Another lovely public ball at the Hôtel de la Marine with Carnet de Bals. These happen about once a month and are open to all. The era changes from ball to ball, but costumes are *not* required. Members of the public are invited to join our group on the dance floor for...

It's astonishing that no matter where, when, or how Kash Patel is photographed, he *always* looks like he's just realized that he shit himself.

You've got a Letter from Paris at Modern Daily Knitting! Clara Parkes and I go to La Villette to huff wool fumes and watch a parade of nekkid sheep. Comme c'est décadent. The Sheep Around the Corner – Modern Daily Knitting share.google/8Ldzh709u1Sw...

Summer weather has landed in Paris like a hippopotamus doing a belly flop onto a velvet settee.

[Nice animals of my neighborhood: an occasional series] Roof Kitty m'a dit de vous passer le bonjour. Roof Kitty told me to tell you hi.

Over on Patreon, the 1851 Travelling Cap Knit-Along wraps up with detailed instructions about giving the cap a silky, woven lining. The original called for such a lining, which both added warmth and prevented the cap from mussing the hair. This may be of particular interest...

When la lune hits your nez Like an airborne soufflé That's amour, hein?

Very dance-filled week with Carnet de Bals. Thursday, my first "prestation" as part of a small group that performed in costume at a retirement home in Cormeille-en-Parisis, theme Carnaval à Venise. Honored to be included, and loved it.

You've got a Letter from Paris! In which a little purling is a big deal for me. share.google/TIDZNZHYEsl0...

The Willow Leaf Edging, an 1880s charmer with a fascinating construction. Now available as a chart and row-by-row pattern for all paid Patreon patrons. And we took a close look at how it works during today's workroom chat, which members can watch via the replay.

On this International Women's Day, some ladies of the cast assemble in the sitting room of 39, Eglantine Crescent to bid you strength and solidarity and pockets. Left to right: Lisette, Lolotte, Miss Pond, Enid, Mrs Puddle, and Fiammetta.

The exhibition "Tisser, broder, sublimer: le savoir-faire de la mode" at the Palais Galliera runs through 18 Oct 2026. It honors at the "métiers" (professions) that make Paris fashion special. The weavers, dyers, embroiderers, and makers of lace, artificial flowers, and passementeries ("trims").

Headin' to the barn dance.

Last night I picked out an 1880s leaf lace edging to use as a ribbon for the grapevine wreath. I'm working it in a vintage ecru size 20 crochet cotton on a US 1 (2.25mm) needle. Even before blocking I'm pretty happy with it. The pattern is fun to work, and uses clever placement of decreases...

Mr Boxe contemplates the newly-hung decorations in the library with satisfaction. The miniature was another lucky find, inexpensive because the frame was missing and the subject is not conventionally handsome.

February 24. I pruned the grapevine that I grew last year outside the workroom windows. I used the cuttings to make a wreath. I'd never made a wreath before, so I just twiddled around until there was a wreath. I'm going to trim it with knitting. This felt very, very good.

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.