Givemeyarnandfood

If something falls into ruin a necromancer will move in 100% of the time

The Animals - House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Silver Jews - New Orleans (1994)

After my teacher introduced us to this theory, she asked us, “is love a feeling? Or is it a choice?” We were all a bunch of teenagers. Naturally we said it was a feeling. She said that if we clung to that belief, we’d never have a lasting relationship of any sort.

She made us interview a dozen adults who were or had been married and we asked them about their marriages and why it lasted or why it failed. At the end, I asked every single person if love was an emotion or a choice.

Everybody said that it was a choice. It was a conscious commitment. It was something you choose to make work every day with a person who has chosen the same thing. They all said that at one point in their marriage, the “feeling of love” had vanished or faded and they weren’t happy. They said feelings are always changing and you cannot build something that will last on such a shaky foundation.

The married ones said that when things were bad, they chose to open the communication, chose to identify what broke and how to fix it, and chose to recreate something worth falling in love with.

The divorced ones said they chose to walk away.

Ever since that class, since that project, I never looked at relationships the same way. I understood why arranged marriages were successful. I discovered the difference in feelings and commitments. I’ve never gone for the person who makes my heart flutter or my head spin. I’ve chosen the people who were committed to choosing me, dedicated to finding something to adore even on the ugliest days.

But…the structure of the stitches and the resulting fabric is pretty different between crochet and knitting.  You get different effects between them, which lends themselves to different crafts.  And none of the effects of (most) crochet stitches lend themselves naturally to socks.  You’re (usually) going to end up with something either stiff and bulky, or full of holes that will Not Feel Good to walk on. Whereas knitted socks will just…BE elastic and comfortable.

Sure you CAN do it.  And there are people and patterns that do it well!!

But MOST crochet socks are a bit like calling this a bicycle

I mean… Okay?  But people are going to Talk.

i’m sure some of them are unintentional rather than premeditated scammers but they’re all still thieving assholes who shouldn’t be running businesses and need to give all the money back.

the olympics commitee: ravelry, well-known knitting (fiber arts in general) site, held a contest they called the ‘ravelympics’ to drum up olympic support then get a cease-and-desist letter for copyright infringement, and the letter said that calling it that ‘denigrates the true nature of the Olympic Games’ and was ‘disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes’

except, you know, ravelry had like 2 million users who all, by nature of ravelry being a website, have basic tech literacy. the social media backlash was so bad that the olympics board had to make 2 official apologies because the first wasn’t good enough.

RHSS: Red Heart Super Saver is cheap Walmart-level yarn. some people hate it because it used to be just really fucking awful and they haven’t bothered updating their opinions. some people hate it because they hate non-natural yarns. some people hate it because they’re yarn snobs(which, btw, comes in two flavors: the disdainful assholes and the people who just don’t see the point if you have the money and don’t indulge yourself). a lot of people defend it because it’s cheap and widely locally available and honestly not that bad after a wash and some fabric softener.

crocheted socks: exactly what kaitoukitty said. people who crochet socks tend to either be new crocheters who are not aware crochet is not the best medium for socks or experienced crocheters who are pushing the boundaries of the medium.

babies on fire: i can’t believe we’re talking about yarncraft controversies and no one mentioned babies on fire. that’s my favorite controversy.

so when deciding what material to make baby blankets out of, in addition to considerations like softness, ease of washing, and allergy concerns quite a lot of people like to consider what would happen to the baby if the blanket was set on fire. yes, really.

wool has the problem of hand-wash only blankets for a new mother (superwash wool exists but that’s a whole ‘nother paragraph), allergy concerns, and also real fucking expensive if you want quality not-itchy-on-baby-skin wool. but pro-wool-blanket people insist that because wool actually resists being set on fire pretty well and also can self-extinguish, it’s the only sensible choice.

while ted cruz fucking went to cancun

And I’m feeling both relieved and kind of guilty that we’ve been one of the people with power–we’re on one of the critical circuits that can’t be turned off, there’s a fire station and other infrastructure they need to protect–and that yeah, my upstairs pipes froze, but they thawed yesterday and no signs of breaks. I’m lucky. And even lucky, I’m still not doing great; we have to keep the temperature low enough (to protect the grid) that my hands are stiffened up, even in fingerless gloves, and my whole body aches, and my already limited spoons are whittled down even further.

The authorities are saying, “Use less power, stop trickling water, insurance should cover it if your pipes freeze, and if not, you may get reimbursement from FEMA…” *Should*. *May*.

Meanwhile, the guys who manage the state electrical grid (and oh, that’s a story in and of itself) live in California and Michigan. Ted fucking Cruz is in fucking Cancun.

The stores are empty, because no trucks have gotten through to restock.

And the worst of all? This is the logical end point of Republican policies. This is what happens when utilities become commoditized. This is what happens when you pursue the ‘free market uber alles’. The Texas electrical grid is independent because Texas didn’t want no fed'rl reg-u-lation, no sir! Which means we have minimal connections to the other two US grids, because selling power interstate would open us up to regulation. Which means we can’t *get* power from the rest of the US, if it had it to spare. On top of that, ERCOT knew ten years ago that the Texas grid was vulnerable to cold weather. But, hey, winterizing infrastructure costs money, cuts profits, doesn’t have an immediate payback.

And if you think it’s a policy set and continued by Republican state leaders, you would be correct. Half of Texas is lacking multiple basic services because rich people playing “You’re not the boss of me” want to get richer. It’s infuriating. And it’s costing lives. (But not rich people’s lives, so they apparently don’t matter.)

People are dying because of this. The number of carbon monoxide poisonings alone… because people are desperate. Disabled people can’t get power to charge their medical devices. Older people get trapped in buildings with no power, surrounded by ice.

Yes. The modern Republican party is a profiteering death cult whose rallying cry is “Got mine, fuck you, die slave!” The Republican state leadership is a shitshow, everyone’s pointing fingers, no one takes responsiblitity for the policies that they’ve been supporting for *decades*.

Wearing the hijab

Not Wearing the hijab

Wearing makeup + Skinny jeans with their hijab

Wearing the hijab but not being religious

being religious but not wearing the hijab

not fitting the quiet stereotype

fitting the quiet stereotype