#realistic yarn HCs from a person who crafts

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Anytime Gabriel start randomly working on a big knitting project with absolutely no pre planning or foresight Jack and Ana know it’s a cry for help

Oh they’re not going to stop him, whatever Gabriel is making is going to be made

But he’s definitely spiraling and they need to check on him

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Based on this post

Cole being bored one day and needing something to do, seeing Angela crocheting. “Wow Angie, I kinda wish I knew how to do that, looks so cool. And you make so many neat things.”

Angela looking up in surprise. “Oh, well you should tell that to Ana, she knits you know.”

Cole being confused why he’d go to Ana but mentioning it to her the next time he sees her.

“Do you now?” Ana asked with amusement. “Alright then, I’ll tell Jack.”

Now Cole is seriously confused because what has Jack Morrison go to do with knitting or crocheting. Sure Jack has a lot of what looked to be hand made stuff but Cole certainly hasn’t seen Jack work on any of it.

“So Ana told me you want to learn to knit?” Jack asked him, catching him in the halls. Cole can just nod at him and Jack grins.

Later that evening at dinner Gabriel approaches him carrying a huge bag that Cole doesn't know what’s inside. “So Jackie told me you want to play with yarn,” Gabriel says slamming the bag down onto the table.

It’s at that point Cole is able to look inside and see probably ten balls of yarn and 10 different types of knitting needles and other things he doesn’t know what to do with and so many crochet hooks. He then realizes why he was sent on a wild goose chase for yarn and is now scared what Gabriel has planned for him.

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Gabe made Cole’a cowboy outfit cont.

So it’s just a few weeks after Cole had agreed to join OW and he’s not adjusting very well. He threw a fit over getting one of his confiscated items back, an old ratty knit blanket that was half falling apart and Gabriel pulled some strings to get it out of evidence for him

Realizing the thing probably wouldn’t last and feeling antsy, Gabriel printed off all the evidence photos and set to work

Jack came home to Gabriel sitting in the middle of the living room floor all of his yarn stuff drug out with all the printed off pictures of Cole’s blanket and seraph patterns scattered around, attempting to reverse engineer a pattern out of the pictures

Jack just sighs, knowing his husband already has his heart set on this and turns on one of Gabriel’s favorite telenovelas for background noise, sitting down next to Gabriel and begins to help color match yarn

It takes Gabriel a about four months for him to finish the serape to his own satisfaction. Jack allow him to present it to Cole alone and privately

Cole is so touched by it that he starts crying because the blanket was actually knit by his grandma when he was a baby and was nearly worn out beyond repair and he’s glad to have something close but not the same to replace it with

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Gabriel writing out his war plans as knit and crochet patterns because they’re inconspicuous and it would make sense for him to have a lot of them just randomly laying around on his desk and in his personal quarters

The only person who knows about the code is Jack

Moira never caught on to it and whenever Sombra hacked Gabriel’s computer it was just files and files of patterns which she couldn’t read anyway (it was the ire in Talon’s side for the longest time)

After Gabriel became Reaper he’d still secretly keep plans recorded in his old code, once he realized Jack was alive and still chasing him he began to knit out the plans and leave them for Jack to find

It takes Jack and good hot minute to figure out what Gabriel is doing and then to remember the code but after that they start communicating secretly by leaving knit messages as to each other (Jack has to have Ana knit because even her mess is better than what he could do)

After Talon is destroyed Gabriel does finally tell Sombra his brilliant master plan, she is both mad and impressed

He teaches everyone eventually and the kids have fun writing messages to each other

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

If Jack ever loses Gabriel in a Walmart there’s a 98% chance he’s in the crafts isle looking at yarn and or knitting needles/crochet hooks. Gabriel likes to pet the yarn, it can be very soft. No he never buys anything.

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Ugly Sweater HC

For like his and Jack’s 10th anniversary Gabriel decides to knit Jack the uglies sweat her could ever imagine

Like this thing is objectively hideous

Because Gabriel has unfortunately become the dumping ground of unused yarn for his entire family and now has a bunch of not shitty acrylic yarn but single balls of different texture and different sized yarn that he doesn’t really know what to do with so why not prank Jack with it

So he pulls out the simplest pattern he can find and sets to work

He’s all excited to see Jack’s horrified expression at the monstrosity

Jack gets him a lovely gift, a vinyl record of his favorite musical signed by the original cast, the book and music composer

Gabriel almost feels bad that he’s going to prank Jack before giving him his real gift (plane tickets back to Bloomington for a cow showing thing, something about Jack showing his old cow for the last time mainly as a joke, Gabriel didn’t really understand the whole thing when he was talking to Jack’s mom but he knows it’ll be important and sentimental)

Except when Jack unwraps the sweater he gets the biggest smile on his face, insists that he loves it and even puts it on

Gabriel doesn’t know what to say because Jack can’t really be serious can he but there he is smiling and swearing it (it looks awful on him because of course it does, it’s not even sized right)

He thinks Jack is just playing along (he gives Jack the plane tickets later, Jack cries) but no, Jack wears the sweater everywhere, even to meetings if they don’t need to be in uniform

Gabriel wants to tell Jack the sweater isn’t supposed to be a real gift and that it looks heinous on him but he can’t bring himself to anymore because Jack always talks about how much he loves it

Everyone else is too afraid to tell the strike commander he looks stupid (except for Cole but since when has Jack ever taken fashion advice from a kid who walks around with literal spurs on his boots)

When Jack opens his gift form Gabriel he is… surprised to say the least

The sweater is… “a choice” as his mother would put it in the midwestern passive aggressive politeness

In blunt terms it is the ugliest thing Gabriel has ever made

Jack for a moment wonders if Gabriel did this on purpose but he’s smiling so big that Jack can’t bear to break his heart

So he puts the sweater on and tells Gabriel he loves it

Because he knows after watching Gabriel spend months and months working on Cole’s serape that projects this big take a lot of time and effort and Goddamnit he’s going to appreciate the gift Gabriel made for him

Jack wears the sweater everywhere because the last thing Gabriel needs is for his gift to get shoved in the back of the closet unappreciated (he also later gets plane tickets back to Bloomington to show Bernie off for the last time, registered name Bernadette Margret Edith)

But the sweater is so ugly and everyone knows it, they just won’t say it to his face (except Cole who called him Joseph and the ugly coat of many colors)

Ana nearly drops her mug when Jack enters his office in objectively the ugliest sweater she has ever seen

Prompted by just her facial expression alone Jack explains that it was a gift from Gabriel for their anniversary and he didn’t want to hurt his feelings so know he’s wearing it and yes he knows it’s objectively hideous but she can’t tell Gabriel swear it on her life

So Ana relents and promises not to tell Gabriel that his sweater should be considered a war crime

Later she runs into Gabriel in the hallway

Not being able to help herself she comments on Jacks’ sweater (keeping her promise and not commenting on how ugly it is)

Gabriel gives her a pitiful look and tells her it was supposed to be a gag gift, a lead in for Jack’s actual gift and it’s supposed to be atrocious but then Jack put it on and said he loved it and Gabriel doesn’t have the heart to tell Jack he looks stupid

At that moment Ana knew 1. What true love looked like and 2. Overwatch was being lead by the two biggest morons in the world

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Okay as much as I love the idea of Gabriel snuggled up against Jack in the evening and knitting

How the fuck do y’all knit

Because I’m hunched over like Gollum trying to keep up with a pattern

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Gabriel made all of Fareeha’s Halloween costumes growing up

Ana soon learned that the more exuberant the costume Fareeha wanted the better because it kept him out of other mischief

However it did lead a lot of people to mistake them for daddy daughter costumes because of course Gabriel made himself a matching costume to take her trick or treating in

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Jack impulsively buys fluffy yarn Gabriel looks at whether Gabriel actually needs it or not

He eventually gets better about it but can’t ever fully resist when people he loves moon eyes those giant roles of wool

(Based on this post with @mulberrycafe )

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Jack's list of impulsive yarn buying

can impulsively buy yarn for:

Lean - only knits or crochets drink coasters, recently has been taught granny square and crocheted table cover

Ana - doesn't actually knit anything, usually ends up being a scarf

Fareeha - only knits hats

don't impulsively buy yarn for:

Gabriel - "already has enough yarn", starts crying when presented with more yarn (needs to buy yarn for specific already planned projects only)

Cole and Genji - don't knit or crochet, will end up in unraveling all of it in a fight

Reinhardt - has a 20% change of giving the yarn to Gabriel*, will get yarn from Ana if needed

Angela - like Gabriel has anxieties over unplanned for yarn

Moira - don't like

*see Gabriel's reaction to receiving yarn

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Yarn lessons master list complete

Gabriel once tried to teach everyone how to knit or crochet in a giant team bonding exercise, it uh- it definitely went (at least he could finally put all of his abuela’s yarn and supplies to use)

[tags:  #have you ever tried to teach someone who to knit or crochet?#like herding cats it is#at least if you have spare supplied youre never going to use you finally have an excuse to get rid or it#nono it's okay I swear Im not going to use it#it's acrylic yarn from the 70s#please Im betting you just take it]

Jack, we all know how Jack was, he was bad at both but he’s impressively good at untangling yarn

[tags:  #do you know how patient you have to be to untangle yarn#it literally makes me cry#appreciate the people in your life who will u tangle your yarn for you]

Ana was more interested in knitting to say she knits than actually  wanting to knit. She does earnestly want to knit well but is also too  stubborn to let Gabriel help her get her yarn tension better so her  stitches are more even. Eventually he found her some chunky yarn so  being uneven was part of the style, everyone got scarves that year

[tags:  #I love people who knit out of spite#not to say they don't enjoy it#but have you ever met someone who's just like#no I will do this and I will do this well#very funny#I love people who want to knit just to say they knit#Ana would be a good person to just buy random yarn every year for christmas#because she doesn't have a further drive to work on big projects#Gabe gives her all his acrylic yarn]

Fareeha as it turned out was quite the little knitter, Gabriel was elated until he remembered she didn’t yet have the attention span to try to any type of big project yet, however everyone did get hats that year

[tags:  #teaching Fareeha to knit is one of Gabriel's proudest moments#peak dad Gabriel material right there#Ana stubbornly kitting beside them#Fareeha knitting away happily]

Cole and Genji ended up in a full on yarn fight and unraveled all of Gabriel’s yarn chucking it at each other, Jack ended up rolling it back up while Reinhardt restrained Gabriel from strangling the two idiots on the spot, the two were banned from his craft room after that

[tags:  #don't ever unravel someone's yarn#unless you want to die#it's an instant death wish#because it's not just it gets unraveled#but it also gets knotted up and then you have to untangle as you reroll#Jack's such a good boyfriend#Cole and Genji still have flashbacks]

Reinhardt was actually pretty decent at both but he particularly likes knitting, big needles and big yarn, there’s a quick accumulation of blankets around base, really good for movie nights

[tags:  #yeah it's funny to imagine Rein with regular needles and regular yarn#but also big needles and big yarn#he'd be so happy#he loves trying to teach as well#he gladly accepts all of Ana's jankass knitted gifts]

Torb had no interest in either but he did make Gabriel an industrial yarn roller after he heard about the yarn war fiasco (Gabriel won’t admit it but he almost cried), he proudly wears all knitted and crocheted gifts though

[tags:  #more appreciation for people who proudly wear knitted/crocheted gifts no matter the quality#Torb gets all of Ana’s first round gifts because she always makes them too small for Reinhardt#✨industrial yarn roller✨#I’m going to cry just thinking about it#a yarn roller that spins itself#jack is actually the most wxcited about it#he takes all of Gabriel’s loose yarn and rerolls it for him]

Angela cannot knit and somehow twisted everything into a Gordian knot the second Gabriel left her (which Jack spent hours untangling while Gabriel had a brain aneurysm over how she managed to do it in literally thirty seconds) but she is good a crocheting, several afghans were made for the medical wing waiting room over the years

[tags:  #Angela is totally one of those people who can do one thing really well#but absolutely cannot do the other thing in the slightest#Gabriel still won't let her have knitting needles#she doesn't know how she made the knot either#it just happened#even Jack was impressed#crocheting is one of the only things Angela does to relax#she also likes to make plushies#everything ends up in the medical wing waiting room]

Moira unsurprisingly was excellent at knitting (to the infuriation of everyone who was not Gabriel) and was working in rounds after she got basic stitches down, knitting; probably the only not evil thing Moira does (though she does passive-aggressively gift everyone intricately knitted sweaters just to underhandedly brag about her skills)

[tags:  #of course Moira manages to turn knitting into something obnoxious#she's so pretentious#she is the only person no one buys yarn for#at least if she's knitting she can't be evil]

Lena enjoyed and was decent at both but didn’t have the patience for anything big or complicated, soon everyone have drink coasters and koozies to spare

[ #Lena would be a good person to buy fluffy yarn for#Gabe gives her all his shorty acrylic yarn#because she can actually use it#sometimes she tries to knit a hat or something#she has a box of unfinished attempts of shame shoved in the back of her closet ]

After Ana “dies” she picks up knitting again as a distraction from her guilt, when Jack reconnects with her they spend the evenings talking, Ana knits and Jack feeds her her yarn

[tags: #Ana buys yarn from random market stalls wherever she goes#she still doesn't really make anything#knitting for the sake of knitting#Jack tries to fine uses for her creations#sometimes he gets sad because it reminds him of when he'd do the same for Gabriel in the evenings#Jack still keeps tabs on yarn he thinks Gabriel might like#he buys Ana a tote bag for her yarn and needles]

After he leaves Overwatch Cole picks up crocheting as a way of “looking inconspicuous” and finds he really likes it, he leaves little plushies on Gabriel’s grave during Día de Los Muertos

[tags: #he wishes he'd listened when Gabriel tried to teach him#he kinda wishes he'd been able to make everyone little plushies back in Overwatch#he would've made personalized ones for everyone#Jack would get an ear of corn#Torb would get a wrench#so he makes them now and saves them for if he ever sees them again#Jack has a whole family of vegetables now]

After the fall Angela will teach her patients how to crochet as a cognitive exercise, a lot of them continue after their stay and send in gifts anywhere from mug cozies to throws for the waiting room

[tags: #what Gabriel did for Overwatch Angela did for her patients#crocheting cult of hospital patients#Angela loves getting all the gifts#she tries not to be too sad about it]

After the fall Lena discovered that Emily also knits and they both make Winston festive socks for Christmas, Winston wants to learn how to knit too and it’s not that he can’t but he gets distracted by how yarn pattern grids kind of look like piano rolls and… it was a whole thing

[tags: #Lena doesn’t really help per day knit so much as she picks out the pattern and the yarn#Emily knits the socks#Winston loves them#he loves them so much#yeah that whole piano roller idea?#he tries to make a loom knitter thing that reads patterns#it uh does not work out#Lena thinks it’s hilarious#even Athena gets into it#she starts reverse engineering patterns#Gabriel would’ve loved her]

After he leaves Overwatch Genji picks up knitting as a means of practicing meditation, he gets really excited about it now and loves making Zenyatta sweaters; Zenyatta by the way, hilariously cannot knit or crochet and gets extremely frustrated by it, Genji likes to endlessly tease him about it

[tags: #Zenyatta cannot knit and I will die on this hill#and it’s the only thing he looses his cool over#it’s the funniest thing in the world#and part of the reason Genji likes knitting so much]

After he was forced to retire Reinhardt taught Brigitte how to knit, Brigitte can’t knit for anything and is constantly adding or dropping stitches but does enjoy it and tries to make her whole family something every year; Torb loves his lumpy turret koozies; Bastion can’t knit or crochet but he is like Torb’s yarn roller on steroids

[tags: #I love people who can’t knit but do it anyway#they’re always so endearing#torbjorn loves everything his daughter knits for him#no Brigitte never gets better at knitting]

Even thought Gabriel tried his best to get her more interested, Fareeha never got the attention span for knitting big projects, which is a shame because she probably has the neatest most consistent stitch in the world, her hats have now graduated to having a pompom on the top though

[tags: #inspired by the relationship between me and my best friend’s mom who taught me to knit#yeah no it took me a long ass time to be interested in anything complicated#she always shames me for not knitting#Gabriel was always so invested in whether Fareeha would ever really get into knitting#he blames Ana#which she does not appreciate#Fareeha just doesn’t want to knit big things#ruins the fun#her hats are very beautiful]

While in Talon Moira continues her hobby and everyone has knitted everything, sweaters, socks, hats, scarves, she even makes beaker koozies; Akande is impressed and also scared and wears every knitted gift Moira gives him, even if he didn’t like them (which he does) he’d wear them

[tags: #Moira's not even that old but she has that grandma vibe that you must wear everything you're gifted at least once#she splurges on the good wool yarn so everything is nice and soft#even Sombra wears her gifts#I love the HC that Akande lives in constant fear of Moira but for really banal things#in his defense he knows hos much work it takes to knit a sweater#and someone who can knit several multiyarn color coded sweaters in a year should be feared]

After Zurich and Gabriel becomes Reaper his mind is often too frazzled to concentrate on knitting or crocheting and can’t get much done anymore; Sombra notices it seems to distress him and tried to figure out what to do so she could do it for him, after he caught her snooping around in his room and she explained herself he agreed to teach her, they’ll curl up together after a mission and he’ll coach her through the project they’re working on, it’s a lot like code writing to her and she catches on quickly

[tags: #becoming reaper messed Gabriel up#he keeps losing count of his stitches and can’t knit anymore#even if he has counters#it upsets and overwhelms him more than anything#sombra just wants to help her favorite soul eater#she finds it curious he used to craft#reaper and sombra knitting together after a mission#they both look up YouTube videos together to figure out how to read patterns#sombra feels like she’s getting one over on Moira]

After Jack basically kidnaps Gabriel (and by proxy Sombra and Widowmaker) back from Talon, Gabriel is shocked to see everyone get together for knitting/crocheting parties in the lounge after missions, Angela works on undoing his reaper state so he can focus and get back to knitting again, Amelie takes up crocheting for therapy after she’s unbrainwashed and becomes very good at lace crocheting

[tags: #jack breaks into talon hauls Gabriel over his shoulder and walks out with him#Gabriel says he has to ovsombra and widowmaker too#so jack does#Angela is surprised to see them all#Winston is surprised it worked#Ana is not surprised at all#Gabriel is so touched learned to knit or crochet#Cole and Genji want to show off what they learned#sombra is not happy to have two brothers]

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

After Jack basically kidnaps Gabriel (and by proxy Sombra and Widowmaker) back from Talon, Gabriel is shocked to see everyone get together for knitting/crocheting parties in the lounge after missions

Angela works on undoing his reaper state so he can focus and get back to knitting again

Amelie takes up crocheting for therapy after she’s unbrainwashed and becomes very good at lace crocheting

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

After he leaves Overwatch Genji picks up knitting as a means of practicing meditation, he gets really excited about it now and loves making Zenyatta sweaters

Zenyatta by the way, hilariously cannot knit or crochet and gets extremely frustrated by it, Genji likes to endlessly tease him about it

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

No thoughts just Gabriel knitting nests for reaper beans

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Jack learned if he comes across Gabriel frogging his work (unraveling it) to just turn around and walk out of the room without saying anything after “the afghan incident” (as he’s come to refer to it), where he found the ugly yellow and green afghan Gabriel crocheted over a summer as a teen. Gabriel then complained that he messed the whole thing up missing a stitch on the fifth to last row. Jack asked what the big deal was about one stitch and Gabriel nearly killed him on the spot

[crystal-ball-of-ow-canon]

Half the reason Gabe knits and crochets is the refusal to let his mama (and later Jack) throw away his abuela’s ancient cheap acrylic yarn and mismatched needles and crochet hooks