The Crafting Thread
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@Auspice Also people with wool allergies, which are shockingly common!
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@surreality I once screwed around with a drop spindle and my last hat was made with handspun, hand-dyed yarn. I keep my stash manageable by buying only artisanal yarns. No Lion or Red Heart or Berocco for me.
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@tek said in The Crafting Thread:
No Lion or Red Heart or Berocco for me.
I buy Lion/Red Heart when I make stuff like cat toys. I have a single skein of red rn I've been working through for a couple years for both cat toys and testing patterns for people (also a good use of cheap yarn... I don't wanna be tearing out stitches on good yarn!).
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@tek Alllllll the
in the world. (As an indie dyer, this warms my heart.)I have some of the acrylics and such, but I tend to use them for things that will take a pounding: blankets that will be sat on/washed a lot, cat beds, dishcloths that'd be ruined fast with something else.
I am more or less a sucker for ANYTHING with gradients in fabulous colors, which is why 'goddammit, I need to learn to spin' happened.
For years, my mother and I both collected various, random fiber art skills and tools and supplies between us. We said this was totally OK, everything's fine, because neither of us actually did any spinning yet.
Welp.
At least we're honest with ourselves that we're totally ridiculous now.
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Sterling silver snake, hand-carved in polymer clay then cast. I'll let the owner of both the necklace and that gorgeous clavicle tag herself if she wants.
Album of how I made it. Includes imagery of hot molten metal and FIRE. You've been warned. -
why am i not the owner of a snek
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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@Auspice The snek was my birthday gift from her a few years back. Also, for all my stalkers, yes, that’s my clavicle.
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@Herja said in The Crafting Thread:
@Auspice The snek was my birthday gift from her a few years back. Also, for all my stalkers, yes, that’s my clavicle.
You have a lovely clavicle but the question stands
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as I post this I realize I forgot a wee bit on the yellow. AH WELL EASY FIX.
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"MOMMY TWO-LEGGER IS WINDING MAGIC STRING AND I AM FASCINATED AND NEED TO REGULARLY POUNCE HER DESK AND HANDS FROM THE BACK OF THE CHAIR AND SCATTER ALL THE MAGIC STRING EVERYWHERE!" - Tama Gothsbane McDaintysnoot
....I really thought I could do all the DMC in a day, I really did.
But, welp. -
Just got a sweet deal on some discontinued Noro on Yarn.com. One skein of Kureyon, four skeins of Silk Garden, $42 after shipping.
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@tek That place is amazing. If for whatever reason you're in -- or even near or going through -- that area, it's worth going in if you want to become very broke, very fast (but come away with a lot of great deals in the process). It's nowhere remotely near us, but when I was going back and forth to Vermont for dye stuff, we made a point of stopping there on the way back once. I have literally had dreams about that place ever since.
Oh fucking well.
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@surreality Sadly, I rarely get to Mass. I'm in Upstate NY and my dad lives in Vermont and there's a tiny yarn store I always stop in to pick up handspun/hand-dyed local yarn when I go to visit him.
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@tek I am not sure if she still does it, but there is a great knitting teacher who was doing retreats for a while in Barton, Vermont (which is a really neat little town I love to bits). She lives across from the woman I was studying dye stuff with.
Not sure if the dye folks did end up retiring or not, but they were behind Cherry Tree Hill Yarns, and they also run/ran DBNY. (They work HARD, seriously. Mind-blowingly hard.) They aren't open to the public, but if they have any knitting/knitting + dye/dye retreats, they are genuinely fantastic and worth the trip. Super amazing people, and insanely talented.
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It is hard to take a picture of the top of your own head
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@tek Do you go to the fiber fair? I never remember what town it's in.
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@Macha Never heard of it!
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So after Steotch, the girl that led our Lady Geeks of Austin team (we placed 3rd worldwide btw!) decided to start 'Austitch' because she kept meeting people who lived in Austin, were doing Steotch, but weren't part of LGA. Either because they weren't nerdy, had been kicked out of LGA (I vaguely referenced this one and it wasn't because the girl herself was the issue), or because they were guys!
So she decided to specifically make a needlearts club. And already, a month in, there's something like 50 members and we've had one meetup with around 20 people show. Ages range from 18-70-something and we've even got... 3? guys who are members. And it's the latter that really pleases me. I do get safe-spaces (which is what LGA is for women who are nerdy), BUT... these hobbies that are female-centric can be very awkward for guys to enjoy because on top of men mocking them for it, sometimes women make them feel weird, too. I've seen it over the years with knitting. When I was active in the nail polish subreddits, it definitely happened there and a number of us fought hard to make it a welcome space for the men (esp. teenage boys!) who were into nail polish. I mean, c'mon, if we wanna break gender norms we can't go 'no this hobby isn't for you.'
So, it tickles me to see these guys who are totally OK sitting around with a group of women, stitching away.
And in that month? It's become a really close-knit (ha) sort of group, too. We've had a member lose her dog (some of us who knew her before the group formed knew it was coming; the pup was v. old and had some major health issues), someone get in a car wreck, etc., and the Discord is in turns supportive, full of memes, etc.
It's my happy crafting place and as I've been struggling with being just days away from contract end and unemployment, it is my sanity. Srsly, if any of you Austin folks here on MSB do needleart stuff (embroidery, cross-stitch, sashiko... she hasn't embraced knitting/crochet as a part of it yet but by god I'll wear her down) and wanna join, feel free to PM me.
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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@Macha There's one in Rhinebeck (pretty sure that's still a thing) and there's one near D.C.
I've been to the southerly one a couple of times; it's really wonderful.
There's one in Massachusetts somewhere I think, that's newer? Not sure if that kept on or not.
I did the D.C. area one and the Massachusetts one with the dye teacher and another dyer one year. Sooooooooo dangerous to the budget. Would recommend both, for sure. Haven't been to Rhinebeck, but I keep hearing it is more or less fiber heaven.
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@Auspice said in The Crafting Thread:
It's my happy crafting place
I feel that way about this thread in a lot of ways.
I legitimately do not care if I am mad at someone outside this thread or they hate my face or whatever normally, crafty-sharing spaces are like sacred ground and we're all the cast of Highlander. (We have more sharp pointy things than they did, anyway.) I am overjoyed to see what people are doing/making/planning like this every frickin' time.
It is genuinely refreshing and every single post someone makes in this thread makes me smile and get all excited no matter how crappy any given day has been otherwise.
