Crazy for Ewe

Yarn Substitutions

March 02, 2020 3 min read

As I was scrolling through Instagram today, I ran across a posting by floral designer, Jill Rizzo, whose The Flower Recipe Book I purchased several years ago:. I was going through a phase in which I wanted to learn the art of floral arranging. The recipes list exactly the flowers and materials needed to recreate the design shown.

The problem is that Rizzo lives in San Francisco where an abundance of beautiful fresh flowers and exotic materials wait just a block or two away.

The last 20% is the hardest

February 10, 2020 2 min read 1 Comment

I just love the latest wellness challenge in this Whole Life thing I'm doing: Leave no trace. I think of that as what you do when you're camping, you know, put out your fire, clean up the area, and take your trash with you. But this is a more mundane practice--clean up after yourself. I thought, hey, this will be easy. I always clean up after myself. But as I read, I began to see what they meant by leave no trace. Sure, I clean up after myself, I always do the dishes. See them there on the counter drying? That. Right there is the problem.

Perfection is the enemy of good

February 03, 2020 2 min read 6 Comments

We've been talking a lot about perfectionism in the shop lately. From beginning knitters who are frustrated with the irregularities in their practice swatch, to very experienced knitters so critical of their work that even the tiniest of errors can send their project to the frog pond (rip-it, rip-it, rip-it)

There's a huge gulf between perfectionism and healthy striving. Healthy

The basics are not always basic

January 27, 2020 3 min read 2 Comments

he other day Andrea brought me a bag of fresh turnips. I have never cooked turnips, so I consulted with my pal, Google, and went to the recommended a recipe site. Above the recipes was a series of links to helpful videos, one of which was "How to salt water for boiling..." Okay. I remember learning that from my mother when I was fairly young. She always said that the water you cook things in should taste good and told me the only way to really tell was to taste it myself. A subjective approach, but quite effective, and I still use that method for anything that gets cooked in water. Certainly you could measure it out-- so many teaspoons per so much water or whatever, and I wondered which approach this video would take.

Creativity is just play

January 20, 2020 3 min read 2 Comments

I just finished reading The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern. It was a little crazy, and a little confusing, but rich and full with lush romantic imagery. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some stories began and ended. Others cropped up out of nowhere. Characters and themes moved between the stories, all tied together with bees and crowns and keys and owls. As I said, a little confusing, so I creeped on the author and came across a review of the book by someone from Harvard. Certainly, they know their stuff at Harvard, right? What did he think? Well... he hated it. No plot line, no character development, no dramatic tension, and so on. He cited an offending piece of prose, appalled that editors had not

Just 10 minutes

January 14, 2020 3 min read 4 Comments

You have probably heard of The Whole Life Challenge. I may be only person on the planet who had not heard of this 6-week program that addresses nutrition, exercise, reflection and so on. My son's company is big into fitness and well -being, and Rick, one of the owners, invited everyone in the company to participate at company expense. Johnny continue

Every day is a new beginning

January 06, 2020 2 min read

Happy New Year! This first full week of 2020 is looking pretty good! Inventory done and everything ship shape and organized. Even the shop's been rearranged for the new year. It looks good‑I think you'll like it. While I hate doing inventory, I'm always glad to have done inventory. In fact, I'm tempted to do it more often just to get this feeling! It makes me think about a conversation I had with my wonderful

The in-process mess

December 09, 2019 2 min read 7 Comments

I spent much of last week getting the house ready for the holidays. I’m not an over-the-top type when it comes to Christmas decorating, but a friend asked if we would be on the Health Share Holiday House Tour this year, and it’s such a worthy cause that I couldn’t say no. But when people pay actual money to see them, your decorations have to be extra.

So, I enlisted several trusted friends to help me hose down the mantles with greenery and hang a power of garland and ribbons and wreaths - oh my.

Rainy days and Mondays

December 02, 2019 2 min read 2 Comments

Every have one of those days? My yesterday was. Gray and rainy is my least favorite kind of weather, unless I can curl up on the sofa with a cup of tea and my knitting, but I couldn't because there were a million and three things to do. Plus my daughter, Elizabeth, was getting ready to go back to Seattle. While she'll be back at Christmas, the transition is still always hard. I wish I could tell you that when I feel this way, I give myself a spoonful of sugar, fly my magic umbrella to a Mary Poppins kind of place. But I'm not, and I don't. I just sort of trudge through and

Special vendors at Crazy for Ewe

November 25, 2019 1 min read

I'm excited to be hosting two fantastic special vendors at Crazy for Ewe for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. ArnicArt and Barbara Hance.

Mode at Rowan--even better in real life

November 11, 2019 2 min read 1 Comment

Sometimes you just don't know how a thing is going to be until you see it. When the Mode at Rowan book came out, I was all about this blue cardigan. Maybe it's just I am so entranced by the model, but honestly, I thought this was going to be the standout piece of the show. It wasn't. Looks great on her, as

What makes you a real knitter?

November 04, 2019 2 min read 8 Comments

As I was scrolling through social media this weekend, a sponsored link popped up from Masterclass. Most ads annoy me, but there is something very compelling about these online classes. Maybe it's the rockstar artist types they have doing them - I mean, legit famous people ‑ world renowned experts in their field ‑teaching subjects not in the catalog of the most prestigious universities. Annie Lebovitz, Itzhak Perlman and Wolfgang Puck speak with such candor‑as if they are a close friend, right in the room with you sharing their authentic experience, helping you to explore and learn. It is honestly mesmerizing. One particular promo featured the novelist

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