Crafting (and) connection

[thenewbuzwuzz]

I could not imagine a summary of my 2022 that wouldn't include the war next door (as much as it's fine and necessary to pause thinking about it sometimes). This pic shows my preparation for one of the first protests at the Russian embassy, in the spring. I originally posted it with the title "This Machine Politely Chastises Fascists". It's been hard to not feel useless at times, but as the year went on, I was somewhat comforted that my country has been at least trying to do as much as we can to help. In the autumn, the by then well established protest spot opposite the embassy was part of the tour of Riga I gave to a dear foreign friend. I loved hanging out with my friend offline for the first time. 💙




Frankie the trouser snake, adopted for 50 cents at a thrift shop and darned in a hurry to close some holes, was the centerpiece of my practice drag act at a two-day workshop I attended. The workshop was amazing, and I felt closer than ever to being part of the drag community we've got going here, which I've been admiring from the sidelines for the last couple of years.



Towards the start of the central heating season, I got bodily tackled by the primal Latvian urge to knit mittens for a special someone (an urge not exclusive to us, of course, but there's a lot of lore around it here). I relearned how to cast on, made some questionable yarn choices, and I've been obsessed with this knitting project ever since. I also met my high school best friend and joined Instagram in an attempt to stay in touch with her, so this is a photo from Instagram. The attempt worked - I spent more time with my friend in 2022 than in the last five or more years combined.