Three years!  I can’t believe I’ve been putting out a new article every Friday for three years.  For those “friends” of mine who criticized me for “not being able to commit”…as a celebration of my three-year commitment, I present a list of things I like, in no particular order.

I’ve been having fun recently sewing garments for myself.  Although my mother and grandmother did teach me this skill when I was a teenager, I’m afraid it didn’t stick.  So I’ve been basically re-learning many of the skills.  YouTube is a serious advantage in some ways…you can learn almost anything off YouTube these days.  Wish it had been around when I was trying to learn to knit…At any rate, being able to watch a short tutorial on almost any skill has been a boon to my (re)burgeoning sewing abilities.

Dean Devlin is an interesting guy.

Definition:  A pillbox hat is a small hat with a flat crown, straight and upright sides, and no brim.  It is named after the small cylindrical or hexagonal cases that were used for storing or carrying a small number of pills. 

While working on a recent sewing project, I had occasion to use the six old-school pattern weights that I (ahem) “liberated” from my mother’s sewing cabinet when I moved out many years ago.  These weights are cylindrical and weigh 60 grams each.  Their shape gives them a distressing tendency to topple over and then roll away.  This, as my mother and I like to say, is “sub-optimal.”

In my ongoing quest to make clothing for myself that actually fit my body (like the linen dress I made recently), I bought a pattern called Magic Pants from designer Ann Tilley, along with the optional notions kit.

It’s said that the first step to recovering from addiction is admitting that you have a problem. So, this is me admitting that I have a problem. I’m addicted to book nooks. There. I said it. Huh. I thought I’d immediately feel better after completing step one, but I don’t.

I’m not really a fan of manga or anime…but my oldest nephew is.  Recently, he sent me a picture of a weird crochet hat with what looked like cow spots on it and asked if I’d be able to make it. 

It’s Jenny’s universe, and we’re all just living in it.

Okay, “innovation” is probably overstating it…I just liked the alliteration.  But I am always looking for fun ways to use icord and today’s project fit the bill.  I’ve had a skein of Crystal Palace’s Mini Mochi yarn in lovely pastel rainbow shades for a long time.  So long, in fact, that the yarn has been discontinued.  I did knit up a swatch in garter stitch just to admire the color changes.

My favorite brother has a very nice dining room table.  It’s beautiful.  But it came with benches for the long sides instead of chairs, and at the ends, some imposing captain’s chairs.  My sister-in-law long ago replaced those awful benches with cushioned chairs, bless her.  But the captain’s chairs remain, and they are uncomfortable.  They need cushions, of course, but they are not a standard size and shape, so buying cushions for the job isn’t a viable option.

I mentioned in a recent post how much I’ve been enjoying using Color Street nail polish strips, but I don’t think I managed to sufficiently convey my deep delight in this product, so I’m trying again.

I do a lot of reading, and I make heavy use of my Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription.  This means that a lot of the books I discover are in fact recommended to me by Amazon, based on my previous reads.  This is how I discovered the Adventures Of A Xeno-Archeologist series, written by Jenny Schwartz.  The five books feel like one long story, broken up into five pieces which is to say that they are extremely cohesive.  The books in order: Astray, Doubt, Rebel, Cajole, and Resolve.

As a knitter and a crocheter, I am a big fan of wool.  Any animal fiber, really…anything from sheep, alpaca, bison, goats, etc…Quite aside from the fact that it’s cozy and durable and will keep you warm even if it’s wet, it’s also remarkably fire retardant.

Read Part 1 first.

When I was standing in the checkout line at a craft store a few months back, I was idly perusing all the items they showcase to tempt the customer into just one more purchase…and I totally fell for it.

Who says sweets can’t be (relatively) healthy? I mean, that’s just nonsense! Case in point…peanut butter balls. I have a good recipe for those, and I love making them, although these days I make them in bar form. But they are super sweet, and super high calorie, while not having much in the of nutritional value.

However, there’s another way.

In no particular order:

A million years ago, back when I first learned to crochet, I crocheted MANY blankets from a free pattern I found on some yarn company’s website.  And I crocheted almost all of them in acrylic yarn.  I of course can no longer remember the company name nor find the pattern, but that doesn’t really matter because I wrote up the instructions (in a clearer manner, if I do say so myself).

In my ongoing quest for organization, I’ve made some more pouches.  Unlike the packing cubes, these are just flat little zippered pouches good for anything you like.  When deciding on your size, remember that the zippered opening will be 1” narrower than the width of your pouch.  I mention this because I actually made one pouch that I can barely get my hand inside, which isn’t terribly functional.