Oh my gosh, what a whirlwind this was to knit! I wish I would have blogged more about it along the way because I truly learned SO MUCH from this project. Firstly, and probably most importantly, I went 100% outside of my comfort zone and learned to steek. I will not lie: this was very…
Author: keri marion
Second Skill Set: Casting on. So this cast-on was entirely new to me. It’s called a tubular cast on, and it took me a few tries to get it right, as well as realizing halfway through that I had used the wrong needle and had to rrrrrrrippit back. The tubular cast on is pretty cool,…
As has been noted, I am re-raveling the Dude Sweater for Justin using all one fiber and a new pattern which knits in the round, and is therefore straight knitting, not ribbed. This should be a lot more fun to knit, but it does stretch my skill set a little (as all good projects should).…
I can’t believe I didn’t write (not even) one post about The Dude Sweater that I made for Justin a while back. I mean, this was an epic project that I had planned as a freaking Halloween costume gag, but ended up taking me two years, and now I just ripped it all back to…
As is tradition in our collective family, we went camping for “birthday week.” I guess it has been a while since we’ve camped at Cape Cod, what with a global pandemic and high anxiety and all, but this year we were able to make it back for a visit. The campground we like to visit…
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Fool’s Spring
At the end of every winter in New England there is a period of time we sometimes call “fool’s spring,” which starts with an unseasonably glorious and warm day which makes you think actual spring has started. Today was that day. It was a sunny, warm, and delightful 63F by 11am today. We took advantage…
One of the best things to come out of social media algorithms is how I fit Taproot Magazine‘s customer profile. This magazine really is everything I could want: it’s ad-free, crafty, visually appealing, well-written, and has lots of applications for household waste. It practically is me. In issue 40: Cure, was a small quilt project…
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Sashiko
Well, I might have fallen in love with a new mending philosophy: Sashiko. I foresee a long, home-bound winter ahead. In preparation, I bought a subscription to Craftsy: partly because I’ve been meaning to and partly because they had a $5 sale for the year, so I could see if I would even use it.…
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Bayberries
Gosh, we’ve been so busy these past few weeks that I’m not even sure where to begin regarding our newfound obsession with bayberries. I guess it’s been about three weeks since my last post, so I’ll try to recap as best I can. A few weeks back we were exploring the woods that line the…
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Rabbit Tobacco
In these very home-bound and isolated times, Justin and I have found the pastime of taking afternoon / early evening “nature baths” in our local wooded parks. We live within feet to a river that opens out into a bay a few miles south, so the landscape is part brackish swamp with an overtone of…
This has been maybe the most fun, most exciting, severely delicious experiment we’ve done so far. I. Am. Hooked. So a few weeks ago, we made Ginger Ale. While that was delicious and 100% worth doing again, we wanted to try for a root beer. We worked with what we had on hand at the…
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Tomato Powder
This year has been a lot of things, many of which have been a bummer, but I guess if there’s a lining somewhere, it’s in the tomato season. This year’s tomatoes have been straight fire, and there’s still more to come. September is the harvest month for tomatoes around these parts; at least, that’s how…
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Elderberries!
Guys: I am so jazzed. A few weeks ago, Justin & I were on a walk when I spotted what I thought might be an Elderberry bush. It had big, bouncy umbrella-like clusters of pale green berries buried in these rich, green leaves. A few of the berries had even started to change color, but…
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Mushroom Jerky
I almost can’t believe it myself, but this mushroom jerky is THE BOMB, YO’S! A little while back, I saw a recipe from three foragers about how to make jerky out of Hen-Of-The-Woods. I love Hen-Of-The-Woods, but it’s not quite season, and I’m not that good at finding it. I posted the recipe to a…
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Ginger “Ale”
Through the pandemic, one of my nephews has caught fermenting fever and has inadvertently rekindled my counter-culture adventures. It has been great fun comparing notes! He calls this drink ginger beer, but I have always called it ginger ale; he might be right, though. According to “the googs,” ginger ale is just ginger syrup with…