Here are the scraps of ephemera I saved in August.
Top row
Packaging from a book I ordered
Scraps of a security envelope pattern given to me by someone after they learned I collect security envelope patterns (such a sweet gesture)
Packaging from the Parmesan I sprinkled over the massive slice of pizza my son brought home for me one day
Second row
Caution tape leftover in the courtyard after they repainted the exterior of our apartment buildings (the paint job looks so bad y’all)
Packaging from the first-ever cabin air filter that I installed in my car by myself—I can’t believe I’ve overpaid for the oil change people to do it all these years
Paper from the pizza box that held the massive slice of pizza my son brought home for me one day
Third row
Label from the pool noodle I bought to bring to the river
Old exterior paint from my apartment complex
Oil change sticker
Bottom row
Matchbook cover that I found on the ground during a walk
Packaging from my son’s new Rogue barbell
Packaging from a new vegetable brush that I finally bought after many months of needing to replace the old one I threw out
Hike number three of the season: Lower Punchbowl, Tunnel, and Twister Falls via Eagle Creek Trail. In addition to the three well-known falls, there are a handful of other falls along this trail, which is one of the most popular trails in the Columbia River Gorge.
Originally, I’d planned to hike down to Lower Punchbowl Falls, swim in its bowl, and then head back to my car—a quick and easy 3.8-mile out-and-back. While a shorter distance hike than I prefer, the allure of the waterfall and its swimmable bowl was strong: daily summertime access to water/swimming is one of the things I miss most about my pre-pandemic life and I was excited at the possibility of finally—FINALLY!—getting my toes wet. Given the day was set to be 90 degrees and was already well on its way to 70 degrees when I started the trail at 5:30 am, I figured the shorter distance of this hike would be offset by how much time I’d spend in or lounging near the water.
While researching the trail ahead of committing to it, I learned about Tunnel Falls, a few miles past Lower Punchbowl Falls. After watching a few YouTube videos of the hike to Tunnel Falls, I added it to my route, upping my hike to 12.2 miles roundtrip. Then, while discussing my hike plans at the gym, I learned about Twister Falls, just around the bend from Tunnel Falls. Of course I had to add it to my route, making my third hike of the season—and my third hike back after a nearly three-year break—a 13.4-mile out-and-back with 2,270 feet of elevation gain.
Of all the hiking I’ve done this year, this hike was pretty middle-of-the-road on paper: it wasn’t the longest in distance or duration, it wasn’t the most difficult or technical terrain, it wasn’t the most strenuous. And yet, it’s the one I’m most proud of.
This trail was the most exposed of any I hiked this season. In many sections, it was similar to the exposure I encountered on the 2022 hike that broke my brain and triggered the very terrifying episode of mental illness on the trail that, after the 2022 season, kept me from hiking until this summer.
Many sections of the trail are very narrow and rocky. The sections of trail blasted out of the basalt cliff faces also feature vertical drops. In some, but not all, of these sections, cable handrails are installed. Many of the YouTube videos I watched of people hiking to Tunnel Falls showed and/or explicitly mentioned these cables. Learning of their existence is what convinced me to extend my original route.
Surprisingly, I used these cables only on the sections of trail immediately surrounding Tunnel Falls. Given my previous experience on exposed sections of trail, I figured I’d use them at every opportunity. Even more surprisingly, I didn’t experience any physical or mental markers of anxiety, panic, OCD, or derealization at any point during this hike. My heart rate remained steady, my palms didn’t sweat, my mouth didn’t dry up, my legs didn’t shake, my vision didn’t narrow, my hearing didn’t become muffled and echo-y, my head didn’t become light and fuzzy, my thoughts didn’t begin to race, I didn’t begin to catastrophize, the voices in my head didn’t taunt me or command me to yeet myself off the cliffs, etc. It won’t always be this way for me. At some point, my mental illnesses will rear their heads on the trail again. I’m grateful that hasn’t happened on any of the hikes I’ve done so far this season.
Tunnel Falls is named such because there’s a literal tunnel behind the falls that you have to walk through to continue on the trail. It’s incredible. One of the most thrilling things I’ve experienced so far in my life. It is truly a shock to me that my brain didn’t lose its shit during either pass of this section of trail.
About a half mile past Tunnel Falls is Twister Falls. There are large flat rocks you can sit or sunbathe on. I stopped here for a few minutes to refuel electrolytes and carbs before heading back.
The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire burned through this area which means there’s very little tree canopy on this hike—very little shade on hot, sunny days; very little cover on wet, rainy ones. Plan, pack, and dress accordingly.
Even with the scars from the fire, this is a beautiful hike. While the trees may be bare, there is plenty of other vegetation and life (lots of chipmunks!).
This trail was much busier than I expected for so early on a very hot weekday morning. On my way up (“up”—the grade is so gradual it never feels like a hike in the expected sense) I encountered one person, a backpacker headed the opposite direction, toward the parking lot. On my way back, though, I encountered a fairly steady stream of people hiking to the areas I was coming from. And a lot of them seemed wholly unprepared??? For example, hiking in JEANS??? Not bringing a single drop of water or a water filtration setup??? Not bringing anything—no pack, no map, no nothing??? There were several separate people who stopped me at different points to ask what the name of the trail was, where it went, how long it was, etc. How do you venture into the wilderness—on a hot-ass day, no less—with no information, gear, hydration setup, or plan??? Inconceivable.
In the end, it worked out well that I tacked on Tunnel and Twister Falls and nine additional miles to my original route. The “path”—I’m using that term very loosely—between the trail and Lower Punchbowl Falls would’ve been very difficult, maybe impossible, to ascend, especially with a pack, even my small one—very steep, loose dirt, no defined route. I took one look and didn’t even consider attempting to descend. On I hiked.
I would absolutely do this trail again, ideally with a non-iPhone camera (it is for sure time to invest in a camera camera), and ideally continuing on past Twister Falls. I really am so happy to be back out on the trail.
In the middle of writing this post, I sat down to lunch, pulled up YouTube, and hit play on the first video it recommended to me: a discussion from popular backpacker @MirandaGoesOutside about mental illness on the trail. Truly, the most apt video YouTube could have recommended me in that moment.
After seeing this post from @lindalovescreating in early July, I decided to start including monthly ephemera pages in my 2025 album, beginning with July. I think it’s such a fun way to include extra bits of life that normally wouldn’t make the cut.
Top row
Scrap of paper from a basket of street tacos I ate on my walk home after finally visiting an interactive art experience I’ve wanted to visit for the last two years (featuring a line of test stitches from my new-to-me sewing machine)
Piece of a ripped-up $1 bill I found on the ground while out walking
Part of the tear-away freshness seal from a pint of ice cream
Second row
Part of a flyer announcing yet another neighborhood library construction closure
A gold star I found on the ground while out walking
Wrapper from a candy at the nail salon
Third row
$1 bill found in a library book after I brought it home
Tag from a new bikini bottom
Lion decal I found on the ground while out walking
Last row
Portion of branded packing tape from the company I order my creatine from (it’s the only creatine that doesn’t make me bloat—if creatine makes you bloated, I recommend trying this brand)
These pages will live in the back of my album alongside those documenting the media I consume this year. Each month will get one 6″ x 8″ page protector that’s divided into 12 smaller pockets. Only the front of the pocket will be filled. I like the idea of seeing through the gaps, and of seeing the backs of the items in the pockets.
I haven’t yet decided how I’ll include lists of each month’s ephemera. I might type up each month’s list on a 3″ x 8″ piece of paper and slip it into a 3″ x 8″ page protector in front of the corresponding 6″ x 8″ page. I might make one big list and slip it into a 6″ x 8″ page protector. Not sure. For now, I’m keeping track with a sticky note adhered to the front of each 12-pocket 6″ x 8″ page.
Hike number two of the summer: Tom Dick and Harry Mountain via Mirror Lake, a nine-ish mile out-and-back in Mount Hood National Forest. This hike immediately joined Angel’s Rest and Riprap as one of my all-time favorites: so much green, so many wildflowers, and an awe-inducing 360-degree view of five (!) different mountains from the false summit. Because I began so early, I had the summit and my first pass of the false summit completely to myself. A dream.
At the false summit. Mount Jefferson is visible in the background. Out of frame to my left-ish are Mounts Adams, Rainer, and St. Helens. Mount Hood is directly in front of me.
The time of year (early July) and weather (almost completely clear skies, 70-sh degrees at the start, 80-ish degrees by the end) for sure played a big role in how enjoyable this hike was. I’m so grateful I had the flexibility to change my originally planned date to one with a better forecast.
For whatever reason, despite reading the trail’s name and details a billion times on AllTrails and various local hiking blogs, until I came upon the junction to continue to the summit or loop around Mirror Lake, I didn’t realize the lake was an optional part of this hike. I decided to take the loop around the lake and holy fuck I’m so glad I did (I went clockwise).
The lake isn’t visible from the junction, or for the first couple of minutes of walking. And then, there it is.
It literally stopped me in my tracks. “Oh, wow,” I gasped when I spotted it. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I feel so fortunate to live so close to such beautiful natural spaces, and to have the ability to explore them.
Unfortunately for me, Mirror Lake is also where the mosquitoes began. From this point on, the trail was full of them. As someone who is eaten alive by mosquitoes whenever they’re around, I have, historically, always doused myself in bug spray before beginning a hike and carried bug spray in my pack, dousing myself again several times along the way. Since moving to Oregon a few years ago, I’ve very rarely encountered mosquitoes in general and never on the trail. Because of this, and because I didn’t see any comments on AllTrails about mosquitoes on this trail, I removed my bug spray from my pack the night before this hike. What a mistake! From the lake on, I spent most of the hike swatting at mosquitoes and was covered in bites by the end. I itched so badly that it woke and kept me up at night for the better part of a week. Disaster.
This is a hike you do for the views, especially those of Mount Hood, which is right there. Personally, I think the views of Hood are equally as dramatic from the false summit and the actual summit.
View of Hood at the false summit:
View of Hood at the actual summit, about half a mile further up trail:
Famously, the summit also features a view of some communications (?) equipment, which deters from the experience for some. Personally, I wasn’t bothered by it; it’s off to the “side” and doesn’t take up much space or obstruct the view of the mountain. The communications equipment at the summit of Mount Defiance, which I hiked several weeks after this trail, is a different story.
The actual summit is roughly 0.6 miles past the false summit. You’ll have to hike and scramble over some rocky and sometimes steep-ish terrain to get there. The video below shows the first stretch of trail from the “back” side of the false summit to the actual summit.
The best overall view—the 360-degree view—is at the false summit. If you reach the false summit and don’t want to (or can’t) continue on for whatever reason—weather, blisters, joints, time, terrain, etc.—you won’t miss much. The video below is the view from the false summit. It’s hard to see in the video but all five mountains—Mounts Adams, Rainer, St. Helens, Jefferson, and Hood—were visible to the naked eye this day.
I learned too late that this hike can be turned into a loop by continuing past the summit and down to the parking lot via Sunrise Trail. I would have loved to do the loop! Even though I had service and could have texted a change in plans to the people who I share my hike details with, I chose to stick to my original plan. I can always do the loop next season.
Overall, this was a great hike on a perfect day. Aside from a brief freak-out about a completely made-up scenario while scrambling my way from the false summit to the actual summit, my mentally ill brain behaved, thank god. I’m so happy to be back out on the trail.
Last year, I decided to more completely document the media I consumed throughout the year in my Project Life album: docuseries, movies, podcasts, TV shows. I didn’t include books (I didn’t read much last year) or music (I don’t really listen to music). I used 6″ x 8″ page protectors divided into 12 pockets, each measuring 2″ x 2″, and printed 2″ x 2″ thumbnails for each piece of media, six to each 4″ x 6″ piece of photo paper.
Because I didn’t have the idea to do this until mid-November, it’s not a complete, and therefore not a completely accurate, record. I did the best I could by pulling from memory and going through my watch and listening history in my streaming apps. It’s complete and accurate enough.
I considered organizing each category chronologically. That quickly became too complicated. Not every streaming service tracks when you streamed what (only what you streamed and in what order), and anyway, do you list things in order of starting them or finishing them? What about things that don’t have a clear finish date, like podcasts or TV shows that release episodes weekly instead of seasonally? Or docuseries or TV shows or serialized podcasts that you started and are still watching or listening to at the end of the year but haven’t fully finished yet? I decided to organize each category alphabetically.
They’re not the most attractive pages. Frankly, I think they’re an eyesore. Visually overwhelming. Because they live in the back of my album, their unattractiveness and overwhelmingness bother me less than they would otherwise.
I decided not to include thumbnails of the movies I watched in theaters with those of the movies I streamed at home. Instead, I saved the ticket stubs for those movies in standard 6″ x 8″ page protectors divided into 3″ x 4″ pockets. These I organized chronologically. (These “ticket stubs” can hardly be called ticket stubs. They’re nothing more than shitty receipts. My outrage over the harbinger that is the disappearance of well-designed and quality crafted ephemera is deep and wide and intense.)
This year, I’m keeping a note in my phone to document each category of media as I consume it, and plan to again organize each category in my album alphabetically. Every four to six weeks, I go through said note in my phone, grab a thumbnail for each entry I’ve added since the last time I reviewed the list, add those thumbnails to a template in Photoshop Elements, and check it off in my phone. This way, I’m not scrambling at the end of the year, completely overwhelmed by doing everything all at once.
Printing is the only thing I plan to put off until the end of this year or early next. Partly because I don’t want to misplace printed sheets of thumbnails. Mostly because I know I’ll be tempted to immediately cut out each thumbnail and slip all of them in pockets, which, because I’m organizing them alphabetically, will create more work for me, which will frustrate me, as I’ll inevitably have to remove and rearrange the thumbnails as new media are added to the list.
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For the curious:
Most-enjoyed docuseries in 2024:
Untold: Hall of Shame
Most-enjoyed movies (streaming) in 2024:
His Three Daughters
Run
Most-enjoyed podcasts in 2024:
Diss and Tell
Even the Royals
I Said No Gifts!
Extreme: Muscle Men
Normal Gossip
Scamfluencers
Smosh Reads Reddit
Most-enjoyed TV shows in 2024:
Bad Sisters
Boy Swallows Universe
Call the Midwife
Dark Winds
Ripley
Severance (rewatch)
Slow Horses
The Perfect Couple
This is Us
Your Honor
Severance is an obvious choice. Along with it, Bad Sisters, Dark Winds, and Slow Horses stand above the rest (especially Dark Winds).
Four weeks ago, I went for a hike. It was my first in nearly three years, after a few very bad episodes of mental illness on several different trails during the 2022 season rattled me so badly that I stopped hiking—a thing I love to do—altogether.
I hiked Angel’s Rest. I chose this trail because I’m familiar with it, it’s not strenuous or long, there’s no exposure, it’s close to home, and I know I have service the entire way (having service was important to me for this first hike back; in case mental illness things started happening, I could easily text/call someone).
I went early on a weekday, pulling into the parking lot just as the sun began to rise. This is the ideal arrival time for me. I’m an early morning person and I prefer to hike alone alone—to go by myself and to be by myself.
Shortly after I arrived, my brain began to bully me and after several minutes I actually drove away. I U-turned right before hitting the interstate on-ramp, headed back to the trailhead parking lot, re-parked my car, and spent the next 45 minutes negotiating with my brain. Once I got my shit together, I texted details about my hike to a friend, double-checked that I was sharing my location with her, and then I started.
This was my third time hiking this trail and my second-favorite experience of it. The first time I hiked it, in late May 2022, it was frigid and barren. I hiked it again two months later, in late July 2022, and it was gorgeous. Breathtaking, even. Everything was in full bloom and it was much more colorful and lush. This time around, it was in between—plenty of greenery, not much other color and not many blooms yet, hence the lack of photos.
Shortly before the false summit, there’s a large boulder the size of a small boulder on the edge of a bend in the trail. It’s my favorite part of the hike. Each time I’ve hiked this trail, I’ve gotten photos of me atop it. I love repetition in memorykeeping; it’s fun to have multiple iterations of the (essentially) same composition and subject.
I’m glad I chose this trail for my first return-from-mental-illness hike. Aside from the first few minutes in the parking lot, my brain behaved and I had a really good time. All of the reasons I picked it—I’m familiar with it, it’s not strenuous or long, there’s no exposure, it’s close to home, and I know I have service the entire way—are what made it a success.
Having a good experience gave me the confidence to try another hike the following week and now, four weeks later, I’ve hiked four more trails—one a week for the last four weeks—and have survived each both physically and mentally unscathed: I haven’t been serial-killed or attacked by wildlife or—and this is the real accomplishment—yeeted myself off a cliff.
I plan to continue hiking once a week for the next three weeks. After that, my high-schooler will be back in school and the rhythm of our days will change. I don’t yet know how hiking will fit into them. I’d like to keep hiking through mid-October. If these two summer months end up being it for my 2025 season, that’s okay. I logged many more miles on the trail this summer than I expected to and I’m so grateful that I did. I’ve missed hiking so badly and I’m beyond happy to be back. I feel more like myself when I’m out there.
Post-hike, I picked up a mini pizza from a pizza place that I loved as a kid (and still love as an adult) and set up shop with it and a library book under the tree out front, where I spent the entire rest of my afternoon and evening. A dream. I love being outside (during nice weather).
After I got home and before I set up outside, I filled in the entry for this hike in my Letterfolk Hike Passport, while the details I wanted to include were still fresh. In keeping with the format I’ve followed for this project so far, I’ll eventually have a photo from the hike professionally printed and staple it to that dot-grid page (the Instax photos will be clipped to inside of the back cover).
The yellow flower-shaped clip is from a pack of Midori P-51 clips, which I’m almost certain I bought at Cargo but may have picked up at Oblation (two local stores I love). You can find these clips in various shapes in a number of online stationery shops.
I’m pleased to announce that I’m finally making some progress on this project. Slowly. Surely.
Build-A-Bear is my family’s most-enduring holiday tradition. Others we’ve done many years—Santa pancakes on Christmas morning, Elf, Krispy Kreme right when they open (6 am) in our pajamas. Build-A-Bear is the only one we’ve done every single year since our first visit, which we didn’t know at the time would become a holiday tradition, in December 2013.
This mini album is very simple: mostly photos and holiday-themed paper, with very minimal extras and embellishments. So far, I’ve completed the cover page, a decorative insert, and the pages for 2013 through 2020. I’ve still got the intro page and the pages for 2022 through 2024 to go.
The album is clear acrylic with glitter that I ordered years and years ago from a shop that no longer exists (sorry!). The front of the cover page is the back of a Persnickety Prints coupon from almost 10 entire years ago. I’ve held onto it all this time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it in a project. I’m so glad I waited. It really is perfect for this project. To the back of it, I adhered a piece of a letterpress greeting card that I cut down to fit (3″ x 4″). Once I figure out what I want to say, I’ll type up a short blurb about this tradition on that piece of white card stock.
Following the currently blank intro page is a decorative insert I made using a Photo Flips pocket (I cut off the strip with the adhesive) filled with stuffing and a heart from Build-A-Bear (each year I ask to take a small handful of stuffing and a heart to keep as a memento of our family’s holiday tradition and every year (so far) they’ve allowed it), star-shaped glitter from my stash, and a few pieces of the gold thread I used to sew the pocket closed.
And then, the photos (and papers)! On the back of each photo, I adhered a piece of holiday-themed paper cut down to fit—gift wrap that I’ve saved from Chistmases past, old Project Life filler cards, and scrapbook paper. Before adhering, I played around with the order of these papers to ensure they flowed well with each other and with the photo they’d be opposite of (above) when flipping through the album. And then, of course, I messed up the order when adhering them. Such is life.
From the beginning, I knew I wanted to include the date of each year’s visit. How to do this was the question. I decided to stamp each visit’s date on vellum using my Mega Date Stamp. Because I had only enough papers to work up to 2021 and because my date stamp was already set to 2021 and it’s a bitch to change, I worked backward from there. Had I worked forward from 2013, I would’ve learned much earlier in the process that my stamp only goes back to 2015. Oops! I’m still not sure what, if anything, I’m going to do about this.
I had the photos printed by Persnickety Prints. I decided on black and white because the lighting in Build-A-Bear is atrocious (it’s giving jaundice) and I wanted the finished project to be visually appealing and consistent without having to do much (any) editing.
I’ll pick this project back up around November—it’ll be easier to find holiday-themed papers then (I’m out of holiday-themed papers, I don’t want to repeat patterns, and while I could order holiday-themed paper online at any point during the year, I prefer to shop in person for paper items so I can see and feel the quality of them before committing)—and will share more photos of the finished (well, caught-up) album closer to the end of this year/the beginning of next.
The other week I saw this tweet and was inspired to make my own list of things I’m loving lately.
This CTRL + ALT + COMPLETE puzzle from a new puzzle brand, Salem Goods. I finally managed to get my hands on it with the most recent restock and I’m so happy I did. This puzzle was very fun to complete and I’m so impressed by the cleverness of the title and the quality of the pieces and packaging. Big love.
Trader Joe’s green grapes. So crisp and sweet and refreshing (and—for now—affordable).
Biweekly calls with a friend across the country. These calls are currently my primary source of socialization and I’m so thankful for them. It is no exaggeration to say they give me life.
Handwritten letters to and from another across-the-country friend. This friend and I have been keeping in touch by handwriting each other letters for close to a year and it’s been such a joy.
Flowers.Always flowers. A fancy bouquet I bought myself, a mini bouquet I picked from the flowers in the courtyard, a bouquet gifted to me by some folks at the gym during a particularly rough week, and blooming bushes in the neighborhood.
Caroline Winkler‘s entire YouTube channel and Dylan Cooper’s TRAINING WITH DOZER series. Caroline’s channel is a relatively recent find and I’m so in love with it. She’s so classically beautiful and charming and funny and smart and earnest (complimentary) and sincere and vulnerable, and her DC apartment is a dream. Also a dream: becoming a nationally ranked Olympic weightlifter, which is very unlikely to be in the cards for me. The next best thing: watching actual nationally (and internationally!) ranked weightlifters train—and shoot the shit—with each other.
This mini puzzle of Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, found at a local art supply store while shopping for brushes for the paint-by-numbers I recently completed. LOOK AT HOW CUTE IT IS!!! I’m not usually a fan of gluing and framing puzzles. I might make an exception for this one.
Spending so much time outside. I recently learned the word apricate (no etymological relationship to apricot). It means “to bask in the sun,” and it sums up my entire warm-weather manifesto/agenda and life’s mission. I’m basically a lizard—I derive immense pleasure from staying still in the sun, and become skittish when people approach me (or even enter my field of vision). When it’s nice out, I like to do basically everything outside: read, scroll my phone, FaceTime my kids, have my biweekly call with my across-the-country friend, do a word search, eat, workout, people watch, simply exist, etc. I’ve already spent a significant amount of time outside this spring and could not be happier about it or more grateful for it.
Word searches. A few months ago, I decided I wanted something to do while sitting outside this spring and summer that didn’t involve my phone, so I bought a word search book. 12/10 decision. I recently bought another to keep in my car so I have something to do that doesn’t involve my phone when I find myself somewhere waiting—for a place to open, for an order to be ready, for the laundry to dry, while donating blood, to be called back at the doctor, while getting the oil changed, during a pedicure, etc. One of my favorite new activities for sure.
My entire outdoor setup. A few months ago, long before it was warm enough to lounge about outside, I upped my Spending Time Outside game with a large beach/pool bag (in a shimmery pink, of course) and a foldable tanning chair (with a cut-out for your face so I can comfortably do my little word search puzzles while lying face down, of course). The bag is big enough to carry all the crap I bring outside with me in one trip instead of 30, and the folding chair is much more comfortable than an exercise mat placed directly on the ground. Given how much time I spend out in the courtyard during the warm months, I can’t believe it took me FIVE YEARS of living here to give myself permission to invest in these items. I’m so glad I finally did.
On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, I took a photo of the sunrise while standing in the parking lot of my gym before getting in my car and driving home. It was the clearest and most colorful sky I’d seen in a long time, and the silhouette of Mt. Hood in the distance (which is very difficult to see in these tiny photos) was breathtaking. I did it again on Thursday, the next day I was at the gym, and then again on Friday. And then I kept doing it every day that I went to the gym, regardless of how clear and colorful the sky was or wasn’t.
December 3, 2024 – January 2, 2025.
By Friday, just three days in, I’d decided to keep taking one of these photos for a full year. Or until I forget. Or until I don’t want to anymore.
January 3, 2025 – February 4, 2025.
This morning, I took the 100th (!) gym parking lot sunrise photo. When I started taking these photos, the sunrise coincided with the time I was leaving the gym, around 7:20 am. Now, the sun is rising right around the time I finish the first exercise of the day’s programming, around 5:20 am. Soon, for a stretch, it’ll be even earlier than that.
February 6, 2025 – March 14, 2025.
So far, I’ve not missed one. If I eventually do, that’s okay. Despite what my brain keeps insisting, the project doesn’t have to end because of it.
March 17, 2025 – April 18, 2025.
This project was completely unplanned and I’m still not sure if something physical will come from it (a photo album? a poster? a secret third thing that hasn’t revealed itself to me yet?), or how long it’ll last. That’s okay. I don’t need to know right now.
April 21, 2025 – May 23, 2025.
I’ve enjoyed taking these photos, even on the cloudy and foggy and dark and dreary and rainy mornings, and I enjoy having them, even if nothing more than this post comes from them. It’s been such a fun way to track the Pacific Northwest morning sky over the last several months.
In early January, I decided I wanted to try one new crafty thing each month this year. Here’s how the first four months of this endeavor went.
January
Starting off strong with no new crafty thing this month! Look. When I got the idea to do this year-long project, I immediately began making a list of crafty ideas. I couldn’t get past five ideas. My brain had manufactured too much pressure to think beyond those five things because it couldn’t let go of the belief that I needed to have every single crafty thing for every single month very clearly and thoroughly planned out in advance. Intellectually, I knew that wasn’t true. It took till mid-February for me to accept it on an emotional level, and to just start and focus on the craft at hand without worrying (too much) about what would come next. If only it were as simple for me to apply this to other areas of my life.
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February
In February, I crocheted a basket. I followed this very detailed and beginner-friendly tutorial, adding an extra row each of black and white because I had enough yarn to do so and figured I could use the practice. I used the same brand and colors of yarn used in the video: Lion Brand Hue + Me in salt, werewolf, and saffron. I ordered two skeins of the white/salt and one skein each of the black/werewolf and saffron; this was the perfect amount. I also ordered this 8mm/L crochet hook.
I ordered the yarn directly from the brand’s website because it was on sale there and it wasn’t on sale anywhere else. And then it took FOREVER to ship—well beyond the timeframe stated in the order confirmation—and all of my emails asking for confirmation my order was actually received and being processed and would eventually ship went unacknowledged. Not a great start!
Not a great finish, either, sadly. The basket itself turned out fine, especially for a first-ever attempt at crochet, and wasn’t difficult to make (the most difficult part was remembering to not count the first stitch of each round—I ended up unraveling and restarting the bottom of the basket probably 12 times). The thing is, try as I might, I just don’t enjoy using my hands this way. On the plus side, this craft taught me that I do!!! not!!! like the look or feel of yarn when it’s actually in front of my eyes or in my hands v. something I’m looking at on a screen—a great thing to know about myself going forward.
As much as I didn’t care for the process of this project and don’t like the result of it, I did really enjoy the tutorial I followed. It was well-organized and well-paced, and everything was explained and shown very clearly. Because my brain has a hard time flipping images around, I deeply appreciate a true POV camera angle, which is what you get with this tutorial. If you’re new to crocheting, I recommend checking out The Turtle Trunk channel on YouTube.
I also appreciate how few supplies were needed for this project, how affordable they were, and how little of my time it took.
Total cost: $32.91.
Total time: about 8 hours between two sittings over two consecutive days.
Would I do it again: maybe. In the very distant future. For now, I have no interest in crocheting again.
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March
Technically, my March craft is neither a craft, strictly speaking, nor a new endeavor for me. I’m counting it—a 500-piece puzzle printed from a photo I took of a mural a few years ago—anyway. I’ve done a lot of puzzles. I’ve never done one made from a photo I took. That’s new enough to count for this project.
I had the puzzle printed locally by Portland Puzzle Company. They’re not the most affordable option for having a custom puzzle made, and they don’t have a 1,000-piece option (my preference). I was impatient and wanted the puzzle RIGHT NOW so I went with them. I was impressed by the quick turnaround time (I placed the order on a Sunday evening and it was ready for pick up Wednesday around lunch) and how vibrant the colors turned out.
I was less impressed with the quality of the pieces and packaging. The pieces don’t fit together very snugly (the tiniest movement to the board undoes a fair amount of work, and you can’t move a little chunk of connected pieces without the whole thing falling apart), the base of the box isn’t very sturdy, and the box design is not attractive. I also don’t like the color of the backs of the pieces (which shouldn’t bother me as much as it does given they’re the backs of the pieces). I’ve never done a puzzle by this brand before so I’m not sure if the backs of the pieces are always this color, of if they’re color-“matched” to complement the colors on the fronts of the pieces.
Gripes aside, of the three crafty things on this list, this is the one I most enjoyed doing, and I really like how my cropped photo turned out as a puzzle. I wasn’t sure that it would translate. I’m happy that it did.
Total cost: $36.99 (barely two months later, a 500-piece custom puzzle from Portland Puzzle Company now costs $46.99, yikes!!).
Total time: a few hours. Probably around three? I wasn’t keeping track! After picking it up, I was too excited to just get started.
Would I do it again: absolutely, yes. I’ve already spent way too much time scrolling through my photos, trying to find another that would make a good puzzle.
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April
April’s craft was the Desert Daydream paint-by-numbers for grown-ups from Pink Picasso, which will be a housewarming gift for my 20-something and her boyfriend, who live in a place that looks a lot like this (El Paso).
Of the three crafts I’ve done so far this year, I was most excited about this one. I was also the most frustrated by this one. I checked the measurements of the piece before ordering it and even pulled out a measuring tape to better visualize its size and still I was surprised when it arrived by how small it is overall and I was intimidated and annoyed by how teeny tiny so many of the spaces are.
I was also annoyed that despite what they say on their website, the four brushes that come with the kit are not suitablefor completing this project. You will need to buy better brushes, especially for the smaller spaces. This is frustrating because a huge part of the appeal of buying a kit is that you pay once for everything you need (and you get everything you need at one time).
I started by painting the sky and the sun, then moved onto the desert floor before attempting smaller spaces. After one sitting I gave up on the brushes that came with the kit, put the project away for nearly two weeks, then pulled it back out and took it to a local art supply store to find better brushes. The ones that come with the kit are way too soft and fan out too much when trying to paint the narrow spaces.
I brought the brushes that came with the kit with me to the art supply store—taped to the canvas with painter’s tape—so that I could better explain to (show) the customer service rep, who I knew would be more knowledgable about paint brushes than I am, the problem I was experiencing. And it worked! When I showed them the issue I was having by “painting” on the canvas with the kit brushes, they immediately understood what I was looking for and pointed me to the various sections of brushes that held better options. I tested about 30 different brushes directly on the canvas to find ones that were stiff enough to paint the narrow spaces. Three Princeton Select brushes were the winners (from left to right in the photo below): Spotter Petite 20/0, Lunar Blender 1/8″, and Spotter 5/0.
These three new brushes made several worlds of difference; the project became much, much less frustrating. I wish I’d bought them sooner, ideally before I ever began painting. I think that if I’d started with these brushes rather than the ones that came with the kit, the project would’ve turned out better—more enjoyable and with more even paint coverage, especially on the desert floor. How would I have known if I hadn’t first tried? You live and you learn.
I’m mostly happy with how this craft turned out. The one thing I’m still stuck on is the streakiness of one of the greens. I feel like it’s not supposed to look the way it does, and I also could not figure out how to get it to look less streaky and more like the color on the reference card (two photos up), which is a very solid green. Oh well. I’ve decided it’s part of what gives the finished piece its charm.
Even with the better brushes, this craft is a challenge. If you’re a perfectionist with unreliable fine motor skills and/or have a difficult time intently focusing your eyes without going cross-eyed or your vision blurring, I would not bank on this being an enjoyable or relaxing or rewarding activity.
Total cost: $58.30, including $40.30 for the kit (canvas, paints, four terrible brushes, a page of instructions and tips, and a postcard-sized reference image) and $18.00 for the three Princeton Select brushes.
Total time: about 23 hours between eight sessions over three and a half weeks, plus the hour it took to drive to the art supply store, test a bunch of different brushes, stand in line to pay, and drive home with the winning brushes.
Would I do it again: probably—just not with the kit brushes.
* * *
What’s on deck for the next four months? Don’t know! We’re already halfway through May and thanks to some sudden and unforeseen financial stress, I don’t have a clue what this month’s (or any other month’s) project will be. All of the things I had on my list are now firmly out of my budget. Which: annoying. And also: a chance to think more creatively. We’ll see how things shake out for the next four crafts come late August or September.
