#and many crafters

[inkskinned]

i hate to say it because i'm neurodivergent and a chronic-pain-haver but like... sometimes stuff is going to be hard and that's okay.

it's okay if you don't understand something the first few times it's explained to you. it's okay if you have to google every word in a sentence. it's okay if you need to spend a few hours learning the context behind a complicated situation. it's okay if you need to read something, think about it, and then come back to re-read it.

i get it. giving up is easier, and we are all broken down and also broke as hell. nobody has the time, nobody has the fucking energy. that is how they win, though. that is why you feel this way. it is so much easier, and that is why you must resist the impetus to shut down. fight through the desire you've been taught to "tl;dr".

embrace when a book is confusing for you. accept not all media will be transparent and glittery and in the genre you love. question why you need everything to be lily-white and soft. i get it. i also sometimes choose the escapism, the fantasy-romance. there's no shame in that. but every day i still try to make myself think about something, to actually process and challenge myself. it is hard, often, because of my neurodivergence. but i fight that urge, because i think it's fucking important.

especially right now. the more they convince you not to think, the easier it will be to feed you misinformation. the more we accept a message without criticism, the more power they will have over that message. the more you choose convenience, the more they will make propaganda convenient to you.

[sunburstsandmoonshadows]

i like to imagine that dipper has a large stash of mabel-made sweaters we never get to see because it's summer and he is reasonable about not getting heatstroke

[thesleepyknitter]

New project alert! I’m doing my best to recreate the blanket in this illustration from Matt Forsythe’s Pokko & the Drum, which has taken up permanent residence in my librarian heart.

[baldisbasicsaskblogthingy]

This blog is 99 approved!

HIT IT, SWEEPERS!!!

Nobody pay attention to the mistake inside of 1st Prize or playtimes leg or principals leg or else.

[queerpontmercy]

doomscrolling? got the dread in your bones?

your nervous system is overwhelmed and needs help making sense of this! please take 5 minutes to help it re-orient! you can:

hum, sing, scream, or use your voice in some way to stimulate your vagus nerve

yawn, sigh

exhale more than you inhale (deep breaths are good when you're calm. but if you're not calm, you may hyperventilate). blow on your fingers like you're blowing out candles.

give yourself compassion through soothing touch (hand on heart, hand on hand, bear hug, etc)

lean on a wall or lie on the floor. push against a hard surface.

shake, kick, flail, feel your body in physical space

experience a different temperature (cold if you're sluggish and foggy, warm if your muscles are tense)

induce pressure (sit on your feet, give a tight hug, layer clothing)

you've been thrown into fight or flight literally overnight. it's next to impossible to make good decisions- tactical decisions, even - if your body is stuck in this state; the part of you that plans, assesses risk, etc, is offline and we need it online. we're all going to need each other right now, so do what you can to ride out this wave, help someone else out, do it again. rinse, repeat.

[homie-koyomi]

I've been getting that itch to play a survival game again lately and I made this meme about my feelings

[muffinlance]

Interest Check: Isopuppy Plushies

Anyone interested in buying isopuppy plushies?

Either as a pattern or actual sewn-by-me toys. Because I have crocheted So Many Toys over my children, and I am thinking it's time to go back to sewing for awhile, but I should also stop rampantly making toys without homes to send them to. So. Casual interest check. I am absolutely making one for myself; this just determines if I should go through the effort of making an actual pattern so I can replicate the process.

[whatsthisascianbullshit]

( •̀ .̫ •́ )✧

[honeybakedhams]

progress pic

[allthebestnamesweretaken]

I haven’t taken a poll or anything but either queerness is a gateway to crafts or crafts are a gateway to queerness. I don’t make the rules, I just observe and follow them 😌

[scionshtola]

i think the patch is going to bring cori's bob era finally

[mariyekos]

One day I want to write an AU where Dante and Vergil were actually born a few hundred/thousand years pre-story, which is something Dante tries to hide while Vergil doesn't. I have 2 main ideas for it- DMC1/3 Fusion AU and DMC4 AU. These got long, so I'm putting them under the cut!

In the DMC1 AU, it'd be sort of like a combination of the anime, DMC3, and what you see in DMC1. Dante'd look like he's in his late 20s for this one. He and Lady would meet because they've both been hired for the same job, then encounter each other on some odd jobs before they end up working together on a big one. Maybe Arkham killed Kalina Ann when Lady was a teenager, but didn't manage to enact the rest of his plans right away so Lady's been chasing him for a decade, hunting demons in hopes of finding a lead. Dante meanwhile just likes the human world, so he goes from place to place hunting demons until it gets too suspicious he's not aging and he has to leave. This AU'd have branching paths at the big job they take take together: the Temen-ni-gru or Mallet Island. In both cases Dante and Vergil haven't spoken for a while. Vergil's gone silent for years or even a decade or two in the past, but he'll have a bad feeling about this particular silence (for good reason).

The main difference between the two would be who Arkham allies with. In both cases, Lady isn't aware of how old Dante is, or just *who* he is until partway through. She knows he's part demon, but with the way he acts she assumes he's actually in his late twenties and the kid of a demon that was probably fairly powerful, but unknown. But the truth would come out partway through, which...would maybe change things, maybe not. It would be a shock regardless.

Back to the branches though, in Mallet you could go with the plot where Arkham is trying to revive Mundus, so Dante intervenes. This one would have a Nelo Angelo bit (making Dante feel terrible because he'd just allowed Mundus to do whatever he wanted with Vergil for who knows how long, all because he hadn't bofhered to check up on his unusually silent brother). I might have a sort of B-plot involving Lady, Arkham, and Trish to accompany the Dante, Mundus, and Vergil angle.

With the Temen-ni-gru, it would be your classic Arkham+Vergil relationship, but with a much older Vergil he wouldn't be tricked by Arkham this time. Arkham would think he has Vergil in the palm of his hand until he clearly doesn't and Vergil deals a fatal blow as soon as Arkham pulls off his betrayal. I think Lady would be pissed Vergil stole her kill, but ultimately have to back down for the Dante vs Vergil fight because with that many extra years under their belts, she'd be no match. Seeing them would be an interesting contrast though, because Vergil so clearly clings to the past (he'd be in a more Renaissance style than Dante) while Dante's all about the present and human world. This one...I think would be harder to resolve than the other one, because I'm not sure how Dante would convince someone so set in his ways (again, hundreds of years old at a minimum) to change, but it could be fun to play with.

As for the DMC4 AU, this one would be a case where Nero is still a teenager, and Dante's really surprised because oh boy, who in the *world* managed to convince Vergil to sleep with them when he'd been so uptight for centuries? And Dante's excited to have a family member and can't help but mess with them.

I think in this one it might also be fun if Fortuna was aware that Sparda had children because then you'd have a case where people potentially worship said children, whether or not they realize it's Dante. Maybe Vergil ruled Fortuna for a little while after Sparda left and that meant people knew he existed. Dante hadn't been aware he'd apparently come back, but Nero's proof enough so he's really going to have to have a talk with Vergil the next time he returns from his travels. I'm not set on whether the people of Fortuna would know that Sparda had twins, or if they'd just know about Vergil and thus be in denial that Dante could possibly be the son of Sparda because he's *so* different. In either case eventually people (or at least Nero and Kyrie) would have to reconcile Dante with the figure they'd been worshipping and that would be hard (and for Dante, hilarious). I think in this one I might make Lady part of a bloodline that has fought alongside Sparda since he split the Human and Demon worlds, sort of like the Castlevania series with Alucard and the Belmonts, while Trish would be someone Dante recruited a few decades to centuries ago (importantly, she's younger than him).

In this one I think part of the driving force would be that Dante wants humanity to be able to protect itself/prove its worth, or for Nero to protect them/prove his worth, because if they/Nero don't then Dante's worried Vergil might instead deem humanity a scourge and do something bad.

The plot of DMC4 revolves around humans using demons to fuel their own power, and in this case I think Dante will have found out about what Fortuna was doing too late to erase what they've done, so it's a case where humans need to prove that there are more good humans than bad humans so Vergil doesn't slam down the hammer. Dante can encourage them in the right direction, but he can't carry them the whole way. If he does then Vergil will deem his interference proof of humanity's weakness and do...Dante isn't totally sure what, but he doesn't like how Vergil's been the past few decades and he's increasingly been feeling like Vergil might decide he's had enough of the human world and side with the members of the demon world Dante *knows* have been slipping through the border to speak to Vergil. And while Dante doesn't think he'd *lose* to Vergil, the battle would lead to immense destruction and would weaken them enough that Dante's fairly sure Mundus or some other demon would take advantage of the chance to invade the human world while they're in no state to defend it.

...Anyway! That's two/three ideas for first that I will...maybe get to, one day, once I finish the million other fic ideas I have. I just really like the concept of "totally goofy guy is actually super old" or "frustratingly unserious guy is actually one of the guys you grew up worshipping, somehow." I think there's a lot of room for fun there.

[marsbotz]

i hate when ppl are gatekeepy about new fans but sometimes its true. you really DID just have to be there

[hellostarfleet]

idly pondering a sewing project and looking up some alternate fabric sites and getting sad about joanns all over again...... wdymmmmmmmm u want $18 a yard for a basic stretch knit and don't conveniently have a 50% regular priced items coupon available. hate it here.

[dandyghest]

I do sometimes wish that people were more willing to pay Money™ for handmade products because I do genuinely have so much fun creating things that take a long time!

I had such a good time felting the sabroonor, even though it took ... over 30 hours LOL. I sewed a personalized chibi-style doll of one of my favourite characters earlier this year and it was a super soothing project to work on, but that took just under a month of off-and-on work. And crocheting clothing is always super enjoyable for me, but to sell any of these things? I'd have to either charge more money than anyone would be willing to pay or undersell my hard work by more than I'm comfortable with.

It's just a bit sad because I'd love to make these items for people that they will love and will be good quality (the items I make are made to last a long time!) but unfortunately it's just not very realistic ^^;;

[malomaximus]

We are making unwise crafting decisions in the Joann (rip in pasta) on this fine night