Jay's IDK stuff

And that meant sometimes we saw a deer in the middle of the road at midnight and the majestic motherfucker just stared us down until my mom shredded our tires to stop from hitting him. Once we stopped he did a little half-bow as if saying ‘You have not committed an act of godslayer this night. Your bloodline shall bear no curse of mine’, and walked away chill as you please.

The next day a neighbor told us a deer with fucking big antlers got tangled in his fence because it was trying to steal his grapes.

I went on a hike with another neighbor to collect yarrow for tea. A bear came out of the woods towards us, went on its hind legs and inquiringly roared. And he pushed me, tiny as I was back then, behind me out of sight and spread his jacket wide to make himself seem bigger than he already was. He let out a sound I had not known humans were capable of making. He and the bear looked at each other for a moment, and came to an understanding. The bear went down and walked away, respecting a powerful opponent protecting its young.

A week ago, there had been a bear that completely tore apart our trashcan and gorged itself on half-fermented apples we threw away. My cousin had to chase it away, drunk out of its tiny fucking mind, with an umbrella that made weird noises when opened. The bear ran for its life, crashed into our wall, fell on its ass, and scampered away.

I was playing on a swing once, all alone, and a fox came up to me, the most beautiful animal I had seen in my ten years of life. Thinking it wanted to pass, I stopped swinging and sat still not to spook it. But instead of passing, the fox circled the swing, found it wanting, and came to sit before me perfectly poised and looked me in the eye, and I could swear it wished to tell me something but I could not understand the language spoken before human time.

Then my mom came out of the nearby inn, shrieked at the fox and swung her purse to chase it away. The fox jumped, ran off and fell into a ditch, all notions of grace gone with the wind.

Introduction:

Visible mending is a decorative way to fix up an item. Instead of trying to make your mend as invisible as possible, the idea is to make it part of the garment's design.

Visual mending is not a single technique: it's more of a mindset. If you've got an item you love, it deserves to be mended, and if you're going to put that love into stitches, why not show them off?

That being said, there are some specific techniques that are popular with visible menders. Let's take a look!

Sashiko:

Sashiko is a type of traditional Japanese embroidery that is used to both decorate and reinforce fabric. In visible mending, sashiko is often used to cover up holes with patches or to reinforce thinning fabric. This technique uses a variation on the running stitch.

(Image source)

Some resources on sashiko:

SashiCo on YouTube: sashiko livestreams and information on the cultural aspect of sashiko.

Written tutorial by Upcycle Stitches.

Free sashiko templates by TheSpruceCrafts.

Fixing jeans with sashiko by Soluna Collective.

(Image source)

(Image source)

Embroidery:

Regular embroidery is also a popular technique to accentuate your mends. Check out my embroidery 101 post to learn how to get started. You can embroider patches, or use embroidery to hide or accentuate any stitches you've made to fix holes. Embroidery's also a great way to cover up stains.

(Image source)

(Image source)

Patches:

There are many ways to add patches to a garment. My tutorial on patches is a good place to start if you want to make custom-shaped patches to sew on top of your fabric. You can also sew your patch on the inside of your garment and have it peek out from beneath the hole you're trying to fix. Fun ideas for this are lace or superheroes.

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(Source)

Darning:

Darning is a technique used to repair holes in fabric by using running stitches to weave extra fabric over the hole as to fill it up again. While traditionally darning is done in an invisible way by using the same colour of thread as your fabric, you can also use contrasting colours to accentuate your fix. Check out this written tutorial on darning by TheSpruceCrafts.

(Image source)

(Image source)

Conclusion:

Visible mending is a creative way to fix up your clothes and give them some personality at the same time.

You should be proud of the fact that you took the time and learned the necessary skills needed to mend your clothes! Show off what you did!

A fun side effect of wearing these obvious mends is that people will notice them. They'll remember your fixes the next time they're faced with a hole in their wardrobe, and it will make them more likely to try it for themselves.

PAYBACK TIME.

A Twitter user saw an ad for this neat, unassuming house for sale for less than $159,000. 

It had a beautiful yard, so he made an app’t to see it. And, that’s when things got weird. 

The living room was messy and tacky, but it had a nice spiral staircase, an open 2nd fl. balcony, and Mediterranean style. 

But what was up with this mural of outer space?

And these 2 creepy homemade aliens?

Well, the space theme continued into the dining room. The mural made it look like you were in a spaceship that landed on the moon- see earth off in the distance?

Hmmm. This looks like the conference room in a space ship. 

The kitchen is plain, but still has a few touches, as well as a “sealed” hatch door. 

What, you say you like the beach? This house has you covered. The bedroom has a waterbed and that’s real sand on the floor. 

The bathroom is a tropical rain forest. 

This 2nd bedroom is beautifully staged in a hippie retro theme- notice the square bed- it must be a cardboard box.

Look, this spare room is a blank canvas- you can make it anything you like.

And, I don’t know what this is on the mezzanine. 

The back of the house is nice, but it’s a little overgrown- the ivy is starting to cover some of the windows. It was sold for $152,500.

To this house. Not a contemporary house, and the pentagons of those two windows on the left are a little unusual, but not particularly notable.

The sides of the steps to the front entrances are painted purple. That’s a little interesting.

Oh?

OHHHH YEEEESSSSSSS

POUR THAT PURPLE CARPET ON ME BABY (also that fireplace FUCKS)

You thought you’d bring your own furniture to this house? No. Only built-in seating covered with orange-pattered carpet in the purple living room.

This is where things start to get a little surreal to me. This house was built in 1975. But look how bright and new that carpet looks! It still matches the light fixture! And it’s in the kitchen! It looks like it was never used (weird), or that it was REPLACED recently (WEIRDER BY FAR).

This is actually a lovely bright dining space, if you can ignore the purple carpet of the living room running up against the blue carpet of the kitchen. As sometimes happens in a house.

That’s a new toilet. And that’s purple carpet in the bathroom. And a pink sink where the material reminds me of tiny independent movie theaters or hole-in the wall restaurants.

The only way to move between the three floors of this house, friends and foes. I have one drink and I’m sleeping on the orange built-in seating for my safety.

And now…pink. (And some sliding doors which I hope open onto a balcony but I don’t SEE anything like a balcony railing.)

Stepping back, I’m still having trouble interpreting this room. My best guess is that it’s the main bedroom, with a semi-public area at the top of the stairs and then this is the more private area where the bed would go. But it’s not actually walled off. The decorative light switch cover shaped like a regular house is a nice touch.

Friends…

This is a lot. I genuinely now start to think that this house was inhabited by beings that DID NOT USE BATHROOMS nor did they UNDERSTAND what bathrooms were used for. That carpet is so bright! So fluffy! It shouldn’t look that way if it’s original, and WHO WOULD HAVE MADE THIS DECISION MORE THAN ONCE??? And it. It doesn’t even match the shade of pink around the tub. And the blue tile in the tub doesn’t match anything. Th…the shower head. Is there. But there is no place to hang a curtain around the tub. IN A CARPETED BATHROOM. There are so many signs of remodeling, and yet…the bathroom is still…this. 

Non-Euclidian closet. First non-carpeted room we have seen.

I run from the non-Euclidean closet to face the stairs, which I fall down headfirst, dying instantly.

Ah, the lower level. There’s another sink in another carpeted area, but at least the built-in furniture isn’t carpeted. It’s fine.

IT’S FINE

This bedroom makes me think of dorm rooms, but from a bad alternate timeline.

This bedroom doesn’t have carpet, but rather a portal to a different alternate universe.

Your best chance for normality in this house.

At least the children’s toilet room isn’t carpeted? I’ve gotta count this as a win at this point. I’m blocking the sink and counter from my mind. I do not see it.

It’s fine. Oh THERE’S the balcony. …it has no railing. Friends and foes, I really think I’d need my balcony to have railings in this house. But I guess if you’re an incorporeal being from another dimension who loves carpet, it wouldn’t really matter.

Thank you for journeying with me. 

so i’ve seen this around a lot and i always felt like the version i listened to just. didn’t have everything? sO! i edited together my three favourite versions of the tik tok sea shanty! enjoy!!

(listen with headphones if possible!)