It's been awhile since I sent you an edition of Studio notes. Here's a little update for you as you head into the weekend…

 

It's been a busy winter and spring, with my boys turning sixteen and nine, a family trip to Washington, DC for spring break, and a pretty terrible February: Mr Rae was hit by a car on his bike and ended up in ER and we had too many snow and sick days to count - let's just say I'm so very happy to have February in the rear view.  

 

Last week was unseasonably hot and my thoughts as I put the finishing touches on a knitted pullover (see below) were of the catastrophizing sort: “I hate you, Climate Change! Will we never have a truly cool spring again?! I’ll never be able to wear my sweaters ever, ever again!! I must quit this useless hobby!! Why even bother to buy yarn, or for that matter, to do anything at all??” And then of course it cooled off and we’re having a perfectly lovely, cold, dreary, rainy, week here in Michigan...etc etc etc. 

 

Mr Rae (mended and doing much better! thank you!) is in Germany this week and so our old fridge - detecting weakness - decided to call it quits and start emitting strange chemical odors, ack. Cue windows open, emptying every single thing out, and running the stove fan, whilst feverishly shopping online for new models.

 

I finally finished painting my studio yesterday, a project I started in mid March. Despite a small creative detour last week (see discussion here) that added some extra time to the project, I’m so so happy with how it turned out, you can see the in-progress pic above, and a finished pic, below. Next step: stitch meetups and sewing workshops!!

 

I also made a bit more progress on a new pattern design that I’ve been making prototypes of for the past year; I’m excited about it because it’s going to interface with the Ruby pattern so that if you’ve wanted a sleeve for Ruby, you’ll be able to interchange the pieces with this pattern. If you get to the end of this newsletter, you can see a sneak peek. Wink.

 

A few more updates and things I'm into lately…
 

punching: Behold my recent foray into punch needling, my new favorite hobby! I hinted at my interest in it in a previous issue of this newsletter, but now I'm fully on board and I made a couple of wall hangings last weekend to prove it (above, bottom left).

 

knitting: I'm so happy with my most recent knit, the Astragal sweater by Ainur Berkimbayeva, which I made with a cheerful yellow yarn (Mad Hatter by Wonderland Yarns) that I found at Spun. The design features a unique twisted knit motif that was fun to knit.

 

painting: The star of my studio painting project was definitely this pink paint called “Rosé Season” from Clare Paints - it went on in one coat and it's absolutely delightful. The other colors were reused and/or mixed from other house projects in the past.

 

reading: So many wonderful books to recommend: I re-read Ruth Ozaki’s A Tale for the Time Being and loved it all over again, These Precious Days by Ann Patchett, Tin Man by Sarah Winman, and more recently finished Between Two Kingdoms, which I tore through – despite the heavy content -- over spring break. Suleika Jaouad’s writing is not only effortless and engaging but also uplifting, funny, and heartwarming.

 

eating: No one is more shocked than me that I have been doing more cooking and last week I tried three new recipes, including the Kale-Cabbage Tofu bowl from Weekday Vegetarians (thanks to my friend Megan for the rec!) this mushroom-heavy Veggie Ramen — the hint of peanut butter in the broth is really great — and these Salmon Crunch Bowls on Cup of Jo, which was hands down everyone’s favorite. Bookmarking this coconut rice-brussel sprout bowl to try next

 

watching: if you haven't watched RRR yet, do; it is so over-the-top awesome. We also enjoyed Decision to Leave, and for something light and fun, Hugo and I belly-laughed our way through the Siegfried und Joy feed. 

 

puzzling: I love Piecework puzzles, and Winner, Winner didn’t disappoint (below). I also tried two (new to us) Magic Puzzles, and Hugo really loved the fun surprise at the end; “The Secret Soup” is shown at the top of this email. 

 

Ok, ending with a few photos from our trip to DC, and then below that you can see a glimpse of my new pattern design, called Garnet. 

Have a fantastic weekend.

 

xo,

Rae

 

PS. You may or may not know that MBR donates a portion of pattern sales to charity. Last fall your pattern purchases helped us donate to Sisters United, and this winter we supported We The People Opportunity Farm here in Southeast Michigan. I hope you'll consider making your own donations.