Candice DeWitt

For a while now, wood turning has been something the husband has expressed an interest in, but has never really taken the leap to try. Honestly, we don’t really know anyone locally that does it that could show him, and the equipment can be kind of pricey to buy when you’re not sure it’s even a hobby you want to stick with.

A few weeks ago, we ventured to Columbus and made a stop at Woodcraft just to check it out and see what all they had. I was hoping he’d get some ideas to maybe strike some excitement or inspiration or something in him. But while there, we discovered they offer the COOLEST thing: date night wood turning classes! And not just any kind of wood turning – HARRY POTTER WAND TURNING!

Obviously signing up was a no-brainer. An excuse to get out of the house without the kid? While also learning a new skill together? While also making something super fun? SOLD!

The class format was super relaxing and fun. We went over some basic safety and instructions on how to approach the spinning wood with the tools first before we started, and the rest of the class went along swimmingly. We worked our handles first, then worked on carving down the wand portion after, then moved on to sanding. THEN we did this super cool trick of taking guitar wire to wrap in the grooves I made to create burn lines to add some extra flair to the wands, using the friction of the spinning piece to gently burn and create those dark lines (literal magic, if you ask me).

A little mineral oil finished the wands out, which turned mine this gorgeous darker shade and the husband’s turned out the lighter shade. They were both made of hard maple, and it’s so interesting how the same type of wood will come out a different shade once the oil gets applied!

The only thing I wish I had done differently was to get the wand portion at the top thinner. I was worried about chunking away too much of it and ruining the whole thing if I had managed to get it too thin, but after it was all said and done I think I probably could have made it work going little by little with the rouging gouge.

Ah well, there’s always the next time. And there WILL be a next time, because I’m already contemplating how we can get a lathe for us to both play with. I want pretty wood hair sticks and shawl pins for all my knitting. And maybe a yarn bowl or two.

(That shirt? Bought it just for the class. Because of course I did. )

I’m going to try to make this a weekly thing. I really am. Yep, I’m not at all going to fall off the wagon with this like I have everything else I attempt to do on a regular basis.

For real, though. Self-care is something I lack. My own needs get ignored a lot of times, which I imagine is the same for women everywhere. I used to be better about it, and it’s time I try to reclaim some time back for myself.

It isn’t all buying myself flowers or some retail therapy because I’ve certainly been pulling that retail therapy excuse an awful lot for someone who actually recognizes how unhelpful it really is. It isn’t about drowning my stresses with a bottle of wine, and besides, I’ve actually made a point to try to significantly decrease my alcohol intake. It isn’t mindlessly scrolling through my phone to zone out, because all of that social media intake consistently makes me feel like crap.

It’s doing the things I need to do to actually care for myself so I can care for others. Eating real food. Exercising and stretching. Keeping the clutter around the house down to a level that doesn’t trigger my anxiety.

So, today I am doing just that. My gym bag is packed for the week. My lunches are being prepped. Yoga is on tap for after Declan goes to bed. It’s not instagram-worthy; it’s just life and taking care of myself in the way I need it the most.

Today I’m breaking out another me-made item. It’s an Everyday Skirt and I made it out of some of that $2 clearance fabric I picked up at Hobby Lobby earlier this year.

I made the large, based on my measurements, but this morning as I put it on to wear I ended up taking out one of the seams on the elastic waist and tightening up the elastic. The pattern is supposed to sit on your low waist, I believe, but skirts that sit that low drive my bonkers! I like them to sit on my natural waist, which is higher up on me and far more comfortable so i’m not fidgeting with the skirt every time it shifts its way up.

Next time I might make the medium given that I had to take it in a bit. We’ll see, though. I do like that this skirt has elastic so I don’t have to worry as much about weight/ size fluctuations.

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Fresh off the sewing machine, I have a new me-made dress! I turned that olive green linen blend from this post into a Hinterland dress for summer, and I think I’m in love.

I used Kaufman Brussels Washer Linen and kept the skirt portion to the shorter length so it hits just above the knee. I purchased some olive colored buttons at JOANN yesterday to match the fabric, but unfortunately they’re too big for my button holes, which is why you see it unbuttoned looking a little less than flattering and more frumpy than it should. That bust dart isn’t as pointy-looking when the thing is buttoned up as it looks here. I probably should have thought to take a swatch with a button hole sewn on some scraps so I could test out the sizing, but eh – live and learn. I have some vintage buttons on order from Etsy in a smaller size and as soon as those arrive I’ll remove these and re-sew the new ones on so I can wear it.

Every time I sew I learn something new. This time around, for example, I learned what under stitching is, and how to do a button placket. But, mostly, do you know what I learn? That I always fail to learn to take my time and not rush. Seriously. I start feeling like I’ve got this and know what I’m doing and then, usually, do something stupid.

Also, shout out to Sara Johansen and her Hinterland sew-a-long videos on Instagram. The button placket baffled me for some reason, and seeing her vids made a world of difference!

If I make this again – and let’s face it, I probably will given my obsession with Pyne and Smith dresses that are very similar to this style – I think I’ll lower the skirt length just an inch or two to have something a more proper length for fall and add sleeves.

Now to figure out what my next sewing project will be… I might actually have enough of this linen left to make an Ogden cami or a Wiksten tank to coordinate with the skirts I’m planning to make, but I feel like I need to actually MAKE those items first before I decide to add another project to my to-do list.

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Years ago, when my knit group girlfriends and I discovered we all had Presidents Day off of work, we conspired to spend the day getting brunch and then yarn shopping. I’m not quite sure when, exactly, this happened, but I know it was many years ago as we’ve been going on our weekends away for about 7 or 8 years now and this has been happening longer than that. Time, really, is just a blur at this point. It’s just tradition. Sometimes we switch it up with MLK Day, but most years there’s this wonderful February Monday where we fill up on delicious food and then go touch all the pretty, squishy wool we can.

Some years I buy nothing because nothing jumps out at me. Other years, I just buy a skein of sock yarn because I fall in love with it. And some years, like this year, I happen across a few things I just have to have. Can’t possibly bear to walk out of the store without.

And, for once, I actually have plans for all of it. No yarn was purchased without a plan in mind. Well, I mean, as much as one can. That pretty purple/pink? A Crumb cardigan to layer with the cute skirts I’m making for spring/summer. The yellow/black/white? Some sort of easy shawl/scarf to wear to the Columbus Crew games this year (and I’m VERY excited about it, too, because if you haven’t followed the drama with the Crew – we basically almost had our team ripped away from us and now we have local ownership and the whole vibe of everything has done a complete 180 and I’M VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT ALL). That grey with the rainbow streak? Socks to replenish my sock drawer, because I threw out about 4 pairs earlier this winter when I discovered holes in a bunch of old, well-worn and well-loved pairs.

And that Tilting planet sock yarn? A Mount Pleasant tee to layer over my olive green Hinterland dress I’m very nearly done with. I’m very excited about that knit, in particular, because I had these daydreams of a layering piece to go over this dress but couldn’t settle on a color. Mustard-y yellow looks wonderful with the green but it’s not my color. Red felt too Christmasy for something I intended to wear in the summer. And a neutral grey/brown just felt too… boring, especially after the Rosemont Cardigan I’m just about to finish up in the same colorway. So, natural white/cream with splashes of olive green and pinky-peach and maybe a bit of a blue hue just sounded perfect, and I’m excited to report that I immediately held the yarn up against the almost-completed dress and it’s just PERFECT.

I am, obviously, being way over-ambitious with my time. I still struggle to wrap my brain around how little time and energy I have to knit these days, still believing that I have hours upon hours that I can sit and while away my weekends knitting as I binge my favorite shows.

But I have plans. I just need to start taking my knitting everywhere with me again. Knitting a few minutes before work. Knitting a few minutes at lunch. Knitting while I wait for dinner to cook, or while I wait for Declan to fall asleep after his book instead of burying myself in my phone, or a few rows here and there before bed. Knitting, knitting, everywhere I go. Totally doable.

Winter has finally arrived here in Ohio. Well, I mean, it kind of arrived last weekend… but today? We’re supposed to get up to 8 inches of snow. I can’t remember the last time we’ve had this level of snow here in my part of Ohio. I’m not complaining one bit, though. Declan’s gymnastics was canceled today so that meant sleeping in and a lazy Saturday morning, which is the best kind of Saturday morning.

I’d be lying if I said I was having a quiet afternoon here. I came upstairs to my craft room to start prepping the fabric I washed yesterday, and Declan followed me and has been complaining about boredom and how we won’t let him watch anything on TV or play video games. We’re such mean parents, apparently, letting him watch TV this morning and then cutting him off once his attitude took a turn when we decided we wanted to watch something other than cartoons. sigh

Do you see those fabrics, though? swoon! I have managed to coordinate my spring sewing projects unintentionally. I’ve had that olive fabric since October when I originally wanted to sew a Hinterland, and then ordered that pink, light blue, and matching floral a few weeks ago with intentions of making a skirt and coordinating solid shirts out. That bright floral on top I found at Hobby Lobby for $2/yard. I know quilting cottons aren’t always ideal for clothing, but I figured I’d see how it draped after washing before I resigned it to fabric for muslin making and then cutting those muslins down to squares for quilting. But I’m pleasantly surprised with how it came out of the washer and think it’ll work just fine for a skirt for spring (and coordinates well with that pink and blue, and olive, even, if there’s enough fabric there for more than one project).

I’m still trying to settle on patterns for these, though. I was originally going to make another Zinnia skirt, but now I’m thinking an Everyday Skirt. I love the Zinnia I made for Christmas, but I discovered the Everyday Skirt and the fact that it has elastic along the back instead of a zipper means it can fit me when I’m between sizes, which is a huge plus. I’d hate to go through all the trouble to make something fit to a specific size and then have to find some way to take the whole thing in (or, worse, give it away) if I were to lose or gain weight. It’s just a lot of time and love going into a piece of clothing and then not be able to wear it anymore. I’m undecided on the tops, too, to match the skirts. Ogden cami? More Wiksten tanks? Something with sleeves? I’ve got quite a few Seamwork patterns hanging around that I haven’t put to use yet, so I might need to peruse them and see if anything jumps out to me as perfect projects to go with these skirts.

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A post shared by Candice (@candiceknits) on Jan 12, 2019 at 10:02am PST

College classes started back up on the 7th. After months and MONTHS of spending every weekend – nearly all weekend, mind you – glued to my computer in my craft room trying to find some peace and quiet to study… I had a normal weekend.

Yes, there was homework. But was it the overwhelming, unbearable variety that meant me spending 20 hours out of my weekend studying? Not even close. In fact, I had SO much “extra” time that I was able to knit! And sew! And clean! And cook! And, more importantly, not feeling like I was ignoring my child (which, honestly, always felt the worst. “Sorry, sweetie, mommy can’t play with you because I have this homework to do” is the worst. You know it. I know it. #terriblemomoftheyear)

I struggled a LOT with whether I should drop the accelerated classes I had been taking. I am 4 classes away from graduating but would have to take all 4 in one semester if I wanted to graduate by May 2019. That was my goal, originally.

And then last semester was such a cluster. Self-care was thrown to the wayside despite knowing how vital it is for me. I agonized over the decision – if I pushed through it, I’d be done in 16 weeks. Does backing off mean I’ve failed somehow? I struggled with putting my goals first and ignoring reality. Declan is 4. I’m not getting this time back. Is a piece of paper worth missing out on all those weekends with him? Is it worth me being a stressed out mess and him feeding off that stress to stress the whole house out even more? Honestly, this is the stuff I was trying to ask myself, because while it seems like a clear-cut answer now – it didn’t feel so clear-cut to me at the time. And even after making the decision to drop the accelerated program I still stressed about whether I made the right choice.

The reward for my decision lies in that first weekend of classes. On Saturday, I did some homework. I wound up a ball of yarn by hand and watched it snow. I started working on a Hinterland Dress test muslin. I knit on my Rosemont cardigan, and wove in the ends on my Atlantica shawl. I made chicken noodle soup and biscuits from scratch. Sunday, I got a workout in while shoveling the sidewalk and driveway before we took Declan sledding for the first time. And then we went out for breakfast to warm up before we came home to play games together.

I made the right choice. I know that now.

There’s something special about January. Not because of the new year full of possibilities, but because of the slow pace our lives take after the whirlwind of holidays and all that they entail. I don’t know about you, but I love this transition. I am perfectly content to hide away at home with some winter comfort food, some books or knitting, and just… breathe.

December was an insanely stressful month for me. The end of the semester on my classes left me exhausted, burnt out, and depressed. There was an outright meltdown the weekend before finals where I just broke down and lost it – it was all too much. I expected after class was over to just bounce from class to jumping in to holiday activities I, instead, slept. And slept. And slept some more. I hadn’t realized the toll all that class stress took on me.

Now that the blur of the holidays is over, and we’ve taken a very lovely last-minute family vacation that recharged me quite a bit, I’m ready to sink deep into the winter slumber and finish recharging. I’m embracing an idea of doing less this year, out of want and necessity – minimalism for the soul, in a way. The busier life has gotten, the more I have realized that it needs to be okay to not do everything. I trigger my own anxiety and add to my stress when I feel like I should or need to do something when I really don’t. So I am attempting to create boundaries for myself, give myself permission to say no more, and to actually live instead of checking off my perpetual to do list that never ends, anyway.

This cardigan and I have had a year-long adventure together, quite literally. I started it last year on my annual knitting weekend, not realizing how much brain power it would take me to knit from two different charts (one for the collar, one for the back). We would go in fits in starts, this cardigan and I. I’d knit a few rows here and there, then it would be abandoned for weeks on end because I just couldn’t find the energy to focus on it. It only got worse once I started back to college, and the project sat for months waiting for me to come back to it.

Once I realized I was coming up on the one-year mark on this project I realized I really needed to get moving if I wanted to cast on any OTHER sweaters for winter. So I made a plan, wrote out all my chart rows in my knitting journal so I knew if I was knitting row x on the collar I was also on row z on the back chart so I didn’t have to think about anything more than I had to, and then just… knit. And knit, knit, knit. I worked on this sweater ALL weekend last weekend and even brought extra yarn with me thinking that I’d get it done and be able to cast on my next project. I didn’t manage to get it done, though I did get down to just one sleeve. Which left this last week and weekend for finishing the sleeve, weaving in ends, and blocking the whole thing out.

And, so, a year later, this cardigan is FINALLY finished. It’s gorgeous and warm and, honestly, was a wonderfully well-written pattern. My ONLY complaint is that the arm holes are a bit snug/tight, and some of that is that I gained a lot of weight since I cast this on a year ago, but my arms haven’t grown THAT much and if I were to ever knit this again (and I totally might once life calms down) I’d knit the next size up or, at least, figure out how to increase the arm holes more before dividing off.

Pattern: Recoleta
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash in Indigo Heather

My favorite time of year came and went – my annual knitting weekend away with my bestest knitting friends. This time, rather than our usual Hocking Hills, we headed north near Perrysburg. There, we enjoyed this AH-MAZING view of the river from the deck/sunroom, talked, laughed, watched movies, ate food, and, of course, KNIT. So much knitting.  The trees were perfect, the weather was cold but not overly so, and the whole weekend is exactly what my soul needed.

Because we were in the area, we made a trip to Yarn Cravin’ for yarn shopping, and then headed – by recommendation of the lovely girls at the yarn shop – to Swig for booze and afternoon snacks. And then we tried to stop by Fort Meigs, only to discover that we were a few days late as the outdoor area closes at the end of October. Boo. That didn’t stop us from at least walking around and trying to peek in, however.

I didn’t manage to actually finish a single project, but I did make a ton of progress on my Recoleta cardigan and just have a single sleeve to finish. There’s a light at the end of that nightmare of a tunnel! That’s not to say the pattern is terrible – it is wonderfully written – it’s just that I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking when I decided to cast on something that requires me to keep track of where I am in two different lace charts when I’m constantly interrupted by a 4 year old! The sweater is turning out lovely, if a bit small on me since, you know, a year later I’m not the same size as last year. But for the foreseeable future, I’m making plans to knit some more… basic garments. Cardigans and whatnot that don’t require a lot of pattern reading, mostly. I have yarn and pattern lined up for a Foldlines, and yarn for a Rosemont and I’m thinking about maybe a Quick Sand? We’ll see once I get this Recoleta done and blocked and make a few gauge swatches to figure out my options.