#I really want to try cross stitch on a future crochet project now

[yourlittlebootyhole]

this is my the progress i’ve got on a blanket that i started in summer 2023 so it’s been freaking MONTHS since i started it but also i keep putting it off so that’s probably why i haven’t finished it

my goal for this blanket was to have it done by winter so that i could have used it for the winter and like IF I HAD IT DONE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN USEFUL it was so fucking cold ugh

but whatever i’ll definitely have it done for winter this year instead 😭

this blanket was actually my first crochet project i ever started!! the photo doesn’t show it much but the beginning rows are janky and the edges are lopsided since i was still learning the ropes of crocheting!! so i’ve been crocheting for about 7 months now which like WOW that’s so crazy to think about haha

i ended up doing other smaller projects on the side because i felt like i wasn’t learning much while sticking to this blanket, mainly since this blanket is just rows upon rows of HDC (American terms)

let me tell you guys i thought i was so creative when i started this project and i knew nothing about any of the stitches so i just did something random which turned out to be a HDC but i didn’t know that so i was like “wow i totally came up with something new!” NOPE

but i’m glad i didn’t spend a bunch of time grinding to get this blanket done because when i started trying other stitches and learning stuff like granny squares and magic rings and all that i was SO LOST i was like what the fuck is this and i almost just quit

when i started crocheting in the summer i thought it would be one of those things that i try and don’t do again for a long time and im pleasantly surprised to say that i haven’t dropped it yet! i love picking up new hobbies such as jewelry making and cross-stitching and just creative stuff in general but i only ever do it for a month and then forget about it for a while

don’t get me wrong it’s not like i drop all my other hobbies but i just don’t remember to put time into them, and for crocheting i’d leave it for like a week or two but id end up coming back to it ahah

at this point it’ll be hard to drop or forget about because of the insane amount of yarn i bought, i had to put drawers and stuff in my room to keep all of the stuff organized and not all over my floor lmao

back to the blanket, i have a 5mm crochet hook sitting at the bottom for size reference, the width is a bit longer than my height (5’5”) and in my original plan i wanted to make it double my height length wise but that is definitely NOT happening

it’s about 3’ right now and it’s already heavy and chunky when i fold it all up and i already have no room for it so i’m only going to make it long enough to cover my mattress (which is like 1’ taller than me)

the yarn i’m using is the ombré red heart super saver yarn and it feels really nice and soft! and also a 5mm hook as mentioned before

i’m gonna try and just invest all my crochet time in this blanket instead of my other projects so i can maybe use it before the cold is completely gone 😭 this is my first time posting anything about crochet stuff and i’ll definitely be posting more in the future and showing the completed blanket whenever i finish it lol but anyway!!! that’s my blanket :)

[spockandawe]

Ideally, my crochet endeavors before taking a real break would include

1 snail shell

1 full snail

1 bubbalub

2 smaller creachers

(optional 3 eyeball monsters)

(also finishing the baby blanket but that’s easy shit)

But that is not looking. Great. For the hand situation. If I want to appease the symmetry demons with minimal nerve impacting.... I can stop at bubbalub, reserve the octopus for future child gifts, and mail each toddler a snail and a bubbalub. The bubbalubs are small and fast, and the second snail has been noticeably less exhausting than the first one, probably because now I know what the project wants from me. I really do want to make a cobra and/or winged snake, but that pattern can wait if it HAS to. 

Maybe I’ll try an eyeball monster during a meeting this week, and seeing what kind of hand strain I feel. I also don’t HAVE to send symmetrical packages. The two moms who know each other probably won’t compare notes, and even if they do, they’re both intensely practical ladies. And the other mom isn’t in contact with the others at all. Slash maybe I will Voyage to visit that family once I get a thumbs up rom the parental units (i was going to wait until vaccine to ask, but honestly, i should ask now, and figure out their comfort level and prerequirements)

Ughhhhhhhhhh it would honestly be so much more convenient for me if I was super hyperfixated on finishing one of my massive cross-stitches, there would be strain, but DIFFERENT strain. But instead, I expended all my gotdamn energy today restraining myself from doing just a LITTLE crocheting, just a LITTLE couldn’t hurt, what if I just finished that snail shell--

So fucking annoying, honestly, I get incredibly irritated with myself at times like this. I can’t focus on anything, not even my most favorite fic wips. Or even reading! Back to editing mtl for fun and profit, i guess (i kid, there is no physical or emotional profit to be found here. i can’t even link to what i’m doing because it would be a dick move asdagdvdasfs)

[aroworlds]

Aro-Spec Artist Profile: Signe

Today’s awesome aro-spec creator is Signe, better known to aro-spec Tumblr as @fluffyllamacorn!

Signe is a busy aroace writer, visual and textile artist! She writes for the Young Avengers, The Shadowhunter Chronicles/Shadowhunters, Hawkeye Comics and New X-Men: Academy fandoms in addition to developing diverse original fiction. You can find her growing collection of fanworks on AO3 under the name FluffyLlamacorn and her gorgeous art at @llamacorn-productions.

She also posts and reblogs fashion and accessories at @clothing-inspiration, and some of her cosplays can be seen throughout this post!

With us Signe talks about her passion for textile arts and how they allowed her to reclaim her femininity, the importance of non-romantic relationships in creative media, the difficulty of writing kissing scenes, and the need for works and discussions that celebrate our aromanticism. Her love of making, crafting and designing just shines through this post, so please let’s give her all our love, encouragement, gratitude, kudos and follows for taking the time to explore what it is to be aromantic and creative.

Can you share with us your story in being aro-spec?

I just sort of … never cared? I’ve never wanted to get married and have children, and I never really had crushes growing up. I partly figured that was because I was surrounded by assholes who weren’t worth crushing on, but even when I graduated and moved to better schools where I actually had friends, I still didn’t care. I’ve always had a lot of confidence, so I’ve never bothered feeling insecure about not dating. I spent a while identifying as a straight person “who doesn’t care about romance” before eventually identifying with the ace and then aroace identifiers after having known them for a while, but there was never any big moments in the journey that really stand out.

Currently, I see my aromanticism as more important to my identity than my asexuality – being aro is what I do, while being ace is what my body does – but I also don’t really see them as separate. It’s hard to put into words because it requires cementing some stuff that I don’t mind leaving fluid, but while my lack of attraction is a package deal, it’s the lack of romantic attraction that defines my lifestyle the most. I know which I would choose if I had to, but I prefer not having to. That’s the only good thing about the ace discourse: It’s made me very protective of my ace identity again after having let somewhat go of it after I came to identify as aro.

Can you share with us the story behind your creativity?

I’m the type of person who has a thousand different hobbies and therefore doesn’t have time to actually do any of them. The three I care most about are writing, drawing and textile work.

I’ve always told myself a lot of stories. Walking home from school, I would develop my stories, acting out scenes in my mind and developing huge universes. When I decided to share them with the world, it was initially as comics. I drew a lot, so I had developed the characters’ visual identities along with their personalities. While I’ve switched to planning my stories as books, drawing and writing is still pretty linked in my mind and I can’t imagine creating a character that I don’t know how to draw.

I got into textile work through cosplay, but have spread out into knitting, sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, weaving, crocheting, bobbin lace… Pretty much everything I can get my hands on, which is why I give it such a broad name. (This is part of my too many hobbies deal!) I love everything about textiles, from the look and feel of it, to how many different things can be created out of one simple material. Looking at clothes and knowing not just how it’s been sewn, but also how the fabric was made, is so cool. Creating things from scratch can make me feel like something akin to a god, recreating this corner of the universe as I see fit. A big part of my love for textile work is also reclaiming my femininity in a way that’s so different from the girly girl image I was taught to look down on as a girl. This is a way to enjoy being feminine that doesn’t force me to embrace things I don’t enjoy.

One thing I’ve realized recently is that I love the freedom to design my own work. My cosplays have moved further and further away from canon, from human versions to characters without a firm design or completely redesigning a canon design. On the other hand, I rarely feel the need to sew completely original things, and without the built in deadline of a con, I’m not very likely to get it done. I tend to rarely do the things I can just do whenever, but I’m getting better at that.

Are there any particular ways your aro-spec experience is expressed in your art?

It’s easy to spot in my stories. I have a lot of a-spec characters. The two main characters who were specifically designed to get most of my heart – Shizuka, the shy girl who didn’t know how to make friends, and Diana, the confident girl who’s never cared what anyone thinks of her – both ended up being a-spec even though I created them long before I started identifying as aroace. Shizuka is demi and I don’t know whether it’s sexually and/or romantically or if it even matters. Diana ended up being aroace because I was thinking about her future and my mind nope’d out of the possibility of her ever dating. I also made a conscious choice not to include much romance until I got interested in queer love stories and that sorta fell by the way side. Even then, I try to keep the love stories from being the only defining feature of the stories and the characters involved in them and never to devalue other types of relationship. You will never hear the term “just friends” in my work unless I’m trying to make a point about the person who uses it.

(This is not to pass a value judgement on anyone who uses that expression, but to help normalize language that doesn’t devalue platonic relationships.)

What challenges do you face as an aro-spec artist?

The recent anti-a-spec discourse has made me worried about posting about aromantic things too publicly, as aphobic comments and opinions seem way to commonly accepted these days.

Also, writing kissing scenes. What the hell. “And then their mouths squished together for a little while, which apparently made fireworks go off in their brains.” Like. What? Why does society think this is the epitome of every relationship?

How do you connect to the aro-spec and a-spec communities as an aro-spec person?

Building communities about a lack of something is always hard. Once you’ve written the first story about being aro, it can be hard to write the next one, unless you consciously try to write about a different way of being aro-spec. It’s also a hard orientation to include quickly as being single isn’t as clear an indicator as having a romantic partner of the same gender. While I follow a bunch of aro-blogs and I have a bunch of a-spec friends, I wouldn’t say I’m strongly integrated in the a-spec communities on Tumblr.

Part of it is that most content I see is validations that every sort of aro is alright. I see a lot of content aimed at people who feel bad. That’s important, definitely, but I don’t need it. I’ve always known I’m amazing, both independently of and intersecting with my aromantic identity. I’m interested in work that celebrates being aro, work that doesn’t say I’ll be happy “even though” I’m aro, but “while” I’m aro, maybe even “because” I’m aro and don’t need to waste my life on amatonormativity. At the very least, work that spends more than a sentence on reassuring me. I see a lot of content that implies the basic state of an aro-spec person is sad, and I object to that idea.

I have also recently seen a whole lot of posts about QPRs and that’s really cool! I’m happy to see they’re becoming more and more accepted, at least in some circles. I’m less happy to see them become so prominent and so expected that they start feeling like a new shape of amatonormativity. It’s not that bad right now, but I definitely got allo aces saying “at least we can still feel love” vibes from some QPR posts earlier this year. Because here’s the thing: I’m aroace. I won the lottery. I don’t need to define myself by relationships to other people.* I refuse to take another label that sounds like I don’t want friends because of people pushing QPRs to be the new norm. Again, I’m super happy QPRs seem to have become more accepted, just please don’t present them as something every aro-spec person is interested in unless we specifically opt out.

There’s also the question of what kind of aro stories should be told. I mean, as many as possible, obviously, but that’s going to take a while. But the whole deal with being aro-spec is to have less interest in romance, so too many stories that focus on the lack of it become … counterproductive? I think the Jughead comics are pretty perfect in that regard. The main character is aroace and there are several stories that’s hella important to, but mainly it’s just about him going on adventures with his friends.

(P.S. I hate Riverdale. I’ve seen two different Jughead cosplays these last two weekends, but I didn’t dare fangirl, because what if they were based on the wrong version?)

Honestly, my main way of interacting with the a-spec community is befriending people at random and later finding out they’re a-spec. It’s … almost a superpower? It’s pretty great.

* No one needs to define themselves by relationships to other people, but I imagine it’s much easier when you don’t feel the desire to.

How do you connect to your creative community as an aro-spec person?

I don’t feel very connected to creative communities, but that’s more because I’m not very good at reaching out and promoting myself unless I know I have exactly what’s being asked for. I mainly stick to one or two people I can bounce ideas off of for my different projects before I post it and hope it finds an audience. It might also be because I’m juggling so many things and don’t spend enough time on the social connections needed to connect with a community.

How can the aro-spec community best help you as a creative?

Feedback, feedback, feedback! I love it! I live on it! Telling me you like X or Y part of my work can keep me floating for days and makes me so much more motivated to keep arting! So please, check out my art and leave a comment and/or share it with your friends/followers, if you like it.

(Also, if anyone has good tips on how to reach a larger audience, let me know.)

Can you share with us something about your current project?

I just finished my newest cosplay, which is Lup from The Adventure Zone in her lich form! I had a lot of fun designing her – the podcast doesn’t have very specific descriptions and the creators encourage fans to come up with their own designs – and got a lot of positive reactions at the con last weekend. I went for a very non-human design, including hiding my face, and added a bunch of fire details to reflect her evocation magic. I would have added more, but then my sewing machine broke in the last second, and I had to finish everything by hand, so I just aimed for the basic version. I’ll be updating her for the next con and will have much more fire with me then. I have yet to finish editing the pictures, but they should be up soon.

Have you any forthcoming works we should look forward to?

My next project, one I’ve alluded to a couple of times in this profile already, in fact combines all three of my passions. I was considering cosplaying Pixie, one of the underrated students from X-Men, relegated to the background since their series ended, but I kept bumping up against the problem that her uniform was just too … generic to be fun. Besides, what’s the point of cosplaying the pink girl, and then not getting to work with pink fabric?

So I just redesigned her and gave her an individual outfit. And then I decided to redesign all of her teammates. I wanted them all to go together, but still keep an individual feeling, and I achieved that by giving them a rainbow theme when they’re together. Obviously, the next stop was figuring out a story for that to take place in, of which I’ve posted the first chapter. The idea is that they get out in their bright colors and visibly help everyday people with everyday problems to stop people from hating and fearing mutants and maybe actually making a positive change, unlike all of the superhero battles that don’t get anyone anywhere.

The project has three parts: Individual drawings for every member where I develop their outfits further, chapters of fic describing their adventures and a cosplay that I aim to finish for Genki in August, the next big con in Denmark.

[a-cup-of-kencoco]

My lovely, darling @crystal8325 tagged me in this fun little thing (and I’m finally doing it, I’m so sorry that this took so long) where I have to write 10 facts about myself and then tag 10 people that I’d like to get to know better. I honestly had to write this one out and contemplate SO MUCH, I apologize for taking so super long to make this. So! Let’s hop to it! (BTW, @crystal8325, I absolutely loved your post - you’re such a wonderful person and I’d love to strengthen our friendship. This also goes for everyone else that I’m tagging, I love you guys!) I decided to just list off some fun things, so I hope that all y’all like it!

1. I love hot drinks - specifically tea and coffee. My favourite tea would be peppermint and I take my coffee black. It’s what gets me up in the morning and calms me down after a long day. To go along with this, I like to collect mugs! I have quite a lot and they’re very weird/kooky. The weirder it is, the better.

2. Major depressive disorder up in this bitch, though it’s looking up. I was hospitalized last June (Which was a rather traumatic experience, but I like to view this as a learning experience. Eventually, I’d like to write about this since I kept my hospital journal, but it will take a lot of time and energy to do that lol) and put on medication - which has honestly helped me so much and saved my life. While I’ve dealt with this disorder for quite some time, this has been the first where I was actually taken seriously and forced myself to take steps to heal myself. I couldn’t have done it without my best friends, who I don’t think really know just how much they mean to me and how they have impacted my life so much. I love them so much and I honestly don’t think that I could ever put into words how thankful I am to have crossed paths with them in this life.

3. I absolutely adore cats. I just love them so much, probs more than anything they’re just so cute and soft! I have three cat babies and they are my cHiLDreN, mY SWeET sUmmER ChiLDreN tHaT I WoUld dIE FoR. Their names are Sarah Jane, Lenore, and Amai! I have plans to adopt more cats because three is not enough and I just want to be the embodiment of a stereotypical crazy cat lady. So like, Nyah, bitch.

4. I was a film student for two years! Well, more like one and a half (and then a half year of fine arts). I have always been fascinated by film - still am, but the institution that I was at was complete SHITE and did not offer what I really wanted to study, which was screenwriting. So! Now I’m applying to another school and plan on studying creative writing. Aside from film writing, I also enjoy writing poems, memoirs, and short stories. I still value the time I spent at my previous school and I met some super awesome film professors, but that place was just awful and I needed to get out. I’d like to get back into film in the future and have plans for several possible television shows/films.

5. I’m scared of horses - a rather weird fact, but hear me out. My grandmother (who lives in rural Indiana, if that tells you anything) has been a horse owner/caretaker for as long as I can remember. I used to be ok with them and would actually help her out in the barn! Plus, I could explore/get into shit, because I love doing that lmao. However, she usually had horses that were complete assholes and I had several awful experiences with nearly all of them. I fell off of one, was bit on the back of the neck by another, pushed over and nearly trampled, etc. Princess (a horse that was born on the property and delivered by my grandma) was the dickhead that caused the most trauma injury. She would constantly bite, step on you, literally chase you and try to run you over. She was a fucking bitch. So, after dealing with that for a large chunk of my childhood, I am now forever uncomfortable when in the presence of a horse.

6. I love rain/thunderstorms or windy weather (bonus if they’re combined) and the night is my favourite time of day.

7. I’m a rather morbid person?? Or more like I am fascinated/have a deep love for dark/scary/morbid things. I love horror, psychological thrillers, serial killers, murder mysteries - anything gruesome, disturbing, macabre, creepy, or spooky in real life or fiction. I just love that kind of stuff - it just fascinates me and I can’t get enough of it. (Please don’t think I’m a murderer, I just find the darker parts of humanity incredibly intriguing. I swear that I’m a really nice person, I just like weird things)

8. I believe in ghosts! In fact, I grew up in a haunted house! There was a lady ghost that lived in the basement and she would walk around at night. I’d like to do some ghost hunting eventually, I think it would be super fun and ghosts are just hella cool.

9. I love to cross stitch and embroider! Now I’m trying to teach myself to crochet, which is going...ok??? I’m still learning. But! I am an old lady and like to do needlepoint projects. It’s relaxing and soothes the soul. I usually listen to music or audio books while I’m working!

10. Aside from cats, I love cephalopods. I don’t know what it is about squid/octopi/other cephalopod bbys, but I just love them. They’re so cute and squishy! They just kind bloop around everywhere and look adorable as fuck. I just love them. I have plans of getting several tattoos of some lovely cephalopods. Eventually, I’d love to pet one. Just reach out, pet it, and my life would be complete. I’d like to do that with a shark as well, but that might be a lil more difficult.

Alright! 10 facts about me! That was a lot of fun and again, I am so sorry that it took forever. @crystal8325  Thank you so much for tagging me and I hope that you liked this! I am going to tag these lovely people: @altardust @googlymooglyghoul @dreamlover4eva @my-addictions @lovefrombeelzebub666 @clappityclapfrisco @metalhat @boopdaspook @secularhxze @gleamed

If you do not want to do this, that is totally fine! I just wanted to share this and have some fun! Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful morning/day/night!!

[rikrakyarnncrafts]

Meet Lee, new graphic designer

Hi, I’m Lee, your new digital graphic designer! That means I’m creating the emails you get from us multiple times a week, as well as the graphics on the website, and other assorted stuff. I’m so happy to be here—as a former knitting pattern designer, and a new graphic designer, this job is the perfect overlap of my two biggest fields of interest and experience!

I started knitting around 2002, mostly improvising projects, trying out new stitch patterns and technique tutorials. I didn’t have much interest in following patterns because I wanted to make my own creations… that eventually led to designing and writing my own patterns! My first knitting pattern was published in Knitty in 2007 and I was on a roll from that point on, releasing well over a hundred patterns over the next ten years. Technically, 174 patterns, but a bunch of those were from a big series that used 20 yards or less, so they are like mini-patterns. Anyway, I’ve designed a lot of patterns! This is one that was designed a few years ago in Knit Picks yarns (Wool of the Andes Tweed & Palette):

I loved doing that, but around 2015 I realized it wasn’t going to be sustainable anymore as a career, and I’d need to either mainly focus on something adjacent, like teaching, or figure out a new career path. Lots of brainstorming led to getting a not-knitting book published last year, and going back to school to learn graphic design! I’d always loved laying out my knitting patterns, even though I was self-taught; I majored in visual arts the first time around and learned a bit of Photoshop and very basic web design, just enough to be able to do all my graphic design work for my business myself. So I found a great 2-year program to learn graphic design for real, which I started in June 2016, graduated in June of this year, and now here I am at Knit Picks, basically as of October 1st. What a couple of years it’s been!

Taking a step back, I was creating my book at the same time I was starting school—it’s a coloring/puzzle book called Color Squared. It’s not directly related to knitting but it’s not exactly UNrelated to knitting. It’s pixel art, color-or-draw by number, that you can fill in tons of different ways, with markers or a pen, or stamps, or I even did one with cross stitch! So that was a fun project that kind of acted like a bridge between my knit design career and my new life as a graphic designer. My self-portrait at the top of this post is in the style of the book (squint when you look at it!).

I was still designing knitting patterns a bit while I started school, but the last one I finished was around spring of 2017 so I’m officially done with that (for now? Who knows!). What I’m really excited about now that I’m done with school, and especially being surrounded by yarn here at Knit Picks, is knitting for fun! For myself, for gifts, from other people’s patterns! I’m currently finishing up a Norah Gaughan sweater, I’ve just cast on a Baa-ble Hat by Donna Smith, and I have the yarn ready to make myself a pair of Peace de Resistance Mittens by Bristol Ivy.

I’ve also recently gotten into sewing garments, and I’m a yarn spinner too, off and on… I usually go through phases of spinning a bunch of skeins over a couple of months, and then not touching my wheel for a few years! Maybe now that I have a steady job and am not working from home, I’ll feel more inspired to do stuff like spinning at home on the weekends. (Below is a pair of mittens in handspun yarn.) I also like to make recycled yarns (up above is a hat in recycled yarn), and I’ve dabbled in other crafts like embroidery, printmaking (there’s a risograph print I made pictured above), crochet… I’ve always been a crafty gal! I also quite like to write, in case you haven’t noticed, so I may be writing some future Knit Picks blog posts as well.

So that’s me, the person behind the emails. It’s nice to meet you!!

(If you want to follow me or check out my patterns and stuff, I’m leethal on ravelry and twitter, leethalknits on instagram, my main website is leemeredith.com and my personal blog is at leethal.net/zine.)

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