#fiber stuff

[anxietyriddledsquid]

mini quilt i made this week

it’s not super neatly made but i like the colors

[goatdays]

Well Nikki decided to drop all her fiber at once this year! It took about 3 days doing one hour sessions to comb this all out but it's nice to be done! I got a nice thirteen gallon trashbag worth of fleece off of her, wich for it's size is only 10.2 ounces of fleece! So next time you look at cashmere and think damn thats expensive just remember that the average cashmere goat only produces around 5oz in a year (also localy produced fiber is always a better buy ;)) So good job Nikki! I'm excited to process this to sell this year, though I'm not sure if i should process it fully into yarn or leave it as cloud for others to spin. Lots of decisions! I have four other goats to comb out and I'm excited to see how their fleeces turn out this year since Nikki's is looking so lovely!

[cranialisotope]

very minor point as a person working in a small hobby business: small businesses within the hobby industry very, very, very, VERY much want you to use what you buy! when you don't use what you buy, you stop buying at all!!

please understand that i mean this in the kindest and most appreciative way possible. we don't stay afloat because of casual or non-committed buyers; the "equipment" parts of your purchases are generally one-time purchases, yes, but the consumable parts of your hobby—in my case, yarn, fiber, fabric, and similar—are truly our bread and butter. that's what helps pay my bills, and feed my coworkers' children, and keep all our lights on. you help businesses like mine (14 people on staff, only one store!) to keep our doors open by being an active participant in your hobbies, and we're incredibly, endlessly grateful for that. i am privileged and honored to have the job i have now. without it, i'd probably have to work at a big-box store selling mass-produced plastic stuff made with completely unfair labor that never breaks down in the landfills they end up in, and not putting any of the knowledge i've accumulated over the last 10 years to good use.

big box hobby stores often do want to drown you in stuff you'll never use, because their biggest target is to churn out pre-made stuff for you to consume monetarily—seasonal crap (i buy it too, i know how it is), trinket-type stuff you don't USE for anything, and pretty, but ultimately hyper-niche supplies that you struggle to find a good use for. your local and small-team craft stores are in competition with those big box places, and we're trying desperately to get you to use what you buy so you'll be inclined to come back. and we truly do understand that hobby supplies are expensive, we're not making big bucks either! but every dollar spent with us is, for lack of a better word, a blessing. we appreciate you so very much!

plus: the more things you make for yourself, the fewer mass-produced things end up in your home, and in the homes of your loved ones! particularly in my hobby area, that often means less plastic! which is always a win, in my book. everything else the OP lists is completely true. engaging in hobby practices is good for you. good for your brain! good for your fine motor control, a lot of the time! anything make or write or draw or create is an INFINITELY better gift than some filler thing you bought out of obligation!

all of this is to say... please participate in your hobbies as much as you feel you can. please, please, please. it makes your fellow makers happy. it adds things to your life and the lives of those you care about that are precious and one of a kind. doing what you love makes the world a better place.

(this is already quite long, so... cut)

and as another aside here, on the subject of mass-produced things. there is a LOT to be said about it, and i don't shy away from that—we surely sell some things that aren't produced as ethically as they could be! i don't pretend that the business i work for (or any business to be frank) is without flaws, nor do i think there's no place in the world at all for mass production, necessarily. it's an extremely complex and nuanced issue, and i'm no expert.

however! what i CAN say with certainty is that we work with quite a number of other small, often family-owned businesses for our various supplies. from handspinning efforts in Africa and Japan, to equipment makers in New Zealand, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada and more, to various handcrafters here in the USA, and so many others I can't manage to name. a couple of these places have been doing it for over a century! so your support of smaller niche hobby businesses very often does help to support people all around the world who are also running their own small businesses, and trying their best to support the folks who work for them!

back again encouraging people to start using the hobby stuff they've been acquiring for years

reasons to start can include:

the hobby industry wants only for us to keep buying and never use, so using the stuff pushes back

some hobby items do not survive long term storage

if there's some craft or hobby thing that you want to do but feel your skills aren't up to, consider that those skills won't improve if you don't practice on other things

using it allows it to move from the hobby hoard to the [whatever you made it into] hoard, where you may be more likely to enjoy it more often than just when you specifically look at the hobby hoard

making things is good for the brain

curious to see what other reasons people might add

[chubsthehamster]

Astraeus sweater!! Pattern by Bad Wolf Girl Studios. Knitted up with Malabrigo Arroyo, my absolute favorite yarn.

[chiropteracupola]

everyone will look at my fish hat in an expeditious style

(pattern from here, slightly modified to be longer so that there's lots of room in the tail for hiding packets of fruit snacks)

[hookednbusy]

I can’t wait to develop and grow even more🤞🏾

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[hawkbi-pierce]

The world may really suck right now but sometimes you can take string and turn it into fabric and that’s pretty neat.

[scarletstitchstudios]

I promise masking won't ruin your cosplays!! When did vanity become more important than protecting our community???

[lumiy-a]

this is completely off-topic but maybe not so much since it’s the reason why i haven’t written a single word of my fic in weeks:

also it’s my stupid tumblr blog so why not posting my stupid tatting too

[parallelunivrses]

my cousin is having a baby, and last month I made this baby blanket for her baby! I made this entire blanket in the span of about a month in between classes (and while watching A LOT of Survivor lmao) and finished it THE MORNING of the baby shower. I am so pleased with how it turned out, and now I am wanting to make more blankets :)

the yarn I used was Cascade 220 superwash merino wool, and I was making up the pattern for the blanket as I went!

[anxietyriddledsquid]

wip ft. cat

[goatdays]

The girls are getting fluffy! All goats (except angoras) grow cashmere, but cashmere goats have been selectively bred to produce more of it that is longer and finer, making it better for spinning. Cashmere goats start growing their fleece around the summer solstice and reach maximum fluffiness around the winter solstice, so my gals got a ways to go! I'm excited for the coming month of soft goat hugs! And then the hard work of brushing them all out begins!

[angrylittlesliceofpizza]

ooh thanks for reminding me of that post, that I shared with a tag like "yess i should join in"

i *think* got the idea you're clarifying here. has the same vive for me as that post that suggested to stop do self-deprecating or even suicide jokes, and replace them with mildly ironical self-agrandizing declarations.

a better habit to take in both cases, and for the Declaration Of Grand Intentions, better than setting (hopefully) realistic goals that might never happen for some reason…

so.

nah, i won't say again that i want to make myself a cape from scratch, starting with roving or even raw fleece that i'll spin and weave and sew. nope.

… instead i'll kidnap ALL THE SHEEPS OF NEW ZEALAND. ALL BY MYSELF. then bring them back to settle them somewhere in the south of France, build a hut there, and *start an entire spinning and weaving business*. oh and natural wool dyeing of course! and I will NOT accept any substitue for kidnapped aotearoa sheeps! these are the bestest! YOU'LL SEE

The Yule boasting post that was going around is still bothering me, because it's not really boasting, as I understand it. So here's my take, as a self-taught student of Old Norse.

I think where it gets off the rails is because there was a ritual of making claims at Yule, and it centered around the braga(r)full, and you look right at that word and you see brag or boast. But it's a cup. What kind of cup? The one belonging to the bragningr. What's a bragningr? A hero or king.

So where does that brag actually come from? Well, that's not a word I know off the top of my head, but I'm willing to bet it's related to either braga, bragi, or bragr. Unlikely to be flickering, I could make an argument for poetry, but in context with bragningr it's pretty clearly bragr, the best or foremost. The bragningr is the best dude. For Yule you go stay with your best dude, and he gives you the best alcohol, and when you're thoroughly soused you announce your new year's resolutions.

It's not a boast, it's a declaration of intent. (The phrase used is strengja heit, to string an oath - strengja is the same verb used to string bows.) In the sagas this is generally used to get people in trouble; most frequently they make an oath at the new year that they're going to marry such-and-such a woman, who has not heard of them before, they go off to do it, someone else wants to marry her instead, and boom, duel's your uncle. (Yes, I'm still reading Hervor's saga, and you should too.)

I do think it's worth mentioning in passing that the Norse sense of being drunk was that it showed you at your most true-to-self - strips away your filters and makes you just be. So in that sense, it's the perfect time to make an oath! And also, "I was drunk" is not a defense because... if you were drunk, then that's who you really are and that's just underscoring whatever offense you committed.

[leier-coyol]

Needle felted lagiacrus update

dude looks a little fuzzy cause I haven't trimmed him

[sluttypatrickstar]

finished my cha-cha pig noise stitch!