Winter 2027 is long sleeves and tights season, which makes it a good time for a lot of women to try putting the razor down. Since 2010, Breanne Fahs, a professor at Arizona State University, has invited her students to stop shaving their legs and underarms for 10 weeks and keep a journal about it. “There is a big difference between imagining not shaving and actually trying to not shave,” she told ASU News.A social-psychology review published by Springer looks at why that gap exists, and at the pressure many women still feel to stay hairless. The 10 women in these stories closed the gap on their own terms. Each one made a last shave with a razor, and what came after was a new kind of confidence, a calmer routine at home, and a lot of unexpected happiness.

The first frost takes the tomatoes, but a crocheted garden on the windowsill lasts all winter. That’s the idea behind this season’s craft boom, where yarn and a hook turn garden vegetables, flowers and plants into handmade home decor. Crocheters are stitching whole succulent and cactus gardens, tiny vegetable baskets, radishes, eggplants and harvest fruits, plus garden-themed baby blankets and bouquets, and one embroidered autumn harvest has joined them for good measure. Many of these pieces were made as gifts, from flowers for a baby shower to a bouquet for a 90th birthday, and none of them need watering. Here are 16 new crochet designs and trends bringing the garden indoors this fall.

October makes people notice each other. The first frost shows up on the windshield, chrysanthemums crowd the doorway of the flower shop, and the days get short enough that a lit window in a retirement home looks like an invitation. This month’s acts of kindness and compassion are small and well timed. A florist ties up the bouquets that won’t last the weekend and leaves them on a bus stop bench, a resident at a retirement home spends his pocket money on full-size Halloween candy, and a kind child decides to rescue a lovely cat. With the holidays close, a little generosity goes a long way. Here are 12 new October stories of compassion, from a flower shop, a retirement home and the strangers who showed up when it counted.

A study by Elizabeth M. White, Mark D. DeBoer and Rebecca J. Scharf in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics followed 9,971 children from kindergarten to third grade. The kids who did more chores in kindergarten rated their social skills, academic abilities and life satisfaction higher in third grade, an association the researchers say doesn’t prove cause and effect. Responsibility starts at home, and so do money habits, self-care and kindness. Penn State Extension adds that children learn the most about money by watching how their parents handle it. With school routines settled and holiday shopping only weeks away, this is the season those lessons show up: a kid pays at the register for the first time, packs their own lunch, or gets handed a chore and does it badly. Here are 20 real parenting lessons on how kids learned life skills, money habits, responsibility and kindness at home, and what the parents learned right back.

Right now, with the last tomatoes coming off the vines and the first leaves hitting the lawn, a lot of backyard gardens are turning into front-porch gifts. Growing your own food means too much zucchini, spare seedlings and wildflower seeds, and the easiest way to use them is to hand them over the fence. We present our beloved readers with these 10 stories that show how landscaping and home gardening bring kindness, generosity and happiness to a whole community and homes in October 2026.

As the nights get longer and the holidays get closer, animal shelters across the country fill up with dogs and cats hoping to find homes before winter. Adopting one is an act of kindness, and survey data suggests it can be an act of self-care, too. In a Mather Institute survey of 900 adults aged 55 and older who live alone, reported by dvm360, 76% said their pets improved their emotional well-being, 62% said their pets lowered their stress, and 45% said their pets got them moving more. Those numbers are self-reported, but they match what adopters say in these 11 stories: a rescue dog on the couch, a shelter cat on the pillow, and a house that finally feels like home again. Here are 11 real animal rescue experiences, from the Humane Society to the local shelter, where compassion went both ways and happiness followed everyone home.

Look around a closet, a living room or a birthday gift table in 2026 and there’s a good chance something in it came off a crochet hook. The craft has outgrown the hobby basket and moved into clothing, home design and everyday lifestyle. Granny square cardigans and handmade sweaters are being worn to the office, chunky blankets and crocheted cushions anchor the couch, and scarves, bags and tiny amigurumi keep showing up wrapped as birthday gifts. Cold weather is settling in and the holiday gift season is only weeks away, so makers are working at full speed, yarn stashes open and patterns bookmarked. Here are 11 of the latest crochet masterpieces, proof that one ball of yarn can become the best thing in the room.

Thanksgiving is a few weeks out, and the group-text invitations are losing to paper ones. Families are digging old recipe cards out of kitchen drawers, borrowing sewing machines for matching Christmas pajamas, and mailing handwritten cards to people they would normally ping on their phones. Ordering gifts online feels less festive than taping a name tag to something made at the kitchen table. Then there’s the chair. More homes now keep one extra seat at the dinner table for a neighbor, a widowed friend or a cousin who just moved to town. Here are 11 holiday stories, from a retired mail carrier writing to his old route to a grandmother who finally said sorry, that show why these traditions are worth bringing back.

A crocheted pumpkin takes about two hours and a scrap of orange yarn, which is why October disappears so fast for crocheters. Halloween cardigans, a pink spiderweb cape, a black cat cloak and even a hand-crocheted log for a Log Lady Halloween costume are coming off hooks all over the internet, along with mosaic pillows and blankets, and the holiday is only a few weeks away. A handmade Halloween costume has one big advantage over anything from a store: it comes with a story, like a jumper a son asked for or a hat designed from a granny square in a magic ring. With the spooky season in full swing, now is the time to cast on. Here are crochet lovers whose handmade clothing, pumpkins and home designs bring the Halloween spirit home this October.

The winter holidays are only weeks away, and the questions around them have changed. Who hosts now that the stairs at the old family home are harder for grandma? What does dad do with December now that retirement has turned his full calendar into an empty one? A University of Michigan review of its National Poll on Healthy Aging, published in JAMA, found that more than a third of Americans aged 50 to 80 feel lonely, and nearly as many feel isolated. That is why a phone call, a visit or an extra chair at the table can matter so much at this time of year. Retirement plans, a childhood home and a grandmother’s recipe all look different in December. These 10 stories about aging parents, grandparents and retirement show what the holidays look like when someone you love is a little older, and when you finally decide to bring them home.

Nail salons are already looking ahead to Thanksgiving, and November’s manicure and pedicure requests are moving from October’s darker looks into cranberry jam, olive velvet, chocolate glaze, and touches of gold. Gel nails, polish shades, glossy finishes, magnetic effects, and rich, cozy autumn colors are bringing Thanksgiving into both beauty and fashion just as holiday dressing starts taking over.Here are 10 Thanksgiving manicure and pedicure designs and trends worth saving before November 2026 nail salon appointments start filling up, including a few detailed looks to help you recreate them at home.

Fall hits crocheters like a deadline. One cold morning and the yarn stash looks different, every skein suddenly a sweater or a blanket waiting to happen. This autumn, a lot more people feel it. Searches for analog hobbies like knitting, crochet and embroidery jumped 136% in six months, and yarn accessory sales are up 40% year over year, according to the Michaels 2026 Creativity Trend Report. It shows in what’s coming off hooks right now: granny square cardigans and vests, textured cable-stitch sweaters, scarves in plum and deep teal, and chunky blankets with matching cushions and baskets for cozy home decor. Real crafters aren’t waiting for the shops to catch up. They’re making their own handmade versions, pattern open on the tablet, tea going cold on the side table. With the first frost and gift season both closing in, this is the month to start. Here are 15 fall crochet trends crafters are recreating at home right now.