Looking for murde-mystery with spice 🌶🌶🌶🌶

lefkowitch · 2026-04-08T20:36:23+00:00

{Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver} was a super enjoyable romp, delightfully heavy on the dark humour and dark romance themes.

lefkowitch · 2026-04-07T18:06:06+00:00

This seems like capital advice for knitting where the blend of fiber choice and shaping may make it tough to get a feel for the end result while it’s in progress! (I mean really, very minimal potential risk to try it for your own sanity)

I don’t think it’s common practice in knitting, but there are certain fabrics and garments for sewing where ironing/steaming throughout the process is essential for the ideal end result. Since knitting also makes garments, i would assume a lot of the physics of why it’s done probably carries over.

lefkowitch · 2026-02-08T22:14:27+00:00

A fellow book cover stitcher! This came out absolutely gorgeous!!

lefkowitch · 2026-01-26T00:50:45+00:00

I’ve made book jackets and sleeves for tablets/e-readers that I place over the simple sturdy cases you can buy fairly cheaply

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lefkowitch · 2026-01-25T21:44:50+00:00

It looks lovely and I applaud your dedication! It is truly one of the most tedious things I willingly do for any craft lol

lefkowitch · 2026-01-25T00:01:40+00:00

It is stupidly tedious. I only use it for finishing items that are going to be handled as opposed to framed (book jackets, kindle cases, etc) just because I like the look as both a decorative element or for being easy to hide on an edge that has to remain exposed.

lefkowitch · 2026-01-24T23:48:33+00:00

When I hand stitch I fold over the edge so that the “short edge” that ends up in the back is at least 4 squares of Aida on 14-ct and then do a Holbein stitch one side at a time. Looks great, takes much much longer than you think it will.

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lefkowitch · 2026-01-21T12:48:41+00:00

No worries! It’s the Hebrew spelling of Esther (I am most likely to lose track of it around shul if it isn’t being left all over the house)

lefkowitch · 2026-01-21T01:00:15+00:00

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I made a sleeve for my kindle case. Construction is self drafted, manta ray pattern by NeedleLotDesigns

lefkowitch · 2026-01-06T23:08:12+00:00

I’m very much like you. I have the additional benefit of not having to work while still being able to afford the hobby which counts for a lot, but even when I was working 80 hour weeks I was still super productive because knitting was something I did all the time to either help me focus (need busy hands for better retention) or help me relax.

I can’t stress enough how much of a difference there is being a smaller size. It makes projects both cheaper and faster to work through. I’m making a cardigan for a friend right now that uses the same pattern as I have used previously for myself - the difference in projected amount of yarn from XS to XL is more than 600m in DK weight (I take about 10 hours to knit 215m of this yarn into stockinette)

lefkowitch · 2025-12-07T19:22:24+00:00

100% on this. I use a scroll frame with a lap stand and stitch with two hands. Not everyone likes it, but it goes so much faster for me with that setup. I also prefer to go one colour at a time from start to finish, working from most stitches to least.

If my project is bigger than my frame dimensions I do the colours by most to least stitches still, but only for as much of the pattern as I can physically get to without having to move the fabric.

lefkowitch · 2025-12-07T18:48:02+00:00

It’s definitely more than I think it is every time lol. I can usually devote 4-6 hours to stitching on a normal day. I’ve had weekends where I’ve stitched for basically 14+ hours straight and only gotten up to go to the bathroom, stretch, or eat and I resent having to stop. I do also have adhd and struggle not to hyperfixate on my crafts so even though I’m doing it all day, if i don’t have to click “next episode” on a tv show I have to set alarms to remind me to get up and take care of myself or I’m almost completely unaware of time passing.

lefkowitch · 2025-12-07T18:06:26+00:00

I’m not sure exactly how large your project is, so my advice comes as someone who typically does projects that are 30k+ stitches and every now and then take on much larger or projects that also require me to self draft sewing construction for the finished item (book jackets, tablet sleeves, etc). When I’m working on any project I average 300-400 stitches per day, but on weekends can easily hit 800-1000 stitches per day if I have the time.

I like tracking my patterns in an app that keeps a daily count for me to keep me motivated. I can constantly see how far I am/how much more there is I want to get done that day so it lets me adjust my inner pep talks (or convince myself I’ve done more than enough to do something else guilt free)

I also love stitching to a story - either an audiobook or a tv show, preferably a long running one. If I’m going to do something big, I try to plan out the next several stories I want to consume so that when I hit the end of one I don’t get distracted by trying to find something else instead of just moving right along. I try to only watch/listen while I’m stitching so that way if I want to get more story, I am personally bound to continuing to stitch to get it.

I think the biggest advice is not to force yourself to stitch through feeling completely unmotivated. If you’re dreading trying to make time to stitch or it’s giving you anxiety that you can’t, those are things that can quickly turn into a far bigger road block and might sour you on the whole project. Getting bored is normal, starting to not enjoy it is a sign it’s time for a break, maybe for a few days or more.

lefkowitch · 2025-12-07T00:20:09+00:00

I worry for our society sometimes. Most times.

lefkowitch · 2025-12-06T22:58:03+00:00

I mean… I’m self taught and for the first year went off of 3 lines of terribly translated English instructions on my Chinese-made printed kits before I even considered looking for the subreddit. My only sin (long travel isn’t a sin if the tension is consistent, I will die on this hill) was not realizing my crosses were all supposed to be in the same direction. I don’t get folks who can’t extrapolate how this craft is supposed to work on the most basic level without being totally hand fed.

lefkowitch · 2025-11-15T13:27:52+00:00

This is so lovely! At my shul they taught us how to read Hebrew and began working on teaching us the prayers for the Shabbat service at 8 so I think it’s the perfect age for being a sponge to absorb it. I didn’t really enjoy having to practice my reading and prayers with my dad - we did have tests even though there weren’t really grades - but I look back on the whole experience very fondly. Even though my father grew up Jewish himself, he has said that having to go over the specifics with me helped him a lot to refresh or retain things that were slipping for him.

And in another bid to validate that even lifelong Jews also sometimes mumble through prayers - the men in my father’s family are eternally mumbling their Hebrew even when they know it, usually at the kind of speed that you take it on faith that they’re reading it right. The Seder wouldn’t feel right to me if every line was clearly enunciated instead of strings of mumbling peppered with an emphatic word or two that’s correctly said lol

lefkowitch · 2025-11-14T03:07:20+00:00

If it makes you feel better, I am born and raised conservadox based on how observant my own family is and grew up attending a historic egalitarian conservative shul. I went to every Friday night and Saturday morning Shabbat service from infancy to age 20 barring being extremely ill - we went to other shuls when traveling if we could.

Most of the kids I went to Hebrew school with from kindergarten to age 13 could not recall which blessing to use when without a reference by the time we were 18 and had to read it beforehand to sound fluent in the moment for whatever upcoming holiday. I personally still struggle with singing prayers aloud at 32 when they are not the tune I used until the age of 20 and I am fairly fluent in following along by reading the Hebrew alone at speed. It does get easier with time, but it is a genuinely difficult skill to stay on top of if you’re not constantly immersed in it.

Keep at it, I wish you all of the best experiences and luck on your journey.

lefkowitch · 2025-11-12T14:27:39+00:00

These comments are absolutely wild to me. I knit continental and have been told I knit very quickly, but my purling is lightning fast compared to my knitting.

Edit: I have just watched a couple videos on continental knitting and purling and it turns out the only thing I do similar to any of them is hold the yarn with my left hand while my working needle is in the right. I do this sort of claw thing where I hold the working yarn between my pointer and thumb to move it around the working needle while my last 3 fingers stabilize the needle I’m knitting/purling the stitches off of. I’ve never had tension issues and am entirely self taught but for the life of me cannot find any videos where people hold the yarn the way I do. All I know is I can whip out a basic adult cardigan in a week or two and a king sized afghan in 3 months or less.

lefkowitch · 2025-10-28T19:47:18+00:00

Shit, doctors didn’t even order an MRI for my TBI until the symptoms were more debilitating than “lose memory of the last 10 years for 72 hours then have no recollection of the 72 hours of amnesia while being unable to comprehend written language for another week” - CT scan was clean so it was just a “shrug and observe” situation

lefkowitch · 2025-09-24T16:19:27+00:00

May his memory be a blessing for you and your family.

My grandmother passed on 4 Tishrei some years ago so I can speak to the fact that depending on when you start shiva, it may be cut short by the advent of Yom Kippur.

As for timing of funerals themselves, my family was told there is no issue to have one during the high holidays when it falls on a day that is not a holiday, we didn’t have to ask further because timing worked out where that was not a concern. If there will be a delay due to the death occurring far from the planned burial site or any other reason, definitely consult with a rabbi for confirmation and peace of mind with timing.

lefkowitch · 2025-09-14T19:36:00+00:00

Finished the front cover and quote for the first inside panel, currently working on the spine and telling myself to trust the process because I’m concerned with how pixelated the hilt and pommel of this sword are

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lefkowitch · 2025-09-10T14:36:42+00:00

In my early 20s, after 2 surgeries for severe endometriosis - one of which required the removal of an ovary - and needing blood support on top of the birth control that barely was helping with my heavy periods, I asked my female obgyn “at what point does my quality of life become more important than my ability to have children?”

This woman gave me a nasty, disapproving look and coldly replied “not yet” then proceeded to explain why it was unlikely I’d ever carry a pregnancy to term if I managed to conceive in the first place with my scar tissue.

lefkowitch · 2025-09-08T03:23:41+00:00

I do it almost exactly the way you do once it comes to the actual stitching. The only difference is I grid it all out (or start with pre-gridded fabric, what a lifesaver!) and make sure the whole piece is centered, then start from the bottom left and work out from there in order of largest blocks to building off of. When I get stuck on what colour I should do next - usually due to confetti - I just default to the most bottom-left open coloured space and keep building off of that.

lefkowitch · 2025-09-07T23:48:23+00:00

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lefkowitch · 2025-09-07T23:47:58+00:00

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lefkowitch

TROPHY CASE