This post is part of the Exploration Party – a celebration of our inner explorers, led by Tara Swiger of Explore You. You can find other tales of adventure from artists, crafters, writers and biz smarties – and share your own story – right here. via You’re invited to an Exploration Party | Tara Swiger. It’s taken me awhile to figure me out. I gather that I’m not alone in that. I spent most of my life so far… probably half what...

First, the hope. Elena Kagan moves up to big-game hunting with Antonin Scalia. I tend to think the lack of civility in DC that we see on TV DOES have something to do with a decided lack of shmoozing across the aisles. There are lots of great stories and anecdotes of old-school friendships that crossed political lines in bygone years, but not so much of late. So. Happy that the Justices get along. That makes me happy.   Less hopeful is the...

I’m a writer, podcaster, designer, speaker, teacher, blogger, crafter, and editrix of What Would Madame Defarge Knit?—Creations Inspired by Classic Characters. I write here about knitting, crafts, cooking (now gluten-free), and the myriad things in which I’m interested. My main podcast is CraftLit and that’s now spawned a sister show Just the Books—all the lit, none of the craft. You can find out more about my podcasts,...

Apologies to Lewis Carroll but there are similarities between making a gauge swatch and listening to the signs your body is sending you. How? Well, they’re both important. Every knitting and crochet pattern out there has that little line about taking time to check your gauge. Diet and fitness gurus are constantly telling us to eat better, whatever that may mean. But let’s be honest, do we do either one? Every single time? Be honest now. I...

After much time and angst, the What Would Madame Defarge Knit INDIVIDUAL patterns are here (or on Ravelry, actually)!!! What Would Madame Defarge Knit? by Heather Ordover, Editor wwmdfk.com Paperback — buy from Cooperative Press published in May 2011 notes Also now available: Volume 2 in the WWMDfK series: What (else) Would Madame Defarge Knit? ___________________ All patterns from this book are now also available as individual downloads....

Gatsby! Everyone’s talking about Gatsby! If you’ve never read Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, might I suggest you spend a few hours listening to our Just-the-Benefits* version of the book and pairing it with an audiobook version from Audible? Links to both can be found on our Audiobooks page in The Crafting-a-Life Shoppe.     *the book is not in the public domain so unlike CraftLit we can’t include the audio of the...