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My father makes Tiffany-style stained glass lamps as a hobby. Here are some of the lamps in my parents’ home.

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2024 is the year we stop “consuming” and go back to “reading/watching/listening to/playing” things

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Make my popular velvet crochet steering wheel covers yourself! This pattern is easy and great for beginners, you can sell your finished products but please link back to my site, this pattern is mine alone and has a copyright, do not repost or attempt to sell or give away this pattern. Finished product should fit most steering wheels 14-17’, does have some stretch. This is a pdf pattern with pictures but please feel free to email me with any questions. * check out my Etsy store for finished products!

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Shenanigans are happening.

...

Okay, not really shenanigans.

I found instructions to make an Edwardian skirt and we made one for Halloween out of this suiting wool we had lying around. And I LOVE it.

I've been wearing it CONSTANTLY. It's light but still warm; it's so hydrophobic that I didn't realize until hours later that I'd accidentally spilled coffee on it on Halloween and I was able to just blot it off; it's fitted at the top but got a great swirl at the hem; since I made it, it's the correct length to be long without worrying about it dragging on the ground; and I can dress it up or down as I see fit.

So when it came time to put together a list of things I wanted for the holidays, I realized that one of the major things that I really wanted was a bunch more of these skirts. Long, swirly, made out of hardy natural fibers. So I could just transition into a Skirt Wearer. The problem being that we don't, in general, have on hand the amount of fabric needed to make another skirt in my size, even in a poly. BUT there's a discount fabric store less than an hour away from us that has a decent selection of wool for less than a third of the price you would pay buying new. So what I asked for was a trip there and a budget to buy enough fabric for a few skirts.

I was thinking maybe three more, but the prices were even lower than I expected and I ended up with enough for six skirts — 4 wool and 2 linen, 3 mid/heavy weight and 3 light weight. Also a bonus tatting needle because I wanted to try tatting lace and it was only $6 and came with instructions and a simple pattern, so why not?

Another bonus? That greyish green one right above the houndstooth? It looks like stripes, but it's actually wool corduroy! Which was a pleasant surprise! I picked it out on the color alone, the back of it looks similar to the Lothlorien cloaks, but it was folded up on a shelf and, like most textured fabrics, was folded inside-out to protect the texture. So I didn't actually see that it was corduroy until I got it up to the counter and unfolded it a bit to get a better sense of it.

That one and the houndstooth, I think, are going to be split down the front and get some buttons. The other two wools are just going to be plain. The linen skirts I'm thinking about doubling up as petticoats for under the wool skirts on particularly cold days. Which might end up including a removable ruffle. This was apparently a Thing around the turn of the century. The ruffle would add some extra fullness to the bottom of the skirt, protect the actual hem of the petticoat from damage (since it would be worn and laundered more often than the skirt), and be sewn to keep the gather, and then basted onto the pettycoat for easy removal to wash or mend or replace it.

I suspect I'm gonna be too lazy to actually do that. So either one of the linen skirts will just have a permanent ruffle, or I'll make a removable ruffle and it'll just sit in the back of my closet.

But I'm GREATLY looking forward to this, especially with all I learned from the first skirt.

Also tatting? The lowest bar for learning a new needlework craft. It's a single long needle, and there's only one stitch. There's some trickyness to it starting out, i've gotten my rings knotted several times. But I do think part of that is because I'm using embroidery floss. I do actually have the correct yarn, I just have to go digging for it, and I had the embroidery floss more easily to hand.

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here's a lil preview of my last project of the year. it's a baby blanket for my previously mentioned baby cousin. i tried making this yarn into a sweater three times before giving up (it was appropriately sized for a one year old), so blanket it is! i wont finish it before midnight, but it's still a nice way to cap off the year.

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My first ever quilt and I had to make it a queen. Gift for my brother and sister-in-law.

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Elastane recycling: Stretching the lifespan of textiles

Clothing is far too valuable to simply dispose of and burn. Starting in 2025, used textiles are to be collected and recycled throughout the EU. Improved recycling processes are urgently needed to deal with the huge amount of textiles that will then be produced in an efficient and environmentally friendly way. The recycling of mixed textiles is difficult—especially if they contain elastane. The TU Wien (Vienna) has therefore developed methods that not only detect elastane better and in a more environmentally friendly way than before, but can also separate it in a gentle way in order to recover other fibers undamaged at the same time. The key here is to find the right solvents.

Read more.

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Peoples, it’s done, I’ve finally finished building my triangle loom! I am SO happy c:

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this is your gentle reminder to stop fighting against your adhd and instead structure your life around it

buy a pack of chapsticks and put one in the pocket of all of your coats and jackets because you always forget to bring one and chapped lips is sensory hell

leave important things where you can see them. if they go in a box or a drawer you will forget they exist

put any appointments or deadlines in your phone calendar As Soon As you get them. set a reminder for a week before, a day before, an hour before, as many as you need as often as you need them.

when that little voice in your head says "i dont need to write that down, ill remember it" that is the devil talking!!! write it down anyway!!

plan for down time. have a few hours at the end of every day to just do fun stuff like engage in your hyperfixations. even if you didnt get all of your work done that day, have the rest anyway. you probably spent the whole day beating yourself up for not doing what you Should be doing, so you still need the break.

if you never eat vegetables because its too much effort to chop and cook them, get the frozen or canned shit. it doesnt go off for ages and you just have to microwave it. theres no point buying fresh vegetables if they just keep going off and being left to rot in the bottom of your fridge

if you struggle to decide what to have for dinner every day, take the decision out of it. choose a set of meals and eat those on rotation until you get sick of them, then choose some new ones and do it again.

its not stupid if it works! our brains literally have a chemical deficiency. you are allowed to accommodate yourself. go forth and stop making your life more difficult than it has to be because "this shouldn't be this hard". it is hard, so make it easier.

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here’s the thing about adulthood-

you will go for like three months with nothing happening and you’re bored as hell and then in the span of two weeks eight different things happen at once - some fantastic and some shitty and some just plain bonkers - and you’re just running around like a chicken with your head cut off and no clue what the fuck is going on

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Fitness for ADHD

Run schedule doesn't work for me, loosely resolving to go the gym 3 times per week doesn't work for me, nothing works.

If you can't plan or schedule without constantly getting into stressful last-minute dithers and guilt, may I suggest: The Streak

Choose just one small, easy activity, do it EVERY DAY for a year.

That way, there's no last-minute rearranging your week, moving anything to tomorrow, switching days around.

It gets your ass in the gym/outside and removes all further obligations, guilt, and stress.

One year I did #MileADay : you run a mile per day (at least).

This year I'm doing 10 pull-ups per day (plus some playing around in the gym between and after).

Suggestions (choose one):

run a mile

walk a mile

run 10 mins

15 minutes cardio machine

10 pullups (this rocks)

15 pushups

20 light squats

1 minute plank

Your streak-versary does not have to be January 1st; mine is May 1st.

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What are some good fantasy standalones for when you don’t want to read a whole series?

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what's the best way to clean household items & clothes you get at thrift stores? i think not knowing how to properly sanitize is one of the top reasons people don't shop secondhand as often as they could

Ooh thanks for asking!

So for clothes and fabric items, I sort them by delicate vs not delicate, and put them through the washing machine! Hot water / extra heavy wash & dry in the dryer for most everything. Or a cool wash in mesh garment bags, and hang-to-dry for the delicates. (I even machine wash dry clean only things, like wool, leather, etc. they usually come out fine as long as you just do it once or occasionally!)

Shoes and handbags can also go in the washing machine, inside a mesh bag, and with cool water! Then dry in a sunny window or in front of an air vent!

For furniture - especially upholstered furniture, that's the riskiest, but putting it in a plastic bag in the hot sun for a while should kill any bugs! Fully enclose the furniture in big black trash bags or tarps, leave it outside during a sunny week, the sun will cook whatever's inside! Maybe with a bed bug and/or roach killer spray in the bag for good measure - though heat should be enough. (this is a summer good-weather activity!)

For dishware or other 'hard' home goods, I run them through the dishwasher separate from my other dishes! you can put a lot more than dishes in the dishwasher, even wooden stuff tends to survive one wash cycle but I wouldn't do it too often!

For other stuff that can't go in the dishwasher, laundry, or hot trash bag? I'll hand wash with hot water, soap and / or rubbing alcohol in the basement sink or in a basin outside!

I tend to avoid electronics since bugs and roaches like the heat, and you can't 'clean' them with washing or heat! Short of disassembling something and cleaning the insides with alcohol, which is hard, I'd skip those!

Also, once and a while I do ruin something by washing too aggressively - but I just take the L because I'd rather shrink a cheap sweater or deform something in the dishwasher occasionally than get bedbugs or other ickies in my place! I'd reccomend just aggressively washing everything, even if you do wreck a thing or two, you'd be shocked how much that's not 'supposed' to survive the laundry or dishwasher does anyway! (And if it doesn't - do you really want that high-effort stuff around anyway? I'm too lazy with my laundry for that!)

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