#but I find the knitting patterns much more difficult | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mandarinmoons · 30 days

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Hi! So what about BAU!Reader and Spencer are fresh into their relationship. Like weeks into it. Reader is just as shy and nerdy as Spencer was in early seasons. (This can be any season of Spencer) anyways it’s Spencer’s birthday and Spencer begs reader to not buy anything for him so instead she knits him a replica of Dr. Who scarf because she remembers him mentioning to Garcia he was trying to find the perfect replica for his Dr. Who cosplay (7x23 when Garcia and Spencer go to that convention) so reader, who never watched it before, watches the entire series while knitting the scarf bc she knows how much Spencer loves Dr. Who and she wanted to understand his interests more. Maybe she makes herself a matching scarf or hand warmers in the process. And then she’s like “I have a ton of questions about the series though” and pulls out a notebook of her questions as she’s asking them Spencer realizes she’s THE ONE and it’s all just fluff and two nerds in love 🥰

I've never consumed any content about Doctor Who so I'm sorry if this is a bit vague BUT the idea was so cute so I had to give it a shot x

You and Spencer were both nerds, it’s what drew you two together and keeps you both joined at the hip. Even though you two had been together for less than eight weeks, both of you had your eyes on one another for a good while. When mutual feelings were finally admitted the only thing different from before was that you got to hold hands and kiss each other on the cheek comfortably without having to worry if it’ll make the other person uncomfortable.

Spencer’s birthday was coming up and with Spencer being the way that he is, he was adamant about not letting you splurge on his big day. You were a bit annoyed by it because a part of you did want to go out and treat your special boy the way he deserved to be treated. However, you did not want to argue with him so you decided to get a bit creative.

Long before the relationship had been established, Spencer had talked about how he was searching for a replica of the Doctor Who scarf for his cosplay. Knitting was something you had learned before, although it had been quite a few years since you last picked it up, you decided to try it out again and hopefully make Spencer’s face gleam with joy.

After digging out your old knitting needles and yarn you looked up some tutorials online to familiarize yourself with your old hobbie. A few hours and some messy pathworks later, you managed to remind yourself of how everything went down and began work on the scarf. Luckily the pattern wasn’t difficult at all and as you began working away you thought about looking up the show and getting a feel for what Spencer talks about all the time.

After many weeks and countless trips to the store to get more yarn the scarf was finished and you were both excited and nervous to hand it over to Spencer. A million thoughts ran in your head as he undid the bow on the carefully packed present and removed the scarf from the paper, his eyes went wide and he was speechless for a whole minute.

“Y/N, how did you…”

“Surprise?” you chuckled and Spencer was still speechless, he ran his thumbs over the carefully knitted garment. He wrapped it over his neck and walked over to the mirror to have a closer look, his heart was melting over how you took so much time and effort to make him this. He walked over to you and placed his arms around you in a bone crushing hug which only made you laugh.

“I’m so glad you like it.”

“Like it? That doesn’t even come close to how I feel about it, I love it.”

Spencer held your cheeks as he kissed you and as you parted a thought came to your mind.

“Oh also, I watched a bit of the show!”

“Really? Did you like it?”

“Mhm, I have a few questions though, firstly…”

As you went on about your questions regarding the show Spencer stared at you while a smile crept on his face. He loved how you took interest in anything he was fascinated in, and in return he would do it with your interests as well, it was one of the ways you both showed love to one another.

Spencer guided you back to the couch, pulling you to his lap as he cleared his throat and explaining the questions you just layed out for him. You looked up at him and nodded along as he got into the topic and you were reminded of one of the reasons why you fell for him in the first place, his passion, and that same passion grew now that he had someone like you in his life.

Taglist: @radioactiveinvisible @whoisspence @sreidisms @lanascinnamongirls @luvkatryna @sp3ncelle @iluvreid @khxna @keiva1000 @reidstheyfriend @hiireadstuff @pleasantwitchgarden

If you want to be a part of my taglist go here!

You can find my masterlist here!

My requests are open so feel free to send one in! (SFW only)

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itspronouncedtessa · 8 months

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The "English or continental" debate is problematic and ultimately detrimental to the community.

Every time I see one of these "are you one or the other" posts, polls, tweets (Xcreets?), blogs, vlogs, whatevers, I get so annoyed. Undies fully twisted.

So indulge me and let's get into this.

First things first:

This is not an attack on pickers or throwers specifically. Any knitting style is valid. If the end result is even, non-twisted stitches that you enjoyed putting together, you're doing it right.

That said, I have 3 major gripes with the concept of "English vs continental" knitting:

1. The terminology. The terms "English" and "continental" were coined during WWII, as continental is actually German and the English were (rightly, at the time) uncomfortable doing anything the German way, or admitting that that way could be more efficient.

As we're about 80 years removed from the war, it might be time to accept that neither is objectively better and that German isn't a dirty word. We can, and should, use English and German, or throwing and picking respectively.

2. It's exclusionary to new knitters. The whole picking vs throwing discussion has made it so that new knitters don't know there are other options. If you're new to knitting, you get the impression that these are the only two options and if you can't do either, you can't knit.

Not to mention that the overwhelming majority of patterns and instructional videos are written or made exclusively for English or German methods. Which means if you want or need to use a different style, you need the additional step and skill of translating the pattern to fit your method. This requires a certain level of understanding of the underlying techniques that new knitters don't have. (Which is why I prefer charts, but that's a whole different rant.)

3. It's exclusionary to experienced knitters who don't pick or throw. The term continental for specifically German knitting dismisses all the other non-German European styles.

An incomplete list:

Eastern, or Russian, where you purl clockwise instead of counterclockwise, mounting the stitch backwards and knitting through the back loop on the right side. Creates the same stitch, but can be so much smoother to execute. Also very useful if you're doing rows of YO, ssk, as it eliminates the need to reorient the stitches before knitting them together.

Norwegian, where you purl without the need to bring the yarn fully forward. This is hard to describe in words, so I highly recommend googling for a video on Norwegian purls. It's a game changer for rib or seed stitch.

Portuguese, where you tension the yarn at the front of the work, looping it over your neck or through a pin. My personal preferred main method. Super helpful for those of us who lack finger strength to comfortably tension at the back. Makes purling a breeze.

Irish or lever knitting. Done with straight needles and (mostly) one-handed. Extremely helpful for people with disabilities. Also one of the fastest methods. You should check out videos on this, the speed is magical.

Flicking (not exactly regional), which is right handed but instead of throwing, you move the right needle to grab the yarn. Also difficult to explain, so check out some videos on this, too. Its a very quick method with minimal wrist movement. If you have the finger strength for tensioning it's worth practicing this, as it's so quick.

All of these are valid techniques, most of them are from continental Europe, none of them are included in the question "English or continental?".

And all of the above doesn't even get into the non-western, non-English, non-European styles there must be around the world, that I can't find through Google, because the English speaking world only uses the above mentioned methods.

Also, knitters that use other methods than picking or throwing are wildly underrepresented in the community, giving the knitting scene a culturally very white, western European image. Knitting could be a far more inclusive hobby if we'd embrace all styles.

In short, we need to change the question to "tell me about your technique" and learn from each other. Combining multiple methods (I use 3 or 4 interchangeably, depending on the pattern) can increase efficiency and enjoyment. And if you're struggling in any way, there might be a technique out there that better suits your needs. Asking about English vs continental isn't going to provide that information.

So tell me about your technique, especially if you use or know of any knitting methods that aren't western or European, I would LOVE to hear about that. Let's share and celebrate all the ways we knit.

#knitting #English or continental #rant #Knitting techniques

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olderthannetfic · 7 months

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This might be an odd or personal question, but could I ask how you started knitting and where you started as a beginner? Or what would you recommend? I’ve tried to join clubs and groups irl, but there’s so much drama and gossiping. When I said I didn’t want to take part in that aspect, they started ostracizing and gossiping about me. Any websites, yt channels or books you’d recommend for a beginner?

Haha.

My friend, this does not even register on the scale of deeply personal or odd questions people have sent me.

I've been trying to remember exactly how I started and why (like, even before this ask). I think it was on a family vacation to Scotland the summer before I started college. That would have been in 1999.

I taught myself from one of those awful 90s pamphlets with the line drawings. They're a nightmare compared to being able to see someone do the motions in person or even in a video. I had some awful plastic needles and no guidance on yarn and just knit with what I found at some shop there. Do not recommend!

I achieved what I wanted during college, which was to make a nice cable-knit sweater that I still wear, and then I got frustrated with crappy acrylic yarn and drifted away from knitting until a year or so ago.

The fact is, I basically didn't do beginner projects. I moved straight from making one rectangle to making grandiose sweaters or whatever else struck my fancy. (But if you want to know, I was using Viking Patterns for Knitting and a bunch of Alice Starmore books, all of which you can still buy.) I know plenty of people who did it this way, but you certainly don't have to.

And you definitely don't need to learn from a terrible 90s printed pamphlet!

Luckily, nowadays, you can find a tutorial on just about anything on Youtube. I enjoy watching the technical and historical types discuss quirks of knitting you might not think of without years of practice or research.

Roxanne Richardson is great, for example.

Look for somebody old, not wearing a lot of makeup, and not talking about their indie dyeing/yarn business and you'll avoid most of the clowns who learned to knit five minutes ago and now want to be knitfluencers.

When I want a super simple technique tutorial, I usually end up looking at either Nimble Needles or VeryPink Knits. I find her super annoying, but her tutorials are spot-on. Norman's voice is much more soothing and I just enjoy his presence more, but both of them have good ultra close-up shots of what they're doing (which lots of vloggers don't because it requires special equipment).

I'd just figure out what kind of finished products you want to use knitting for and then find patterns and tutorials geared towards those.

Cables are relatively easy. Stranded colorwork requires a fair amount of physical coordination and some people find it rather difficult at first.

Circular needles are far more popular than traditional straight ones for people starting today.

Cotton yarn is relatively less nice to knit with than wool for most people, but it tends to be the natural fiber available at a low price point from major retailers.

Picking up general tips like that by watching various youtubers will help you pick a project that won't be too painful to work on.

People who naturally knit loosely should consider grippy bamboo or wooden needles. People who naturally knit tightly should consider slippery metal ones.

My biggest piece of advice is that you're usually better off with something "hard" that you actually like rather than a "practice" project you don't care about, at least after you've made like one rectangle to practice doing a knit stitch at all.

Finding community can be hard, and yes, some crafting hobbies are infested with drama.

But if you just want to know how to knit, you're way better off with some video tutorials and a nice pattern you like.

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aroworlds · 6 months

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[image description: a Barbie doll with black hair and light brown skin lying atop a pile of pants, tops, dresses, skirts, T-shirts, belts and jewellery in the green, light green, white, grey and black colours of the aromantic pride flag. Doll is dressed in grey and black pants, a black and white tank, a green bolero lined in lighter green, a lighter green belt and a black chain necklace.]

Barbie's Pride Ward(a)robe, Part One

2023 is all about the cultural phenomenon that is Barbie, but as much as I consider myself a collector, I've never been into pink. Nor am I excited by many of her fashions. As there is one colour palette I'm passionate about, for @aggressivelyarospec's Aggressively Arospectacular I'm posting my biggest crafting project yet: clothes and accessories for dolls who want to make fashion all about our aromantic pride.

The goal: a collection of mix and match pieces so my dolls can glory in a variety of aro-themed outfits.

The result: a seven-part post series detailing my misadventures in hand-sewing a 65-piece summer ward(a)robe.

In this series I discuss making patterns from pre-existing doll clothes, hand-sewing techniques and many acts of repurposing human-sized clothes, jewellery and accessories. Aside from a sheet of water-soluble canvas (for cross-stitching motifs onto doll T-shirts), I've avoided specialised or difficult-to-source materials. All the findings, beads, sliders, hooks and snaps mentioned can be purchased cheaply from chain craft, dollar/discount and department stores. Anyone looking to make more than a couple of pieces, however, will need to gather a variety of oddments prior to crafting. This absurd project is best for folks already possessing--or happy to add to--a sewing supply stash!

Today's post focuses on doll bodies and sizing, doll clothing as a base for your own patterns, and the scarcity of green knit fabric.

Folks can find all future posts collected on my website or my patreon.

#aggressivelyarospectacular #aggressivelyarospec #community events #aromantic #pride crafts #barbie #fashion dolls #clothing and accessories #sewing and needlecraft #needlework #green aro pride flag #long post #link #patreon #aro worlds wordpress #doll clothes #barbie's pride wardarobe #jewellery

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andmaybegayer · 9 months

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idle Google scholar searching isn't really helping but I do often wonder whether the "they don't make hard-wearing clothes anymore" thing is partially down to the dramatic shift in the cost and style of clothing production and wear trends. This is entirely contradictory spitballing.

Firstly, survivorship bias, a lot of Ye Olden clothing is completely gone because it was cheap thin linen worn to death by some peasant, the stuff that persists is either rich person clothes worn only a few times or lucky to have been preserved. It's well known that historical clothing collections are largely the clothing of nobles and very wealthy merchants. That linen was probably pretty hard-wearing, because, it's linen, but it was also probably heavily repaired and busted after a few years like modern jeans often are.

Secondly, clothing was stupendously expensive and time consuming in the past, so it's very difficult to reasonably compare a $10 T-shirt to a summer dress that required a hundred person hours of spinning and weaving just to make the raw material for. A comparable modern article would be like. A bespoke dress shirt or tailored gown.

Thirdly, we wear much more wear-susceptible clothing as a result of these changes, the most obvious example being stretch. Stretch fabrics eventually lose their stretch, go slack, and become shitty to wear. People who wear raw denim and solid chino trousers and stiff linen shirts and pure cotton dresses exist but they're considered special interest niche fashion nerds, most people seem to find stretch clothing more comfortable and appreciate the way that it cheaply fits a wide array of body types. Wool knits stretch and go way back but most people don't choose to wear wool if they have a choice these days.

Fourthly, clothes are so cheap that we don't look after them in the same ways. A hole in some trousers for most people means "throw those away and get new ones" because trousers are a $20 line item, not several weeks of continuous spinning and weaving. We wash clothes way, way more often which increases wear in exchange for better hygiene. It's also less labour intensive to wash frequently than if you had to plan your whole day around heating water for laundry.

It seems more likely to me that patterns in clothing wear have moved from "small quantities of expensive clothing that is carefully looked after" to "larger quantities of cheaper clothing that is treated more disposably" than that actual wear resistance at equivalent points on the price curve has changed. If you spend hours of your income equivalent to whatever a peasant had to spend on a linen or wool square they spun and wove you could probably get a really nice high end piece of tailored clothing.

#textiles #this is entirely spitballing

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mirith · 8 months

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Bet.

Apologies for the messy background, but here's my lovely knitting machine! It's a Silver Reed SK10.

While writing another post, I noticed I was writing a lot about my knitting machine. So I put the words here. And added a lot more.

This is going to be a long post. I talk a lot about things I like, and I will not apologize for it. I will add a cut here so you can scroll by this more easily if you want. But! It'll be more fun if you read on! And I put photos of stuff I made at the end!

I learned to knit by hand from a book in elementary school, and I learned wrong. I have been happily hand-knitting things ever since, and consider myself a fairly knowledgeable and experience hand-knitter. I haven't steeked anything, to be fair, but my interests tend to be geared toward lace.

Which is good, because that's my default handspinning weight. Here's an example of the stuff I like to spin and knit (4 months from start to end, oof oof):

After I graduated college, I found out about flatbed knitting machines! I found one that looked cool, and drove myself a few hours to buy it. The end. Just kidding. You're not even halfway through this post. Not sorry.

I did not know how to operate a knitting machine. I just liked how this one looked (still do) and it also had a ribber! And it was $50? Something like that? Probably paid more for gas.

Anyway. Flatbed knitting machines range from "I can only do stockinette hehe" to "I am fully electronic, I'll knit lace or colorwork for you all by myself, EZ".

Mine is firmly in the former camp. No punchcard capability at all, and the ribber carriage is not even sophisticated enough to link up with the main bed carriage. Each row of ribbing requires the main bed carriage to be moved first (laying yarn across the ribber needles), then the ribber carriage (hooking the previously laid yarn down to complete the row). So knitting in the round is, yes, one pass of the main, then the ribber, then the main again, then the ribber carriage... (I actually made a lil' youtube video about this).

I cannot tell you why I wanted it, other than "new yarn thing!". At this point in my life, I was a very comfortable hand-knitter. There was no reason to acquire a large metal object that would do what I did, but "less good" (considering this machine would only ever do stockinette and hand-manipulated stitches -- but I didn't know tuck stitches existed!).

Tuck stitches look like the honeycomb pattern in the middle here, and are kind of knitting machine exclusive:

I think I actually may have wanted a circular sock machine, but those are very, very expensive, and not really in my price range. Still aren't. Very much considering adding one to my wedding registry to see if someone bites. (Would have to plan a wedding, but it would be worth it).

I figured that a flatbed machine with a ribber could knit in circles, ie, what CSMs do; but would also knit large flat things (CSMs can do small flat things, I think). And since the price meant a CSM was unrealistic without some serious saving, it was clear I would have to find a flatbed with ribber.

But working knitting machines with working ribbers are difficult to find. And expensive! I think prices were $350-500 for the full package plus shipping (expensive shipping because these are bulky and heavy and delicate instruments), and I'm sure they've only gotten worse.

I kind of live in a domestic craft desert, so there was very little hope for finding something local anyway. So when I saw a working machine with a ribber "near" me for less than $100, I was stoked. I was aware of its non-ability to pattern, but I just wanted to knit in circles.

When I got this machine, it was functional, but dirty. Oh, so dirty.

First thing I did was remove all the needles (took forever) and soak them in isopropyl alcohol (smelled terrible), and take everything apart as much as possible to scrub every reachable surface.

It was then that I re-affirmed my love for all-metal, vintage hardware. My sewing machine is a 1950s Singer and oh boy is that thing an absolute unit. This knitting machine is also an absolute unit in the best way. It was dirty, but in excellent knitting condition.

It was then that I also found this machine does not have a sponge bar. Which is really weird for a knitting machine. But also why I'll never get rid of it, I think.

It's got a metal U-shaped thing instead, to tension the needles. Sponge bars serve the same purpose, but the foam decays terribly over time. I don't think this metal thing ever needs to be replaced. I've knit quite a lot (will get to that!) on this machine and it knits beautifully still.

I think this machine predates sponge bars (??? pure speculation), because everything I've seen online about buying used machines says that you must consider the sponge bar and how to measure the sponge to buy the correct size and must immediately buy a new one and maybe even have a spare for when yours starts to get old etc etc. Never seen anything that says there's a metal tension rod like mine.

Ravelry did not believe this was the sponge bar equivalent, and asked me to please look elsewhere on the machine for the real sponge bar. They also told me this machine was not worth $50, which I kind of disagree with. Yes, it's super limited, but I love it. It will also, like my sewing machine, probably outlive me.

It's a standard gauge machine, and not a very common one (?). I think it's an earlier machine (4th oldest on this list), in terms of domestic machines, and likely was passed up in later years for models that had punchcards. There is another internet presence who has an SK10! KinoKnits did a video on hers.

There is a manual for the machine and a manual for the ribber online, and the scans aren't great, but they are very readable. Not much else though.

Okay. Infodump mostly completed.

Once I got the machine home I immediately set it up and realized I didn't quite know what I was doing.

After much trial and tribulation, I created some... things...

I optimistically cast on with my newly-learned e-wrap cast on and the included cast on wire (I have still not figured out the cast on wires, I don't think they actually work, and are simply a cruel prank)

I switched yarn (to something thinner and less elastic), in case that was the issue, and also switched to trying just i-cord to see if I could get that to work. It worked!

Switched back to the original yarn. I-cord also worked!

And back to trying fabric. Progress! But a lot of dropped stitches. I think this was very similar to attempt 1, but I just persisted and more aggressively picked up droppped stitches. This took me a very long time.

No dropped stitches! I used a weird cast on, or maybe just a really loose e-wrap?

Fabrice! I was confident enough to mark that I was using tension 7 with those (intentional!) yarn-over holes near the top.

I believe that those six attempts took me a few hours, and a lot of it was me trying to gauge whether or not yanking the carriage across was the right thing to do. I wasn't sure how much force to apply, and was deathly afraid of breaking needles, because I don't think these are standard ones and I can't get replacements.

There wasn't much to learn after this.

Oh.

Except for, you know, using the ribber.

It looks pretty similar to the main needle bed. Long metal guy with lotta needles. It's flatter, and hangs off the main bed with some sturdy arms on either side (which you can't see, sorry).

Close up:

You kind of have to wiggle it so that the needles don't smash into each other.

It does function identically to the main bed otherwise. But it's so much trickier to fix dropped stitches (or even see them!) because, as you can see, the ribber kind of covers everything. And it doesn't come off till the ribbing is done.

I've found that I need lots of weight to get the ribbing to knit off properly, which sucks if I run either carriage across without yarn accidentally. The knitting will simply yeet itself onto the floor and I will have to start over.

The cast on is kind of weird, but not terrible if you understand what it's trying to do, which I do, but will not endeavour to explain on this already horrendously long post. The Singer SR10 manual explains the cast-on process if you're interested. Or just tell me and I'll make another infodump post! Love talking about my knitting machine.

Here are some first attempts at ribbing and tubular knitting:

Allllllrighty it's project time!

I made a hat! (I made it a free Ravelry pattern btw, because the decreases are optionally worked by hand).

I made some sock tubes and hand-knit the heels and toes!

I made a bunch of ribbed cowls with my handspun!

I made scarves with more handspun!

And most recently I made a bralette:

Which turned out smaller than I planned because I do not gauge swatch properly at all, but I can wear it semi-modestly anyway.

#knitting #machine knitting #knitting machine #yarnblr #knitblr #mirith #infodump #just yeeting this info into the void

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avatar-of-the-vast · 3 months

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Local man finds out that its website that makes knitting patterns actually creates much harder patterns than intended because it's a beginner

So, I make this cable knitting site (explained in this post) after just barely learning how to cable. I figure out 2x2 knitted cables and the rest on my own

And then, after looking at a tutorial to send to someone wanting to learn I see this

My guys, my friends, my pals my patterns have some kind of cables going on in every row

I both knit and purl the cables as needed and I don't find any of them to be more difficult than the other so I didn't realise this was a thing

Is this website wrong or are my patterns just more difficult than I intended them to be?

Edit: I'm aware that the site is incorrect about the leaning direction (you always hang it the same for the front or back regardless of what side you're working on) I was more curious about how common wrong side cables were and if they're actually beginner friendly or not

#knitting #knitblr #cable knitting #my post #fiber art #knitters of tumblr #cals cable site

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antiquatedsimmer · 7 months

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Lucile's astonishment was evident as she responded, " There's no need to apologize. I was so young and bothersome- " Lucile paused, catching herself before delving into awkward self-deprecation. "And, besides, you were away on your travels for quite some time, were you not?"

Lucile gracefully settled onto one of the benches beneath the overgrown pavilion. Josephine, on the other hand, took a moment to gaze up at the ancient ruins crowning the hill. She elegantly retrieved her fan and began a gentle fluttering in her direction.

Josephine took a seat beside her, "The girls I grew up around were more or so... strict, like our families. We didn't have much in common, but the women I met during my time away were quite lovely! You remind me of them. "

"Oh…" Lucile leaned back slightly in surprise, her eyes briefly tracing the knit pattern on her sweater. "I wish I could've met them. I don't really think there are other girls like me here in Henford."

Josephine cocked her head ever so slightly, "I find that hard to believe. You blend in so well! I'm sure you've encountered many lovely ladies in my absence. "

Lucile's voice remained soft and slightly timid as she continued, "Well, you see, our farm is the farthest from others, and as a result, we don't receive many visitors. The rare occasions we venture into town are primarily to sell our produce, a task usually undertaken by Silas and Pa. I tend to stay here, assisting Ma with the house. "

Lucile paused gently fidgeting with her delicate fingers in her lap. "I do have friends, you see," she began hesitantly, " Wilford has his hands full working on his family's farm these days, and Charlotte, well, she got married not too long ago. She doesn't visit as often as she used to since starting her own family." She sighed softly, "It's just me now, and I sometimes find it difficult to keep up. I suppose… I struggle to stand out."

#doyle legacy #ts4 #lucile doyle harringotn #Josephine Coombes #decade: 1900 #decade: 1900s #1900 #decade legacy #decades challenge #decade challenge #decades legacy #ts4 historical #ts4cc #decades story #ts4 decades challenge #ultimate decades challenge #historical legacy #historical sims #historical challenge

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criticallyacclaimedstranger · 8 months

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I'm working steadily on my aran sweater and I just see Frankie shyly asking Bonnie if she would make him one. She already made an Icelandic lopapeysa and Frankie knows how much work went into it: to him, the aran with its cables looks five hundred times more difficult. But he really likes the look of it, so he asks her. And Bonnie obviously goes YES, I'd love to! So they decide on a model together, go shopping for yarn together (he insists on paying), and she starts working on it with Frankie looking at her with adoring eyes.

"I can't believe you can do this," he marvels when she's knitted the first five inches or so, and you start to see the beehive and cable pattern.

"I can't believe you can take apart an engine, find out what's wrong with it, and put it back together," she shrugs without looking up from the cable work. Frankie has to agree that they have different strengths and skills.

When the sweater is finished, he can't wait for autumn to come so that he can start wearing it. And he'll tell anyone who asks that his girl made it for him.

#wait hold on i need a minute #frankie morales #frankie morales x bonnie #frankie morales x chubby!reader

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garden-of-violets · 1 year

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Giorno Giovanna with an s/o who crochets/knits!

Character(s): Giorno Giovanna

Type: Headcanons

A/n: I wrote this because I love crocheting and I recently got back into it after two years. I’ve made a couple hats, and I’m working on a bag ♡ (I don’t know as much about knitting as I do crocheting, so I’m going off of my limited knowledge on knitting!!)

♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡︎•♡

♡ Giorno, in all honesty, wasn’t that surprised when you’d mentioned that you liked to crochet. It’s an activity known to be calming, and in your line of work, he’s happy to know that you have a calming activity to help you get through it.

♡ He actually doesn’t know much about crochet. He knows it’s similar to knitting, in the sense that you’re using yarn to create, but that’s about all he knows. Knitting and crocheting aren’t things he ever got into (that’s not surprising).

♡ He’s very supportive of it!! He may not know much, but he’s happy to help support your hobby! He thinks it’s very fun and absolutely adores to see all the fun stuff you create!

♡ He started looking into the hobby more after you’d mentioned it to him. He quickly gained a love for crocheted/knit flower bouquets. He thinks they’re quite sweet. He also really likes the small knit animals he sees people online making. (The small plush crocheted ladybugs are his favourite.)

♡ Giorno likes to give gifts. He usually gifts you flowers, jewelry, or small trinkets you’ll like. Although, once he becomes aware of your love for this hobby, you’ll often be gifted some balls of yarn! He’ll start to buy you some yarn he’ll think you like and he’ll pick the prettiest of colours. He will buy you any yarn you want.

♡ You want blue yarn? He’s already got it on his list. You need some fluffier yarn? Don’t worry, he’ll have it for you asap. He won’t hesitate to support your hobby.

♡ (Sometimes he’ll even buy you little books that are full with different kinds of designs and projects for you to try!)

♡ If you ever gift him a project, he’ll be overjoyed. He won’t show much excitement, but you best know he appreciates everything you give him.

♡ If you ever gift him a crocheted/knit flower bouquet, he’ll keep it in a rose-coloured vase on his office desk for him to look at everyday. If you crochet/knit him a hat or some gloves, he’ll wear them whenever it’s appropriate. He absolutely adores anything you give him. (Maybe he’ll even ask you to make him some gloves sometime, it does get a bit chilly in the winter and he’d love something handmade from you!)

♡ Whenever he finds some patterns or projects online that he thinks you’d like, he’ll send them to you to help you come up with ideas for your next project. (You often get sent photos of tiny knit animals and flower themed projects.)

♡ When you start trying to teach him how to knit/crochet, he finds it a bit difficult. Knitting is hard (and truthfully it looks kinda scary) and crocheting is just a bit difficult to figure out. He doesn’t give up that easily though, and it’s not like you would let him anyway.

♡ He tries his best! Maybe one day he’ll be able to gift you a handmade knit/crocheted flower bouquet full of your favourite flowers!

♡ Once he actually got the hang of it, he made you a small teddy bear.

♡ Overall, he’s very supportive of your hobby and loves anything you make for him!

#golden wind #vento aureo x reader #jojo no kimyou na bouken #reader insert #giorno giovanna x reader #giorno x reader #giorno giovanna #crochet #sorry if this is hard to read #sorry if this doesnt make sense #my writing skills have been going down the drain recently oops #I love crochet

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mrvelocipede · 1 year

Photo

Here’s the glamour shot of the doily I just finished, and I want to start with it because it’s such a contrast to all the steps it takes to get to the aesthetically-pleasing endpoint. It’s got me thinking about that post from a while ago about getting into hobbies cheaply, and also about the internet thing of only seeing the edited highlights of people’s lives, and assuming that they must be much cooler/luckier/more talented than you.

So I wanted to put together some carefully edited lowlights. Or at least a more complete view of the process.

To begin with, projects always have a stage where they look like this:

This is tiny, difficult to work with, unimpressive, and also wrong. I took the picture, then knitted a couple of brief rounds, and realized I’d screwed something up with the initial cast-on and the center wouldn’t close properly. I had to take it apart and start over.

I failed to take a picture of the finished doily once it was off the needles, but before it was blocked. It was the usual shriveled, lumpy blob that knitted lace always is. Most of the other kinds of things I’ve made also go through spells of being metaphorically shriveled, lumpy blobs. Those stages rarely get documented, because at the time I’m not thinking about taking pictures, I’m thinking about crumpling the whole project into a wad, setting it on fire, and kicking it down a stairwell.

It’s easy to be discouraged and give up at that point. I was pretty old before I learned not to abandon things just because they looked like hell, halfway through. Sometimes if I kept going, they would shape up and turn into something perfectly respectable. (Sometimes it wasn’t exactly what I’d planned at the beginning, but interesting all the same.)

So, blocking. I enjoy blocking, especially lace. Partly because of how much better it looks afterward, but also because I love tinkering with apparatus. I get to feel like a mad scientist, or an olde-timey inventor, or something. And also because lace is considered fancy and elegant, and the things I use for blocking very much aren’t, and I find the contrast delightful.

This is the crappiest hula hoop in the world. It’s too small and too lightweight to use for actual hula-hooping, but it’s great for doilies. The rubber-bands-and-paper-clips method of blocking has the advantage of equalizing the tension, so you don’t have to endlessly fiddle with adjusting the pins and hoping the end result will be symmetrical.

The Ravelry pattern page for this doily shows it blocked in a circle, while the one listed project has it shaped into a more angular pentagon. I was curious to see what it would do if left to settle itself into whatever shape it liked, and it seems to have split the difference.

When the doily is being stretched on the hoop, it looks incredibly lame. The hoop isn’t round, and the doily isn’t even centered properly for some reason, but ultimately that doesn’t matter.

Once it’s dry, and you take away all the ungainly rigging, there it is, a lace thing that looks like some kind of big deal.

And then it’s mostly a matter of waiting until the wretched sun finally comes out again, so you can get some decent pictures.

#knitting #lace #doilies #how it works #art-sniveling #radial symmetry #long post

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eye-of-the-cyclops · 1 year

Photo

PAC: Surviving the Dark Half of the Year

It seems like everyone is exhausted and struggling to get by. If you miss the sun and dread the cold this PAC is for you. This reading will give you an idea of what life will look like for you until the winter solstice. (December 21) The winter solstice is one of my favourite days of the year because it means the days are finally going to start getting longer and spring is on its way. This time of year can be very gloomy and difficult so my hope is that this PAC will help you make the most of it.

These readings deal with some heavy topics and they came out very specific again.

Take a couple of breaths and choose whichever picture you feel most drawn to. Maybe not all of the reading will resonate with you and that’s fine just take what does and leave the rest.

Pile 1- Ugh Feelings

What is draining your energy?

So, there’s an old relationship and you just cannot seem to shake the feelings that you have for this person. Its someone who you want to let go of, someone you want to move on from. You don’t enjoy these lingering feelings. This person was not good to you and this relationship has caused you a lot of pain and grief. You’re trying to move on by meeting other people but these people who are interested in you... nope they ain’t it. You just aren’t feeling them. I think this is partly to do with the fact that they are most likely sleezebags but its more than that. You’re trying to be interested in them but you can’t commit yourself to it because its all an act. Your flirting has got no heart! You can’t get this old lover off your mind! This balancing act that you’re trying to maintain, this façade you put up to seem interested is tiring you out. You can’t keep lying to yourself about your lingering feelings. So stop lying to yourself!! It’s okay to find it difficult to move on, give yourself permission to feel your feelings. And stop wasting your time and energy hanging out with these shitheads that you don’t even like and who definitely don’t give a damn about you.

How can you ground yourself?

I think you’ve been a bit passive in trying to get over this person. Just kinda hoping that you’ll meet someone else who makes you forget about this old lover. Well I’m here to tell you that’s not happening you’re not going to meet anyone like that so stop daydreaming. Definitely stop looking at every single love-related PAC you see. You need to decide that you are going to move on. I think you’ve had a lot of people telling you that you weren’t treated right and that you deserve better. Well they’re right. But have you actually done any self-reflecting on why you thought this treatment was okay? Why did you think it was okay that this lover demeaned you? Didn’t respect you? Critical thinking is deadly poison to old feelings about a nasty ex. You need to examine your underlying relationship patterns and take a step back from meeting new people. I bet you didn’t like that news right? Well here’s the good news! Take this time to check back in with your own pleasure. Embrace yourself and whatever makes you feel good. I think this could be a good move for you, definitely will lead to you becoming more in tune with your body, could lead to new discoveries. Prioritize yourself and doing things that bring you joy. Maybe devote one of your days off to doing a hobby. Eat some decadent food and then have dessert too. Rearrange a room to bring in new energy. As long as it brings you joy!

What brings you energy?

You have a really good group of friends and I get the feeling that you’re a very closely knit bunch. Being around these people that you love and who love you in return energizes you. Maybe this old relationship took a lot of your time and you couldn’t spend as much time with them as you had in the past. Good thing that dead weight is gone! Go gossip! Although you love your friends you also spend a lot of time daydreaming. This is good and it’s important for your well being. (Major water sign energy) Make sure you try to keep a balance between these two aspects of yourself. Also don’t try to lose your sadness and feelings by overconsuming substances. It’s fine if your head is in the clouds as long as you have one foot on the ground.

Pile 2- Is that the Earth rumbling and shaking?? Nope its your life!

What is draining your energy?

You are struggling to connect with your creative energy and this worries you very much because this is not a problem that you have really had before. There is a creative project you may have spearheaded in the recent past whether at school, work or as a hobby, maybe at some kind of non-profit organization you volunteer at. You put a lot of faith and work and love into this project and unfortunately it was a complete bust. This failure is haunting you and you can’t stop thinking about it. You can’t stop looking back and thinking about what you should have done differently. You feel quite defeated and ashamed of yourself. I think you were hoping that this project would do a lot of good and you had some very high hopes riding on it. This is a difficult thing to move past but you need to accept your failure but don’t accept defeat. A mistake is only truly a mistake if you don’t learn from it. There is a lesson here that you need to learn. Once you have figured out what this lesson is you need to come to terms with it and integrate it into your life. This is not a shameful process it is a human process, we all make mistakes as we go through life. Embrace this as an opportunity to learn to make the most out of this transit in your life.

How can you ground yourself?

There are going to be a lot of changes for you coming up. And trust me I don’t mean little changes like trying oat milk in your coffee for the first time. You need to embrace these changes as they come your way. If you try to cling to your old life you will make things 110% more difficult for yourself. Prepare for old ways of being to leave. People may leave, old goals may become stale, I think you will find that some areas of your life ring hollow when they once made music. I know that this is easier said than done but please try not to overthink things too much. With all that is going on your thinking will be weighed done by all the anxiety and pressure of change. This is a time where you need to have some blind faith that you will pull through alright. Although you are struggling to connect with your creativity and passion right now, rest assured it has not gone anywhere. It hasn’t fled to the farthest corners of the Earth. Its right there with you, as it always has been and always will be. Your connection with your creativity has become strained but that is because you are undergoing a metamorphosis. When the time is right you will reconnect with your creativity and I think you will be amazed at how much stronger and truer is it. This is not something you can rush or force. Have faith.

What brings you energy?

Given all the changes coming your way you are going to find yourself challenged in ways you haven’t been before. You are such a go-getter and a visionary that you are the type who always has a plan. You always know what your next move will be. During this transit you won’t have that crystal clear vision and plan. With so many things in motion the future is going to be cloudy and uncertain. Self-doubt will be your worst enemy during this time. You are a very resourceful person with great reserves of strength to draw on. Keep on working, keep on building for the future. You won’t see any immediate payoffs but have faith that your efforts are building up. Embrace the changes as they come, let go of what no longer fits, and remember your own inner strength. Your best ally is yourself.

Pile 3- Time for Honesty and Healing

What is draining your energy?

There is a new love interest in your life. You like this person and have a good connection with them. They may be your right person wrong time. You have been very badly hurt by past relationships and this has left you with scars. You are scared to let down your defenses around this new love interest. Your unhealed wounds have you constantly wavering between fight and flight whenever they try to get close. You like them but you can’t find it in yourself to trust them. You may become defensive or cold towards them when they are sweet to you, kindness feel foreign when coming from a love interest. This isn’t because they are bad people by any means, I think that they genuinely do care for you. Its just that they bring up past pain. This isn’t a shortcoming on your part and nor is it their fault. Its simply the way it is, there is no blame to assign. You need to admit to yourself that you aren’t in the right place right now to be involved with someone. You subconsciously want to be alone but you are trying to force this relationship to work. There is no shame in taking a step back. Be honest with yourself about what you need at this time. Although you care for this person you are not obligated to be in a relationship with them. Be honest with your love interest about your feelings and why you can’t be with them right now. Give as much or as little detail as you are comfortable with. You aren’t obligated to keep in touch with them or promise that you will get together in the future. Right now you need to decide that you are going to listen to yourself, that you are going to take care of yourself and do what your gut is telling you to do. This isn’t selfish. Its essential.

How can you ground yourself?

Self-reflection is something that makes you uncomfortable because you are carrying around so much pain. Its okay to be anxious and scared. You also don’t need to work through everything all at once. There is no deadline, no time limit and no mandates for how you should heal. I think alone time will be very beneficial for you at this time. I can also see journaling being a really big tool for your healing. You need to reconnect with yourself. There is so much more to you than just the pain that you have suffered. Take time to rediscover just how powerful you are. You have been belittling yourself for far too long. Give yourself the grace of taking up space with your presence. Meditating can also be a good tool for you to utilize. If you have been considering therapy and have the means to access it, you could look into your options to see if that is something that could help you. These are all just suggestions and everyone has their own healing path to follow. The most important thing is to simply start. Even if you cannot physically bring yourself to do anything yet, simply making the mental note that you want to do something is enough. This isn’t a journey that you can force or rush. Go at your own speed. Try to align your actions and thoughts with what feels right in your heart.

What brings you energy?

This reading has likely left you a little bit overwhelmed and I don’t blame you, there’s a lot going on here. The idea of confronting your demons can be scary. But also ignoring them won’t make them go away. Keep in mind how light you will feel once you integrate and honor your pain. You devote so much energy to keeping the pain in check. It takes energy to pretend that you aren’t hurt, to always be scared of showing the world your true self. It takes so much out of you, maintaining the walls that you have built to keep yourself from being hurt again. These walls keep you from truly connecting with other people. It is possible to move through this pain and emerge out the other side. Imagine how it will feel. To not have this crushing pain and fear all the time. Imagine how it will feel to breathe deeply and feel space and love in your heart. You deserve this freedom and ease and love. It is time to stop punishing yourself and to stop living for others. This is a big journey to undertake but I have faith that you can do it. You are such a kind person, you don’t hesitate to help others because you don’t want them to ever feel the way you felt. This kindness is admirable but to be quite frank not everyone deserves it. And the person who most deserves your kindness right now is yourself.

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a-story-with-no-end · 3 months

Text

How to buy yarn as a beginner crocheter

Disclaimer: I will only talk about crochet because it is what I mainly do. Some of my tipps can probably used with knitting too but I can't guarante it so crochet it is. I also rarely do big wearables so my experience with gauge swatches is limited so I didn't mention it here

"But it's only chosing some pretty colours, paying for it and than I crochet. What is so difficult about it?"

Buying yarn in itself isn't difficult but buying yarn that you can actually use can be. Because in the past I just bought whatever because "It's pretty. I want it" and now I have a stash with beautiful colours but they are all different shades. And even if I have the same shade twice they are (probably) different lot numbers so you can't just put them together. Also it's mostly 50g cotton and there is only a certain amount of headbands a single person can wear. So I sit in front of my relatively big collection of yarn and I don't know what to make and it kind of makes me feel bad. Here I am trying to stop you from making the same mistakes.

First of all you have to know what you want to make for two reasons:

1) How much do I need?

If you are a beginner you probably use a pattern so look up what it says. What yarn is recommended and how much. Most often it's counted in the weigh of the skein or just in skeins and not how much you actually use so you still might have leftovers even if you only buy the recommended amount. But I'll come back to that later.

For example: You want to make a headband and the pattern calls for 1 skein of 3/light yarn. You just go into a store and choose a colour in that exact weight maybe even the same brand and you can happily crochet with it. If you struggle to find something in store that fits your pattern just talk to the workers. If the store specializes in fiber crafts they will likely be able to help.

2) What can it do?

Just like you can't use tulle fabric to sew a functioning bathing suit not all kind of yarns a suitable for everything. While cotton yarn in general is an allrounder it's not suitable for socks since it stretches out. It's also a very heavy yarn so if you want to make a blanket (though I don't recommend it for beginner beginners) it's gonna be really heavy. Every kind of yarn has different qualities and different kind of projects it is suitable for. But that is a whole other post. Again if you are in a store and you are unsure ask the workers there if the yarn is suitable for your project.

But what do I do with the leftovers?

The question of all questions. I struggle with it as well but sometimes a kitchen scale can be very useful if you already made the project once. For example you made the headband from my example and a friend of yours really liked it. Their birthday is also coming up so you thought why not do one for them as well? But you are not sure if the yarn you have left is enough. Just get your kitchen scale and first weigh the headband and than the yarn. If you have the same amount of yarn or even better more yarn left you can easily do another one for your friend. I'd still recommend having a little bit more in case your tension is looser this time so you don't have to play yarn chicken* 😂 Also very useful for granny square projects. Weigh one square, find out how many you need, do the math and now you know how many skeins you need :D

The biggest thing is to not impulse buy yarn in the store. But if you like a yarn that you didn't plan to buy and really want to buy it just make a picture of the name and shade in the store. When you go home think about what you want/can make with it, find the right pattern and buy what you need the next time. The same thing goes for online purchases you just switch tabs and maybe sleep a night over it to make sure you actually want to do it. One or two impulse buys won't be bad but if it happens very often you might feel overwhelmed with the yarn you have but don't know how to use.

♡

*yarn chicken: Is a playful description of the crochet process when you realize that you have very little yarn left and you don't know if it is enough to finish your project. If you win yarn chicken you had enough yarn and if you lose you didn't have enough.

#crochet #crochet beginner #crochetblr #crocheters of tumblr #fiber crafts

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eolewyn1010 · 2 months

Note

für das character ask game: 9, 14 (gerne mit Bildern, wenn du magst - wo du neulich meintest, du würdest mit ihm shoppen gehen) und 20 für Martin?

Let's see how far I get with this...

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Yeah, absolutely. Neither of us takes much space, Martin doesn't seem to be big on the culinary side so the kitchen is my territory by default, he's quiet, he can handle people with emotional issues, and he won't put up with my shit when I'm in a bitchy mood.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

I'll have you know that this question nearly broke me. But, uh, here's what I got? Does that count as an aesthetic? IDEK. I dub it "1940s son-in-law".

Yes, some of the models are women, because we live in times in which it's difficult to find colorful fashion for men. But come on, Martin spends decades of his life in DDR! I'm not putting him in modern monochrome. I wanted to include an allusion to his green shirt, but again, modern dress shirts for men are... eh. They're cut very slim. 1940s shirts bunch up way more at the beltline and the sleeves - which is exactly why I like them. As for the rest, yeah. Corduroy fishtail pants, suspenders, lots of knit sweaters and vests, can't forgo the flatcap. Ignore that one double-breasted coat; that was an American style, but it's also difficult to find German 1940s men fashion online that isn't, y'know, Wehrmacht uniforms :/

(I'm not gonna link back to every commerce and pinterest page I looked at, but I will source the ravelry patterns down under the cut.)

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Going with a platonic friend here although I think him and Otto being best friends is an excellent basis for their romance, I was tempted to reply "Anni" as I really enjoyed writing the development of their friendship, but it's more that Martin is the ideal friend for Anni than the other way round. The ideal best friend for Martin is probably Dr. Margot Sauerbruch. She doesn't have the parental vibes to him that team dad Prof. Sauerbruch gives off because she's closer to Martin in age, so they would be seeing more eye to eye, her panic when she hears Martin got arrested shows she clearly cares about him without biases, they share similar medicine ethics, and she can snark with him during the smoke breaks.

vest, 3rd picture

sweater, 4th picture

vest, 7th picture

sweater, 8th picture

#Charité #Charité at War #ask thingie #thanks!#why won't the finished post show the pics in three rows when that's how I aligned them in the editor?

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