Author Archives: maryjane

My book designer, Karina, discovered a new way of knitting at her last craft party. If you haven’t heard of this latest craze, it’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s fast … necessarily so, since you’re all tied up … literally … in yarn, using your arms instead of needles. And as you can imagine, there are a number of reasons why you can’t be tied up for too long.

Photo, flaxandtwine.com

Because of the size of the stitches your “needles” produce, you can make an infinity scarf in about a half hour, even if you’re a beginner.

Find a step-by-step written tutorial with photos for the scarf pictured above at a wonderful blog called Flax & Twine: A Happy Handmade Life.

Or knit a blanket in just 45 minutes with a great video tutorial from SimplyMaggie.com.

Note: For 20% off Lion Brand Quickie Arm Knitting Yarn, enter MARYJANES20 in the coupon code box during checkout for yarns at: http://www.yarncanada.ca/categories/lion-brand/shop-by-product-line/quickie-yarn.html

You may find yourself overcome by nostomania this time of year.

Photo by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos via Wikimedia Commons

No, no—nostomania is not the sort of mania that causes you to become wild-eyed and rip up the house in a frenzy.

Photo by Torbak Hopper via Wikimedia Commons

Nor does it make you scale tall trees to escape the madness.

Photo by Quickndirty via Wikimedia Commons

That is an entirely different holiday issue. I’m talking about missing your one and only, Jasper Tomkins.

Nostomania is more this kind of mania:

Photo by Doryana02 via Wikimedia Commons

You know the feeling. You don the cozy crimson hat your sister knitted for you last year and stare into space while absentmindedly humming “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” because you are beset by a certain melancholy that can only be called nostomania (nos-tuh-MAY-nee-uh): an irresistible compulsion to return home; intense homesickness.

Yup.