Miscellaneous Design Studio

The Hatchery: a blog about my adventures in bird watching

Missing: the Sun

Seriously. February has been gray and rainy here. Which is only made worse by the fact that I haven’t been able to get good outdoor pictures to add to TWO patterns I have ready to launch. I guess it gives more time to make sure EVERYTHING IS EXTRA PERFECT. And more time to make a…

February 13, 2020
Furls Streamline Wood Hook Meets the Easiest Hat Ever

I’ve been hearing the hype around the Furls hooks for a while. To be honest, I have enough redundant hooks and spending money on hooks I already own seems a bit wasteful. I have a ton of the Clover soft touch ergonomic hooks in the sizes I use most, and they work just fine for…

February 9, 2020
Deep Winter

It is the first full week of February. Normally, we would be in the throws of some very cold weather, at least a couple snow storms with accumulation under our belt, and a desire to see spring. Yet the week started with unseasonably warm temperatures, and the only winter precipitation we’ve had has been slush.…

February 7, 2020
Project Hangover

I recently finished up my Spring, Sprang, Sprung Cowl. I worked on it daily for a couple weeks. It was a design project, a mindless knitting project, and a stash-busting project. Now that its complete, I feel a bit lost on what to do next. Like a Project Hangover. I have a few WIPs to…

February 4, 2020
The Lost Knits File Part Three

Also: Finish it Friday! I am goal-busting like a fiend over here! My goal to finish or frog *most* of my WIPs this year is off to a BANNER start. I’ve finished 3 old WIPs this year, and its ONLY JANUARY. The dubbed Frankentop was started 2012, the Estes Park Shawl started 2013/2014, and the…

January 31, 2020
The Lost Knits File Series Part Two

One of my 2020 crafting goals was to manage my stash and manage my WIPs. The WIPs are all Finish or Frog (rip out). I have a sizable amount of languishing projects, somewhere between 10 and 20. With about half on Ravelry currently (with the intent to own up to the rest in the next…

January 28, 2020
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…

January 25, 2020
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…

January 22, 2020
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…

January 18, 2020
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…

January 17, 2020