This is me.

My name is Melissa. I have one husband, two kids and a cute puppy. We live in a tiny house. I like crafts, writing, reading, roller derby and learning stuff. I take lots of photos. Most of them are pretty mediocre and of my kids or dog.

I have a BA in English from Indiana University and I'd like to go to grad school one day (maybe even in the near future) for psychology. My dream job involves some kind of coffee-shop/new age book store with a letter press in the back room. Oh and I want to live on a farm. Not a big farm. Just a goat or two. Chickens. Llamas. Not pigs or horses; I'm not fond of either. And if all of this could happen in New York City, that would be great.

I've been putting my crafty thoughts online for awhile. At first I tried to be all sweetness and light because that's how I thought crafty mothers of small children should be on the internet. But then I got over it. Let's face it, I'm a little crass. I curse even. I drink beer sometimes. I read tarot cards. I do yoga. I sit on my porch and play guitar and it bothers the neighbors who think I'm lowering property values. I'm not ashamed. I would characterize myself as a bit crunchy and left-of-left, but I'm not a hippie. I have a few tattoos and a few piercings. Often I dye my hair unnatural fluorescent colors. Other times I shave my head completely. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm hard to put in a box.

But I'm pretty nice too. And I like people. And I love making things. It's my way of becoming.

Here's how my blog works:

• Mondays I post either weekend recaps or reviews of books or products.
• Tuesdays I post about roller derby.
• Wednesday I post photos (Wordless Wednesday) or I post about my WIPS (works-in-progress).
• Thursday I post a list of 13 random items/links/photos/etc (Thursday 13).
• Friday I post a tutorial or pattern. My patterns usually involve sewing, crochet, hand-sewing or embroidery. I favor Zakka-style in my designs.
• Weekends may or may not contain random posts.

I'm on facebook and if you let me know you're a blog reader, I'll add you.

You can follow me on twitter. I kind of dig that.

I've published a deck of cards. You can read about that on my tarot site here.