Back a couple of years ago I recorded and posted here podcasts of A Christmas Carol and in the process I surprised myself. This phenomenon–which I have yet to name, feel free to take a stab in the comments–often happens to teachers. You know you like something, you decide to teach it, you suddenly start to discover WHY you liked it and how much more there is to it than you ever noticed before. That’s happened to me with every...

I haven’t knit all of the patterns in my first book. I meant to. I wanted to. I’d planned to. But… well… that’s a lot of patterns. I have knit a few (and am happy to report that I continue to be overwhelmed and hugely proud of the book, it’s essays, and its patterns) but I have to fess up and say that Jane’s Ubiquitous Shawl scared the bejujus out of me. I don’t know why. I designed and knit two...

What’s better than a Knit-a-Long? A Knit-a-Long where you can listen to the book the pattern is based on! That’s right! This Friday on CraftLit and Just the Books we begin Jane Eyre and how will we celebrate? By beginning the Jane’s Ubiquitous Shawl Knit-a-Long—the pattern by Erica Hernandez featured in What Would Madame Defarge Knit? (vol 1). We all know this season is—ahem—filled with craftiness, and so...

Well, I’m not releasing a new podcast—though I’m prepping Jane Eyre RIGHT NOW—so instead I’m releassing a new pattern! My husband recently sent me links to the three videos I’ve loaded below. He said “for the boys” in his email but, seriously, how could I not attack these? I did a quick “knitted flexagon” web search and found that no one had yet made a pattern for this (though you can find...

You can thank the New York Times for this. They published this—and it’s still out there—in 1996 (oh my, I’m oooold). It is their  PLAIN AND SIMPLE recipe;This Is Chili: Beans, Corn, Tomatoes and Beer – New York Times. It doesn’t get more simple than that. Good food. Good for you. Easily adaptable, but I’d recommend making it “the right way” first, then feel free to play around. The interplay of spices...

If you’ve had to stop eating gluten, the first thing you noticed was how much more expensive grocery shopping is. While it may bring a little relief on your taxes (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html#en_US_publink100014757  and  http://www.celiaccentral.org/  and  http://www.celiac.org/  and  http://www.celiac.com/articles  but you might also want to check if it’s  worth the hassle in your tax bracket)  Better Batter...