experiments-in-craft

[experiments-in-craft]

y'all ever reach the end of google

[experiments-in-craft]

I'm still bitter about my 8th grade teachers for saying I was wrong about what *I* thought something in a book meant despite giving rationale.

The biggest misconception in public schools is that literary analysis is about proving you can be right or wrong about a book you read

Literary analysis isn’t about the book

It’s not even about being right

It’s about performing an investigation and presenting your case to the jury

It doesn’t matter if your defendant killed that guy or not. If you can convince the jury he didn’t, you’ve won

And the incredible life skill of spinning bulletproof bullshit out your ass with a handful of facts and a prayer is soooooooo much more valuable than anyone’s ever gonna tell you

[experiments-in-craft]

Literally trying to figure out how many stiches to cast by saving for a repeat and border with: (3n+1)+4....

fiber arts is really a laundering scheme for mathematics.

[experiments-in-craft]

I had to search these last year - they are everywhere around me

i was seeing all these little blue flowers everywhere and kept thinking "dang what are these bitches, i can't remember..." well guess what. they were fuckin forget-me-nots. can't believe i failed step fucking 1, the hot girls on iNaturalist are going to laugh at me and i'm gonna flunk out of hobby botany school.

[experiments-in-craft]

Started the second 🐍/🐌 over Easter weekend and now I have 1/3 of the body of the blanket! Really trying to get all the body pieces done before the end of June for my next trip to see grandma so she can help me with the border

[experiments-in-craft]

When the pattern calls for straight stockinette 🐍

[experiments-in-craft]

Love it! My grandma has the gift of food - knows how to cook just about everything and always remembers what people like. She made an extra salad this Easter cuz she remembered I don't like fruit in salad.

Not the Chosen One, Ch.3: Magically Mundane

A bit more worldbuilding, on a very small practical scale. Don't worry, the cast doesn't get huge like in The Miys. At the same time, a person can't function in society without interacting with people, and in a small town, you interact with the same people all the time. Familiarity is a given. Thanks, as always, to @baelpenrose and @writing-with-olive for being my beta readers on this one. And if you cry a little reading this, don't worry - so do I, and I wrote it.

Trey and I had dragged my trusty wagon about three blocks before he said anything. “How far is the market?”

“About a mile.”

“And you don’t have any other way to get there besides walking?”

I laughed and shook my head at the incredibly normal teenage complaint. “I have a bicycle, but this many blueberries would never survive the trip.  I’d either fall over or they’d get squashed.  Besides, the weather is incredible, and I’m hoping to have enough groceries coming back that I wouldn’t be able to use the bike anyway.”

“And what’s the jar of very heavy, very yucky looking stuff I’m carrying?”

Frowning, I scowled at him. “I’ll have you know that is going to keep us from having to do this again in a couple days.  It’s salve for gout.  I was finishing it up last night when you got to my house.  Mr. Tanner is going to send a few of his workers to pick up the first round of July harvests for me and sell them in his stand.”

Trey stared at the jar in his arms. “This is a lot of salve.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Tanner has a lot of gout. Poor guy.”

We chatted very sparingly the rest of the way - poor kid wasn’t used to walking so far.  Once we arrived, I made a beeline for Tanner’s Produce.  At the counter, I took the recycled gallon jar and heaved it up.  “One gallon of salve, as promised. Remember to use clean bandages every morning and night, and sleep with your feet elevated, okay?”

The sunburnt older man nodded and scratched his unruly beard. “Couldn’t have come too soon.  Elisa has been washing bandages all week for me.  She sends her love.”

I grinned and grabbed two pints of blueberries from the wagon. “And I send her mine, with these.” Stepping aside, I gestured to the suddenly-shy-again mop of black hair behind me. “And this is my new foster, Trey.  He’s lactose intolerant…?”  When the hair bobbed in a nod, I continued with more confidence. “He’s lactose intolerant, and I’m out of groceries.  So, I present to you the first blueberry crop, a few days early!”

Mr. Tanner couldn’t see all of it over the counter, so he limped around to our side.  With a low whistle, he counted quickly. “That’s fifty pints - you say it’s the first harvest?”

“There’s at least that many again still ripening, so I’ll have quite a lot this year.”

Grumbling kindly, he rubbed his beard in thought.  “I don’t got anything you can’t grow here, but I can give you a hundred for half of it.”

“First crop of the season, wild blueberries? I think you can give me two. That’s eight per pint, and we know you can get ten, easy.  Twelve if you spot a tourist.”

He laughed, a booming sound that startled Trey until he realized it was a joyful one. “Can’t get anything past you, girl. Alright. Two hundred for half, and I’ll add a tip that the egg stand has a new baby in the family.  Those blueberries can surely get you some eggs and a couple pullets.”

With that, we started our procession around the farmer’s market - eggs, a couple loaves of good bread until I could make some with the wheat I’d managed to get.  Butter for me, nut butters for both of us.  I relented and got Trey a bag of venison jerky when I picked up red meats, and soon we were on our way to make the mile trek back.

“Everyone was so nice,” he whispered in awe halfway through the trek.

I nodded and shrugged with one shoulder. “We try to be. Most people try to be.  A lot of those people, I’ve known them or their family my whole life.”  A small ache blossomed in my chest, and I mentally cradled it like a fragile bird.

“All of the people I’ve known my whole life are…. Well, they’re like my parents. They seem nice, but they aren’t, really.  They’d never sneak someone more because they suddenly had another mouth to feed.”

Shit. Kid was perceptive.  “You saw that, huh?”

“Well, I know what a pound of beef looks like, and that was definitely too much.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, Grayson was a bit overenthusiastic, I’ll admit that. But you get a skinny foster around a bunch of farmers in a small community….” I shrugged at him with a grin.

That managed to earn me a smile. “Your sister should have come with us.  A lot of people asked about her.”

That earned a deep, slow breath.  “Benji doesn’t like people knowing she’s here as often as she is. And the Market reminds her too much of our mom.”

“Everyone asked about her, too,” he pointed out. “But no one asked how she’s doing or anything… Just told you to say hi to her.”

That little sadness fluttered in my chest.  I pulled open the kitchen door and gestured for him to start handing me stuff that needed to go in the refrigerator or freezer.  “We grew up around here.  Small town thing, you’ll see how it is.”

Eventually, everything was put away, and I started some pie filling, as promised. “One sec.”

I came back with a picture frame in my hands, dusting the glass off.  Turning it around, I showed Trey a photo of what was clearly a much younger me and Benji, with a beautiful but tired woman grinning between us.  “Trey, meet Mom.  Mom, this is Trey.  He’s staying here for now.”

Trey looked at a loss for words.  When I insisted, he carefully took the picture from me.  “She passed away not long after that photo was taken.  I think it was maybe six months?”

“Was she a witch, too?”

I nodded, breathing slowly.  After so long, I didn’t cry talking about her anymore, but sometimes my throat still got tight.  “Really minor clairvoyant.  Not enough to get certified, but she could always tell what the weather would be or what meal you needed - not wanted, needed.  Knew when someone had a bad day, or when to treat someone on a good one.  She was a waitress,” I added.  “Really great one.  Everyone loved her.”

“I’m sorry she’s gone. She sounds really nice.”

“She would have loved you.” I realized what I had said and laughed brittly. “She loved everyone, really.  Cared a lot.  Definitely got that from her.”

“She must’ve been really proud of you…”  He looked down at the table, sadness in his voice.

I reached out and squeezed his arm gently. “She would have been proud of me no matter what I did.  That’s how parents should always be.”  I didn’t ask about his - it was too obvious in his tone.

Letting the moment sit for just a few seconds, I patted his arm and stood up. “Come on. Time for you to learn to make pie crust.  If you like pie, it’s practically a crime not to know how to make it so you can have it whenever you want.”

Trey sniffed and nodded. “Right. Pie.”

I hummed and grabbed the shortening. “I think Mom would want you to have pie,” I nodded.

[experiments-in-craft]

Obsessed with this stitch pattern. Everyone is getting one for Christmas. The next one is more than halfway done already, started yesterday (variegated yarn this tine instead of stripes).

[experiments-in-craft]

There's something whimsical about the word cavort... Perhaps I shall prance about the yard later lol

[experiments-in-craft]

Love the colors of my current WIP! (Alternating rows of linked double crochet and single crochet).

[experiments-in-craft]

I'm sitting doing nothing (quiet shift at work) but my break time craft bucket is in the car. *screaming internally*

[experiments-in-craft]

A bit wonky but that's fine lol. Finished a test piece to try a couple different ways to weave in my end. Gave the weavin' steven method a try too but I'd need to specifically practice it... And it won't help me weave in the existing ends on my blanket in progress! Now to weave in all the ends and run this test piece through the washing machine a bunch to see how the ends hold 🙈

[experiments-in-craft]

Break time craft bucket!

[experiments-in-craft]

Yay! New story by @canyouhearthelight !

Not the Chosen One, Ch. 1: Unexpected Arrival

Stefanie 'Stef' Warren is completely prepared for strays to show up at her home: wild animals, newly turned vampires, werewolves in their first full moon, she's seen them all.

So when a dark haired teen shows up to dig in her trash, she hardly thinks anything of it.

Welcome to a world where supernatural beings are a fact of life, cats aren't always cats, and running a rescue doesn't just mean wildlife.

Thanks to @baelpenrose and @writing-with-olive for your beta reading and sensitivity reading work on this!

With a yawn, I leaned against the frame of my back door and watched the grimy, thin figure who was digging through one of my garbage bags.  I thought they would notice me at some point, but when they started opening a pack of greenish bacon, I finally intervened.

“That’s going to make you sick,” I called out gently.

They startled, whirling around to stare at me with wide eyes.  At least they dropped the bacon.

“That’s why it’s in the trash instead of the freezer.  It’s rotten,” I added.

They glanced down at the package, and I could tell they were still considering it.

With a sigh, I held the door to my kitchen open wider. “Want a sandwich?  I think I even have a soda stashed somewhere.”  This was far from the first time a stray had shown up, not even the first of the human variety.  My offer clearly tempted them, but they shook their head even as their stomach let out a very loud argument.  I just nodded. “Ah. Stranger’s house, I get it.  Grilled cheese okay?”

The much-too-thin, wide-eyed kid mumbled something.  I was able to make out ‘-ick’ at the end.

Given the bacon situation, there wasn’t a chance they were a picky eater, so I was betting on ‘sick’. “You’re lactose intolerant or have a dairy allergy?”

They nodded hesitantly.

I shoved down the groan that was trying to force its way out before stepping down onto the patio and clearing out a chair. “I need to go grocery shopping, so this may take a couple of minutes.  You can sit here - move it wherever you want, it’s just more comfortable than kneeling in a gravel driveway.”  Before they could respond, I ducked back into my kitchen, leaving the door wide open so they could see what I was doing if they wanted to check.

Biting my bottom lip, I started digging through my cabinets.  Geez, I never realized how much dairy I - Bingo!  Chicken noodle soup of a brand I don’t even like.  No clue how three cans got in my cupboard, but gift horses, mouths, all that.  I poked my head out of the door and wiggled a can of soup.  “This okay?”

Judging by the way the kid lunged for it, I assumed so.  “You don’t want me to warm it up? This stuff’s kind of gross cold.”

Poor kid pulled up short and sniffled, rubbing their eye with a sleeve that was somehow dirtier than they were.

With years of practiced patience, I ignored it.  Instead, I went back in the kitchen for a couple minutes to dump it in a bowl and nuke it.  On my way back out, I had a second thought and grabbed what was left of my loaf of bread as well.  Less than five minutes later, I was back outside and sitting on a step in silence while they ate, only getting up to heat up more food.

Once all the cans and all the bread were gone, they cradled the bowl to their stomach like it would save them from drowning. “I’m a boy,” the kid finally said, softly, like he was apologizing.

“Oooookay,” I responded in confusion.

“My parents keep saying I’m a girl.”

“Oh.” That made much more sense.  “Guessing that’s why you were going full raccoon with my trash.”

“They kicked me out,” he whispered.

“They WHAT!?” I squawked. “You’re, what, fifteen?”

“Sixteen,” he corrected indignantly.

I rubbed my face, nodding at the correction. “Sixteen.  Your parents are peaches, huh?  Geez, kicking you out at sixteen….  Did you pick a name yet?”

He blinked at me, relaxing his grip on my bowl ever so slightly. “Name?”

“I mean, yeah.” Gesturing at him, I nodded again. “Obviously they gave you a girl’s name if they thought you were a girl, but you’re a boy, so you get to pick a boy’s name, right?  Or at least a not-girl’s name?”

“You…. don’t care that I’m a boy?”

“Only if you normally refuse to bathe when you have access to a shower.”

That earned the tiniest smile I’d ever seen, but it was better than fear, so I was taking it as a win. “Trey.  I like the name Trey.”

“It is a pretty cool name,” I admitted. “Where’ve you been sleeping?”

“Around.  Anywhere I could be hidden so weirdos leave me alone.”

“Not the worst tactic,” I agreed before standing and dusting off my sleep pants. “Well, you can sleep here, I don’t mind.  Couch, hammock, either one is good.”

Trey yelped at that. “You don’t even know me!”

“You don’t mean any harm, I know that.”

“No you don’t.”

“That is where you are wrong, kid.” I pointed lazily at the fence around my property.  “Whole property is warded against people with ill intent.  If you meant harm, you wouldn’t have been able to see the place, much less go dumpster diving.”

He shrunk against the chair in horror. “You’re a witch?”

I raised one eyebrow and gave him the flattest stare I could. “Lots of people are witches, Trey, and it’s rude to react like that.  And yes, I am, but just a plant witch, nothing special.  You probably have family that are and don’t know it, they just think they have a ‘green thumb’.”

“My mom…” He snapped his mouth shut audibly, eyes going wide again before he burst into laughter. “My mom hates witches!  And she is one?? This is the best thing ever!”

“Suuuuper common,” I told him, laughing along.  “But no, I didn’t do the wards, my sister did.  She’s a shield maiden, pretty strong one, too.  Makes a ton of cash from it.” My sigh was more than a little wistful. “Wards, shields, banishings, you name it. If you crash here, you’ll probably meet her in the morning when she stops by to pick up her tea.”

Trey’s laughs trailed off when what I said sank in. “You were serious? I really can sleep here tonight?”

“Tonight, tomorrow, however long you need to.  And like I said, you don’t even have to sleep in the house if you don’t feel safe or comfortable doing that.  There’s a hammock back there, and I can put a cot in the greenhouse in case it rains.”  I would have to relocate some of the plants, granted - a couple were poisonous, so it just wasn’t really safe to have someone sleeping in there with them.

“Can I have a shower?” he asked quietly, back to being the scared kid who could barely tell me he couldn’t eat dairy.

The absolute fury I felt at his parents in that moment was only held back by the fact that I clenched my jaw hard enough to get a toothache. I managed to nod and jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “Through the kitchen, take a left, first door on your left.  Towels are over the toilet, and I think there’s some not-flowery soap under the sink, but I may be wrong on that one.”

He hesitated. “You’re just going to let me walk in your house?”

“Wards,” I reminded. “The property line, the exterior of the house, and the interior of my bedroom.  Three layers.”

He mumbled something about paranoia before practically making a run for the bathroom.  I heard the bowl clatter into the sink, at least.  Gonna have to show him how to load that into the dishwasher, I groaned to myself before pulling out my cell phone to tap out a message.

“Hey.  Probably going to need another ward, and you might need to take Julian and Pattycakes.”

The recipient took a couple tries to word their reply before it finally came through. “Another injured raptor?” “I wish.  You’ll meet him in the morning.” I muted my phone and closed it before she could respond again, knowing she would start grilling me but would get the message when I didn’t read any of them.

[experiments-in-craft]

For future exploration!

Ok but like. What the fuck is there to do on the internet anymore?

Idk when I was younger, you could just go and go and find exciting new websites full of whatever cool things you wanted to explore. An overabundance of ways to occupy your time online.

Now, it's just... Social media. That's it. Social media and news sites. And I'm tired of social media and I'm tired of the news.

Am I just like completely inept at finding new things or has the internet just fallen apart that much with the problems of SEO and web 3.0 turning everything into a same-site prison?

[experiments-in-craft]

Master Post for the Miys!

Cleaning up my Master Post and breaking it so that Tumblr doesn’t eat my post for having too many link. I’ve also updated the newer chapters, as promised.

Chapters 1-100 can be found here for new readers or for anyone who wants to go back and re-binge everything!

Chapter 101

Chapter 102

Chapter 103

Chapter 104

Chapter 105

Chapter 106

Chapter 107

Chapter 108

Chapter 109

Chapter 110

Chapter 111

Chapter 112

Chapter 113

Chapter 114

Chapter 115

Chapter 116

Chapter 117

Chapter 118

Chapter 119

Chapter 120

Chapter 121

Chapter 122

Chapter 123

Chapter 124

Chapter 125

Chapter 126

Chapter 127

Chapter 128

Chapter 129

Chapter 130

Chapter 131

Chapter 132

Chapter 133

Chapter 134

Chapter 135

Chapter 136

Chapter 137

Chapter 138

Chapter 139

Chapter 140

Chapter 141

Chapter 142

Chapter 143

Chapter 144

Chapter 145

Chapter 146

Chapter 147

Chapter 148

Chapter 149

Chapter 150

Chapter 151

Chapter 152

Chapter 153

Chapter 154

Chapter 155

Chapter 156

Chapter 157

Chapter 158

Chapter 159

Chapter 160

Chapter 161

Chapter 162

Chapter 163

Chapter 164

Chapter 165

Chapter 166

Chapter 167

Chapter 168

Chapter 169

Chapter 170

Chapter 171

Chapter 172

Chapter 173

Chapter 174

Chapter 175

Chapter 176

Chapter 177

Chapter 178

Chapter 179

Chapter 180

Chapter 181

Chapter 182

Chapter 183

Chapter 184

Chapter 185

Chapter 186

Chapter 187

Chapter 188

Chapter 189

Chapter 190

Chapter 191

Chapter 192

Chapter 193

Chapter 194

Chapter 195

Chapter 196

Chapter 197

Chapter 198

Chapter 199

Chapter 200

[experiments-in-craft]

Masterpost for The Miys

I was able to finish the Masterpost for The Miys, as promised to @janeshadow.  I’ve also added the previous, masterlist, and next links at the bottom of each chapter to make navigation easier.  Readmores have been added in chapters that were lacking them, and wonky chapter titles or inconsistent font sizing should be fixed within the best of my ability.

NOTE: There is a separate post for chapters 101 - current. You can find it here.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56 

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Chapter 94

Chapter 95

Chapter 96

Chapter 97

Chapter 98

Chapter 99

Chapter 100