This past week I've been working a little bit on a lot of different things, to include my first FO of 2026! Ta da!

Twilight Fade Crochet Pillow cover number three was made with a skein of Red Heart Super Saver (Jumbo!) that my son picked out for me for Christmas. And of course he picked rainbow colors!

This one ended up being a little smaller than the original, but luckily I had a 16" pillow form already, so it worked out just fine.

And, clearly, it has been kid approved!

If you'd like to make one of these, too, the pattern is exclusively available in the Spring 2025 issue of Spin Off magazine, which you can order from Longthread Media..

Feel free to email me (just hit the reply button!) with any questions about modifications for different yarns and/or sizes—I've got notes on all three that I have made so far!

Oh and I also shared a short video over on Instagram showing a look at the slip stitch join I use for the seaming on the pillow cover.

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Have you ever tried this kind of join?

It can be a little fiddly, but I really like the way it looks.

In fact, I'm thinking about using it on another project I started working on this week!

You may remember that back in November, I attended my first craft fair in AGES. Well, while I was there, I was chatting with one of the organizers about maybe teaching some classes for them and I am now officially on the class roster for the Hawaiʻi Handweavers' Hui!

Actually, this past Saturday I was an assistant teacher for the Taste of Spinning class, which was fun. I even re-learned how to use a drop spindle! 😆

Some of the students also tested out one of my e-spinners and we made this cute little collectively created mini skein:

It was super fun seeing them all so excited about spinning yarn. And it got me excited about teaching my own classes there!

So for my local folks, if you'd like to join me for an in-person class, there are still a few more opportunities! Registration is open now through the Hui for my beginner crochet class, which is scheduled for February 22nd at the Downtown Art Center: https://hawaiihandweavers.org/event-6512749 (I've been working on putting together a supply kit for it, too!)

Then in March, we plan to offer a granny square class as well because I've had a surprising number of people ask me about them lately. (That's the new project I started this week that I'm thinking about using the slip stitch join on, by the way. More on that soon!)

And I have just one more crochet class planned for March 1st at the Pearl City Library, but registration isn't open for it yet. They will actually be closing for renovations soon, so even if we weren't scheduled to move this summer, that might have been my last class with them anyway. I sure will miss them!

So it's been all about class prep this week. Writing descriptions, working on new samples, shopping for supply kit materials, ordering what I wasn't able to find locally, and taking a few pictures. Here's a peek at what might be included in one:

I'm so tickled with the cute little zippered pouches I found at Ben Franklin's! They had three different colors, so I got a few of each for my first class, along with lots of different colors of yarn for them to choose from. A couple stitch markers are, of course, always an essential. And I'm still working on getting darning needles and hooks that I like.

It's been kind of fun, though! Brainstorming about what I think should be included in a beginner crochet kit (within my $25 per person budget).

What else can you think of that would be great to include? What would delight YOU to get?

Speaking of delighting folks, I'm writing out postcards for my Patrons today. Remember the moonflower painting?

That's our January feature in the Toxic Florals calendar and I just got my first batch of postcards in, so I'm excited to sit down and write some notes out today!

If you'd like to see one of these in your mailbox, too, you can join me on Patreon for as little as $2 a month to get a new postcard featuring some of my original art every four weeks or so. It's become my favorite way to cultivate joy, both for myself and others. My not-so-secret goal is to make doing this my full time job, ha ha! How many postcards do you think that would take?? 😘

All right, I better get to it!

Tomorrow we pack up for a quick trip to the Big Island for the opening reception of Storied Ground at Kahilu Theatre, yay! And I would like to get these in the mail before we leave.

Wish me luck!

-Connie

P.S. My ti plants are blooming!! They always look so striking in pictures because of the brilliant colors, but they're easy to miss since the leaves are red all the time and the flowers kind of stay tucked away inside them. So I'm glad I caught them! (Wouldn't these colors make an amazing skein of yarn or crochet project??)

P.P.S. I got the video footage from plying my secret squirrel yarn at the beach edited this week, too! Making this post on Patreon public for you, for just a few days: https://www.patreon.com/posts/spinning-at-for-147999579 Enjoy!