News From The Nest, April 6

New on the Blog 😍

With summer just around the corner, the timing couldn’t be better for our brand-new Crochet Beach Bag Pattern. It’s made with raffia, which has a wonderful natural stiffness that gives this bag its shape without any lining or stiffening spray required, and the open-weave texture means sand shakes right out. The bag works up from a flat circular base using basic single and double crochet stitches, and the post includes a full tips section, detailed troubleshooting, and blocking instructions so your finished bag looks polished and holds its shape all season.

From the Knit + Crochet Studio 🧶

There’s a baby on the way in someone’s world — there always is — and this Argyle Baby Blanket Knitting Pattern will carry your heart in it from the moment you cast on. The reversible argyle body is built entirely from knit and purl stitches, a diamond seed stitch border frames it beautifully, and a sweet crochet picot edge finishes it off with charm. The post also walks you through yarn choices for baby projects, including which fibers wash best, so you can hand this off with confidence.

And once your blanket is done, the post links right over to the guide on how to block your knitting — which covers all three methods (wet, steam, and spray), explains which works best for which fiber, and walks through the full process from soaking to pinning to drying. Jacqueline wrote in to say, “A brilliant article on blocking! I’ve avoided blocking any project, as I’m still fairly new to knitting. After reading, I feel pretty confident! Thank you so much!”

Make sure to include one of these Care Tags when you gift any of your handknit or crocheted projects.

The Chinese Wave Knit Washcloth Pattern uses only two stitches — knit and slip stitch — to create a beautiful, textured pattern that looks far more complex than it is. Add a crochet picot edge, and you have something that genuinely looks spa-worthy, perfect for gifting with a bar of pretty soap. Alison chimed in, “I have crocheted for years but have never been able to knit. My best achievement was a wonky edged scarf lol but decided to have a go at this and to my amazement it turned out great! I’m now doing some for my daughter but in a range of colours in the pink and lilac colour range. I’m so pleased. Thanks so much for introducing me to another craft!”

From the Kitchen 🍽️

We are an olive family, and these Marinated Castelvetrano Olives are one of our all-time favorite snacks. Buttery Castelvetrano olives marinate with shallots, garlic, olive oil, and pink peppercorns — which are actually sweet little berries, not true peppercorns — and the result is one of those ‘sum is greater than the parts’ recipes.

Pickled Carrots are one of those recipes that reward a wee bit of patience. After you pour a spiced vinegar brine over fresh carrots and let them sit in the fridge for a day or two, you end up with something tangy, crunchy, and genuinely versatile. They’re wonderful alongside sandwiches, on a charcuterie board (especially next to those marinated olives!), or just eaten straight from the jar.

French macarons have a reputation for being fussy, and that reputation is not entirely undeserved — but this French Macaron Recipe gives you 14 specific tips and a step-by-step video that make the whole process feel genuinely doable. The espresso chocolate ganache filling alone is worth clearing an afternoon for, and the shells freeze beautifully so you can get ahead of a party or gathering.

Pop this Blueberry and Apple Crumble in the oven tonight and win all the ‘BEST…’ awards. Sweet, juicy blueberries and tender apples, topped with the crunchiest, most crumbly topping you have ever made, make this a delightful treat. I share a tip for that extra-crumbly topping you won’t want to miss.

These Sourdough Discard Crackers are what happens when you don’t discard your sourdough discard! These snacking staples are super simple to make…just four pantry staples, rolled paper-thin, and baked until golden and crisp. The tang of the discard gives them just enough character, and they keep well for days if they manage to stick around that long. Cut into long strips, they are absolutely stunning on a charcuterie board, and the post includes a great list of flavor variations from sesame-seeded to everything bagel to cheesy parmesan.

A bowl of Chicken Vegetable Soup feels like a full reset — warm, simple, and deeply satisfying. The key here is to start with bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and render the fat in the pot first; that step builds richness into the broth you simply cannot get with boneless, skinless shortcuts. The recipe is intentionally simple — chicken, broth, carrots, celery, onion, and a bit of marjoram and thyme combine to make a nourishing bowl of deliciousness!

From the Arts + Crafts Studio 🖼️

This post on upcycling a candlewick bedspread takes those beautiful old cotton bedspreads — the kind with tufted patterns and fringe that end up folded in attics — and shows you how to transform them into charming hand towels with the fringe still intact. The post walks through the process start to finish, including how to remove and reattach the fringe so you end up with a double-layered towel that is both absorbent and genuinely pretty. The same technique works with chenille bedspreads, so start watching estate sales.

I’ve lived on the ocean almost all of my life, and I’m all about bringing it inside wherever I can, but in a way that feels intentional rather than kitschy. This Oyster Shell Mirror is exactly that — a round wooden base, a center mirror, and oyster shells arranged from smallest to largest, radiating outward into something you would pay serious money for in a boutique. This is one of my all-time favorite DIYs and hangs in my foyer right now.

In the Garden 🌱

One of my favorite Springtime ‘chores’ is planning which plants will go into my pots, and this post on Container Garden Recipes shares a great collection of real-world plant combinations I’ve gathered — with specific plant identifications so you can actually recreate them. The thriller-filler-spiller framework is the backbone of all of them, and seeing it in action in a wide variety of containers helps make the concept click.

In the House + Home 🏠

Painting exterior brick is one of those decisions that should take a long time to commit to, and we spent nearly four years researching and deliberating on it before finally pulling the trigger. The post on painting exterior brick covers everything — why the color we chose, Revere Pewter, works so well, the full list of pros and cons for painting brick in the first place, and the specific prep, primer, paint, and tool choices that made the job successful.