I just finished reading the second book in an eventual trilogy that's already, in its unfinished state, found company amongst the most epic, popular and influential fantasy series of all time. The series is the Kingkiller Chronicle, by Patrick Rothfuss, and in addition to being a thoroughly engrossing story, it hits on some larger...
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Remember this, people.
With a couple of important yet not universally applicable exceptions, you cannot control what others do with your work.
The minute it escapes your possession, your work will be interpreted, judged, manipulated and sometimes downright defiled by people you don’t even know. One day I'll tell you the story of how Greg reacted...
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My mind is still reeling after the Hello Etsy conference last weekend, and I'll be writing quite a bit about it in coming days. Etsy has put several of the talks from a variety of conference venues up on Livestream, and there's a wealth of solid, inspiring, thought-provoking information in them. As I write...
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I've deleted this post a half dozen times, because I'm not sure there's a good way to say this thing I'm fairly desperate to say.
Maybe this will do it.
Dear crafts,
For the last few months, I've felt like I've been unfaithful to you. I've been thinking of myself as a maker.
I know this comes as...
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We finally scrapped* our ratty shag rug in the living room and replaced it with a wool rug that looks (but isn't really) knitted. Oh man, I love this rug.
Of course, we live with someone who's absolutely desperate to crawl, and otherwise rolls around everywhere, and rubs his saliva-wet hands on the wool, attracting...
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Last week Canadian television journalist Kai Nagata quit his job and blogged about why. It's a long read, and worth it.
I enjoyed his post a lot, both as someone prone to quitting jobs, and as someone keen to see principled people speak up about how their chosen industry could do better.
This morning, CBC radio...
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Happy Canada Day! And happy almost-Fourth of July!
(Perhaps more importantly, from my perspective at least, happy My-Birthday-Is-the-9th!)
While we collectively enjoy our barbecues this weekend, let's think about our own independence, shall we?
Two years ago Tara Swiger left her day job to go all-in on her creative business, and I've loved watching that business grow...
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I've been going to the Friday-night stitch 'n bitch at Urban Yarns fairly regularly, which has resulted in my first fully peer-pressure-fueled knitting adventure.
Someone decided we should have a knit-along for any Jared Flood pattern. I'll skip the details and sum up by saying the madness of the crowd led me to agree to...
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You know Project Spectrum, yes? Organized by Lolly for several rounds over the last few years, it's a colour-based creativity project. Though I've known about it for a long time, I haven't participated in the project until the round that started this month (it runs through November). The focus is on the colour wheel...
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Yesterday I finally took the bus with the kid. I avoided confronting my stroller-on-the-bus anxiety by just wearing him in the carrier — which, really, is easier anyway.
When we got on the bus the driver smiled at Owen and I mentioned it was his first bus ride. This seemed to please her greatly. She...
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I write here about creative business, crafts, books, pop culture and generally about ideas that force their way out of my brain. Wanna talk about stuff? Don't hold back.
