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Destash 2018 Challenge

Last week, with Christmas visitors looming, I decided it was time to clean up my office/guest room/craft room/cat habitat. I knew I had a lot of fabric, fiber, and yarn piled up and disorganized in the closet, so I decided to go full-Kondo and pull it all out for some magical art of tidying. It was at this point I realized I have a problem… Maybe that doesn’t look too bad. Let me give you the reverse shot, featuring my other cat: Not featured: about 20 more skeins in a…

Barnsdall Cardi - Pattern

The gorgeous Gradient garment you’ve been gasping for, solid stripes set off automatic color transitions in this stunning piece. Satisfying the most exacting of color sticklers, this pattern precisely matches Gradient’s color changes across the body and both sleeves, ensuring a look of seamless ombre perfection.

view details Originally Published October 2017

Nevertheless She Persisted Stripes – New Fabric Design!

Hey folks! I just wanted to let y’all know that I’ve opened up a Spoonflower shop! If you don’t know Spoonflower, it’s a super cool site where anyone can design fabric, wallpaper, and gift wrap. I’m opening my shop with three variations on the same design that I’m calling “Persisting Stripes” — here’s a photo of Magnus modeling a pillow I made with the white fabric: I hand-drew a seamless repeat of a cursive “nevertheless, she persisted” and staggered them on the fabric, so it creates a subtle stripe look.…

Right round, baby, right round

The news has sucked lately. No, that’s putting it nicely. Let’s try again: The news has been a non-stop panic machine, creating an endless stream of adrenaline-pumping, hysteria-producing, cortisol-spiking mania that causes you to have angina every time a push notification shows up on your lock screen. Today, we in Los Angeles might be getting nuked by North Korea. (It’s been nice knowing you.) So what have I been doing to avoid losing my mind? I’ve been making good use of my new spinning wheel. Spinning is cheaper than therapy,…

The Story of My Hand-Knit Wedding Dress

Recently, Green Wedding Shoes published a lovely blog post about our wedding. So I thought it was time to tell you the whole story about how I knit my wedding dress, step by step. Here it is: The idea came to me on the ride home from the Observatory. Moments before, as we gazed out at the oscillating sparkle of the Los Angeles streets below, Corey proposed. I said yes. And as we drove down the hills of Griffith Park towards our Silverlake apartment, I turned to Corey and said,…

Wheel Winner = New Spinning Wheel

Hey folks! Last time we talked, I was encouraging you to watch me on Wheel of Fortune. Well, spoiler alert… I won! In addition to winning a car, I won cash and a trip to Maui. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Laura Birek (@iwriteplays) Wheel of Fortune was so fun, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to appear on the show. I’m loving my new car (I got a Ford Escape instead of the Mustang, since I need a little more cargo space in my…

Watch me on Wheel!

I’m trying to compose a thoughtful, witty blog post about this, but all I really want to say is: AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I’m going to be on Wheel of Fortune!!! Tuesday, January 3rd (that’s tomorrow!) I’ll be on Wheel. After it airs I’ll actually be able to talk about it, too! Let me know if you watch! (Check your local listings — it’s on at different times in different markets.) Thanks for cheering me on!

Ombre Giganto-Blanket SAMPLE SALE

Just in time for Christmas, I’m doing a flash sample sale of my newest ombre Giganto-Blanket. This is ready to ship! This won’t last long! In fact, I’ll be taking it down on Thursday, December 15, 2016! Buy on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/485099002/sample-sale-ombre-giganto-blanket-ready

Interview: Yankee Smartass

It’s less than a week since the election, and I’m not ready to talk about it quite yet. Just know that it left me stunned and heartbroken, but I’m trying not to lose hope. Before the election, though, I did an interview with Emily at Yankee Smartass, where I talked about my various creative pursuits and waxed poetic about living a creative life. You can read the whole interview here, or here’s a little taste: For the longest time I was somewhat embarrassed by all my different types of creative…

Full Freak-Out Mode

Last night I got the following email from a lovely lady (and possibly “nasty woman”) Emily: Hey! I just wanted to let you know that I made your “Stronger Together” pattern for someone… and they wore the finished products to a rally in NH, and Hillary herself saw them and asked the secret service to take a picture with them! Um, you guys, I’m trying not to freak the f out. But holy crap, THAT’S OUR NEXT PRESIDENT STANDING NEXT TO MY DESIGN! And for real, not like that…

Where my patterns at?

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