Well. I am not much of a NaBloPoMo participant, as it turns out, because I have skipped out on five days in a row. This is probably because I feel obligated to post about stuff that I am making, and I rarely have a new craft every day. When this month is over, I will probably try to set specific days during the week that I will post here. Also, I still haven’t settled on a site design I like, which makes me want to contribute less.
BUT! I will make a better effort, I promise. And to prove to myself and to you that this blog is more than just Stuff I Have Made And How To Make It, I would like to discuss some of my inspirations and favorite craft blogs of late. I also have an announcement and – despite what I have just said – a preview of something that I am working on, because I am proud of it.
BLOGS I FIND WORTH READING, CRAFT-RELATED EDITION
1. The Purl Bee


There is so much that I want to make here that I don’t even know where to start. Most of the goods the actual store offers are out of my budget (ㅠ ㅠ), but their Project Journals are terrific step-by-step guides that also make sometimes-difficult techniques accessible. I’ve already made the Beach Ball, and the project I discuss below is also from there. My favorite aspect of their guides is that they’re easy to take inspiration from and customize; they make great jumping-off points.
I went to link to them and saw that they had an adorable post devoted to Advent calendars, and I was kind of miffed because it hadn’t gotten to my RSS yet, but then I went to my GoogleReader and it was there waiting for me. Silly me, good Purl Bee.
2. Craftzine
The blog for the excellent magazine Craft. Updated about 10x more frequently than I update mine. I like that they’re partnered with Make magazine – it leads to some really interesting overlap.
3. Manbroidery (technically a Flickr group and not a blog)

Mostly hilarious, although I wish they’d found a way to work “brah” into the name. Also, I’m totally in love with that typewriter.
4. One Pearl Button
Author of the cloche/mitten pattern I mentioned a few weeks ago (although I had to mod it – more on that soon). Just a lot of really pretty stuff.
5. Doe-C-Doe
Puts up fantastic free embroidery patterns, which I plan to take advantage of as I teach myself how to embroider (probably after the holidays). Also appears to share my fondness for vintage illustrations.
6. Sweet Sassafras
I found this through a plug of her new site, Colette’s Patterns, which has a nice tutorial on how to sew a silk scarf. The pattern site will probably be useless to me because I don’t know how to follow a pattern (which is why I like to sew my clothes with materials that are stretchy –> forgiving). I like her crafts, though.
RESOURCES I HAVE DRAWN ON AS OF LATE
1. Reader’s Digest Guide to Needlework
The version I have belonged to my grandmother, and it’s even older than the one pictured. The patterns are fug (and hysterical!) for the most part, so it’s not what you want to look at if you’re seeking non-ironic project patterns. Its overviews of various techniques, however, are without parallel.
2. Chronicle Books’ Sale
I’m not sure if I can count this as a resource if it’s only one that I want to use rather than one I am actually using, but according to Craftzine, Chronicle is offering free shipping AND 35% off all its titles now through December 5th. I reeeeeeeallly want the Field Guide to Knitting, even though I sort of have a lot of knitting books and I’m also sort of unemployed, and I am also intrigued by this Japanese book on lacy crochet.
3. Yarntiques
Does not have a website, but as previously mentioned, if you’re in east Tennessee it’s definitely worth a browse.
RECENT INSPIRATIONS

the vintage Apple logo


LeVar Burton’s rad fingerless cycling gloves (apologies for the picture quality, I got it from a YouTube of “Reading Rainbow”)
AND LASTLY, AN ANNOUNCEMENT AND A DISPLAY OF A PROJECT ON WHICH I AM WORKING.
1. Announcement: The wonderful Etsy Trashion team, a group of designers that works with upcycled materials, is having its trunk show this FRIDAY in the VIRTUAL LABS on ETSY at 7PM (EST). To repeat: COLONEL MUSTARD with the CANDLESTICK in the STUDY. Okay but seriously there will be giveaways, and I will be one of the people giving something (what? what?) away, and I will hopefully post what that is here tomorrow.
2. Something I am, in fact, working on:

My very first knitted lace, in the form of a scarf for my Korean host mom (my 엄마, or Omma). Fortunately, she doesn’t know about this blog (or speak English), so I can say that I am giving it to her for Christmas. I’m using an absolutely beautiful Bernat bamboo yarn that knits up really soft, as you can see on my Ravelry account. Check out the pattern at Purl Bee’s April Showers journal.