Stitch 'n Dish

Category: Knitting

  • Weekend WiP’s and whimsy

    Weekend WiP’s and whimsy

    My urge to shop for fabric and yarn picks up as the season here in Western Pennsylvania turns to Autumn, bringing chilly weather and thoughts of the holidays. With Joann now only a memory, I thought that (maybe) I’d have an easier time this year, but Michaels has picked up their game around sewing and…

  • Technology: friend or foe?

    Technology: friend or foe?

    To a person, we all have way more fabric/yarn and patterns than we will EVER make in our lifetimes, regardless of how old we are today. If we limit ourselves to only “wanting” patterns that we will actually sit down and make, there’s no reason – ZERO – we can’t afford the handful of dollars…

  • With apologies to my favorite small businesses

    With apologies to my favorite small businesses

    We don’t have to look far to read or hear bad news about the U.S. economy right now. It’s as close as the cost of increasingly smaller bags of groceries, or the mail box where the credit card companies have been sending out notices about increased interest rates since mid-Summer. Consider the data on a…

  • Summer odds & ends

    Summer odds & ends

    Change can be a challenge to navigate, and I am always grateful to the examples set by my grandmother and great-grandmothers on how to keep moving forward when life gets messy. I think it was their generations’ version of meditation, which tracks with so much of the research today around how crocheting, knitting and other…

  • Reflections

    Reflections

    The last time I shopped in a Joann store was more than three months ago, right before their final closures. I said goodbye to the employees I knew, wishing them well, and as I walked across that parking lot one last time, I knew I was saying goodbye to an era in my life. As…

  • Therapeutic whimsy

    Therapeutic whimsy

    In my previous blog post I wrote about the funk I’ve been experiencing, and am happy to report that the dark cloud is starting to lift. I’ve found some joy watching tutorial videos by the popular crochet and knitting folks on YouTube, but have still not had much interest in crocheting or knitting myself. In…

  • Shopping my values

    Shopping my values

    Last weekend I decided to treat myself to some “me” time, so I mapped out a half-day excursion to an independent fiber store a decent distance from my house. I was excited because I had not been there since they changed hands, and was looking forward to seeing what the new owners have done with…

  • A fiber funk

    A fiber funk

    I have been in a bit of a “fiber funk” lately – otherwise known as a slump, or the loss of my CroJo (not sure what this is when it also extends to knitting!) I haven’t had any inspiration, motivation or even INTEREST to pick up my hooks or needles and crochet or knit. This…

  • Solace

    Solace

    Earlier this week I had to say goodbye to my best buddy for the past 16 years: my kitty, Ganymede. He was the last one remaining from his litter as his brother, Figgy – who was my grandson’s kitty – passed away a couple weeks ago. Their sister, Callisto – who lived here with Ganymede…

  • That was fast!

    That was fast!

    My hope for assistance in avoiding mindless fabric and yarn shopping was short-lived. In fact, it didn’t even last a week! On May 31, 2025 the remaining Joann stores closed for good, and today – only 5 days later – the media was filled with announcements about Michaels acquiring Joann’s Intellectual Property (IP) and private…