#or crocheting

[speedgeek]

Sheev Palpatine wasn’t an idiot. He’d known Padmé Amidala as a teenager and the Organa girl was her spitting image. Except for the smirk, that was pure Skywalker. He had never had cause to interact with the girl before her entrance into the Senate. Bail Organa had been intelligent enough to keep the girl from his and Vader’s sight until publicly unveiling her.

So, yes, Palpatine knew from her first moments in the Senate exactly who Leia Organa was.

He’d entertained thoughts of enticing her into his web, certain she’d be as powerful as Vader had been as a youth. Treats, a sympathetic ear, stories of her true parents and the power she was entitled to. The difference in politics was little matter- he was sure he could coax her to his side. He’d been able to manipulate both of her parents easy enough. She was young and reckless, inexperienced in political machinations, but her speeches had shown she had her mother’s keen mind.

A worthy apprentice after the disappointment of Anakin Skywalker.

It was customary for a new Senator to wait to be presented to the Emperor. She was no exception. Unfortunately, her scheduled appointment came on the heels of another public atrocity committed by Vader. Palpatine cared little about the violence his apprentice used, only about the public nature of the debacle. His people were working overtime to ensure the news did not spread further and spin what was public in the Empire’s favor. Vader was en route to answer for his mistakes.

The meeting started out well enough. He’d dismissed the guards and her aides. Tea and Nubian pastries he knew to be Amidala’s favorite were served, they made trivial small talk. She was intelligent, bright, and well-trained. Her words were guarded, deliberate, giving away little. While her words were very much influenced by Bail Organa and reminiscent of Padmé Amidala, the girl had fire in her soul, he was sure.

He would enjoy breaking her.

That was the moment, before Palpatine could even begin to tempt the girl, Vader decided to storm into the throne room and vent his displeasure.

On a normal day, Vader’s casual dismissal of Senators was an annoyance. On this day, it was a catastrophe.

Palpatine was actually impressed with how quickly the situation deteriorated.

Organa pointed out his lack of manners. Vader pointed out the uselessness of the Senate.

Organa pointed out his lack of official position within the Empire, implying he was little more than an errand boy. Vader pointed out her lack of biological parents.

(Get a clue, Anakin.)

Organa pointed out his violent tendencies, also implying she knew far more about the previous day’s events than Palpatine was comfortable with. Vader pointed out she associated with criminals, specifically Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Palpatine just put his head in his hands. Every time he thought he broke his apprentice’s obsession with his former master, Vader would start saying the dreaded name again.

(Was it too late to return him?)

When he looked up, the girl had her hands on her hips and her head tilted to the side, mirroring Vader. It was remarkable how much she resembled teenaged Anakin Skywalker in that moment. The sass coming from her mouth was all Anakin too.

His apprentice was too dense to notice.

His apprentice was also too dense to not to take the bait and stop arguing with a teenager.

“Silence.”

They continued to argue as if he wasn’t in the room. The gall of both of them. He pushed down the urge to unleash force lightning on them both. Appearances must still be maintained, after all.

“Silence!” he roared.

Both startled. The similarity between them would have been comical if he hadn’t been so enraged.

Organa showed the good sense to at least look guilty. She’d had diplomatic training, she surely knew the faux pax she’d just committed. Vader, on the other hand, he didn’t need the force to know Vader was still seething. He’d hardly bothered to use his diplomatic training when he was a Jedi, much less now.

He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t deal with two of them at once.

He refused to spend his time playing referee between father and daughter. Refused.

Maybe if Vader finally got his wish and died, Palpatine would try again. But as it stood, he no longer had any desire to try and break Anakin 2.0 while the original was still around and causing him so many headaches.

“Senator Organa, I apologize for ending our meeting so early, but I must speak to Lord Vader quite urgently.”

The girl glanced at Vader and smirked. “Of course, I understand, your Majesty.”

“Please give my regards to the Queen and the Viceroy.”

“Of course. Good day, your Majesty.” She smirked at Vader as she turned towards the door. “Lord Vader.”

Palpatine waited until the door closed behind her to finally release his anger on his apprentice.

[catchymemes]

[anxiousangerball]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but

YOU DO NOT NEED TO START A NEW HOBBY!

STEP AWAY FROM THE TEXTILES!

YOU DON'T NEED MORE YARN!

THAT FABRIC IS NOT CALLING TO YOU! LEAVE IT ALONE!

[reallybadblackoutpoems]

meditations on first philosophy (1641) - rene descartes

"who give a shit"

[needleslace]

I have been working on this project for 8 years and it's FINALLY DONE!!!

Look. Look at my labor of 8 years. LOOK AT IT.

The pattern is Neat Ripple. I used Knit Picks Mighty Stitch in lots of various colors. If you'd like specific color names, let me know. I'm fairly certain the lighter orange is discontinued, named "Conch".

[rthwrms]

fuck it. morningstar

[mesterspets]

New piece! Am calling her “Skör” (fragile in Swedish).

Assembled from strips of lace, a doily, and some fiddly needle lace and crochet for the teeth. Starched with diluted wood glue.

Perfect in time for Halloween!

[passionpeachy]

crochet snail 🧶

[creepyscritches]

Making a weighted velvet baikal seal plushie :3

Head and tail end are stuffed w ultra plush fiber fill and the bulk of the body is packed full of weighted pellets that have a nice crunchy sound when you squeeze it. Not weighed yet, but it feels between 1.5 - 2lbs?

[videodrome-fag]

Y’ALL STFU AND LOOK AT THIS SHIT I DESIGNED IN 3 DAYS IN A FUGUE STATE

Final edit:

Patterns live now

[iknityounot]

(Long post, sorry y'all)

A little more than two years ago now, my grandmother passed away. She and my grandpa had moved down to my home town a few years before so we could take care of them. I brought them groceries once a week, helped them write checks, fixed tvs, and found lost things. I was really close with my grandma.

In addition to her hilarious personality and dry wit, one of my favorite things about her was that she was a painter and a crafter like me! She used to crochet, and I took her to the craft store a couple of times so she could get more yarn and books on crochet. But her arthritis and the shaking in her hands kept getting worse, so she eventually had to stop.

She kept her most recent project, a granny square blanket, safely packed away in a plastic bin. She told all of us she was going to finish it one day.

Her hands never got better, and when she got sick, and we found out it was cancer, she rapidly deteriorated.

After she passed, I went to work helping my mom clean out my grandparents apartment so we could move my grandpa in with her. In our frantic cleaning, I found that bin again:

DOZENS of granny squares, dozens of half used skeins. I asked my mom what she wanted me to do with it, and she said she didn't care. I set it aside and later took it home.

Maybe a month later, that tumblr post about the Loose Ends Project was going around. It felt like a sign--I was never going to learn to crochet in order to finish my grandmother's blanket. But they might be able to help!

So I filled out the interest form. They got back to me SUPER quick. And maybe 2 weeks later, I was paired with volunteer in my state (only 2 hours away!) and the box of yarn, granny squares, and my grandmother's crochet hook were in the mail. That was at the end of January this year.

Over the next couple of months, my "finisher" emailed me regular updates on her progress, and asked me questions on my preferences for how she constructed the final blanket.

At the end of August, the blanket was done!

I had always intended the blanket to be a gift for my mother. So I cleaned it up, put it in the only bag I had big enough to fit it, and drove to my mom's. I gave the blanket to her and she was gobsmacked. I explained to her all about Loose Ends, and how someone volunteered to finish the piece for us. She was speechless. (I was quite pleased with this, because I am not the best at giving gifts, so this was a pretty exciting reaction!)

She said that it was the most thoughtful gift she had ever been given. She said "your grandma would love this". To which I replied, "yeah, I know she really wanted to finish it a couple of years ago". But that was when my mom dropped the bomb of a century on me--she told me that my grandma had started making those granny squares OVER 30 YEARS AGO. She had started the blanket when my grandpa was staying in the hospital, but that was back when my mom was younger than I am now! My grandma had packed them all away, planning on finishing it, when my grandpa was sent home from the hospital. Then it went from house to house, from condo in Chicago to their apartment in my hometown. All that time and my grandma had wanted to finish it, but couldn't. First because she was busy, then because she forgot how to do it, then because of her arthritis, and then because of the cancer. My mom said she had given up on expecting my grandma to finish it. 

She said I brought a piece of her childhood with her mom out of the past.

And really, all of this is to say, if you have seen or heard about the Loose Ends Project and have an uncompleted project or piece from a loved one who has passed away--these are your people. They were so kind and treated my project with such care. That box probably would have been found by my own grandkids one day if I hadn't heard about Loose Ends.

Five stars, absolutely worth it!

(From what I understand, you can sign up to volunteer too! If you have time to share, it might be worth checking out!)

[chrono-phage]

[bucket-of-amethyst]

HAPPY NEIL BANGING OUT THE TUNES DAY!!! 🎶 🎹 🐀 🌈

[cardboardlife]

Crochet cat!

[narwhalsarefalling]

my mother taught me to crochet when i was young. she was left handed, so she taught me how in the bathroom mirror so her hands would be in the right position.

she learned to crochet from her grandmother, who was right handed. her grandma was the one that originally used the bathroom mirror to teach her granddaughter properly.

i find something poetic about that. here in this bathroom mirror, through generations, we adapt to our young who have a different way of learning and interacting with the world