#critical yarns

[critterfloozy]

Worlds Beyond Yarn - The Fox

375 yards, sport weight, 2 ply wool

I wanted to do something straightforward for the fox. Nothing fancy - just a wool 2 ply. He's a slightly little guy, but not too thin or fussy. Would make a good hat or mittens.

But.

Here's the thing, he only seems straightforward. If you know where to look, he can have depth. You've just got to ask the right questions.

Fractal spinning is technically not a spinning technique, or a plying technique. It's color management. Take some yarn that's got some gradiations, split it in half (A and B) lengthwise. Then split one of those halves into quarters (B1, B2, B3, B4). Your first half (A) will be one of your strands. Your split half will be another one of your strands, so you have one half of your yarn going through the color variegations slowly, the other half quickly. It creates almost a subtle stripe, prevents long periods of the same color, and looks more random than actual randomness.

So, it's still a simple 2-ply, it just looks a little better. Didn't lie about that.

Next up is Suvi, but really - I'm taking a short break to work on some mending and sewing.

[knitting-ace]

Look at me, making a gauge swatch like an adult.... took over a decade but we got there

[myheartisbro-ken]

I was gonna make a little 'how are we feeling gay people' joke after watching the finale, but I've seen some of y'all are being really bitter about it, and I do not want that negativity in my life. So if y'all cannot appreciate really cunty storytelling that actually makes sense when you pay attention to it outside of shipping goggles, I have nothing to tell you

[theladyhibiscus]

Not me as somebody who crochets on the reg getting criticisms/unwanted comments about everything I make:

"You always use the same colors" :/

Me: can't help it I'm a thalassophile and therefore I must always use beige, khaki, turquoise, teal, aqua blues, whites of all shades. Let the coastal creations commence!

"Nice bag. You know, that looks perfect to use only for holidays like Easter"

Me: ...my coastal bag is to be used every time I feel like it. What are you talking about.

"Those oceanic colors don't match with your current outfit so don't use it."

Me: it's not about what looks nice TO YOU but what feels right and fun to use FOR ME.

"Why don't you add (whatever) to your creation. It'd look great if you add (whatever). And, how about next time, you actually use a leather bag bottom instead?"

Me: I don't want to.

"You sure can't take a comment or a slight criticism. Why are you like this?" :/

Me: you sure can't mind your business.

"Why are you doing 2 projects at once. Finish one and start the other I don't get it."

Me: oh you sweet summer child ohohoho...you just don't understand the mind of a crocheter do ya?

"You know, if you make something for somebody it sure won't be coastal themed or whatever. You have to try something different."

Me: who said I'm making anyone ANYTHING? They don't want to pay the correct price for a hand-made creation so that won't be happening. Anyway, ONTO THE COASTAL THEMED SCARF!

[idiosyncreant]

SHADOWHAND - 560 yards Sport Art Yarn

Again, images not taken at the witching hour so this is desaturated from full glory but it's a yarn I've been working on for a while!

Doing a Xhorhas/Rosohna yarn has been on my list for a while. The angle of the twist and the way the darker gray is coming across brighter above hides that two of the four skeins have a lot of black/dark gray in them.

The dark gray is carbonized bamboo so unlike the bamboo rayon "silk" that is the sheen of teal in there, it's a matte fiber with a heavier drape.

The skeins are: Xhorhas, Dunamancy, Bright Queen, and Luxon (described in detail on the yarn page). Each have different proportions of light to dark, but the contrast strand only changes occasionally so there's no sudden jump in tone. Like the namesake, despite being tightly color-coordinated, this yarn has a lot of hidden depths.

I build my yarns by creating small batts with hand cards that I sort into a palette and progression. When the two strands come together in a yarn like this there are surprises but one of the things I love about working with just a few colors in different proportions is how much a tiny shade added impacts the color along the way.

This is a fine yarn that I think would pool in an interesting way if worked narrow, but have more gradual gradient in longer rows. One of my favorite ever customer projects used a yarn like this as an inset block in a solid color, which fascinated me!

Originally this post was gonna link to my shop with a Tumblr discount but we had a fire in our basement and I don’t know if any of my yarn is fit for sale anymore 😭 thus the ephemeral nature of beauty etc

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Things that are in my tallit but they get progressively worse:

Cat hair

Human hair

Saliva (for weaving in ends)

[giraffefeather]

Me with Veilguard: "This game is the worst in the series. It lacks so much content and I am thoroughly disappointed."

Me:

[critterfloozy]

Knit Beacon!

I knit a beacon for @thelavishgateau It took about a year longer than it should have because:

a. I knit hexagons at first. b. I knit a bunch of other stuff instead of knitting this because I'd knit hexagons at first. c. My local knitting group doesn't meet as often as it used to, so I knit less in general.

The actual pattern is pretty easy - I can write it down if anyone is interested. The purple yarn is cascasde 220 (because it felts well), and the handles are some of the leftover Caleb yarn I have from my shadowgast scarf. I ended up stuffing it with recycled denim from Blue Apron insulation. I wanted something semi-rigid so it wouldn't seem as ball-like, but also something that could get wet and reasonably dry out if the beacon needs to be washed.

(This is also why I didn't crochet it - I needed a tight enough weave that crochet doesn't really lend itself to - and wanted to lightly felt it even more tightly shut)

More pictures of the beacon - Sylvie loved this thing, me holding it in my hand for scale, and pre-handles:

The last thing is that I was in a time crunch to ship these off - I really wanted to get it mailed pre-surgery. So I ended up biking these over to the post office during my lunch break. The only backpack I had that was large enough for the box I shipped this in?

This one:

Thank you NYCC of like 2015 or so.

[ephemeral-eternity]

Wanted to make a Caduceus Clay plush from Critical Role and after two weeks of redoing the body and making adjustments I finally got it. Now I gotta make his clothes but that should be easier, I hope. Never realized how difficult it is to crochet without a pattern but I am happy with it so far.

[crochetwithkate]

Grog, Scanlan and Pike!

[copperhawkthoughts]

Dressed to the Neins - Molly pt 1

He’s here!! Finally! I have been planning and pining for this project for months, and now it is finally Molly Season…

Yarns: Transmutation and Passion from Black Cat Custom Yarn and Okanagan Dye Works, respectively

Pattern: Eyes of Nein cowl, to be released, by me!

[system-stims]

Fearne Calloway

🌱-🎲-🌿-🎲-🍀-🎲-🌿-🎲-🌱

🌱꒱ hi! can we request a moodboard with pale greens, nature, and maybe some dice? For a Fearne Calloway, from critical role introj! :-]

🎲꒱ Anyone not on our dni can reblog

🌿꒱ DNI if you’re a pedophile/variants, proshippers, lgbt+phobe, n*zi, trump supporter, ableist, racist, people who ship incest or pedophilic ships, or others in our dni

[ravendruid]

The Gau Drashari believed in keeping things safe and protecting Exandria. Centuries from now, when their order is shattered, only the last three syllables of their name will remain. The Ashari.

Y'all...

The way I had a feeling from the start that the Grau Drashari were not the bad guys...

Learning that they were protecting Exandria, they possibly got destroyed (I still have a few minutes and one episode to go), and they became the Ashari, who CONTINUED to protect Exandria for centuries to come, is just making me want to throw myself off a cliff and turn into a goldfish because almost a millennia later, they are, yet again, in a way, used for the hubris of wizards (C3E51 - you know what I'm talking about because I'm not over it, nor will I ever be).

[idiosyncreant]

DUSKMAVEN - 480 yards Sport Weight Art Yarn

I need to get better photos but the light has been bad after work and I’ve been putting off updating my shop too long, but black always washes out

SO THIS IS ONE OF MY CRITICAL ROLE YARNS

It’s made up of 3 different skeins that have slightly different variegation because my ideal is that I never get bored with colors during spinning and neither does a patron while knitting. They’re titled Raven’s Crest (the temple where Vax goes into the blood pool, which this is themed from), Communion Pool (that’s the most heavily red one, but transitions on either end of the skein to dark so it will join nicely), and Deathwalker’s Ward (for maximum angst you know I had to do it).

Anyway, felt timely with Downfall to at least show this off.

If you’d like to snatch this from the maw of Etsy before I get the truly sexy pictures up I’ve decided to offer a Tumblrina discount: SHOELACES for 20% reduced

Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1758651176/duskmaven-480-yds-red-black-grey-sport

Also shipping is free!*

I have one other yarn done I'll post about soon, but future ideas are similarly place-but-key-event+person themed.

[learning-owl]

One of the professors at my local college left recently and let students go through his personal library since he didn’t want to bring his books with him. I was lucky to grab up some of these bad boys to add to the TBR. Most of them are just the English translations. I didn’t get there quite fast enough to get some that had the original side by side with the translations. (Not that I could do much with them at my current level lol) Still, I’m pumped about some of these and cannot wait to dive into them.

[lightgaswaterelectricityrent]

if you ever find yourself as a member of a snark community that thinks it's doling out some kind of vigilante justice via the internet by invading someone's privacy (yes even if they "put themselves in the public eye" it's still invading their privacy to for example look up how much their home cost or examine and post their divorce proceedings and yes that is true even if you consider them to be a bad person based on what you see on your side of the screen) you're gonna want to stop doing that. you're being crazy and you're never going to accomplish anything