14.12.21

Olivia Comstock

She / Her
maker / knitter

During the day (and let’s be real, many nights and weekends) I am a PhD student in art history in the US. Right now though I am very lucky to be living in Berlin, Germany for a year-long research and study award. In art history, I am interested in the quotidian (everyday), process/technique, and material/visual culture (basically anything other than traditional painting and sculpture).

At night, I sit down with a handy-craft and watch a good TV show or movie. My primary practice is knitting, but I also mend frequently to prolong the life of my clothes. With knitting, my favorite projects are garments, preferably with seams, a high neck, a single color, and the most rustic wool I can find (undyed wool especially makes me melt).

I am willing to try any craft though–I love occupying my hands with small, busy tasks. Focusing on something tactile clears my mind of the worry anxiety spiral. I also know how to sew, but am taking an extended break as I didn’t bring my sewing machine to Germany!

Tell us about your Holiday playlist:

First off–this playlist is 12 hours long. Perfect if you want to have Christmas music in the background all day when you are puttering around at home or having people over for several hours. Since it is so long, I want to highlight the general ~vibe~ and a few specific favorites! Overall, it is the perfect mixture of indie Christmas (looking at you Sufijan Stevens, Ingrid Michaelson, and She & Him), traditional favorites (Good King Wenceslas, Sleigh Ride, and other choral/instrumentals), contemporary bops, Charlie Brown, and the Muppets. You never know what is going to come up next on shuffle, but generally it is merry, but in a low-key way, like Christmas flavored Lacroix.

A few of my absolute favorites if you are just looking for a short listen:

  • Andrew Bird – Hark! and Christmas in April EPs
  • The 1994 Little Women Movie Soundtrack – you feel like you are just another March sister ice-skating down the pond and traipsing through the snow in your long linen skirts
  • Both the Pentatonix and original Fleet Foxes “White Winter Hymnal,” which while not traditional or that Christmasy really, remind me of winter dark nights, bright snow, and how unimaginable summer-time is in the deep winter.
  • Ingrid Michaelson and Zooey Deschanel’s new “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year” song – has the cutest animated felted creature music video to go with it
  • DvergmĂ„l – Song i himmelsalar album – Norwegian winter folk songs

Bonus: this one isn’t on spotify, but Adrianne Lenker from the band Big Thief has my heart and so does her and Buck Meek’s little nostalgic Christmas album available on Bandcamp

black play icon
🎄Christmas for O


This playlist has over 250 songs, for full track list please check Spotify in link above.