#data visualisation

I realise I haven't posted much about Lil Blankie in 2025 or 2026. I think it's because I feel like every post now has to include my best attempt at rigorous scientific data, and that feels like more work than I'm up for every time I think about posting. Mostly I just want to write abou my feelings.

But I'll still include data for those interested.

Lil Blankie is about about 1.5 years old at this point. I wash it a few times a year. I sleep with the blanket every night, mostly using it to cover my head and eyes. Sometimes I spend a few minutes just snuggling the heck out of it. I've stopped tying or pinning as a cape because that stresses the corners a lot; but sometimes I'll still drape it over my back and shoulders, and sometimes use a hairtie to gently bundle those corners at the front. Every night when I go to bed, seeing Lil Blankie still makes me smile.

I'm starting this post with my strongest feelings first.

I feel like Essex Linen has gotten rougher--is that even possible? Every time I touch it now, I have a slight "ugh" response to it, especially since I usually keep Lil Blankie close to my face when I sleep. Sometimes I'll run my fingernails against these patches because that's about the only way I enjoy touching them. It really is an unpleasant texture for such a blanket.

All the quilting cottons still feel lovely! Wow it's almost like they were designed for this! The cotton lawns are the best, they feel luxurious and soft in a "smooth" way. Right now I'd rank the purple-apricot floral lawn as the nicest; but really, all the cotton lawns feel exquisite.

The worst quilting cottons are the black florals (black-and-white and black-and-colours, which I think are from the same batch of fabrics): they feel notably rougher than any others. The dyes are also fading, and/or the little raised fibres that stick up are white (which may be the cause of the faded appearance). They're not necessarily bad, but they're disappointing in the company of the nicer cottons.

But really, all the quilting cottons are performing extremely well.

The bunnies print (which I've since learned may be either a genuine or knockoff Sevenberry) is also a delight, but for different reasons. It balances sturdiness and softness in a way that I think would be ideal for garments, but might be a bit "heavy duty" for a blanket. I wish I had enough of this fabric to make soft housepants or an overshirt.

That said, this tear seems to be growing. I've been deliberately not mending it as part of this experiment, but I think I might have to, soon.

The flannelette continues to be an absolute pleasure! It consistently ranks highest in squishiness (pliability) and texture (softeness). It gives a sort of immediate squee for its softness--which I'm contrasting with a sort of delayed squee when I touch the nice quilting cottons. (The quilting cottons feel like a more sophisiticated enjoyment, if that makes sense, a slower satisfaction; whereas the flannel feels like a visceral, instinctive and more excited joy?)

I think the Sprout Woven has reached the tipping point where it's becoming worn out enough to negatively affect its softness (texture). The pilling is prominent enough that it's hard to detect the woven Xs; now it just feels ... textured, all over. It's not a bad texture, it just means the distinctive texture is becoming less distinctive.

The yarn-dyed wovens continue to break in. I'm not sure they'll get much "softer" before becoming "worn out", and trying to describe this idea is really deepening my appreciation for materials science (and my own backyard attempt at doing it). I think these fabrics are better suited for garments, or the top of a blanket but not a backing. But I believe they add a desirable textural contrast: if I made a quilt entirely from entirely similarly-smooth quilting cottons, I don't think I'd like it as much as something with small patches of lightly textured fabrics.

I actually really enjoy visually and tactilly admiring the puckered textures woven into these fabrics! (And as much as I complain about Essex as unsuitable for a blanket, it's also very interesting.)

All in all, I still feel absolutely delighted every time I reach for Lil Blankie. It's been a year and a half--which feels like simultaneously a short and long time. "Wow I've already had this blanket for nineteen months?" and, "It's been less than two years, how can I commit to Big Blankie when I have so little data?"

In the meantime, it's not like Big Blankie is getting any less worn. I've been slowly working on my random quilt blocks, adding to the pile, slowly working up the courage to put them together as a new exterior for my beloved childhood blankie. I'm trying to keep that in mind as I continue my Lil Blankie Project.

As promised, here's the data:

(original data by AO3 user @ centreoftheselights, cleaned/completed/visualised by ME (check my github for more details & methodology/why I labelled things the way I did))

Overview

A total of 922 characters across 600 unique ships made the AO3 rankings between 2013 and 2023.

Fandom Market Share

These are the fandoms that accounted for the most ships:

Marvel had 33 ships, followed by Youtube with 24 and the Harry Potter Universe with 21.

RPF

13% of total ships were Real Person Fic while 87% were of fictional characters.

Hottest Characters

These are the characters who were in the most ships in their fandom (with a minimum of 3 ships to qualify):

Minecraft youtuber TommyInnit leads overall with 8 ships (out of 24 Youtube ships), followed by Tony Stark with 7 (out of 33 Marvel ships), and Sam Winchester from Supernatural and The Doctor from Doctor Who with 6 respectively.

((gender & race stats under the cut! :)))

After the end Round 2, it's time for some data visualisation! Yay!

These are all the households in the City after round 2.

A family sociogram. Click on the image to zoom in. Unfortunately, simpe didn't export some of the Sims images.

Alternative: A maternal Family tree. Shows all children of each women. Click on the image to enlarge.

Here's a sociogram with just the names.

More data plots after the cut.

Update: U.S. #COVID19 vaccination levels BY COUNTY

From: https://acasignups.net/21/07/20/update-us-covid19-vaccination-levels-county