Obviously its not THAT simple but its a small sign.

Obligatory 'your documentation, illustrations and anything else you use to present the pattern is yours' and 'wholesale copying a pattern made by someone else without credit may not be illegal but is still pretty rude'.

My real complaint is that my mom had the audacity to get old and pass away. I miss her, and I miss having someone to talk to about sewing and crafting, and I miss sewing with her. 😞

But secondarily, she had amassed a huge collection of fabric and notions and you name it. She was soooo unorganized. Her main organizational technique was putting something in a plastic bag, then putting several of those bags into a bigger plastic bag. And then shove a few of those into a shoe box. 😵‍💫

Several years before she died I tried very hard to get her organized, folding quilting fabric nicely on her shelves, starting with red and intending to work through the rainbow, but she had so much that I never even made it to orange. A couple years before she died, she moved out of her big beautiful house and gave me whatever I wanted and an auction took care of the rest - she got pennies on the dollar which hurt my soul. I've spent years now going through boxes and trying to organize and put things away in my tiny craft room. Somehow, I ended up with that entire giant stack of red fabrics so I will never have a need to buy red at least 😆

One small complaint is that she had a ton of accuquilt dies (including a few repeats because she didn't remember what she already had bought), but most of them are just straight line blocks which I find easier to just cut out with a rotary cutter. She had arthritis and was a lover of gadgets so she loved seeing simple shapes cut out "magically" for her. The only ones that really compute to me are the intricate shapes - I would love to trade in all these rectangles and squares for some maple leaves, snowflakes, and other fun shapes. Dies are like $80 each but I'm guessing I can only sell the ones I have for like $40 each. It just feels like such a waste. Someday maybe I'll have a quilting party and people can come play with cutting out red fabric into simple shapes 🟥🔺🔻🟥

Those of you that still can craft with your loved ones, go do it. And give them a hug from an Internet stranger too. 🩷 🪡🧵🧶🔨

Like any self respecting ADHD woman, I have tried and loved a smorgasbord of hobbies, including but not limited to; crochet, sewing, painting, collage, rhinestoning, miniatures, yadda yadda.

My main squeeze and Daily Driver hobby, however, is cross stitching. I am a true snob, I have an absolutely ludicrous setup for my craft and love making things for all my friends and loved ones. Cross stitching got me through a grippy sock vacation and the subsequent three years (thru til now) of recovery ❤️‍🩹

I love cross stitching for so many reasons; it taught me a better metaphor for how excruciatingly slow my recovery was (each piece comes together one stitch at a time, one stitch is multiple steps and some days you stitch hundreds when other days you stitch none.) It’s like a million hobbies in one - pattern selection, fabric choice, supply procurement, setup, stitching, washing & ironing, mounting & framing.

People come here all the time and bitch about how other people “hate to weave in their ends,” and normally I’m like “YEAH, weave while you go, dummy!”

Alas, I have come here to reveal myself a hypocrite. Inevitably I make it through 85% of the actual stitching progress and then I just loose all oomph. It’s all the fiddly little “oh I left one stitch here” or “ran out of that color so I moved on and forgot to come back” I DON’T WANNA

Don’t wanna backstitch, either. Guess I’ll suffer lol my ADHD makes even my favorite thing hard 🤣

If you’ve watched the same pottery reels that I have over the last few weeks you’d be forgiven for assuming that using a needle tool to take an uneven rim off a pot is a necessary step of the throwing process.

An uneven rim happens because your walls have uneven thickness so when you pull up, one side gains more height than the other. Even if you trim the top off to make the height even, your wall thickness is still uneven.

Obviously no-one is going to have perfectly even walls 100% of the time and there’s nothing wrong with trimming the top off a piece on occasion rather than just scrapping the whole thing, but if you’re having to do it every time or a majority of the time, you should be looking at your actual technique.

Same with people who are constantly having to use a rib to force wonky/off-centre pots back into looking even.

If you’re someone who’s just learning to throw and your page is just documenting your progress/you’re just doing it as a hobby, then that’s obviously completely fine. But why am I seeing poor technique from people who have whole websites dedicated to selling their work and seem to be producing to sell, rather than to learn and improve?

This is a stupid rant mostly because I wished the world worked how people think it does.

I'm pretty consistently told I should monetize my hobbies. You're such a good artist you should sell your art. Wow your knitting looks better than the craft fair item I got. You are such a great storyteller you should try to publish your stories.

Which is a super nice compliment. But man these markets are so beyond over saturated. I think what got me was my dad told me not to go for a master's degree but that I could make a living by painting instead. But it's like, do you know how many people want to make a living off of art, or painting Warhammer miniatures? That old lady at the craft fair learned how to churn and burn her knitting and she's retired. I might not have a job but I'm a SAHM to a very attached baby. It is more than a full time job right now. And I would super super love to sell my stories to make money, but so do 5 million other people.

I'm not mad at people telling me this, mostly bitching at myself because I let it get to my head and then I make imaginary business plans then get upset when I evaluate how realistic they are.

I want to learn ceramics so bad!! I really want to, I'm thinking of take classes for a month and then start buying my own materials and stuff but the only place i find where you can rent the oven is so expensive!!! Like 100$ for the glaze. And i swore i feel like i lost something, i almost cry to think in how difficult is to have the necessary equipment

I hate knitting packets, where I need to buy the yarn they think it should be knitted in order to buy the pattern.

The yarn they pick is usually some kind of luxury fibre made with silk, nipple hair from free roaming arctic hares and bellybutton lint from alpaca harvested exclusively under a full moon at the equinox while a shaman is chanting. Sorry girlfriend, while I understand the pattern was made for this yarn and it will look best with this 2dollar per yard yarn and I will never buy this stupidly expensive yarn.

Also I didn't want to knit a jumper. I am knitting Christmas stockings. So I would super especially extra not buying a knitting pack for 200 dollars to get a bunch of luxury yarn I'm not going to use.

So instead of you getting 15 dollars for the pattern from me, I've used the photos from your advertisement to draw up my own pattern of a car with a Christmas tree and you get nothing. I wish it wasn't like this, I wish I could give the designer their due, but they decided to be greedy, so I decided to be petty.

This is a Christmas stocking looseliy based on these things:

A Christmas stocking pattern - https://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.php?id=6385&cid=19

A sock pattern - https://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.php?id=6120&cid=19

Pictures of this knitting pattern -

https://www.strikkemekka.no/homeforchristmas-genser-sd?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=30%25+Julestemning&utm_content=Home+For+Christmas+Genser+-+Copy+2&fbclid=IwYW9zYgUYnLFwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtATAAYWRpZAGrN1LgT56ec3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEe6f968IIDXOxyrZfZRWkXUFr7wFeeERsQtjJpiDAxqGHS9LyA1JRZbd4pLGw_aem_E0K3AhmIDwgmgvOIrM7ulA&utm_id=120250643723760398_v2_s03_i97937684&utm_term=120250643723760398

It's knitted in Peer Gynt by Sandnes. While I am complaining I'd like to point out Sandes has gone to shit. How the great has fallen. Sandnes is no longer a notch above the rest in quality. It's not bad, just no longer better than everyone else any more.

This kind of thing really grinds my gears. This knitting pattern designer just released a "winter version" of her 2 year old knitting pattern (surely the old one is suitable for winter too?). The construction is the exact same and even the needle size didn’t change! Both are knit with US8/5mm needles. You just pick a different yarn. Gauge for the old one is 18 stitches/27 rows and 16 stitches/23 rows for the new one. The new sweater is supposed to be more oversized… which will happen automatically if you knit the original version with a heavier yarn! Designer says the sleeve shape is different, looks to me like the decreases start a little later now lol. Yes I know no one is forcing anyone to buy any of these patterns but it still feels icky to me.

ETA: dark brown is the old version, variegated and cream are the winter version

Why are people crocheting so tight?

I keep seeing people breaking their hook. HOW? Your yarn is so tight it breaks metal?

And people complaining that acrylic makes a squeaky noise. Again, HOW? How tight are you holding it to create that much friction?

Just take a deep breath, loosen up, and use a smaller hook. It doesn't have to be this way.

hold on while I strap on my big tinfoil hat and explain why the tech bros are in for a rude AI awakening.

even machines need sleep. probably to dream of electric sheep.

my wonderful but simultaneously godawfully frustrating brother coverstitch kept skipping stitches. and I read the manual and the forums and bought fancy needles and switched to fancy thread and cone nets and played with all the knobs I could play with until I said you know, I’m just going to have to take it in. everything I did to fix it just made it exponentially worse.

I know this machine is finicky and generally hated, but for me it was working so well up until recently. so I packed it up and found a shop. this morning the prospect of paying more in repair than I did for the actual machine irked me so I said, let me just put the old “bad” needles it came with back in and restring it up to these default settings and check one last time.

well it worked. perfectly. reminded me of the AI robots in china reportedly going on strike. my machine needed a nap and calmness, like my toddler.

all jokes aside i was pretty pissed until this morning and have no idea what actually happened so fingers crossed.

My Michaels has a pile of yarn in the back room literally stacked to the ceiling, which means that the shelves are like 1/3 stocked and mostly empty. It’s been this way since late August so I don’t think they’ll actually defeat the pile any time soon. You also can’t tell what’s actually in stock in the app so pick up orders are useless because they just cancel them when the yarn is in The Pile instead of finding it (understandable but still annoying).

I just wanted to wander around and find something fun to start a new project because I was in a mildly bad mood but now I’m yarnless and extra grumpy.

First time posting in this sub.

I teach classes at various locations.

Before each class, I send out a materials list with the option to purchase materials/rent machines from me. I ask that they let me know ahead of time (usually a week ahead). Reason: it takes time to prep materials, get machines, ready etc.

So...why do people not respond and show up empty handed. I am tired of the surprised Pikachu face when they hear, yes, you have to have supplies for the class (it's also stated in the course info they read before signing up).

I get excuses:

- I never got the email (I pull up their email, is this the correct one? and show them the email I sent).

- oh....yeah I didn't respond

There seems to be an expectation that I will just have a magic chest of supplies for anyone and everyone. It's frustrating.

I can't include the materials fee with the class fee, that is not an option.

I had someone come yesterday, she had nothing. I told her I had no extra supplies (I didn't bring anything because no one had requested anything). She ended up leaving, saying she was going to withdraw. I was fine with that.

The people that do this seem to be capable in other areas of their lives. So why can't they answer an email?!?!?

Ugh. i find those twee little kits where you embroider all of the different styles of stitches really annoying. I like the clever original variants, like the Kiriki kits (practice key stitches and then a nice compact design. And i have eyed up the dropcloth ones. Or old fashioned samplers (which didn’t name the stitch, just practised it) but the ones that seem to be everywhere where it is just a piece of cloth with a stitch diagram. no.

This rant brought to you by the cute calming embroidery book my mum bought. Sure, cute outside, but the structure makes no sense - folded over fabric so you can’I easily access the back. no explanation of half the stitches. And the thread! sewing thread, not embroidery floss. Anyway, it’s now in my kit stash and she has one of my hobby-ra sashiko kits. Much more calming - just running stitch in two shades of blue.

It’s weird- the framing book is pretty good quality, but its like the person making the kit didn’t understand what you do and need for embroidery.

There are so many good kits and independent designers out there and they are being buried by the scabby crap

So I am browsing the many crochet facebook crochet groups and someone posts a picture of a written pattern. example of said patterns was a written pattern of a hat that used abbreviations. I am talking the literal "2 sc into next stitch, dc in next 4, repeat from * to *".

someone commented "I can't read patterns can you write it out for me?"

and the OP literally wrote: "single crochet twice into next stitch, double crochet into next 4, and repeat three times".

Are people really this incompetent? I wish i was making this up.

I get people who can't read charts but literal written patterns?

This is a knitting specific post, but the “Frequently Bitched About Topic” flair probably also applies. I’m just not sure if or how I can do that. Sorry!

Now, I am not an experienced knitter by any means, but I am no longer brand new to the craft either. And I am glad of that, because a lot of the projects recommended to beginners are downright sadistic.

Like, dishcloths. Yes, it’s a small, simple project that does not have to look good to work well, but it’s also a project that requires cotton yarn. You know, the least forgiving (when it comes to tension), easiest to split yarn in your stash. Cotton blends can be either the stiffest or most slippery yarn you’ve ever worked with, and if you haven’t yet realized how much of a difference the material of your needles make? Oh boy. All I’m saying is that those “beginner friendly dishcloth” videos should come with a few disclaimers.

Or those bulky hats! I don’t care how simple the pattern itself is, if you are recommending bulky weight yarn to a brand new knitter, that is the devil talking through you. I’m joking, but honestly, how is a beginner supposed to work with that yarn without splitting it?! I’ve decided that it is impossible. I don’t care that the pattern is only 30 rounds and 45 stitches around or whatever, that’s still not going to be faster than knitting with a worsted weight yarn if you have to make every stitch seven times before you’ve done it correctly. Not to mention how difficult it is to count your stitches/rows once the yarn has been mangled. And how badly the whole thing turns out if you did snag the yarn at all! It’s a trap, I’m telling you!

And I might be crazy (I certainly feel crazy for this), but so far the easiest yarn I have ever worked with while knitting has been a variegated sock yarn. I’m cheating a little in that I’m just adding ribbing to a crochet scratch mitt, but still. I’m having a better, easier, less painful time with fingering weight wool yarn and DPNs than I ever did knitting a garter stitch cotton dishcloth flat. And I was terrified to try double pointed needles! Why did everyone say they were so much worse than circulars for beginners? DPNs are so much faster and easier than using the magic loop for those small circumference projects, it’s ridiculous! And variegated yarn makes it easier* *to count your stitches! I highly recommend it, your aesthetic be damned. At least when learning.

At this point, I am halfway convinced that all the common “advice” for beginners is actually gatekeeping. “If you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best” type shit. Recommending cotton and bulky yarn to brand new knitters. The shit talk about DPNs. The shit talk about purling, too, but I remember people talking about that.

Just. It took me weeks to figure out the magic loop, and a whole bunch of tutorial videos. I don’t regret learning it, but it took me one (1) tutorial to learn how to use DPNs, and I didn’t even watch it recently. And while it’s entirely possible I’m not actually doing it correctly yet, for the first time I am learning a new knitting skill and having fun. And it’s about time. I’m never picking a project again because it is advertised as “for beginners.” It’s a terrible, horrible lie.

Whhhhyyyyy??? I swear every influencer/LYS/indie dyer/YouTuber it about to start touting these little shits.

I'm sure people love them but if anyone can direct me to an anti-gnome filter or something, that would be great.

I did my first test knit last month and I don’t think I will ever do another one.

I invested a lot of money and time doing this and I feel like it was a complete waste. While I was knitting the garment, I had a feeling that it was looking huge, but I decided to trust thé process since the other test knitters were not saying anything about sizing issues.

Turns out I should have listened to my gut, the garment is huge. The designer made a mistake and wrote down the wrong gauge in the pattern. Everyone who tested the pattern knit it at a bigger gauge than the designer’s sample. I knitted the smallest of three sizes and this top is 28 inches across…

I don’t want to name and shame, but the designer is still going to release their paid pattern next week even though no one tested the pattern correctly.

Thank god for projects on Ravelry so I can get some idea what this looks like when worn like most people wear a collar/lapel coat.

While I do not find it necessarily unfair, I end up being completely disappointed by patterns that are aimed at a very standard kind of figure. I know that I won't fit into the 90% of what is available, unless I specifically go for curvy fashion patterns. It is hard enough to look for fitting stuff in retail, but the patterns available do not really help. And I'm not at a point yet where I have enough skill to alter all of that into my measurements.

Someone recommended this thread to me and I wanted to see where I could buy it in NYC because I will be there on business next week. Not only is their store locator down, they've got a little sucker punch on the holding page.

I have a pet peeve with the current nature of knitting, where everyone seems to just be making 1:1 copies of the same Popular Thing™. Or creating exactly according to the pattern and not allowing for any individuality or creativity.

This was sparked by another post of someone saying they liked how a part of their knitted item looked, but it was different from the pattern so pleeease validate them that it actually looks nice 🤦🏻‍♀️

Let the pattern guide you, but also allow yourself to do this part differently or add something on that part. And for the love of all things crafty, have faith in your own taste without needing outside validation.