Miscellaneous Design Studio

The Hatchery: a blog about my adventures in bird watching

Walk. Knit. Avoid Puddles. Repeat.

We’ve made it! Christmas Eve. The weeks leading up to this day have felt chaotic, honestly, more so than usual. I sent out a ton of packages (ok, like 9 or 10 and I threw out the tracking numbers) and took advantage of yesterday’s not cold temperatures and walked to the Post Office to mail…

December 24, 2020
Year of Projects: Week 17/18

Oh, my. This has been a busy couple weeks around here. My holiday projects always need to be finished before actual Christmas (since we do our gift exchanges with my family 1-3 weeks before Christmas Day). This year I had a few additional holiday gifts to finish up, making it seem really chaotic! No fear,…

December 20, 2020
Cookie-Puss: Swedish Almond Butter Cookies

It’s no secret that I love to cook and bake. The holiday season requires a lot of butter in my house. This year, cookies alone, I’m going through 3 POUNDS of butter. Since I won’t be seeing anyone, and I need to mail all my cookies, I’m baking fewer varieties than usual. This year I’m…

December 8, 2020
Year of Projects: Week 16

Winning with a finish this week! I completed my Cardi B on Friday, and blogged about it here. I love it, I have just a little bit of yarn left, but am counting all 5 balls as being gone from stash. My only wish: it was chilly enough to wear around the house! Yes, I…

December 6, 2020
Fridays are for FINISHING

The day is finally here, the day Cardi B is off the needles. The ends are woven in and the whole thing is ready for a quick bath to get all the schmutz off that manage to find their way onto large projects. You know what I’m talking about: leaves, hair, crumbs, and maybe a…

December 4, 2020
That New Project Itch

I’m super close to completion with my Cardi B. Which means I kinda want to stop working on it and immediately cast-on a NEW PROJECT. While I love designing my own projects/patterns, I don’t always love deciding what finishing to include. My Cardi B button bands are causing me some consternation. It took me multiple…

December 2, 2020
Year of Projects: Week 15

Its Monday. I know. But I wanted a serious project update on my Cardi B project. I finished the ribbing on both the sleeves today! I am in the homestretch on the project and will finish before the end of the week! If I don’t get too sidetracked, I could finish tomorrow or Wednesday! I…

November 30, 2020
Pom-Pom Wreath

As a knitter, crocheter, and spinner, I constantly find myself with odds and ends of yarn. I guess I could throw out all those little pieces, but my pragmatic side doesn’t want it to just go into a landfill. As a parent, I’m always looking for ideas to occupy the kids: without screens. My son…

November 27, 2020
Thankful: Holiday

The American day of Thanksgiving is here. I find the narrative of the peaceful Pilgrims to be problematic and wrought with falsehood: so I do not ascribe to it. For me thanksgiving is just that: A culmination of a year of joys. Usually I spend today with some of my immediate extended family, and occasionally…

November 26, 2020
Lazy Problems

More on the Cardi B saga! As I’ve been lamenting for weeks, I wish I had just ONE MORE SKEIN. But the yarn is old and discontinued and blah blah blah. Some of my problems could have been solved if I blocked my swatch, and I am not about to do that now. Alpaca and…

November 24, 2020