Obsessed. Last week I whipped up this small hanging basket while sitting in a virtual meeting! Anyone with neurodivergence knows that fidgeting with the hands, or scribbling, enhances engagement in a meeting or lecture, and keeps the mind from wandering. I used unbleached cotton macrame rope and a 6.5mm crochet… Read More »Small Crochet Hanging Basket
I have finished a watercolor painting in 2026. Between all my other hobbies, work, and a busy social calendar, I try to make sure I do one painting a year just for me. The bulk of that painting usually occurs in January. After the holiday rush, as the weather is… Read More »Watercolor Painting, Neighbor’s Barn
Happy New Year! I hope everyone’s winter transition has been smooth. After the holidays I like to slow down and dive into cozy winter hobbies. It’s the time of year when I paint, drum, do more yoga, and of course crochet by the fire. I still make an effort to… Read More »Crochet Pouf
I crocheted a beach bag as a Christmas gift. I’ve made a bag similar to this before, so I knew I could make it nice. I made up the pattern starting with an oval single-crocheted in-the-round. When the bottom was the desired size, I stopped the increases to take the… Read More »Crochet Beach Bag Gift
What do you wear for a coat when you want to dress up in the winter? Puffer jackets and anything nylon feel decidedly informal to me, and don’t belong over a gown or a costume. A pea-coat is better, but they’re so itchy and I decluttered mine last year. There… Read More »Formal Wool Green Winter Cape
In late November we celebrated our sixth annual Family Plague Faire. This is a backyard renaissance faire that my husband and I started in 2020 which we host for all our friends. This year the timing worked out that the faire was the weekend of my birthday, so the theme… Read More »Family Plague Faire 2025
I am on such a roll making and posting things! Today is about medieval hats. Since every event requires at least a new accessory in my compulsion, I’ve made three new hats. I wanted to be the center-of-attention at my combined Plague Faire Birthday Party a few weeks ago, and… Read More »Medieval Circle Hats
A quick post for a project that took me a year. I wanted to make something big, but without a pattern or counting, so I endeavored to make Jake a poncho. This mass of yarn lived next to the couch for the better part of a year and I’d chip… Read More »Crochet Poncho
A few weeks ago, the studio where I dance hosted a fall-exhibition show on a big fancy stage. Our troupe ‘Eternal Rose’ featured prominently with four group dances overall. I myself danced my first ever solo performance, which I also choreographed. We’ve been working up to this show all year,… Read More »Imagine: 2025 Studio Exhibition
From the Isle of Skye to mainland Scotland, we drove straight to the Loch Ness where we took a rainy walk in a forest along its famed shores. Our time near Inverness happened to coincide with a giant marathon! So we had to be mindful of detours and road closures… Read More »Inspirational Tour of the British Isles Part IV: Scotland Part II
By the time this publishes the big dance recital will have passed. A studio showcase in a fancy theatre, and my first public solo-performance. I sewed myself a big belly-dance belt for the explicit purpose of taking up more space on the stage and highlighting some of the movements. It… Read More »Big Dance Belt
We arrived in Scotland after a short early-morning flight from Dublin, picked up our rental car before the sun had breached the horizon, and embarked on a 1.5-hour drive from Glasgow to Lock Lamond via scenic A-82 through Trossachs National Park. The views were stunning, and the traffic at that… Read More »Inspirational Tour of British Isles Part III: Scotland Part I
This weekend was peak fall. Peak foliage, amazing clear weather (if a little warm), and a full schedule of costumed activities. Starting with the last weekend of the Connecticut Renaissance Faire. This has become our most local faire that we attend annually and it keeps expanding! This year there were… Read More »CT Renaissance Faire 2025 & Costume Party
Northern Ireland was surprisingly wonderful. You don’t hear very much about the country as a tourist destination. The Northern Ireland flag isn’t even an available emoji on my phone! Months ago I read a book on the history of the Island to have a better understanding of the division and… Read More »Inspirational Tour of British Isles, Part Two: Northern Ireland
I’m back from a two week vacation in Europe with my husband Jake. The longest vacation we’ve ever taken. It was a unique opportunity to disengage from daily routines, stressors, and the news and explore beautiful ancestral landscapes. We always get great weather when we go on vacation–even when it rains,… Read More »Inspirational Tour of British Isles, Part One: Ireland
The first prize for Plague Faire, 2025 is finished. I whipped up this ‘Blue Mage Hood’ from some gorgeous blue cotton canvas from the stash. The drape on this fabric is exceptional; it really holds volume even without a lining. The edges are surged and hemmed, and the one-size hood… Read More »Faire Prize 2025, Blue Mage Hood
Getting rid of things is hard and maybe you can relate. I don’t want useable things to end up in a landfill, and what if I could cannibalize the thing someday for a craft? Anyway, artists tend to hold onto more than they need, waiting for the right opportunity to… Read More »Retail Space at Yellow Bear Market
Today is my brother’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Eric! My morning meditation has been rolling dill seeds off their dried flower-heads. I know that the season is shortly coming to an end when the mornings dip below 60 degrees in mid to late August. My gentle approach to the garden this… Read More »Big Garden Yields, ’25
Wow, look at me using all of a particular fabric in short order rather than letting remnants sit in the stash for 20 years! Last week I showed you a jumpsuit that I sewed from this printed cotton, and this week I have an equally summery tie-on-dress. A cross between… Read More »Printed Cotton Tie-on Dress
This summer has been so hot!! The humidity and unusual stretches of high (90s+) heat in the northeast have been a brutal symptom of a rapidly changing climate. I’m over here trying to find a little joy and comfort in clothing. I’ve always loved clothes; they impact my mood and… Read More »Printed Cotton Jumpsuit
Back to painting that rock wall! The paint is dry and finished. Here’s the final look before the holds go on. As mentioned last week, I wanted to use neutral colors to give it a natural outdoorsy-rock-alpine feel. I found the most amazing green in the Home Depot Clearance paint… Read More »Basement Rock Climbing Wall Part 2
This one’s been a long time coming. I think it was maybe three Christmases ago Jake bought some climbing holds and promised to build me a climbing wall in the basement. We’ve fallen out of our climbing habit because the gym is 45 minutes away and we both work full… Read More »Basement Rock Climbing Wall Part 1
Dance troupe photoshoot part 2, inside, red costume! Like two weeks ago, these are just a few of my favorites. We are very fortunate to dance in a beautiful old mill building. The best part was no mosquitos inside, and we had the place mostly to ourselves on a quiet… Read More »Troupe Shoot Part 2
Buns in a bag. I’m learning to modify several bread recipes to be made in a ziploc gallon bag, using the refrigerator, over several days, with very short bursts of labor. Even starting days in advance, I find that this method of cooking saves time, is easy to accomplish in… Read More »Buns in a Bag Bread Recipe
The studio where I dance hosted a photoshoot for our very cute troupe so that we will have some proper shots to share with venues for show promotion. Here are a few of my favorites from part one, outdoors in blue. There is a river that runs right behind the… Read More »Troupe Shoot Part 1
A very old and close friend of mine recently graduated with her Masters Degree. This woman also has a tattoo of her dog’s face. I thought she might appreciate a portrait of her dog as congratulations. This little lady is named Daisy. I have many years experience in human caricatures,… Read More »Proud Little Pet Portrait
Strawberries are known to spread. A year or two ago we bought two plants at a farmers market and made a strawberry bed out of an old pond. We converted the pond to a planter by drilling a bunch of large holes in the bottom for drainage and filling with… Read More »New Strawberry Garden
Something like seven years ago we installed cedar raised garden beds in the backyard in front of the daylily farm of the previous owner. Cedar is supposed to be rot-resistant and last a long time. Well, seven years seems to be about the length of its lifespan. The garden bed… Read More »Old Garden Bed Makeover
I have been making a lot of focaccia in a bag. It’s very easy with a few days of passive work and has become a staple when I throw brunch, host a holiday, attend a party, or travel. It’s a good way to use the many herbs that I grow,… Read More »Updated Simplified Focaccia Recipe and Instructions, Vegan
While on vacation in Jackson, NH, we spent an afternoon at Echo Lake State Park wading, sleeping, and painting. Here is my plein air watercolor sketch of the cliffs overlooking the lake. The sun-glare makes the cliffs look darker than I saw them, and the sun and clouds moved a… Read More »Cliffs Over Echo Lake En Plein Air
Hello, again. I am fresh back from vacation where I successfully shut off my brain for several days in a row. We’re all expected to do too much all of the time, and sometimes vacation is no different. Here in the American wasteland no one gets enough time off, so… Read More »Waterfall Vacation in Jackson, NH
Dance has taken center stage since I finished my last painting a month ago. There were two large performances in March that the studio troupe and I were focused on for the first half of the month. The first was for a Burlesque show on International Women’s Day! We were… Read More »Dance, Dance
It feels really good to finish this painting that I started early last year but put down over the warmer months. Last week I posted more progress photos for this piece here. Watercolor on hot-press paper, the scene is of a local game reserve in January where I often to… Read More »Game Refuge in Watercolor
Here with a teaser post of a work-in-progress. A watercolor painting of a local forest in mid-winter before the snows fell. Feels a lot like fall, but the bright low winter sun creates some very stark shadows The painting starts as a line-drawing, transferred onto a hot-press watercolor block. If… Read More »Watercolor in Progress
How many neck tubes can one person make? This one is to match the hat that I made Jake for Christmas. It’s a ribbed half-double-crochet using bulky yarn. He decided he wanted the top a little more narrow than the bottom….when I was already done making the width of the… Read More »Orange Cowl
The transition from one year to the next involves baking for many. In this house we try to avoid too many sweets, but there is always room for bread during the darkest season. I started making my own bread in 2020, like everyone else, and have kept at it for… Read More »Art on Bread
I’m no restoration expert, but I was asked to repaint the numbers on this old clock. I was not commissioned to touch up the boarder or the white paint, not that I’d even know how without sanding it down an starting fresh. Nope, I did my best to trace the… Read More »Clock Restoration
The annual gift dilemma. What to get or do for loved ones when we’re all a little strangled by things? This year I tried on being that person who gifts something handmade, at least for a portion of the gifting. I don’t know if it’s more or less appreciated, but it… Read More »Crochet Winter Hats
Plague Faire 2024 potluck was on another level. Everyone stepped up for the first ever competition potluck and the masses were well fed. To incentivize extra effort we provided prizes for the first and second-place dishes to receive the most votes for best-dish. Jake donated a disc to the cause… Read More »One-Shoulder Cape Prize
Krampus, the recently re-popularized ancient goat-demon of spooky Christmas was the guest of honor at last year’s Plague Faire: Perchtenlaufen Krampusnact, which was held on the first weekend of December, 2024 just after Krampusnact proper. Here’s a behind the scenes look at his construction and some more detail shots of… Read More »Krampus
I had some leftover yarn from my scalloped medieval half-cape so I decided to make a matching hat for myself and a remnant hat for Jake. I took a really basic approach of single-crocheting in the round starting in the middle of the hat. I worked my way up first,… Read More »Yarn Remnant Single Crochet Hats
The Plague Faire keeps getting bigger and colder! Started in 2020 as a way to enjoy a renaissance faire in the safety of the yard, it has gradually expanded into a mythical festival of disease-avoidance. The guest-list topped 25 people this year with the added challenge of hosting in December!… Read More »Plague Faire 2024: Pertchenlaufen Krampusnact
I like these weird little deeply scalloped capes often seen in illustrations of medieval clothing for upper-middle-class people. Sewing one would simply be too easy a method for achieving an interesting and precise scallop shape, so I decided to try and crochet one instead. Without a pattern. It took several… Read More »Medieval Scalloped Cape Crochet
It has been a very bad week. For the world and for me personally, the past two weeks rank among the worst. Crochet is a small comfort, and the product is comfortable too. I joined a knitting circle at my local library for the winter to get me out of… Read More »Crochet Bubble Cowl
The Connecticut Renaissance Faire is always such a great show! Our big day at the fair was the second-to-last weekend during the Halloween-themed programming. After dark the faire was transformed into a spooky wonderland with extra macabre and fiery entertainment. We made a big to-do of coordinating with many friends… Read More »Connecticut Renaissance Faire 2024 Halloween Theme Weekend
I have a quick update for you on those T-shirt designs for Team Spoonwood. The team found a local printer and the design has been made into T-shirts, long-sleeves, hats and hoodies! The best part is this printer runs small batches that are completely customizable, so members of the team… Read More »Team Spoonwood Apparel Update
All of my very hard work practicing dance and drumming culminated the end of September in the first Simsbury Movement Arts Festival. The studio director where I dance decided she wasn’t busy enough working two jobs and having five kids, but also needed to put on a giant festival and… Read More »Simsbury Movement Arts Festival
Earlier this year I took a lamb butchering workshop at a local farm to deepen my connection to my food. At the end of the workshop, I was invited to come back to participate in the annual teaching of ‘earth skills’ at a gathering of like-minds known as the Ground… Read More »Earth Skill Sharing at the Groundnut Gathering
This project has been sitting on the backburner, but an upcoming trip to the faire has jump-started my motivation. Funny how with a self-imposed deadline looming, I got way more happy brain chemicals out of pulling thread than without a firm timetable. For a week leading up to the faire… Read More »Fancy Embroidered Collar
Opening weekend of the Connecticut Renaissance Fair, also Labor Day weekend in the States, we found ourselves with a free afternoon and my desire for a particular bodice from a particular vendor opening at the faire. I threw together this cute Renaissance shopping outfit from pieces already sewn to peruse… Read More »Connecticut Renaissance Fair Shopping Outfit