Stitch 'n Dish

Category: Crocheting

  • Analog time in a digital world

    Analog time in a digital world

    This past week was a whirlwind. I returned from a week at Walt Disney World in Florida with my kids and grandkids (flight landed Sunday), and Monday I had a professional conference to attend. It was an all-day event, and although it started earlier than I would have wanted after a week away, it was…

  • Vacation fiber finds

    Vacation fiber finds

    (( re-sharing a blog from a vacation, pre-COVID )) A morning walk on the beach along the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Outer Banks in North Carolina is hard to beat. Still, one year (2017) I found myself seaside and missing my crochet/knitting bag. Thankfully, Google travels with me via iPhone, and the nearest Local…

  • Self-Help from the fiber arts

    Self-Help from the fiber arts

    I wrote this blog initially a couple years back, and focused it on crocheting and knitting (yarn). Back then, stressors were typical life stressors, and not national crisis-level stressors. Since then, I have added a lot more SEWING to my “toolbox” for coping, as I noted in a previous post on retreating to my sewing/craft…

  • A mindful approach

    A mindful approach

    I have been reading and thinking a lot lately about the way we are tempted, and even manipulated, by companies that want us to hand over our money to them. In my blog post about retail manipulation I shared some of the research on how stores intentionally place items, advertise them and offer us coupons…

  • Shared fiber joy

    Shared fiber joy

    Now that I am once again driving into work 5 days a week, I am pretty much “done” by Friday night, or “all in” as my British friends might say. Working from home for the past 5 years meant that I got more sleep, eliminated the stress of commuting, and had a LOT more work/life…

  • A trip to the library

    A trip to the library

    I try to get at least 6,000 steps every day, and more whenever possible. It’s an easy way for me to manage my physical health, mobility, and it’s one of the best “tonics” I have found when my mental health is lagging. I am fortunate to live in an area that was blessed by the…

  • A new era for local shops

    A new era for local shops

    I wrote the blog post below after visiting New Orleans for business almost 2 years ago and posted it on my previous blog site. Today, as the news in the fiber arts community is overflowing with store closures, retail bankruptcies, and economic scares, I am thinking of how the larger crocheting and knitting communities as…

  • Lessons in yarn

    Lessons in yarn

    One of the most troubling aspects of the advances in technology that have brought phone and face-times to our back pockets is that they have also promoted a (false) narrative of how life works. Social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) is a platform for bragging. The perfectly-placed photos of vacations, of grand meals and other…

  • The end

    The end

    This weekend the crafting and sewing world faced the reality of the beginning of the end for a retail staple. The retailer Joann entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy for a second time in less than a year. Liquidation sales began in the 500 stores slated for closure under the agreement with another 300 or so remaining…

  • Healthy distractions

    Healthy distractions

    Lately, I have been more interested in sewing than crocheting or knitting, although I did do a few more rows on my wrap in progress this morning when I worked at the church (organist gig). I have less than 1/4 of a Caron Cake (the 3rd one in this piece) left to finish this, and…