Friday Faves / vol. 24
Hellooo!!
It’s been a busy fall, but I will freely admit to you that November totally and completely kicked my ass. A few days after teaching my first garment workshop — Trillium, which was lovely, by the way — everyone in my house came down with COVID except for Mr Rae, who was traveling, which put me out of commission for over a week, and meant I had to cancel the Rose workshop which was scheduled that next week, which was a bummer. In the middle of all that, my landlord notified me that he was raising my rent by more than 25% with less than 3 weeks to vacate my studio if I didn’t like it. And finally, there’s been more than the usual amount of kiddo drama lately, which I don’t feel comfortable discussing on These Internets out of respect for their privacy, but that stuff really tests the strength of the mama mettle.
Luckily we all recovered from the COVID just before Thanksgiving and so were able to spend time with both friends and family, and my landlord was nice enough to negotiate my rent, so the stress around trying to suddenly move my studio is gone, at least for the time being, though it did make me think long and hard about whether I still want to keep the space (I think so? Ugh I’m so bad at decisions). I know from experience that most things that feel big and hard eventually work out in the end, but wow…sometimes it feels like a bit of a shitshow, just getting through it.
In October, we had a c-c-cold Halloween, my first “Trunk-or-Treat,” and drove up to Boyne for the beautiful fall colors and SkyBridge with my in-laws. We also made it to the cider mill for apples and cider and donuts and had our last outdoor neighborhood movie night of the year, so we’ve checked off all the fall boxes, to be sure. Next season, please!
The big news, however, is that Elli has been recovering well after her lung surgery. It’s probably going to be awhile before she’s back to 100% and living her Best Life again as Champion Rower TM, but for now she’s had good scans and is doing PT and has even been back to working on MBR projects again (Garnet!). I’m just really so thankful she’s feeling better.
A few other things to share as you head into the weekend…
sewing: Another Garnet top out of some gorgeous Liberty from Duckadilly, as we’re back on track with pattern production this week and getting ready to release that pattern, so I’m getting inspired to make more of those again. Also some experimental hand sewing with scraps, see below.
listening: Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version), what else?!!
watching: Survival of the Thickest with Michelle Bateau is really fantastic, highly recommend. And Clementine just discovered slash devoured all three of the Hunger Games books in rapid succession after going to see the Bird/Snake movie in the theater, so we’ve been watching the Hunger Games movies as a family (minus Hugo…too young).
reading: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett was so good - it’s so comforting to tuck into a book that from the very first page, you can tell you’re in the hands of a pro, you know? Also finished the first three Inspector Gamache (Louise Penny) books on audio book while sewing and knitting. Am currently reading Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, but I can’t quite get into it yet…I think it’s because I do not like any of the characters. Is it worth finishing? I really did like Matrix.
eating: The fading light and cold days are making me crave comfort food, so I recreated a classic meal from my childhood: Tuna Noodle Casserole. There’s something kinda gross to me about the classic campbell’s soup version (see also: green bean casserole…), but I used Ortiz tuna, organic cream of chicken soup, and this Damn Delicious recipe as a starting point, and it was really good. The addition of sauteed garlic and dijon, plus the lemon zested panko on top elevate this classic recipe and make it much better than the original, IMHO.
knitting: My Pressed Flowers Shawl is finished, blocked and in the rotation, and I’ve finished my part of my co-knitting project, Astragal #2, which is now in the mail to Megan who will do the sleeves and finish it up. Also made myself a pair of cosy socks with Soka’pii and a pattern from 52 Weeks of Socks II, hurrah!
This weekend I’m hoping to find some time to put up a few Christmas decorations…but I’m setting expectations low, so we’ll see how things go. What are you up to this weekend?
xo,
Rae
PS. see all of my Friday Faves here.
Plus…please enjoy a small taste of the stunning beauty that is Michigan in the Fall:
