Feb 2025

 

Hi friends, 

I hope you’re all doing well! This weekend was cold and gray but today was finally a bit sunnier. I took a few photos of pigeons on my way to the post office and had many cups of chai right after (chai always makes the day better). It has not been a joyous January but I’ve been trying to find ways of including small amounts of joy into my daily life. I hope you’re able to do the same.

One of the things that I’ve been doing is watching old films for inspiration! I love the fast dialogue and humor in Bringing Up Baby, the tiny adventures in Roman Holiday, the light and shadow play in Arsenic and Old Lace, and the apartment layout in Rear Window.

Btw Cary Grant’s expressions and physical acting reminds me so much of a pigeon… 

While watching these movies, I was able to finish my speckled scarf! I used Lion Brand Heartland yarn (in black canyon tweed) with their Black Bear Scarfie pattern. I’m excited to start a new knitting project so I’ll be joining the lovely bandwagon and will try to knit the Sophie Scarf by Petite Knit. I bought the Compatible Cashmere - Knitting for Olive yarn (in dusty dove blue) from La Mercerie.

It feels nice to knit again and have it be part of a routine. Also, I dropped off the January knitting-related snail mail today:

This month’s snail mail will be a silly ice skating scene postcard inspired by Wollman Rink in Central Park. The postcard will include a patron’s pet. I’ve been sketching foxes lately and thought about how hot chocolate always sounds nice after ice skating so that’s basically the inspiration behind the sticker, haha. 

Here are my sketches so far…

If you’re interested in this month’s snail mail, I’ll send them out to any new patrons that sign up for the $10 tier between now and the end of the month. Please note, I will mail February snail mail on March 3rd.

⚘ Shop Update ⚘

I’ve been busy restocking the shop and also adding a few new items: cicada charm, snail mail charm, hummingbird needle minder (sold out), coffee cat (gray) pin

I’m excited to make new designs but I've spent some time experimenting and reconfiguring things with my shop. In this process with finding new manufacturers, I’m slowly restocking old designs first. 

I’ve recently restocked:

  • butter cookie sewing kit needle minder (sold out)

  • butter cookie sewing kit pin

  • camera pin

  • cat nap (black and orange) pins

  • cicada pin

  • coffee cat (orange) pin

  • coffee sandpiper pin

  • hedgehog pin

  • hummingbird (green) pin (sold out)

  • mushroom mug pin

  • pigeon notebook charm 

  • pigeon pin

  • snail mail pin

  • tea kettle pin

That’s all for now! Oh, and if you have any old film recommendations, please let me know. :) Thanks so much! 

💛 Justine

Jan 2025

 

Happy new year, friends!! 💛 

I hope you’re all doing well and having a gentle and warm start to the new year. Towards the end of Autumn, I sometimes think about how much I will miss the leaves outside my window… But looking out now, I still love the winter trees. And as they go dormant until Spring, I’m reminded that it’s important to slow down and take my time with things, especially after the holidays.

Speaking of the holidays, my partner and I wanted to change up our usual gift giving traditions. Instead, we decided to do what we called, “Home Improvement Christmas!” Together, we bought a lot of the things for our home that we’ve been thinking about for a while. Things like lamps/lights, frames, and a few other things to make the space cozier and way more organized. The timing was perfect too since we hosted family in our small apartment for the first time! (At least for a bit before we all went out for dinner in the neighborhood to celebrate the holidays - and I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of the restaurant, but it was a very festive New Orleans-themed place.)

With all the festivities, Peach was quite the introvert haha! Though, now that things are calming down, she is very happy that she gets her spot on the couch back (she’s like a tiny Sheldon Cooper).

I also got to spend a few days with my niece and nephew. It was nice to take a break from work with them and we even had a chance to do some knitting together while watching a bunch of holiday movies (both good and bad).

I’m working on a scarf! Here’s my progress so far… I love speckled yarn/anything, confetti and sprinkles make me so happy!

Speaking of knitting! This month’s snail mail will be a combination of ideas from my last Patreon postcard poll. I’m tying together “knitting the longest scarf” with “a snowy houseboat” - and it will feature a patron’s pet! The sticker will be a close-up drawing of the snowy houseboat since it will be small next to the whale on the postcard. 

Here is my sketch so far…

If you’re interested in this month’s snail mail, I’ll send them out to any new patrons that sign up for the $10 tier between now and the end of the month. Please note, I will mail January snail mail on February 1st. 

⚘ LAST MONTH’S SNAIL MAIL ⚘

The snail mail for December was a Quilt Fort postcard, Tailorbird Quilting sticker, and Winter Bookmark.

 That’s all for now! I hope you all continue to have a restful month! 

❄️ Justine