Hello friends! How are y’all doing today? What’s new with you? Happy Mother’s Day to those of you who are mamas. 🙂

I have been writing articles, updating old pages on my websites and writing new ones. Here are a few more of the details about what I’ve been up to:

Free Picot Stitch Crochet Tutorial

This isn’t a brand new tutorial — but at the time I originally wrote it, I somehow forgot to blog about it. (I did tell my newsletter subscribers about it.) If you missed seeing it the first time around, I hope you’ll enjoy it now.

A Lovely Candle Making Instruction Book Featuring EASY Projects for Beginners

My friend Mari makes the most amazing scented candles. It took a long time for her to learn how to do it, and she once confessed to me that there are bunches of pitfalls that can derail the process of candle making. She got really good at it, but she invested a massive amount of time into the learning process before she did.

I’m pretty fearless when it comes to crafts, but I have to admit that I’ve been scared of candle making. When it comes to crochet and knitting, we’re talking pretty low stakes. Every once in awhile I accidentally jab myself with a tapestry needle or something, but there are no major hazards involved.

It’s different with candle making. Some of the possible hazards include burning yourself and squirting hot liquid wax in your eyes. Yikes.

But, there’s a lovely new candle making book I found that has put me at ease enough that I am now interested in giving candle making a try. It’s called Candle Making Basics. Eric Ebeling is the author, and Stackpole Books is the publisher. I reviewed the book for ArtsWithCrafts.com. The short version of my review: I definitely recommend this book.

A Brilliant Writer You Need to Know About

Yesterday, my one and only major accomplishment for the day was reading just about every article posted at Greg Satell’s website.

I didn’t set out to do that. As I was researching an article I have to write, I found one of the pieces he wrote for Inc.com. In a world full of fluff articles that aren’t worth reading, Greg’s writing stood out as being substantial and filled with important insights that would be easy to miss otherwise.

So I kept reading. One article led to the next and the next and the next. I didn’t get my own article finished (or even started — I moved it to my to do list for today) but I do feel like I understand the world a little bit better as a result of the time I spent reading Greg’s archives.

Most of the time, when I get sucked into an article reading vortex like that, I end up getting mad at myself for not finishing the actual to-do-list item I’m working on. But this time, I feel that it was time well spent — even knowing that I have to hustle harder today to make up for it.

Still on My To Do List for Today…

…aside from the usual articles I inevitably have to finish, is my balcony gardening project. Out of about one zillion strawberry seeds I attempted to start last month, only 3 germinated — and they somehow all germinated in the same coconut coir pellet. Phooey. I think the probability of that happening would be just about zero outside of user error. Like, maybe I watered that one pellet more than the others, or something.

I have a few more seeds left. So, I am going to try again. Wish me luck with that.

That’s it for now. Here’s wishing you a lovely day filled with happiness, chocolates, kittens, bunnies, crochet, knitting and / or whatever else your favorite things are.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX,

Amy

About the Author: Amy Solovay is a freelance writer with a background in textile design. She has been crocheting and crafting since childhood, and knitting since she was a teenager. Her work also appears at ArtsWithCrafts.com, KnittingandCrochet.net and Crochet-Books.com. Amy sends out a free knitting and crochet newsletter so interested crafters can easily keep up with her new patterns and tutorials. If you’re already an Instagram user, Amy also invites you to follow her on Instagram.

This page was last updated on 7-3-2019.