one last thing

This dresser is one of our top 3 things to decorate. A real Christmas wish would be for those Avon wax carolers to magically still smell like cinnamon.

P.S. I basically have to become a vampire to not be in the shot.

I originally made this way back in 2009, when I first taught myself to crochet. 16 years later (stumbling across the old crumply printed pattern while organizing my new craft space) it became my December 2025 favorite thing to make. I think I crocheted over a dozen!

Next year, every cane on the tree will have a frilly little sleeve to live in and I’m so excited, they are just so sweet. They are giving off that 1990’s version of victorian inspired crochet, and we love that. The pattern has a copyright of 1997, so yeah makes sense.

I added a top loop for easy displaying/hanging, skip the loop and they can of course still be hung like regular candycanes. I also slipped them under ribbon tied packages and they became the most adorable gift toppers ever.

I’ve had so many people tell me that their grandmas used to make something similar using strips of eyelet lace and weaving the candycanes through the openings. I love grandmas and semi-sad holiday nostalgia stories shared through teary eyes.

Pattern: Victorian Candy Cane Cover by Cylinda D. Mathews (Available on Ravelry)

Christmas 1987 I got a keyboard and it came with the song “Just The Way You Are” by Billy Joel preprogrammed on it. Turns out I was never going to be in a synth band, and it’s the only song (intro) I ever kinda learned to play. I also remember thinking what a weird song to have loaded on there.

It was a far more advanced keyboard than I was looking for, when all 12 year old me really wanted was to be able to record my voice and playback harmonic swears set to chopsticks.

I also became proficient at the knuckle song all thanks demo Billy Joel.

We recently came across that old keyboard in a closet during the great clear out/room move and it still worked!

I took 2025 slower than most years, not intentionally and in reality the time passed as quickly as it always had, this year it was me, I was slower. Less making, less buying, less stuff, less going, less here, less there, less interest in things that were once interesting enough. I might be entering the most chill/unchill point that I’ve ever been at in my entire life. Just ask around.

🤍

About to kiss 2026 on the cheek, may it be exactly what you want/need it to be.

Do as I please

November, Midwestern Late Fall Edition.
If I were to measure time in cozy meals, we’re 2 soups and 1 hotdish in. I haven’t changed out the light bedding for the heavier yet but there have been a few nights where I’m thankful that old furnace passed inspection.

Reorganizing and shuffling through all my stuff (literally hands on everything) has me back in love with forgotten old favorites (mostly cracker related). I’m getting so organized, it’s sick. I now have a drawer just for my project bags and a drawer just for all the cute shit I like to pin, hang and stick all over them and of course a shelf dedicated to works in progress where all those adorable bags I make can neatly sit. I mean granted, I’m still mostly a monogamous maker, so the shelf/bag situation is really manageable (I have 2 wips), but I did just start a new doughy cast on!

I kept all my clay materials just in case the stitch marker mood hits again (it’s a cider doughnut, if you didn’t know).

This parking lot tree has bewitched me, so sadly romantic.

It’s not that I’m particularly obsessed with nature, I do take a lot of pictures of it though. It’s that could be anywhere landscape, the withered up bit, those clinging last wisps, being both new and old/there and not there that feels really relatable. Those clouds could be yours or mine, we can even share them if you’d like.

I’m making a creamy Aito (Ravelry link) out of woolly old stash, cute. Now that all my upstairs supplies and downstairs supplies are finally merged together in one tiny dream space, I can relax and do as I please.

Well almost, only three things still need a home..

#1 My full size ironing board – it was my grandmas and my mom didn’t iron or sew, so I took it when I moved out. It’s an adorable 1950s yellow and metallic blue Proctor Silex. If you’ve been a reader here for a long time, you’ll know I’ve talked about this ironing board in the past and yes, it’s still missing one big rubber leg cap. You’ll also remember, I popped off one of the remaining caps and carried in my bag for over a year just in case while out thrifting I magically came across its sister or maybe found something similar enough from another old ironing board to work.. yeah I would’ve bought a whole ass ironing board just for a cap, I’m ridiculous like that.

#2 My loom – which I want to hang on the wall, I just need to figure out the best way to do that.

#3 My serger – it lived its entire life in a closet, and probably will again.

That’s it friends, we’re basically done. We donated a lot, we sent some precious (but unwanted) things to auction, we all really took the clean out seriously. The only thing I miss is having a personal hidden dump hole (aka unaccountable craft closet) that could store all the ugly necessities of a crafty bitch like bulk batting, good deals bought in bulk, bulky fabrics that don’t fold nice, you know all the BULK.

Speaking of bulk (4lbs of organic animal crackers) it’s a full time job eating the broken ones first.

Also, you know the rules, if more land face up than face down, you’re gonna have a good day. 💫

Scraps

One of the last photos in existence of these peachy walls. (There’s probably more, this one just has a cute silkscreen of kiki in it 🖤 miss you old lady.)

In order to start the rearrange I knew I was going to be the first to pack up (and last to unpack), luckily the whole gang jumped in to help me. I thought it was going to be emotionally hard to sort 20 years of collecting into keep, toss and donate, but it wasn’t. If anything it made me realize how much unused crap (specifically from the years 2000 through 2009) I had accumulated! I was never a scrapbooker but my paper, rubber stamps and tools would have you think differently.

The paint is dry, the dusty never seen corners are cleaned, the end is just out of sight, but still close enough to feel OK and much less rushed. There wasn’t much I could do while everyone was busy setting up and settling into their new spaces. My entire studio was now in boxes in the living room, I was taking my time plotting out my new corner, the shelving I wanted, the storage I needed. I ended up using things we already had around the house rather than buying much new. An old ikea cube system from lex, a chest of drawers, I repainted a vintage slot storage thing that I’m using for some of that dang scrapbook paper. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start and over time as I find better solutions, I can swap out things that don’t work great. While I loved the look of the old studio, I’m not trying to recreate it. Yes it will have plump shelves full of this and that, it will also have more things that are amanda 2025, things that I gathered after the old studio was already set up and never found a proper home in it. My focus: Cute shit, easy access, less dust, sewing, knit/crochet.

(P.S. We forgot how much painting sucks, we were going to do more but after we painted over that peach, we all agreed no fucking thanks.)

Oh and on top of all that, I crocheted this cute thing 🤎 because it felt like fall for 2 seconds and a cozy brown mood washed over me.

I love scrappy projects, even though they slightly stress me out. I usually over complicate and over think the color placement, but the idea I could finally clear out all the leftover bits that I’d been stuffing into plastic zip bags really played into my use it up or get it the F outta here attitude.

I was trying to be very random (which is actually really hard to do!), my brain kept wanting to fade colors. Brain wins.

It used up the equivalent of 4 skeins of fingering weight yarn, roughly 1540 yards! With more than enough odd ball leftovers still remaining for an “all uglys” second version if I want.

Going forward I’m going to try and be the craft bitch I want to see in the world – Buy what I need when I need it, then actually use it.

Favorite thing- That occasional teal.

Least favorite thing – What seemed like a billion yarn tails.

(I always thought I was a selfish maker, but my scraps say otherwise. The brights, teals and purples are not my colors, they are from things I made for someone else. The bland beigey bits, yeah 100% mine ..so I guess it’s kinda like a temperature blanket (but a shawl) and instead of temps it tracks how much I love you.)

More teal, but now with glitter.

“Buy what I need when I need it, then actually use it.” says the girl who bought the hooks that only came in sizes she rarely uses.

I need to figure out a way to display these for my eyes enjoyment, currently they are in clear cases with inserts, very safe, very tidy, but not very visually pleasing.

The portable studio.

Hey the upside of having to go through a lifetimes worth of crap is I found my irons original box. Turns out I bought it way back in 2007, such a good investment apparently.

I also got my covid/flu boosters and my second zoster, holy shit that combo ☠️ me for a hot sec.