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Hunting and gathering fiber

Audiobooks are a wonderful companion for exercise, and for those who are otherwise engaged in solitary tasks – such as crocheting, knitting, or sewing. Sometimes they even unexpectedly give us insights into those same activities. Such was the case this week when I was working on my latest tote/market bag. As I noted in my…
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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…
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Shared fiber joy

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Finding peace in fabric scraps

I have taken a serious break from listening to the news. This means that I find myself heading to my sewing room in the evening instead of catching some national or international news after work. In addition to my enjoyment of crocheting and knitting, I’ve had a lot of fun making the triangle coin purses…
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Healthy distractions

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The 3-C’s of Fiber Self-Care

The term, “self-care” emerged in the mid-20th century. It came out from the Civil Rights movement, and the Black Panthers, specifically, are credited with mainstreaming the concept. Today it remains a popular description of activities we are encouraged to engage in – or refrain from – in support of our own emotional, mental, physical and…
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Stash half-full (a perspective)

The rumors have been flying for some time, and yesterday on Reddit, the details started trickling out. By this morning there were full posts on the decision by Joann’s corporate overlords to declare bankruptcy for a second time in a year. First of all, I want to state my deep and heartfelt sympathy for the…
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The Amazon Economy

My sister and I have been wanting to do a small, local craft show event “for old times sake“, and we finally did it this past weekend. Mostly we had sewn items that included reusable holiday gift bags, wine bags, reusable coffee cup sleeves (think Starbucks without the cardboard) and tissue holders. I also had…
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Skills for survival

This has been a week of much contemplation, and even worry. As a child that grew up in relative peace, and prosperity; I have only the stories of my parents, grandparents. and great-grandparents to compare to my relative “ease” in life. Rightly or wrongly, many people are looking back across history to times of unrest…
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Forgotten treasure

