The Humble Hobbyist vol.21

I’ve been living — lots of basketball, birthdays, and baking!

I missed writing to you the month of March but it’s for good reason — I’ve been living!

The last few months I’ve been fully immersed in the things, experiences, and people that bring me joy which I hope you have been too!

So where have I been?

• Datrianna and I took my mom to Amsterdam for her birthday ✈️

• Datrianna and I went to Miami to watch the new women’s professional basketball league Unrivaled 🏀

• I’ve started training to run a 10k race 🏃🏽‍♀️

• I celebrated a birthday! ☺️💚🎂

• I’ve been reading a TON

1) Datrianna, my mom, and me in Amsterdam, 2) Datrianna and me at Unrivaled in Miami, 3) Datrianna and me court side 4) Birthday run, 5) Birthday smiles, 6) What's Next reading stack, 7) The Humble Hobbyist apron, 8) Datrianna and me, 9) The Green Girls aka my sisters

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Sewing

I finally dusted off my machines to make a new pair of pants for summer — then realized my serger needed repair. Womp womp 😢

BUT fear not, she’s all fixed and ready to go. I should be whipping those bad boys up in a few hours this weekend.

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Knitting

Once I gave myself permission not to finish this project by the end of winter, I was able to enjoy working on it more. It is certainly a labor of love but it’ll be worth it once it’s finished.

Jacket No. 2 by My Favourite Things Knitwear

I also look forward to the cables smoothing out after wet-blocking. You can’t see them well in the photo but there’s some uneven tension that I hope gets resolved.

As a contrast to the sweater, I randomly cast on a pair of vanilla socks with a ball of yarn that I got on our trip to Spain last fall. Who knows when these will be finished but they’re nice to pick up when I don’t want to think too hard about what I’m making.

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Baking

It’s safe to say, ya girl has conquered sourdough! Take a look at my recent loaves ☺️, I’m so proud!

Sourdough loaves

Now that I’ve got the basics down, maybe I’ll be brave enough to try some fancier designs on the crust and possibly add fillings. I saw a jalapeño cheddar recipe that sounded tasty 🤤

I’ve also been baking lots of cakes and was able to redeem my semi-failure of a chocolate cake from Christmas. On Christmas, Maurice and I made the most perfect chocolate sponge but the buttercream frosting was a flop, it was way too grainy.

This go round, we made another chocolate cake but switched to a chocolate ganache frosting which was much simpler and tasted far better.

Here are the chocolate and pound cakes we baked for Maurice’s birthday —

Chocolate and 7-up pound cake

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Not really a new hobby, though it can be niche…I’ve purchased my first LAMY Al-Star fountain pen to accompany this field notebook. I’m doing more manual note-taking for things like to-do or grocery lists to further limit screen time; having fun tools makes the process more exciting! 🖋️

LAMY fountain pen and writing sample in field notebook

If you’re wanting to get into fountain pens or just curious, Datrianna has some great YouTube videos about why try fountain pens and good beginner options!

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I’m on a mission to find delight in as many analog experiences as possible and reclaim as much of my attention span as the world will allow; that’s what The Humble Hobbyist is about after all.

What’re some analog habits you enjoy?

TGM 💚