Friday Faves / vol. 17

Hellooo!!

Last week was hot AF and my thoughts as I put the finishing touches on my Astragal pullover were of the catastrophizing sort: “I hate you, Climate Change! Will we never have a truly cool spring again?! I’ll never be able to wear my sweaters ever, ever again!! I must quit this useless hobby!! Why even bother to buy yarn, or for that matter, to do anything at all??” And then of course it cooled off and we’re having a perfectly lovely, cold, dreary, rainy, week here in Michigan...etc etc etc

Mr Rae is in Germany this week and so our old fridge - detecting weakness - decided to call it quits and start emitting strange chemical odors, ack. Cue windows open, emptying every single thing out, and running the stove fan, whilst feverishly shopping online for new models.

In other news, I finished painting at my studio - finally!! Despite a small creative detour last week (see discussion here) that added some extra time to the project, I’m so so happy with how it turned out, you can see a small pic below. Next step: stitch meetups and sewing workshops!!

I also made a bit more progress on a new pattern design that I’ve been making prototypes of for the past year; I’m excited about it because it’s going to interface with the Ruby pattern so that if you’ve wanted a sleeve for Ruby, you’ll be able to interchange the pieces with this pattern. If you subscribe to my newsletter, look for a sneak peek and find out what I’m calling it (hint, hint). Wink.

A few other things to share…

punching: Oops I just realized I never hit publish on a post I wrote last fall about my recent foray into punch needling. I’ve mentioned it a few times in Friday Faves but never produced any evidence to suggest I actually tried it. Anyway, punch needling has now found a place in my heart as my new favorite hobby and I made a couple of wall hangings last weekend to prove it.

reading: I was hesitant to dive into Between Two Kingdoms due to the heavy content but am happy to report that Suleika Jaouad’s writing is not only effortless and engaging — I tore through it — but also uplifting, funny, and heartwarming. Afterward I went down a bit of a stalker rabbit hole and watched the videos she made while she was writing her column for NYT and the interviews with her and Jon Batiste. And then of course watching this music video again.

Substitute the word “sew” for “read” in this article entitled “But how do you read so much?” and Pandora pretty much sums it up for me.

knitting: Hurrah hurray I am finally finished with my yellow Astragal sweater. It got dicey toward the end when I tried it on and briefly thought the sleeves were too tight and oh dear should I pull them out yet again but I talked myself down after realizing that would have meant knitting the equivalent of five sleeves (effing hell!!) and also it’s superwash so it’s going to stretch out so calm the fuck down Rae.

watching: Hugo and I watched so many Siegfried und Joy reels last week that we got downright hesterical (I think a deliberate use of the “e” instead of the “y” helps reject the misogynistic roots of that term. seems more appropriate to have the word “he” in there at any rate) The one that finally pushed us over the edge into fits of giggles was this one. But also this one and this one are funny.

Hugo and I also watched this video on Rogue Waves and I have to say it was v. interesting slash disturbing. (via Kottke.org)

cooking: In a shocking turn of events, last week I actually cooked for a change and tried three new recipes, including the Kale-Cabbage Tofu bowl from Weekday Vegetarians (thanks to my friend Megan for the rec!) this mushroom-heavy Veggie Ramen — the hint of peanut butter in the broth is really great — and these Salmon Crunch Bowls on Cup of Jo, which was hands down everyone’s favorite. Bookmarking this Coconut rice-brussel sprout bowl to try next.

scrolling: Lots of Hugo content this week! Hugo really loved scrolling all the way up to space in the Space Elevator, also via Kottke. The elevator music and choosing your spacesuit are especially fun. There’s another one on there that goes down into the sea that’s good too.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend! I’ll be carting kids around and trying to figure out when Mr Rae’s flight lands.

xo,
Rae

PS. see all of my Friday Faves here.