#the blanket is a gift

[daylesspax]

Some holoform Optimus with a blankie and a bonus mini OP!

He’s very cold and will accept cuddles, free hugs, and cocoa (figuratively, of course…)

[borrelia]

can everyone look at beautiful knuckles images with me. please please please. @frostios made a beautiful knuckles image of him enjoying a picnic lunch of ants and grapes and worms for me* can we please all look at KNUCKLES!!!!!!

[miniaturestitches]

Yesterday I learned a lesson.

Although the blanket had been ready for a couple of months now, I was only able to gift it yesterday to my pregnant friend.

A few days prior, I was hesitant about giving a hand-made gift.

What if it was not appropriate? What if it was too much? What if she dislikes the color or the pattern? What if she already has too many blankets? What if it ends up fraying or pilling quickly? What if the fibers trigger some weird allergies? What if it sends the wrong message?

So many what-ifs...Some of them ridiculous, I know. I was seriously contemplating only gifting the special lactation cookies she loved. In the end, since the blanket was taking up storage space and I didn't want to waste my efforts, I wrapped it up and gifted it.

My friend loved it. She even messaged me later that evening to personally let me know how touched she was that I hand-knitted a blanket for her baby. She told me that she will treasure that blanket.

I gave an unevenly-stitched fragile blanket, and instead, my friend received a thoughtful loved-filled gift.

Sometimes we need another set of eyes to remind us of the beauty in what we do.

Sure, my stitches would never be as even as a machine's. But every stitch is accompanied by love, prayers and best wishes for her baby. A machine could have easily produced the same-sized blanket in a matter of minutes. Still, each moment working on that blanket was meaningfully spent for someone special. I didn't just create an item. It was a lovingly crafted message of love from me to a dear friend.

We crafters are often our own worst critics. Sometimes we become too obsessed with perfection that it hinders us from communicating our love.

Perhaps next time, rather than focus on the little imperfections, I should step back and see the whole of what I created.

[windvexer]

Yesterday's progress (left) versus today's progress (right).

Just finished row 51, and joined to the second skein. It looks like it's going to start fading back to dark blue within the next row.

Current width is 31" or about 78cm.

I might take a day or two off.

Edit: I also wanted to say, I really appreciate everyone who leaves nice comments on my update posts. I read them all and they make me really happy. I end up not reblogging to reply to everyone because I don't want to spam it, but if you have left me nice notes, thank you 💙

[altruistic-meme]

someone said to give Chuuya stupid headcanons and so:

he crochets. not WELL, mind you, but he can make a mean granny square. though because he does it as a way to relax, his stitches always start out incredibly tight before eventually loosening a little bit later as he calms down, and so all of his granny squares end up kind of wonky.

anyway something something his hands and his humanity and using a part of him that is so well-known for destruction to instead create something for once.

[randomfingthings]

Mess with my landoscar 😤 McLaren strategy count your days 😤😤

[artbyfuji]

they got a lot to say about the snug as a bug in a rug lifestyle 🐺❤🐯

[hungeredalpaca]

Eepy boy

[kismetconstellations]

Because I'm still bitter... The first time I consciously verbalized that "I hate this show", came when, as I predicted, there was absolutely no acknowledgement of Shiro having no living family on Earth, come the Atlas's "launch date" at the start of Season Eight.

We get shots of each of the Paladins interacting with their families, including Allura as a part of Lance's family, which is a sweet touch.

Then, there's a passing shot of Shiro standing alone and isolated on the Atlas's bridge that he isn't even the focus of.

I had a feeling this would be the case when, ahead of the finale of the second season, the Paladins are cheerfully reflecting on their growth and the challenges that they've overcome preceding what they believe will be their final fight with Zarkon.

Shiro, however, is dead silent, back turned to the others, and, when we do see his expression, he's stone-faced and seemingly deep in contemplation. Something that no one acknowledges, or seems to be in any way concerned about, even with Shiro's history of thoughts that he loses himself in being distinctly unpleasant ones.

When he does speak, it's to somberly offer the definitive statement, "You realize, once we defeat Zarkon, the universe won't need Voltron, anymore." The kids naturally express wanting to see their families, again, once the burden of defending the universe has been lifted from their shoulders, even if it means, for Pidge and Keith, going out and finding them.

Shiro, though, voices no such desires. He dons the Fearless Leader/Black Paladin mask and encourages his underlings that they can't fail, and that's that. Cue them looking dramatically out over the horizon before the credits roll.

One could hem and haw and offer any number of supposed explanations for the unsettling absence of any lifegoals for Shiro outside of "defeat the bad guy and defend the universe", especially viewing this scene in hindsight.

"Shiro and his long-term partner split up before the Kerberos mission. Maybe it would be awkward for Shiro to see him, again, and Shiro doesn't want to discuss that with a group of teenagers, especially as their commanding officer."

"Maybe they intended for Shiro's family to show up later and simply didn't have the time to include them, or he has a strained and/or estranged relationship with his family and wasn't too concerned with going back to them."

"He's been declared legally dead, and the cartoon made to sell toys to kids didn't want to bog their child audience's brains down with the confangled nuisances of bureaucracy."

"Maybe Shiro had no personal desire to return to Earth, and would have assisted Pidge in looking for Matt and Sam had he lived."

And, any of these would be more interesting than what we were actually given, which is nothing, because the showrunners didn't know how to and weren't equipped to handle the sheer level of complex and compounded trauma they had afflicted Shiro with. It was easier to brush it all aside, as that shot of an out of focus Shiro so deftly displays. Especially once Shiro had been killed and effectively permanently replaced as the Black Paladin, then brought back to life and retired to "boring adult" status. They killed his partner off-screen, following the dissolution of the relationship, and briefly showed Shiro mourning the loss,

and I guess that was their "emotional pathos for Shiro" quota met for the rest of the show.

After that, he was gifted his own ship and the position of Captain/Admiral aboard it to sequester him off with Sam, Iverson, Veronica, Slav, a similarly unceremoniously demoted Coran, and the rest of the side characters, under the guise of him being promoted to a position of actual significance. And, as much as I love Shiro having his own ship, and the figure he cuts in that stylish and immensely flattering Admiral coat, it shouldn't have to be said that this is both a massive insult to his character after he had the most narrative significance and pathos of anyone during the first two seasons, and a cheap, cowardly tactic employed to avoid the reality that the writers have alluded to Shiro seeing himself as having no purpose if he isn't performing a heroic duty to others, and being passively suicidal when no such duty exists.

"Don't look too closely, everyone! Let's not linger too long on this!" Otherwise, you'll realize that Shiro, in fact, has no one to support him outside of people who already have families of their own. And, "The universe won't need Voltron, anymore", was really Shiro saying, "The universe won't need me, anymore."

And, damned if the brain trusts behind this show didn't try to prove how little they needed Shiro, only for their story to fall apart at the seams after killing him, and the quality to, fittingly, take a nosedive straight into the abyss once they committed to nerfing and sidelining him while having other characters pitifully attempt to retrace steps that he had already taken, stumbling over his distinct and unforgettable bootprints.

[whohasthecards]

Mav, Jake, & Blankie

Mav gifts Jake a soft blanket with letters or the alphabet printed all over it.

Jake: What's this, pops? Isn't this a kid's blanket?

Mav: Took me a while, but I found one that'll actually cover you head to toe.

Jake (grinning): Not used to shopping for blankets my size, Mav?

Mav (rolling his eyes): Ha-Ha very funny, kid.

Jake: Yes I'm hilarious, but seriously, what's up with the alphabet print, pops? I ain't an actual kid, I'm a big boy who knows his A, B, Cs

Mav: Not according to how you got your callsign

Jake (smiling sharply): Haven't you heard from Bradshaw, pops? I got my callsign from leaving people hanging, he's the one that coined it after all

Mav: I heard from Bradley that you already had a callsign when he met you, that you got it for a bunch of spelling mistakes you made in one of your reports.

Jake: ....

Mav: He also told me he got mad at you after a training hop, and he shouted that Hangman was the name of someone who would always leave a man behind. People latched on to that story. Didn't think you would have latched on as well, son

Jake (smiling bitterly): It's the story most people know and believe. You gotta own it, or the Navy'll eat ya alive.

Mav: We know that you aren't that. Your team knows that. I'm proud of you, son. For getting where you are now. This blanket is a reminder that you have to be proud of yourself too. Hangman isn't the name of some random asshole, Hangman is the name of some--

Jake: Asshole that can't spell?

Mav: I was going to say some human who makes the occassional mistake, but that works too, buddy.

Jake (runs his hands through the blanket, his throat getting tighter): ... Thank you, Mav.

Mav (claps Jake's shoulder): Of course, son. Enjoy your blankie (Mav grins widely)

Jake (chokes out a laugh): Fuck you, pops (buries his face into the blanket)

Mav pulls the kid into a hug, feeling the kid relax in his arms, taking deep breaths. He was always there to remind his kids that he sees them as who they are, not as who they think they have to be.

[grimandlovely]

Happy Spring from Grim & Lovely! Shop our kitchen aprons, handcrafted blankets, customized jackets, and more!

🌼 Etsy 🌼 Facebook 🌼 Instagram 🌼

[tj-crochets]

Beetle bag! Bag of beetles!!!

This might be my favorite one yet, I love how these fabrics look together and this beetle print is just fantastic

[bevanne46]

A happy reminder…

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

Remembering that time I made a Wesker worship candle as a Christmas gift for my friend last year, good times good times

They're a Wesker enjoyer so yknow. Figured why not.

I am deeply inspired to make Luis and Ada ones for myself.

[windvexer]

Prior progress (left) vs updated progress (right)

I just finished the second skein. Each row is now taking around 2-4 hours, but we’re in a complex section.

Only 39 rows to go.

I enjoy how much the color shifts depending on lighting. Imo the true color is an average of these two photos.

[vodkaslyme]

I'm glad Fields of Mistria is at least a little more lenient with how you gain relationship w characters than Stardew was, bc as much as I love March as a character something I don't love about these kinds of games is the way their arcs/behaviour doesn't progress at all unless you're actively giving them gifts and talking to them every day (neither of which March deserves at all btw). Just rubs me the wrong way that the solution to jerk characters in these games is always to placate and rehab thier behaviour instead of the narrative/your accomplishments working towards that instead.

Idk. I think a lot of ppl have no problem kissing up to tsundere types in games but I'm like entirely too autistic and too "it's the principle of the matter" to be able to? If March is supposed to develop from being antagonistic and rude then it feels shitty that it comes from undeserved, infinite olive-branches and not just the natural progression of time/story? So at least I can mostly ignore him, tho as a consequence it takes fucking ages to increase his hearts passively that way. You can rebuff and scold him in the 2 heart event and I hope they carry that "I'm not taking your stupid ass bullshit, March" energy for the future hearts too. Because I'm out here infrastructure/farm-maxing, I'll spoil him w conversation and gifts when he figures his shit out on his own lol and we get on neutral ground.

Also I just generally don't like how abrupt his change towards you is on Friday nights. I get it's supposed to be comedic but when he's randomly only nice to you when he's drunk, and he's the only character who's Friday night interactions don't seem to have any bearing on his disposition or dialogue with you after (yet everyone else references their Friday night interactions w you and each other) it makes it feel almost non-canonical as opposed to a hidden quirk of his.

Also idk, "only nice when drunk" isnt the incentive to befriend him the devs think it is lol