Pinning out a lace pattern translated from an 1847 French album of knitting motifs. (Coming to Patreon in charted and written instructions.) This test was knit in fingering weight wool.

This month's calendar page really comes from the heart. I see so many folks lamenting their ability to do more, even when they're already doing so much. www.patreon.com/posts/downlo...

I still haven't woven in the ends on this pair of socks I finished in 2017, but the Dow is over 50,000 right now and that's what we should be talking about.

You've got a Letter from Paris at Modern Daily Knitting! In which I am easily distrac www.moderndailyknitting.com/community/ol...

I realized that in my present neighborhood in Paris, Fashion Week people are what Cubs fans were in Wrigleyville, my old neighborhood in Chicago. We know why you're here, we know you need to be here, but we're not as excited about it as you are, and mostly we wish you'd stop blocking the sidewalk.

You've got a Letter from Paris at Modern Daily Knitting. Away from the crowds and the hype, a challenging, fascinating exhibit of textile art hidden in plain sight. Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On – Modern Daily Knitting share.google/BfprlilnU1Pq...

Not just a pretty bird...useful, too. This 19th-century "Palais-Royal" thimble holder in the form of a peacock is typical of the always opulent but often whimsical needlework impedimenta that could be purchased in the shops of Paris' Palais-Royal during the Second Empire.

My part of the 10th is the fashion incubator of Paris and you never know what you might see folks wearing, so it took me a minute to realize this was not one of the neighbors heading out to a New Year's Eve party.

News was slow to reach me of the death of Barbara G. Walker, pillar of the world of knitting as author of the "Treasury of Knitting Patterns" series, "Knitting from the Top," et al (still in print thanks to Schoolhouse Press ), and originator of slip-slip-knit. I mentioned her..

The Paris Opera is presenting a ballet version of "Notre Dame de Paris" aka "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," so I am constantly confronted by advertisements in which Quasimodo is as ripped as a member of Thunder from Down Under but has poor posture.

[Nice Animals of My Neighborhood, An Occasional Series] Zouzou at the computer repair shop on the Rue d'Hauteville likes to sit in the window, but it's chilly. So they have given her a heating mat for under her blanket. If you do this for your kitty, I will 100 percent trust you with my laptop.

[Work on the Provençal crèche continues.]

If you're hunting about for gifts for the knitters in your life, including yourself, I wish humbly to suggest that they and/or you might enjoy becoming part of my Patreon group. Memberships start at $3/month (which gets you almost everything), and there are discounts for subscribing for the year...

In my last letter from Paris of 2025 for Modern Daily Knitting, I have a whale of a time knitting up an elegant ensemble for a even littler mermaid. Finny Girl – Modern Daily Knitting www.moderndailyknitting.com/community/fi...

[Nice Animals of My Neighborhood, An Occasional Series] The cat at my preferred kebab shop on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis objects to being classified as "nice."

There are still some additions to be made to the holiday windows at Les Tricoteurs Volants, but Thaïs (first photo) and Marianne (second photo) are in place in their knitted clothes.

It's nearly time to install this year's holiday windows at Les Tricoteurs Volants in Paris. They have been inspired by a charming, quirky 1940s French children's book about learning to knit for your dolls. Full reveal to come...

Thaïs is having a fitting. She needs a pompon for her hat and a pair of mitts, but we're basically there for her holiday window outfit. (Some have asked about the yarn. It's Woolia from Gepard, a very popular workhorse wool at Les Tricoteurs Volants.)

Gathering a simple skirt for Thaïs the doll to wear with her colorwork sweater in the holiday window at Les Tricoteurs Volants. The fabric is from my late mother's stash. She loved Christmas decorations more than anything, so I know she would approve.

The little sweater that got its steeks cut yesterday is nearing the finish line as I sit at the kitchen table.

I took a different line than usual (le 6) to dance practice last night. We got to Bir Hakeim, one of the stations for the Eiffel Tower. An American woman near me turned to her companion and said in a very tremulous voice, "I'm here. I'm really here. I made it."

In the steeky steeky steeky steeky room. The sweater for Thaïs, the antique doll for the holiday window at Les Tricoteurs Volants, has had its back and arm openings cut. Patreon patrons, remember that you can watch me do the securing and cutting in the replay of our most recent workroom live chat.

You've got a letter from Paris at Modern Daily Knitting. In which I attempt to get the flock out of here. Moutons de Poussière – Modern Daily Knitting share.google/QDAbmbPjOMRb...

At the Mairie (town hall) of the XVème arrondissement. Upstairs: our group doing 19th century court ballroom dances. Downstairs: Breton folk dance with bagpipey-type things. If this is not recipe for a gang rumble I don't know what is.

Am on couch, having nearly finished a project. It ends with a three-needle BO. All my 3rd needles are in next room. Do I a) graft instead, b) attempt to use pretzel stick as 3rd needle, c) call neighbor to ask if their kid will come over and fetch needle in exchange for money and/or pretzel stick.

My favorite toys look like toys. This is another figure for the upcoming holiday windows at Les Tricoteurs Volants. Adapted from the excellent Emperor Penguin pattern by Planet June to more closely resemble Freddy in "J'apprends à tricoter pour habiller Primevère ma poupée" (1947).

🎵The fallllling leeeeeeaaves Fill up my courtyard The autumn leeeeeaaaves That smell like mold The gardieeennnnnnne Says, "Ça m'fait chier, ça, For this damn shit I am too ooooollllllld."🎵

I only need to make one tassel. But now that I've pinned this one up to dry, I feel like I ought to make two.

Just because you *can* make anything with a Cricut doesn't mean you *should.*

This post is going to be very honest, but not very nice. Stop doing this stupid "love locks" thing. It's not an old Parisian tradition, it's vandalism. It destroys beautiful old things and costs the city money in repairs that it could spend on schools or hospitals or social services.

[Nice animals of my neighborhood, an occasional series] We are installing the next fashion pop-up on the rue des Petites Ecuries. If those pipelettes back there do not stop with the vape breaks and the yakyak and do work we shall never open! Mais putain! Putain de bordel! Putain de bordel de merde!

Today's French lesson: carte cadeau. A gift card. I got to do the new carte cadeau design for Les Tricoteurs Volants, my neighborhood's yarn shop. They're at the shop and also online. Drawing sheep and bunnies makes me happy.

I bought the ghost as a gift for someone who has a taste for the macabre and a Halloween-adjacent birthday. But he also likes whimsy, and the ghost looked a bit naked in just a sheet, so I added the crocheted kitty hat. It was improvised as I went along with two strands of leftover sock yarns.

When I can't decide whether to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" or "The Witch" so I watch both at the same time.

[Nice animals of my neighborhood, an occasional series] The computer repair place on the Rue d'Hauteville has a new tech. The sign says:

When a French person attempts to make l'amour in English.

I went to see Giselle at the Palais Garnier last night.

You've got a Letter from Paris over at Modern Daily Knitting...in which I create a custom pullover for a big new client... Just One More and I’ll Stop – Modern Daily Knitting share.google/UERTAIAVSYB0...

Well, darn. It turns out the No Kings protests didn't happen. I have it on good authority from a Trumpie who responded to all the videos, photos, and reports both personal and journalistic with what amounts to "nuh uh." So there you are. Sorry.

The number of MAGA comments I saw on protest posts saying the protests shouldn't have been allowed is one reason we need to have more and even bigger protests.

Oh yes oh yes oh yes! This week's live chat from the workroom welcomes a special guest: Kate Atherley, author of the new and much-anticipated book, "Math for Knitters." Patrons, the invitation and link have gone out, so check your inboxes. For the curious, I include the clicky thing down below.

After I posted about the No Kings event in Paris, some folks got upset with me. So I made this to express how sorry I am.

Last call for Knit Stars Season 10! Enrollment ends 15 October at midnight USA Pacific. You can also pick up past seasons, pattern kits, or...the coveted Golden Ticket. Link is below.

[Expat Diary: Very Paris Things] On my usual route to the gym I found that the sidewalk was torn up for work on gas lines. There was, of course, a little yellow sign on the caution fencing, pointing across the street and reading "Traverse de pietons obligatoire" (pedestrians must cross).

Well thank goodness I picked up two pairs of cufflinks at that brocante yesterday, I was almost out.

Checking the fit on the sleeve of this doll sweater while my grandmother's ghost asks me how this is a profession for a grown man.

Enrollment is open for Knit Stars Season 10 and I think that's so hot. 💋 All those luscious teachers. Mmmmmmm. My affiliate link is below. Use and I make money. Ohhhh yeahhhh.

The vintage doll who will be the centerpiece of the holiday windows at @lestricoteursvolants has been joined in the workroom by a second vintage doll. It was inevitable. More than one window, more than one doll.

Knit Stars Season 10 open enrollment continues...my affiliate link* follows. This is Fleuron, one of the exclusive pattern kits designed to accompany my masterclass in shadow knitting, the intriguing structure that hides patterns inside what appears, at first, to be a simple striped fabric.