#comfortabletextiles

A Punching Bag: A story that still enrages you? Feel free to rant.

Oooh boy. Okay, quite a few stupid things, but I'm gonna give a special shoutout to Netflix's We Are The Wave (2019), which is an adaptation of The Wave by Todd Strasser.

You know The Wave, right? American highschool teacher does a social experiment to show his students how easy it is to be taken over by authoritarianism? He's basically recreating the social dynamics of the Nazi regime within his own classroom. There was another German adaptation with Jürgen Vogel and Max Riemelt iirc, years before that.

It's a story about the allure of rightwing extremism and authoritarianism, about the allure of a strong leader, about how the flaws in the human psyche that make us all susceptible to fall for that.

Well. We Are The Wave looks at this story and goes "But, hear me out, what if it were about leftwing extremism instead??? 😯🤯 omg I am so smart". The show took this book and basically redid it as Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex, only worse.

There are many, many things wrong with it, so many stupid choices and plot points that I still remember even though I only watched like 2 episodes years ago, but it almost doesn't matter; the basic premise in already dumb and lbr offensive enough. Top 10 worst shows to ever be spat out by this country and that's saying a lot.

A Cursed Amulet: A villain done right?

Gonna go with Coriolanus Snow from the extended Hunger Games universe, especially in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. He's the POV character, and obviously the narration has to be sympathetic to him on the surface level, but throughout the whole book, it just shines what a petty and selfish little man he truly is. Collins hates him so much, and she doesn't need to beat the reader over the head with it. She just lets him talk and unmask himself. It works especially well because he's foiled by Lucy Gray, who is everything he isn't.

Why did he turn out like this? What made him evil? And the answer is, nothing, other than very common character flaws. There's nothing tragic to him. His evilness is entirely banal; born out of lack of empathy and opportunism. There is nothing special about him, he's surrounded by people exactly like him - and yet, he did not have to turn out this way. His cousin, who he grew up with, did not. Lucy Gray who has a backstory entirely as tragic as his (if not even more so) did not. Everything that happens is his choice. Over and over he is presented with the opportunity to be kind, compassionate, selfless, and again and again, he fails to take it. Privilege and an inherent conviction that he's better than everyone else, that he deserves more, that he's above the common riffraff (even when he's destitute) - that wins out. Collins gives him a tragic backstory, and it changes nothing. He's the worst.

It's masterfully done.

@comfortabletextiles finally pulled out my old spinning project, worked through the trouble section in a few min, and now everything is going super smooth lol. Nice to be working on my crafts again.

I need to get better at the initial spinning so that I don't have loose spots that come apart during plying, and I'm torn between using my nice expensive wool that I already have, or getting some bulk wool and saving my nice stuff until I'm better. Idk...

@comfortabletextiles This turns out to be exceedingly simple; I didn't realize until I laid it out that it's just a rectangle, made of two matching rectangles, and the neck is made of two smaller matching rectangles.

This is all as-is, so add seam allowances to every measurement as desired. You just need two 33"x55" pieces, and to cut a half circle out of each in the middle. The circumference of this circle is about 28". The neck is two 12"x14" pieces, doubled over to make a neck that's 6" tall. I've included pics of the seams, so you can see there's nothing fancy going on there at all, and of the tag, in case you want to try to buy one despite how easy this would be to make.

I guess you could make it out of one big square, but the seams give it some shoulder structure.

It's wool, or at least it acts like it. Woven. You'll want something moderately heavy so it drapes nice and is warm.

@comfortabletextiles​

I will reblog everything from here to there

Have a cat picture in the meantime

Tell my my secrets 😌

(kind of sad right now, that the hierophant isn't some kind of children's book character.... Der "Hiero-fant" Hurtons deutscher Cousin)

Awww, der wäre der beste Freund von Morgensterns Nasobem :D

Interesting combination! The Hierophant (or High Priest) is a card of spiritual authority. It can be organized religion, but plenty of new religious movements have rules and regulations, fixed rituals, and a leader figure. Personally, I am a bit suspicious of this card - I am suspicious of "spiritual leadership" in any form. However, it's not inherently a negative card. Like all great leaders, at his best, the Hierophant is a mediator and a diplomat. Someone who brings connection and synthesis; who makes the spiritual approachable for the worldly, and seeks to bring harmony to his community. Someone who puts the needs of his people over his own. At his worst, the Hierophant is an authoritarian and a cult leader.

Temperance is also about synthesis, but this card is about integrating opposing things, thoughts, concepts... into something new. It's a card about finding the perfect middle ground, about creating harmony from chaos and conflict. It's a card that tells you you can't just disregard what you think is unfitting; instead, even the unpleasant things, that seem to cause nothing but trouble, have their place in the whole.

Together, these cards do actually point to someone who is a truly good leader. Temperance reels in the darker aspects of the Hierophant; Temoerance reminds him that a leader exists to serve his people, not the other way round. That true harmony cannot be forced, but has to be worked for and is hard-earned.

Would you excel in a position of leadership? That I do not know, but these cards point to someone who truly appreciates people, appreciates it when someone is doing their best (even though someone's best might not always be very good). Who wants to foster harmony and peace, but not at the cost of sweeping things under the rug. Someone who values kindness in themself and others, assumes the best, but does not suffer mistreatment. Also, beware of cults (which everyone should, no one is immune).

I say this flattered and with nothing but affection but I have never had that many ideas in my life 😅🙈

But okay. You'll get the one that is more than just a vague concept, in that I have actually written some words for it (even though it'll never be finished). Contains: Ghosts and blackbonnet. Also cw for mention of suicide.

So imagine this: Ed is a world-famous author of horror novels. He's a gothic icon, got famous as more of a storyteller (he used to do live events that were half readings, half theatre performances; used to pull all sorts of tricks to make it seem like the venue was actually haunted. To this day, people who are into parascience cite his shows as evidence that ghosts are real). But lately - well, he's not been feeling it. His readings are boring now; he still does them sometimes, big live events, but he's no longer allowed to genuinely scare the shit out of his audiences. And he hasn't done one in years anyway. He sold movie rights a couple of times, and what Hollywood produced made his skin crawl but not in the fun way.

And Jim Jimenez! 🍊

:D

babygirl you are deranged (complimentary).

You probably heard "Pirates", were hit w a wave of nostalgia for the early 2000's, and spent the first ep confused, but intrigued, up until I'd say the crafting session and Frenchie's cat monologue when you decided that yeah, this rules, actually.

You appreciate the genre bending and the combination of batshit humor with complete sincerity. You thought the toe scene was hilarious.

Oh and out of the big 3, Ed's your fave.

💖 Which one of your creations are you the proudest? Show off!

Oh no running out of cool things to share :( uhhhh this scarf.

It's my favourite scarf i own even though it's really not very good; it was the first thing I wove with handspun and only like the 2nd or 3rd weaving project overall. It's very wonky and i completely fucked up the warp, but idc. I love it a lot <3<3 it's german merino and I LOVE the texture, no it's not scratchy, it's got structure. feels so nice.

🌼 Do you have a project (current or a past one) you want to talk about?

gonna answer that together with the last one

🍓 Do you have a dream project? What would you craft if you had infinite time and money?

I have a project planned that is even more insane than my current big project & I guess why not talk about it here.

Sooo, in 2021 we had a single week of winter winter. Temperature drop to -20°c, half a metre of snow overnight several nights in a row. Blood snow. It was a whole thing & like, that almost never happens here. That's when I realize that I don't own a winter coat.

And wouldn't it be fun to make one.

So yeah, I want to make myself a big dramatic wool cloak & I want to spin & weave everything myself. But tbh it's still mostly in the "wouldn't it be fun to do that" corner, not the "yeah this is happening" department. I have been spinning for this on and off since then (but really, more off than on, haven't touched the fibre in months) & I vaguely hoped I might finish it this year for christmas? probably not tho. If I ever finish it.