The Humble Hobbyist vol.13
The Humble Hobbyist vol.13
Happy Birthday to Me + a Year of Making!
Happy Birthday to Me + a Year of Making! 🥳🎂
Last week I celebrated growing one year older plus the one year anniversary of my making (began with sewing) journey!
What a year it’s been. I don’t typically set new year’s resolutions so when thinking about 2024 I simply said, “I want it to be like 2023, but more!”
2023 was a transformational year for me — I learned at a clip, I celebrated and loved myself more, I gave more, I was more curious, I felt more free. Becoming a maker and hobbyist gets the credit for that. Since receiving a sewing machine for last year’s birthday, I haven’t looked back and neither has my wife who keeps encouraging these habits 🥰 which you’ll see in just a bit.
Knitting
We love a practical knit! For the longest time we’ve laid paper towel on the counter to dry dishes but those days are over. I finally got around to knitting a dish drying mat.
The knitting process was my least favorite yet. I’d forgotten JUST how rough cotton yarn is on my hands; they were sore for days. Let’s just say I won’t be doing this again so I’ll cherish it while it lasts.
Baking
This year’s maker birthday present is a stand mixer and I’m geeked about it! 🍞🍪🥖
Following the Sourdough Starter recipe in “Mastering Bread: The Art and Practice of Handmade Sourdough, Yeast Bread, and Pastry” I’ve got my first starter going!
Who knew there were so many different types of flour?! Thankfully the book recommended a few mills to purchase flour and one in particular had a Sourdough Starter Kit which helped narrow things down.
I’m 3 days into my starter and was shocked to see activity already! Are there any bakers in our midst? 👀
Indoor Gardening
In the last newsletter I was preparing to harvest the bok choy and Asian greens, which I did and they were d e l i c i o u s. I sautéed the bok choy with soy sauce and put the Asian greens in a salad, they were so fresh and flavorful.
What I learned from my first indoor gardening attempt was to plant vegetables with similar grow rates to avoid the light scorching some and struggling to reach others.
This go round I’ve planted all bok choy.
Seems like there’s never a dull moment these days between never ending adulting and my ever growing list of hobbies! I’m having fun seeing just how much I can accomplish before I run out of kitchen counter and closet space 😂
See ya soon ✌🏾💚,
TGM
💚💚 my little savant! 🫶🏾
Fine. Let me go revive my sourdough starter.