Tea's Main

This is a self drafted pattern based off of the official stickers, BUT i incorrectly remembered what it looked like and like mine better.

Mine (the planned one) was started in Mystery Stash Yarn, and will be completed in bernat symphony in pebble.

alongside that, for mine I think I need one short ones per 3 stitches of base, with an extra one every 4 to stop the Live Action Mistcloaks Look Fucking Stupid Problem. Estimate of 66 short ones.

....i've never explained how, huh.

how to unclench jaw

move/wiggle your lower jaw so your teeth no longer touch each other

gently massage the affected muscles (such as at the jaws' hinges and immediately under your lower jaw)

apply a warm compress (like hot water in a wash cloth) to your jaw

Do each ten times, and only to the point where the pain is not "this is WRONG" pain but "okay this stretch is manageable":

slowly open wide and close your mouth

slowly push your lower jaw forward and back again

slowly shift your lower jaw to the left, to the right, and back to center again

I usually slowly count to three or for for each movement, and try to time it with nice slow breathing. So, slowly open wide & breathe in (ideally through the nose though, if you can) while counting to three or four, then slowly close & breathe out while counting to three or four. Fluid, continuous movements, not jerky ones, and be gentle and don't force things.

My PT said this is to help the jaw muscles remember how they *can* move. He recommended massages too! He said if your jaw clicks while doing those moves, it's not worrisome in and of itself, but if the click is accompanied by pain, ease up on how much you move your jaw, or stop with the move that caused the click, and try one of the others.

AFTERWARDS (and you really do need to do the movements of the first list first!!)

loosen your lower jaw (your teeth must not touch), put the knuckles of your left hand to the left side of your lower jawbone, and gently push towards your right, to stretch the left side of your jaw muscles. Hold for a count of five to ten slow breaths - for me, I notice a shift in the muscles, to where they let loose a bit, around the seventh or eighth breath; see how this works for you.

do the same with the right hand pushing left.

extend the thumb and first finger of your stronger hand to an L shape. Put it on your chin so that the chin protrusion is below the "hinge" of the L. Open your mouth slowly, and then use your hand to open it a bit wider and stretch the opening muscles on both sides. Hold for five to ten slow breaths. For a second step, you can add resistance: push your lower jaw upwards while at the same time pushing downwards with your hands. Only small incremements!!! LIke, fractions of inches! And only for one or two seconds, before you release again.

Please be careful and gentle with all these steps. No jerky motions, don't go past the "okay stretch" point to the "fuck this HURTS" point, and if you have a history of dislocating your jaw, please proceed carefully or skip this entirely and only do the movements described in the first list.

Or at least, made me 10x prouder and happier about being aroace. Don't get me wrong, I was never ashamed or anything. But Grace being aroace-coded and the fandom taking that and running with it really healed something within me, not to be dramatic or anything. This was the first time id ever seen such a common aroace headcanon for a character. And the headcanon makes so much sense! I relate to him so much in such an aroace way. He only mentions having one relationship in his life (and its not actually clear what kind of "mate" he means, romantic or queerplatonic or whatever) but it didn't work out. He doesn't seem too broken up about that either. He doesn't have any sort of romantic arc, nor does he need one to be a full person with wants and needs. The only relationship that really matters to him is his deep friendship with Rocky and I really love that. They hug, they look out for each other, they risk their own lives to save each other, and they are best buddies in the universe. Also, Rocky does have a mate, but doesn't prioritise that relationship over his friendship with Grace. I absolutely adore that about their friendship, because I've been set aside for friend's partners far too many times.

BLOODBATH