I have decided (perhaps this is untrue, but I have decided it anyway) that the reason I am bad at being a monogamous knitter is that I find stockinette extremely boring. If you are not a knitter, 'stockinette' refers to knitting every stitch. No purling (unless you're knitting flat, which I typically don't), no texture,…
snøfrost sweater
In January of 2020 (incidentally, around the time I started writing this blog), I had a very different life. I was living in a residence hall at Penn, where I was in charge of a hall of first-year undergraduate students, and a lot of my coworkers at the dorm had developed a new or revived…
Belle & Sebastian
I recently became obsessed with Sari Nordlund’s patterns after knitting her Louise pullover. I used some hand-dyed yarn from early COVID that I’d intended for another project. Actually, I started that project, and then ripped it out, after I’d matured enough to start ripping out things that didn’t bring me joy. Anyway, enough of that. …
Laine Challenge
One thing I have learned about myself in my 30 years on earth is that I absolutely love a long-term challenge. In my day job, I coach students academically. I have a lot of very, very deep-set coaching strategies and values, and the main one is consistency. I absolutely believe that with good habits and…
Be a Yarn Tourist
I'm sure many other knitters will agree with me when I say that my favorite part of most vacations is going to new yarn stores. Or, if it's a place I travel often, familiar yarn stores, but not necessarily my local one. Maybe my previous local one! Regardless, it's a delight. I was lucky enough…
Exhausted
The other day, I was exhausted. I was too tired to knit, really. I'd been out and about in San Francisco all day with my brother (we're here on vacation and I could not be more grateful to have a break from my regular life) and just did not want to work on my projects.…
Resolution Burnout
A lot of people make New Year's resolutions. I love to make them. I make them every year. I talk about this all the time! And I am not an old person by any standards, other than those of the college students I teach (I'm 30, which makes me practically dead to them), but the…
Everyone Needs a Monica
I recently received a copy of Laine Magazine Issue 19. I love Laine. Everything about what they publish is stunning: they use high-quality paper, the photography is gorgeous, and the interviews and designs are really lovely. From the regular periodical to their huge, beautiful books, Laine has never disappointed me. I have many of their…
Well…
Last year, I thought it'd be nice to restart this blog. If you're unfamiliar, I started this in January of 2020. By January 2021, I'd decided to start my YouTube channel, Tiny Desk Knitting, so it that seemed like enough of a replacement that it was okay to let this just sort of fall by…
Mattie Cardigan
One of the things I decided to do in 2022, which, to nobody’s surprise (I think), got a bit half-assed, was to knit my way through my ‘beautiful sweater’ stash. In 2020 and 2021, more than any other years, I collected a good deal of sweater quantities of yarn. I was knitting a lot,…
Barnaby Knits 