Paws and Needles

Please can anyone help a queer household, with two people of color, pay bills so we can squish our main money to make rent! We all would like to avoid a world we we have to be returned to transphobic or outright unsafe parent households.

We have a month of rent, and while we are working on plans and reaching out to housing help, any help to pay side bills so main checks can be saved would be appreciated.

My partner cashapp since mine locked me out being weird: @.stalefrybasket

Goal is 250 if we can swing that much to cover power bill, phone bills (needed for job calls).

If you can't share a boost is appreciated.

No donation is too small in these hard times and even a little goes a long way

Help has been much appreciated!

Hopefully one or both of us should be able to get work at the most recent place we both interviewed so yhis hopefully will be the last time I need to do do one of these, but the power bill will need covered sooner so please keep sharing and donating if you can

Also

Pixel art found here:

And Body Pillow found here (Only for US due to the insane tariffs)

So you go to the store to buy needles for your sewing machine. You are going to find one of two things: a few "Universal" needles, or a large section with dozens of needle types.

"None of these say my machine brand on them," you think. "What do these numbers mean?"

I'm here to help you out!

It turns out that needles for sewing machines have amazing specialties to help make the work easier.

Ball point/Jersey: these needles have a rounded 'ball' point so that they don't accidentally cut the threads in a knit fabric. Ever cut a thread in a sweater? We don't want that to happen in a knit fabric either. Knits are used for t-shirts, Sweatshirts and the like.

Sharp/Microtex Sharp: My Beloved. If you sew on any woven fabric, and see "puckers" along your seam, you're not using a Sharp needle. Developed for micro-textiles, these are brilliant for printed quilting cotton, satin, woven silk, and the like.

Jeans/Denim: larger eye, bladed tip. The Sharp is a stiletto; a Denim needle is a sword. The bladed tip makes it easier for your machine to power through densely woven fabrics like canvas, upholstery fabrics, brocade, and old-fashioned denim.

Stretch: this needle is designed to sew on Elastic fabrics with minimal skipped stitches. Spandex and Lycra can stretch so well that they're carried by the needle into the bobbin area of the machine, preventing the stitch from completing. Stretch needles pass through the fabric easier without punching holes.

Quilting: Yep! There's a needle for this! Great for piecing, these really shine while sewing through the layers of fabric and batting. They make free lotion quilting a lot easier, and you won't have to fiddle with the tensions as much!

Leather: perfect for Vinyl, pleather 'vegan' leather, actual leather, and suede, this needle is like a Denim needle with a twist; a twisted blade, that is. It makes a perfectly round hole to prevent the dreaded "Tear along the dotted line" effect.

Metallic: yes, all needles are made of metal, but this type is gentle to metallic threads for decorative work.

Topstitch: this needle has an extra large eye and groove to accommodate heavier threads. Great for high-contrast visible topstitching with heavier threads.

There are others, but this is a good place to start. "Universal" needles don't have any of the specialized features listed above. They aren't sharp, aren't ball-pointed either. They have an average sized eye and groove.

They will sew. They will form a stitch, and they can be a lifesaver when you're not sure what kind of needle to use because you're sewing with more than one challenging fabric simultaneously. However, they aren't "good at" anything. They're kind of "equally bad" at everything.

Do yourself and your sewing machine a favor: Use the right needle for the right project.

“The markings upon the band begin to fade. The writing, which at first was as clear as red flame, has all but disappeared… a secret now that only fire can tell.” - The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, 2001

When you look at it from the aide, a knit stitch looks flat while a purl stitch looks like a little bump. So if you have a pattern of knits and purls you look at from the side, the knit stitches will fade into the background while the purl stitches will stay visible. You use that effect, while keeping a steady stripe pattern, to create the illusion:

From above: plain stripes because your eye focuses on the colors

From the side: you see the pattern of purl stitches because they stick up above the flatter knit stitches

(Photos source)

And this lets you do some absolutely AMAZING patterns:

Plain stripey shawl becomes a PORTRAIT

I also learned how to bow weave and (stress) wove so many bracelets.

how to bow weave and (stress) wove

so many bracelets.

A guide for crochet patterns:

And one for embroidery:

I don't knit, but I'm sure someone has a comparable guide somewhere. I know crochet and knitting seems like more of a problem- the crochet "patterns" make vastly different items than what's pictured, and you can find some of those on r/CraftedbyAI because some people do follow those "patterns" to make a point.

Cross-stitch and embroidery seem like they'd be easier to fake, right? Like, cross-stitch patterns are basically pixel art, so what's the harm?

The cross-stich often has dozens or hundreds of colours and they change every single pixel, which is basically impossible for a human to reproduce. It's just not a pattern, dammit.

The embroidered ones break my heart, though:

Wherein someone is making a lovely embroidered piece but they end up dissatisfied with their work because it doesn't look as impossibly plush and bright as the fake.

It makes people who are new to these crafts feel like they're not doing it right, or gives them insane expectations, and it can drive people away from the craft.

I know of several cross-stitch pattern shops on Etsy that have closed because it's just not worth the investment when they're competing with AI-generated nonsense that can charge pennies because it doesn't take any time or effort to make.

Most (if not all) AI-generated images that feature knitted objects possess at least one of these traits:

-Rows (or even entire components of the project) splitting or merging in ways that make no sense. This sweater looks impressive until you try to make sense of that lump near the left shoulder or whatever is going on with the collar. You can even see one row splitting into two near the bottom for seemingly no reason at all.

-Impossible stitches. Those lumpy squares (?) in between Mario's eyes are not real stitches. Neither are the stitches that fade seamlessly into tufts of material on the lion's mane.

-Impossibly huge projects. This elephant is almost twice as tall as the person next to it, and you'll realize that the stitches are actually massive when you take the time to think about how you could make it yourself. If you look closely, you'll also see a fifth leg on the elephant!

-The overall "vibe" of the image is glossy, shiny, plastic-y, or smooth to a degree that is almost unnerving. Yarn comes in lots of different colors and textures, but what's depicted in the image below is a bit too vivid and perfect to be real. Excessive blurring/out-of-focus areas on the project itself can also be signs of AI use.

Note: You don't have to know how to make anything fancy. Just do you know the basics well enough to at least get started?

- laughably incorrect, just flinging yarn around

- knitting the most basic scarf incredibly slowly because the actor Learned How To Do It For The Role

- old lady actresses casually knitting an intricate lace pattern while doing a monologue

1. that’s a garter stitch, which you can clearly see despite it being made of clay

2. they took the time to animate a modified continental style of knitting, including showing how his working yarn is wrapped around his pinky, and that he’s flicking with his index on his right hand

STAYED UP TIL 4:30am BUT I HAVE CREATED :D