A teen *attendee*, not an "attendant." Makes a huge difference.
I finally finished up the educational pattern collection I was working on and released it. The Sweater Flight Coaster Set 1 is free on Ravelry and teaches four traditional sweater techniques, each a quick, tiny stashbusting project.
You can understand the history and intention behind an architectural style, admire a good example of it, and still not find it pleasant to be in that space.
The Trisagion (Holy God, holy mighty one, holy immortal one, have mercy on us) is used in Catholic and Orthodox liturgy in a myriad of languages. I sing an arrangement of it when I'm grieving.
youtu.be/upeoEfsUwUM?...
Also, it's only peaceful after it's in your muscle memory. Before then, it's all cussing.
I knit to learn! I do have some finished objects I love, but mostly, I love following the instructions for a new technique and being amazed as the fabric emerges. And I love indulging in a favorite expensive yarn every once in a while, just to fondle it as I work with it.
The Alaska hat has a huge number of project pages on Ravelry. You can scroll through and see how hue and value affects the trees-against-sky pattern and makes the image feel cozy, chilly, lonely, or crowded.
www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib...
Color theory is its own course! Artists and designers study it in school. Value is the most essential part for knitters to understand. Here's a great overview of using value to select yarn: brooklyntweed.com/pages/color-...?
A few years ago, I went on a quest to find yarn matches for the Chattanooga Blue paint color used on the Walnut Street bridge and other municipal structures. I ended up with a page and a half of options you can use to represent the city (or camouflage yourself on a bridge).
Most traditional colorwork knitting motifs come from Europe. I create motifs drawn from southern Appalachia. Pictured: dogwood blossoms, maypop fruit and blossoms, Fair Isle fisherman's kep with Cherokee basketry, mockingbird and tulip poplar (free on Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib...)
I grew up on the book and 70s Rankin/Bass cartoon, so in my head Thranduil is either a grouchy frog or an incompetent party animal probably played by Seth Rogen. Lee Pace isn't NEARLY hung over enough to justify all those Dwarves slipping past him. Tell 'em the Dorwinion wine makes you sleepy.
Normal people scroll TikTok when we've got downtime in the break room. I do this nonsense.
A year ago, I closed my pink-collar business and made a midlife launch into blue-collar work.
Now I don't know if there'll be more union contracts, or what my status as a "DEI" person means for my ability to support my family.
A decade ago, the profile description "I believe in Jesus and vaccines" seemed a benign way to describe myself: a cocktail of faith and science, mysticism and pragmatism.
A few years later, the president repainted the lines and my cute lil descriptor was suddenly a divisive political statement.
