Where the Crafting Things Go @bilightningcrafter - Tumblr Blog

Hello!

You can call me Kay or Prof. Thunder. I realized that "Bilightning___" didn't really shorten to anything nickname-y and was just like, well, Kay was another name I was considering changing to while irl transitioning and before I dropped out of college, I wanted to be a professor or teacher, and Thunder goes with lightning, so there we are, lol.

Planning on crafting more, so I'll post stuff here for that. Both for my personal progjects and anything I'll be selling in my Etsy shop.

My Etsy shop, "Monaciello Treasures", is currently on vacation. May or may not be changing selling platforms. The name will stay the same regardless. I'll provide the link again when I'm well enough to put new things up for sale.

#intro post #knitblr #craftblr #pinned intro #about the blogger #pinned #pinned post #pinned info #intro #new pinned #knitting #knitters of tumblr #sewing #etsyseller #etsyshop #etsysmallbusiness

dduane

Heads up if you're a sewing hobbyist...

Buy those patterns you've been thinking about while you still can.

The legacy sewing pattern brands Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls, and Vogue, commonly referred to as the Big 4, have been sold to a liquidato

doodleoo

what you learn from hobbies:

consistent practice opens up whole worlds of skill that you couldn't imagine

making mistakes in the process of learning is not only natural, it is also essential

activities that you enjoy can give you more energy back than you spent on them

wow everything is so expensive

my hands hurt

my back hurts

All true 🧶

I have been learning to crochet

When people ask me how it’s going, I tell them, “Fortunately, I already did cross-stitch, so I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I can’t count”

This hits big in fiber arts circles

tinyshoopuf

If I ever knit, tat, or crochet something for you, just know that not only are you getting the item I made, you are also getting a piece of me. I mean that in the grandiose metaphorical sense and, unfortunately, also very literally. I apologize for the hair.

maythedreadwolftakeyou

if you ever think to yourself "this embroidery would look great with some satin finish floss in here" that is the devil speaking it is NOT worth it never ever its the fucking worst

maythedreadwolftakeyou

fuck these background sections for real but FINALLY FREE… metallics and border next… but god at least they’re not satin

maythedreadwolftakeyou

fuck metallic thread too actually. i am in a hell of my own creation

maythedreadwolftakeyou

@theprairienerdtoo Thank you, and yes! so, here's a quick visual of the way different embroidery floss types look, with some of the types i'm using in this project (tumblr is soooo bad at photo quality but i think if you open each individual image they'll be less blurry to zoom in on):

Cotton, silk, satin finish (actually a rayon material rather than cotton fiber), and metallic thread. Each floss skein has one thread consisting of several indivudual strands (for DMC that's 6, the silk ones I use are either 7 or 12--7 strand is what's pictured here). Embroidery and cross stitch usually use between 1-6 strands, depending on the project and level of detail you're going for. I typically stitch with 2 strands, except for when I want my metallic to look nice, when I use 1. Or in very small small detail sections I'll also use 1 strand. Here's a close up of one strand from each:

You can see right away that cotton and silk are pretty similar--this silk is a little thicker than the cotton, i aslo have some silk that's a tiny bit thinner. But both cotton and silk are typically pretty tightly twisted per strand, which keeps all the fibers that make it up well contained and make the overall piece look smooth when they lay next to each other. Satin finish floss is made of rayon rather than cotton, so it looks extra shiny BUT the fibers are more prone to breaking and also are so slippery. So they don't hold a twist well on their own, which means as you use a thread it can look "lumpier" as fibers pull aganst each other. Slightly dampening your thread by running it over a damp sponge (or licking your fingers and pulling the thread between them) can help with this a liiiiittle bit, but it's still notoriously annoying to work with. Below I have silk thread sections circled in green and satin in purple so you can see how this looks different in the piece.

Above in the thread strand comparisons you'll also see that each strand of metallic floss holds the twist between the two threads worst of all, unraveling at the end. That's because each strand actually consists of 1 metallic filiment + one fiberous filiment, twisted around each other, and then 2 of these twisted together. The metallic filament is quite delicate, and if it breaks partway down the thread, you'll see it begin to separate--esspecially at the fold point where your needle is, or if you are working with a fine weave backing cloth that causes the fibers/filaments to rub against the edges of the hole you go through. In these pics you can see how a needle threaded with metallic floss will cause a breakage at that point, and the filiment/fibers more visible after separation:

Using a larger needle with a bigger hole can help avoid fraying like this, and keeping your floss lengths shorter so they don't have to pass through the fabric as often as you use it. If you use long strands, you risk having to chop it shorter anyway if the metallic filiment does break. Even when all goes well, since they're stiffer because of the filament, it can cause them to lay with kinks or curves rather than in a straight line between the entry and exit holes.

I always leave metallic for last because they also can cause other threads to fray if you pull them past each other, as fibers pass next to the stiff/sharp edges of the metallic filament. It's not the end of the world, but cotton/silk/satin will look fuzzier and less clear if they fray a lot while you stitch with them. I really like my pieces to look as smooth and clean as possible since I'm mimicking the look of stained glass, so leaving metallics til the end helps with that a little. I still accumulate some fuzziness just from passing over/around the sections as I work--if you really care about that you can even use fabric to cover finished sections as you go--but like all things there's a balance between effort & visible impact, and so I don't bother with that. Hope that helps explain it though!

annaplexis

In stranded knitting, you may sometimes get very long floats. It’s a good idea to catch these onto the wrong side of your knitting, so they don’t get caught in fingers and toes…

I like to catch floats every 3 to 5 sts. Don’t catch onto the same stitch in consecutive rows, because the yarn will be visible on the right side.

I like to mark my catches on the knitting chart beforehand to ensure an even distribution.

Here’s how to catch the dominant and non-dominant yarn respectively.

How to catch long floats

pearlwingdraws

Drop spindle dangerous. Accidentally spent 6 hours spinning yesterday.

batbetbitbotbut

I have a book on hand quilting where the author recounts that she is often asked how she has the time to make pieced quilts by hand - but her response is that she doesn't have the time to make them by machine! She can sew by hand anywhere as a travel project, quilt by hand a few stitches at a time on a frame at home IIRC, not needing to carve out chunks of time for machine sewing. She finds that she gets far more quilts made working the "slow" way than the "fast" way.

All this to say, and this may not have even been your original topic at all (sorry), I think this is echoed a bit in spindles vs wheels. My wheel sat mostly idle for ages - even when it was easily accessible I had to be in the right place and right time to use it. I don't have it at the moment but I have done more spinning now in the past ~month, by carrying my drop spindle everywhere both at home and outside, than in the previous several years! And that entices me to do even more and spend time dedicated to spindle spinning (which I could have done on the wheel but just... didn't).

madgastronomer

"[S]pindles [are] slower by the hour, but faster by the week."

-Abby Franquemont, author of Respect the Spindle

armengoldira

creepymutelilbugger

tj-crochets

A little quilt dragon!!

tj-crochets

This quilt dragon was inspired by these little crochet dragons made by @kittyoverlordcrafts (if you like this style of dragon they currently have some in their ko-fi, they are so cute and there's fidget versions!!)

preserving-tiktok

aibidil

weirdplutoprince

why must clothes tear when you wear them repeatedely? love should make you stronger

milkweedman

Mending is also an act of love

fuckyeahchinesefashion

folding paper bunny and crescent moon for mid autumn festival

tanuki-kimono

Get ready for Tsukimi (harvest moon viewing festival) on next Sept. 17th with those adorable origami rabbits and moon crescent 🐇🌙

daeva-agas

I love making those bunnies

Gonna try the moon

vrabia

truly from the bottom of my heart i hate the level of enshittification etsy has reached because it's still the best place to buy patterns for my hobby and every time i go scrolling through endless ai-generated bullshit to finally dig up a human-designed pattern i like, i'm hit with a deluge of 'popular!! 563 people are looking at this right now!! it's in 134632 baskets!! you must buy immediately!!!' it's a pdf file. it's a fucking pdf file. do you get off on trying to give people fomo over a fucking pdf file. fuck off. get diarrhea forever.

vrabia

and that's not even touching the ai-generated patterns with hundreds of 5-star bot reviews that are stupidly easy to spot if you know what to look for. but most beginners don't know what to look for, so they're straight-up scammed into buying based on a nice picture. then their 'hey, i made this and it looks nothing like advertised' comments get buried under hundreds of 5-star bot reviews, and this is how someone who might have otherwise discovered an interesting and fulfilling hobby drops it, thinking the pattern's fine, everyone else likes it, so it's on them for not being good enough. it pisses me off so much, you have no idea.

vrabia

anyway, here's some shops selling amigurumi (crochet soft toys) patterns fully created by crafters. i've either bought and made patterns from them or saved them for later, meaning i already checked that they aren't ai-generated. i might make a post later on how to spot ai-generated amigurumi patterns, but i wanted to give these a shout-out. go buy from them if you can, it's cool stuff and an interesting skill to learn.

straw animals design (etsy store) plushies and accessories, including some knitted patterns. beginner friendly!

green frog crochet (website store). mostly doll patterns, very pretty and totally worth the time and effort. they also sell full kits for some of the patterns, that include all supplies except for crochet hooks and fiberfill. also, youtube channel with tutorials.

moonlight crochet (etsy store). mostly doll patterns, lots of clothes you can adapt to dolls of similar sizes

yan schenkel (website store for individual patterns) has several books out that i really love. it took a bit of digging to figure out if this online store selling the pdf versions is legit and i found that the publisher sells directly through them. there are three pattern books (1, 2, 3) with animal plushies.

natura crochet (website store) has colorful animal and holiday themed patterns, plus two books of aquatic themed patterns. same publisher/seller as above.

hanichan (website store) has a distinct and minimalist style that i think is very beginner friendly. there are also useful general tutorials for amigurumi.

aquariwool crochet (etsy store). a lot of colorful and fun animal patterns. i haven't bought anything from them yet but i have a few saved and honestly just looking through the patterns makes me happy.

make me roar (website store). one of the more unique styles i've seen out there, especially these.

jo handmade design (etsy store). both plushies and more realistic toys, the patterns are very well written and illustrated.

whenever possible i linked to a store outside etsy, but not all pattern creators have one, so it's 100% worth checking them out and supporting them despite the absolute tar pit they operate in. also whatever creative hobby you're curious about, don't let an ai-generated picture discourage you from trying it. you are a god capable of summoning something out of nothing and generative ai is a pathetic little string of mathematical operations with ideas above its station.

lizardlicks

I AM GOING TO SCREAM AND SCREAM AND SCREAM to the heavens until everyone knows about the Etsy competitor goimagine!!!

Shop Handmade | Shop Local | Shop with Purpose

The founder of GoImagine refuses to go public or sell the platform: NO SHARE HOLDERS TO APPEASE!!

They have a STRICT vetting process for sellers: NO BOTS, NO AI, NO DROP SHIPPING, HAND MADE CRAFTS ONLY!!

You can narrow down stores you're shopping from by STATE! EASILY SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES!!

2% of every sale transaction is donated to charity!!!

This is baked into the platform. Right now they're partnered with four different charities to fight childhood hunger, provide relief childcare for families dealing with domestic violence, end childhood homelessness, and fund art accessablity. HELPING KIDS!!!!

I have a shop there that I will be stocking soon! If you're a creator, their basic ship front is FREE and you get 12 listing slots! The next size up is only $5 a month and you get 200 listings, and the topn you're at $15 gives you 1,000 product listings and a whole ass customizable store front website. That's cheaper than anything else on the market rn.

Current downsides that will not remain downsides: they're only available in the USA but they're planning on expanding into Canada soon. And they've been mostly focused on growing their seller side, so not a lot of buyers know about them yet. But!!! That why I tell everyone I can! Shop with them! List your products with them! Use a platform that has a dedicated mission for community good and is there to support sustainable creator markets, not create endless bloated corporate growth!!!!

And dump Etsy yesterday.