November is the pearl-grey month, the changeling between warm crimson October and cold white December, the month when the leaves fall in slow drifting whirls, and the shapes of the trees are revealed, when the earth imperceptibly wakes, and stretches her bare limbs and displays her stubborn unconquerable strength before she settles uneasily into winter. November is secret and silent. Alison Uttley Daylight savings today, and thus begins the slow decline into seasonal depression on top of my regular anxiety and depression. It’s somewhat hard to believe that November is already here – it feels like October was such a blur and, yet, dragged on. This was, in part, because…

Hey look, I finally finished a thing. It only sat for over a month simply needing the seed stitch on the sleeves. Took hardly any time at all, which I knew but just… kept putting off. Now to search for the perfect black skirt or dress to layer this over. Pattern is My Boy Lollipop, knit in Ritual Dyes Priestess in the Cancer zodiac colorway.

I do not need to start a new project. I certainly didn’t necessarily NEED to buy more yarn. To be fair, I didn’t actually buy a sweater quantity of yarn today – I had purchased that Tartan color back in July when we were in Michigan. And I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT NEED TO START A NEW PROJECT. But when my sweet friend Ellis drove down from Cleveland to visit before she moves clear across the country, I took us on a little field trip to one of my favorite little stores in Columbus, Sew to Speak, and decided I needed a Throwback sweater. And given that I already had enough…

Well, we’re back into school season and I didn’t do pretty much anything on my summer break to do list. I didn’t finish a single book despite my pile of them, nor did I finish any knits other than a sock project I had in the works for too long. I may have been hoping for a relaxed summer, but what we actually had was lots of random stuff going on that didn’t lend itself to much time to just slow down and just… be. I did start a Crumb cardigan earlier in the summer but it turns out I loathe the CoBaSi yarn I bought for it. I have…

Last week I popped into my local bike shop, Rocky’s, with the idea of scoping out a new bike to save up for as I work on commuting by bike more around town. I’ve been trying to bike to work more since it’s only a mile each way, both for the exercise and the eco-friendliness of it – but mostly the exercise because let’s be real: 8 hours a day tied to a desk job isn’t doing me any favors weight and health-wise. My 23 year old mountain bike works but isn’t very comfortable and I knew I’d need an upgrade soon. I’ve had my eye on a few brands,…

The tomatoes are beginning to ripen in the garden, which means I am starting to ever-so-slowly can up this year’s batch of pizza sauce for use later in the winter. I’m using the recipe from Preserving by the Pint, which has been a fabulous book these last few years as I scale back on, well, pretty much everything. Pre-kid, you’d find me with pounds and POUNDS of garden produce that I’d be canning up for use later in the season. But these days… not so much. It’s a combination of reasons, really – not putting out as big of a garden anymore, having a kid sucks up a lot more…

Hi all! I took longer to get this posted than I would have liked, but such is life. We spent a lovely bit of time at the beginning of July in Traverse City, Michigan for our vacation. I unknowingly planned it during the Cherry Festival, and was told by coworkers that I’d hate it because of how busy it was. But we actually had a really good time, festival and all! We went north with very little in the way of plans, more like goals of things in the area we’d like to see. I resisted my need to overplan everything, so there was no daily schedule dictating what we…

I meant to post up weekly about my Yellow Bird Food Shed box but… oops. We ate more salads out of box 2, and if I’m being honest box 3 basically went… ignored. Today being Tuesday, I have yet to even dig in to box 4. We’ve been awful at eating at home because of life and stress. Though we’ve also been awful at eating out… honestly, most nights Declan and I more snack than eat real meals. I finished a thing. A “Sunlight for Sad People” shawl out of some yarn I bought back in February that I meant to turn into a scarf to wear to the cold…

I decided to sign us up for the Yellowbird Foodshed box this summer on a kind of last-minute whim. I had heard a few months ago about their boxes but then promptly forgot about it again until early this month when I was in the local juice shop and someone came in to ask about the boxes and verify their pickup date. As soon as I got back to my desk at work I was on the website and signing up so I could get in on the first box. Last week, that first box arrived, which was quite an exciting way for me to break up my day at…

Mother’s Day has been, for me, a mixed bag of feelings. Historically, I spend the day bouncing around from one emotion to the next, and sit a little too long with my disappointment and become an emotional, moody mess. That is not going to be me this year. For too long I’ve spent my “special” day feeling hurt over not being appreciated or celebrated enough by my people. I mean, the whole house would fall apart, both figuratively and literally, without me. Don’t they even care about how easy their lives are because of me? (I’m kidding… a little) But I had this realization today, after a day out shopping…