Crafts To Do In A Cabin

My biggest crafting hear me out of 2025: u need to be folding origami

Hello hello from the gorgeous Coyle, Washington. I am on my annual trip to my friend Lindy’s serene cabin nestled in an enchanted forest floating atop the shimmering waters of the Hood Canal. I am here for almost two weeks, and I packed extremely aspirationally. Three knitting projects, my Nintendo 3DS, my Nintendo Switch, water shoes and all necessary swimming gear, my ipad fully stocked with piano music, a physical book, my e-reader, work out clothes, and extremely importantly: six varieties of origami paper.

My brother Henry and I had a period of obsession with origami as kids and sometime last year it occurred to me that I hadn’t done any origami in probably 15 years, so I added it to my to-craft list. In getting ready for this trip it was important to me to have a healthy mix of girl-boss crafts (original designs that need to be knit) as well as pure leisure crafts, so this was the perfect opportunity to explore my old love of folding paper.

It comes as no surprise to me that after folding one crane, I am feeling newly obsessed with origami. The tactile sensation of handling and folding beautiful paper is extremely satisfying. The gratification is instant. There are so many websites dedicated to providing free tutorials for origami, and even as a beginner it’s pretty easy to follow along with a tutorial and get it right quickly. Not only is it fun and satisfying but it is also extremely elegant if you even care. Both the act of folding and the finished product are elegant (assuming you aren’t using ugly paper or folding too shittily).

I urge you to give origami a try, especially if you need a craft or hobby. I know you might see all of my gorgeous knitting, spinning, weaving, and jewelry making and feel inspired to try one of those things, which I DO empower u to try, but I will also inject u with a dose of reality by saying a lot of those crafts have a steep barrier to entry. They require a lot of tools, materials, and free time, plus they can be difficult to learn for an absolute beginner. You need dedication and resources to engage in those crafts in a meaningful way. Origami? You need beautiful paper (please just google origami paper and buy some lovely square sheets of paper and skip the part where you poorly cut your plain printer paper into lopsided squares), you need 15-20 minutes, and either a book, website, or Youtube tutorial. That’s it!

After a few cranes I have been focused on floral origami, folding lilies, lotus flowers, and roses. Everyone at the cabin has also joined me for a little origami, building love and friendship through the miracle of folding.

Another priority for enjoying my vacation has been making music every day. Lindy’s partner Aham is an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist and their cabin is WELL stocked with musical instruments for me to play. I have been playing piano, viola, and mandolin, but I regretted not packing a recorder the moment I left my apartment in Chicago, so I tricked my friends into stopping by a music shop in Port Townsend so that I could “see what sheet music they had” then walked out with a new soprano recorder two minutes later.

I am a strong alto and bass recorder player, and a weak soprano and tenor player, so this is a nice opportunity to improve my chops on soprano. Naturally, I have pulled up Der Fluyten Lust-hof (The Flute’s Pleasure Garden—sexy right?) by Jacob Van Eyck. It is a 1644 collection of popular tunes, folk songs, church music, and original compositions. Anyone who I successfully recorder-fluenced should pull it up on imslp.org and get tootin’.

I am not alone in my music making at the cabin. Every one of my companions has been put under a spell by the music studio which contains a high quality karaoke set up. Not only are we doing karaoke every night, but we are also going to the studio throughout the day “to practice” and “for rehearsals” LMAO. Guys ur never gonna guess my break out hit karaoke song.. It’s Memory from Cats. In fact, everyone is taking turns singing Memory from Cats. Maybe the most beautiful song ever written?

We have created a tradition the last two summers of coming up for our cabin get away and also hosting a knit night with the wonderful folks of the Lamb and Kid yarn shop on Bainbridge Island. The event is a fun evening of hanging out with my friends in a room full of beautiful yarn and amazing knitters, it doesn’t get any better. Any yarny color lovers should absolutely check out The Lamb and Kid, better yet, go in person, best yet, come when we do our next knit night there Summer 2026.

I also took the chance to cook one of my favorite meals for a cabin dinner: chicken katsu, Japanese curry w/ potatoes and carrots, and rice. Cooking, add it to the list of things I’m good at, sorry!

Anyway I have to go. I am needed for knitting, crocheting, taking pictures, swimming, cooking, eating, laughing, singing, playing 4 or more instruments, going for runs, petting the dog, playing video games, reading, and definitely folding 100 more origami flowers. Hope you’re doing something that makes you happy this week. Talk next weekend, James.