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Lately

On New Year's Day I finished making a big beautiful basket out of scrap variegated yarn (video tutorial here) so I could stow some thrifted skeins of Mandala Ombre and other yarns I want to work with this month.

I also got started on my calendar tote bag project by deconstructing a black canvas tote, pressing it and lining it with batting.

I'm waiting on one last lot of yarn I won last year to be delivered; it seems to be bouncing all over the country. When it finally lands I'll show you the skeins and figure out the value.

In the day job department, my editor approved my initial pitch for this year's big series project, so now I'm working on getting my new delivery schedule approved and thinking about how I want to write up the outlines. I detail all the things I work on in a project before I start it so I know everything in advance. My editor is also super about pointing out any flaws or logic problems, and helping me refine the ideas.

2026 has gotten off to a good start (knocking on wood as I type that) and I'm more optimistic about this month than I was back in December. I hope it continues on this way and I can skip the unpleasantness of last year.

Image credit: the third pic in this post came from the original auction listing at ShopGoodwill.com.

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