only thing you look forward to is spring. Despair not my friends, I have brought you a quick and easy crochet cowl to brighten your day! Depending on your speed, you can literally complete this in about an hour.…

  • These socks look like they are made for a giant.

    For the last few days I’ve been working on knitting up a sample sock for a class I’m teaching in March/April 2020. Knitting the sample so far in advance allows me to work out any errors in the pattern provided, identify ambiguous language, and brainstorm potential issues and solutions for my students. In this instance,…