Just Personal Stuff

Mainly Stuff I make. I love crochet and sewing. Main Blog: @a-curious-look-at-the-world

[deenigma]

Maltober Day 15 - The Fall

[tibbardraws]

~Picture-Perfect Crochet Earring Holder~

I am very excited to present this as the fruits of my first foray into pattern publishing!

This pattern includes a gauge and guide on sizing and will work for any rectangular picture frame.

Feel free to check out more yarn-y things from me on my Ravelry or LoveCrafts profiles!

[my-curious-stuff]

My latest crochet project and its inspiration.

An amigurumi of my character in our D&D 5e Curse of Strahd campaign, half-orc fighter Yevelda Harken. The crochet pattern is my own creation, the mini was made in Heroforge.

[jebiwonkenobi]

Once upon a time I worked in this little burger/coffee/ice cream shop and a lady came in one winter and asked if we had a caramel apple drink and we were like ‘well we have cider’ and she was like ‘no I don’t remember what it’s called but this place made a drink that was chai tea, apple cider, and caramel’ and Breezy offered to try and make something for her but she changed her mind and left so Breezy and I were like ‘alright let’s try this’ because we had chai tea, instant cider mix, a shit ton of caramel, instant hot water from the espresso and too much free time. 

And let me tell you it was delightful. It tastes like watching the leaves changing color and dancing in the wind. It tastes like picking out pumpkins and gourds and fresh apples at the farm up north. It tastes like witches and freedom.

I make it every year now and this year I walked in the house on the morning of October first with all the ingredients and shouted ‘FALL DRINK’ and my roommates were like ‘????’ so I made them Fall Drink and now every time they get home from work they’re like ‘Fall Drink pls?????’

Anyway I remember literally nothing else about that woman but I’m very grateful to her. 

[lightrises]

for anyone wondering about proportions/etc here’s op’s answer from the repiles:

[not-rude-ginger]

@gaslightgallows I feel this would be relevant to your interests. 

[gaslightgallows]

I don’t like caramel but I can vouch for hot chaider being amazing.

[scifrey]

Deareat @simonalkenmayer I feel like this is relevant to your interests.

Also, I do something like this in the crock pot with the overly sweet Growers Pumpkin Apple Cider, chai spices, cloves, a bit of orange juice, and some super dry Pinot Grigio.

Mix, heat, and serve on a nippy night best spent cuddled under blankets with a book.

[simonalkenmayer]

My friend, you have essentially backward engineered a wonderful winter drink from the Stuart period.

White sack wine, cider, spices (clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, ginger) tea, sugar, and if you want it authentic, a bit of cream or whipped egg. All this is brought together in a low temperature and then stewed for a time. It can also be “pulled”, a process in which one “stirs” the concoction by using a ladle and pouring it repeatedly from high in the air. Makes it foamy and frothy. 

Serve warm.

On a cold night, this is a delightful thing. Believe it or not, we also used to make it with a stout beer instead of wine. For a darker richer flavor.

[ms-demeanor]

One Black Tea Bag, One Cup Apple Juice, 2tsp butter, 2tsp brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste will also accomplish something similar (just melt the butter and brown sugar together and whisk them around a pan a bit - don’t bother making proper caramel) Make your faux-caramel then you add the apple juice and then the rest; heat it up to a boil then turn off the heat, drop the tea bag in and let it steep for 3 minutes, serve with gingersnaps.

[oblivious-chaos]

Nothing better than tumblr recipe posts

[lady-sanctum]

Started making something similar last year, old cider (Irish, alcoholic), chai tea bags and a mulled cider flavour sachet (sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg mainly). You don’t need caramel because it’s already pretty sweet and lightly boozy! Great with popcorn, banshee bones or Halloween picnmix

[ericacrochets]

Dragon Drawstring Dice Bag by Alysia Sly

Free Crochet Pattern Here

[willowywhiskers]

🎉 Crochet Pattern 🎉

A sweet little palm-sized hedgehog that fits perfectly on your desk. They are a quick gift that work well for many occasions.

Pattern Buyable for $2:

Etsy <- Click for store

Ravelry <- Click for store

If you run into a problem, I am happy to help, even if I have to upload a video! I won’t leave you stranded! ❤️

[hookedatweiss]

🧶 🦔

[foodffs]

Small Batch Galatopita – Greek Milk Pie without Filo

A creamy Greek dessert made with just 7 ingredients! Galatopita is a milk pie similar to a custard tart. No need to pull out the filo for this one as it’s crustless! Perfect for Easter and other celebrations.

Full recipe: https://www.wandercooks.com/galatopita-greek-milk-pie/

[humble-army-wife]

🌿 Simple No-Knead Farmhouse Bread 🌿

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 packet active dry yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let sit until blooms, about 10 minutes. Stir all ingredients together until a shaggy dough forms. Pour into a greased bowl and cover with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap. At this point you can either let the dough rise overnight at room temperature, or place covered bowl in a warm oven (around 150 degrees) for 2 hours.

After dough has risen, pour into a floured surface and form into a ball—but do NOT knead! Meanwhile, preheat a 3 qt dutch oven, or oven-safe pot with lid at 450 degrees. Place dough ball onto parchment paper and then transfer into preheated dutch oven. Bake covered for 30 minutes and then remove cover for remaining bake time, about 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

[hamletthedane]

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

[cipheramnesia]

I think I’ve seen you talk mostly about horror movies but would you happen to have any books in the horror genre you would recommend, any type of horror goes

For a variety of reasons, I am not the best person to make horror literature recommendations. I'm tuned into the horror movie continuum. Not so much books. That said, my recollection of back when I was tuned into horror lit was that I was unbelievably picky. So for better and worse, let me hit you up with my recollection and stuff I can find on my shelf.

I'm going to lead with my dark horse, Tanith Lee. Judging by how few people know her work in horror, it's safe to call her underrated. There have been a lot of "lavishly decadent gothic horror" authors, and I would say Lee is what they all wish they could be. Check out her tetraology The Secret Books of Paradys for breathtakingly beautiful reworkings of classic horror tropes like vampires and werewolves.

Speaking of werewolves, the Lonely Werewolf Girl series by Martin Millar is a lovely read. I hesitate to call it horror exactly, but it's wonderful and charming and full of rather silly subplots, such as a demon queen who has to keep up with fashion and a punk rock werewolf band. It's a lot to take in but a breeze to read thanks to the way Millar has with language.

Anyway, also Skin by Kathe Koja. I don't remember anything about it but I recall enjoying it so there you go.

My nonbinary wife would likely want you to read Algernon Blackwood, a kind of extremely early eldritch horror writer concerned with the terrors of nature. Speaking of eldritch horrors, I found T.E.D. Klein's work chilling, genuinely more frightening than anything I'd read. I was 16 at the time and there's also gonna be some stuff that aged really badly. However, he only had two published books and then vanished forever. So it'll be easy to get all his stuff but hard to find.

Obviously you should check out House of Leaves. If nothing else it's a fascinatingly complex book, but it also genuinely scared me in places so there's that. It's by Mark Danielewski, and there's also a complimentary album Haunted, by Poe (Mark's sister).

Uh lessee, Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem are pretty good stuff. Clive Barker's Books of Blood Sure. There's also like some horror adjacent stuff, like for example Steve Aylett's bizzaro writing isn't horror precisely but has some very fucked up content. There's Jeff VanderMeer, probably most recognizable as the author of Annihilation (adapted to film), but with loads of other disturbing content. Jack Womack's six part Ambient series is dystopian science fiction strictly speaking but if you aren't deeply disturbed by the parallels to modern USA you're made of stronger stuff than myself. Crash and The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard are like what if a serial killer wrote a romance but that's just how Ballard is. HIGHLY recommend the RE/Search annotated edition of Atrocity Exhibition. It's gorgeous.

There's also a couple authors of, again, not exclusively horror but adjacent works right here on Tumblrerio with Amber Skies by @normal-horoscopes and The Last Girl Scout by @natalieironside so you don't even have to leave the app (I'm lying, you do).

[natalieironside]

=D

And if we're still doing recommendations: Clive Barker for me

[potentiallydead]

Godsdammit @cipheramnesia ! The fucking blue word made me twitch. I loved that book, but it haunts me.

[cipheramnesia]

Definitely get the album in that case 😃

[ofmushroomsandmoss]

Making paper

One of my current projects is making paper from the mountain of old scrap paper we have piling up in the kitchen!

The first step is to rip the old paper into little pieces. Any paper should work as long as it isn't glossy, but it's worth considering that sheets with a lot of dark ink will affect the colouring of your finished paper.

Add enough warm water to cover all the paper scraps and leave them to soak overnight.

Put your paper soup into a blender and whizz it into a delicious paper smoothie! Probably don't drink it though. At this stage you can alter the colour of your paper by adding a few drops of food colouring.

Stretch a piece of cloth or mesh over a frame and pour on the paper pulp. Obviously the thinner and smoother it is the finer (but potentially more delicate) your paper will be. They type of cloth you use may also affect the texture your paper ends up with. If you want to add anything for decoration, now's the time! Use moss, tree bark, flower petals, leaves, whatever you like. You can even add seeds to make seed paper which can be planted - this is a great way to share wildflower seeds.

The time it takes for your paper to dry will depend on how thick and wet the pulp is. I've found it generally takes about 24 hours. Once dry, carefully peel the paper away from the cloth frame and trim off any untidy edges.

I used my finished paper to display pressed flowers. It makes a great addition to scrapbooks and junk journals, and would be an exciting extra to send to a pen pal! If you're into witchcraft you could add herbs to your paper pulp and use them as spell sheets ✨🌱✨

[izukuwus]

Still reeling from the realization that bullet journaling was essentially created to be a disability aid and got legit fuckin gentrified

[izukuwus]

Like I'm at work and don't have the time to properly organize my thoughts atm but like.

-bullet journalling was invented by a man with a learning disability (99% sure it was ADHD but his website now just says learning disability so I can't be 100%) as a system for organizing his life/way to work WITH his learning disability

-the general concept is bullet point the important things you need to do and use a simple system of symbols to mark whether it's done, rescheduled, cancelled, etc. with very little fanfare, keeping it all in one notebook so you know where to easily find the information at a glance

-people pick it up and it starts getting popular

-bullet journaling becomes an aesthetic movement largely populated by white neurotypicals

-bullet journaling has turned into creating an extremely pretty notebook that has some function, but largely depends on complicated decoration and aesthetic function that takes more time to set up than is tenable for the people it was created for

-new entries to bullet journaling feel pressure to shop at particular stores, use particular brands, purchase lots of stationery purely for its aesthetic value, and prioritize the artistry of the pages rather than the information being stored on them

-people who would massively benefit from the original system can only really find information on it from members of the aesthetic movement. There is now a barrier to entry for ppl with ADHD and other similar conditions, as bullet journaling now requires a focus and motivation to start that these same people often lack or struggle to maintain consistently

-bullet journaling is no longer a disability aid and has become an aesthetic movement largely for middle class white neurotypicals, pushing out the people who the system was created for to begin with

[bibookmerm]

This is the original guide from the person who made bullet journalling. Super simple. Not at all high maintenance.

It was eye-opening to rewatch this after getting used to bullet journal meaning "work of highly decorative art you might journal in if it doesn't detract from the decoration" everywhere online.

[ravenrockcrochet]

The Mini Mushroom Pattern is here!

Including eight cap styles and two stems, hop on over to Ravelry to check it out!

[wastelesscrafts]

Upcycling sweaters

Sometimes you're stuck with a sweater you just don't wear any more. Maybe it shrunk or became felted in the wash, or maybe you outgrew it. When this happens, there's a variety of ways you could upcycle your sweater into something new.

Knitting:

Do you like knitting? One way to recycle your sweater is to unravel it into a skein of yarn. This way, you can reknit your sweater into a garment you actually wear. This process takes a lot of patience, but if you particularly like the material your sweater's made from, it's well worth it.

Refashioning:

If your sweater has become too small, you could try to upsize it by adding in extra pieces of fabric. You could knit your own, use scrap fabric, or sacrifice a second sweater to cut out panels or gores from.

(Image source) [ID: a gray knit cabled sweater with gores made of floral pink fabric sewn to the bottom, starting at the waist.]

Sweaters that are too big are pretty easy to downsize, too. If your sweater's made of a natural fibre, you could try shrinking it in the wash. Otherwise you'll have to tailor it. Add in darts with the ladder stitch, or resize the sides by using a fitted sweater as a template.

Your sweater doesn't have to stay a sweater! If the shoulders bother you, then remove the sleeves and turn it into a sweater vest. Chest too tight? Cut open the front and turn it into a cardigan. Top not fitting right? Cut off the bottom and make yourself a skirt or a pencil skirt.

(Image source) [ID: a before and after picture of a gray sweater being turned into a cardigan.]

Reusing:

There are many ways to upcycle a sweater. In the end, your sweater is just fabric/yarn in a sweater-shape. You can reuse it however you want. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Sweater mittens

Cozy hat

Scarves, mittens, arm warmers, hats

Pillow case

Basket

Blanket

Socks

Leg warmers

Infinity scarf

Gift bags

Tote bag

Slouchy boots

Sweater rug

Pet bed

Plushies

Pot holders

Basket with handles

Box bag

Jewellery

Cat ears hat

Hot water bottle cozy

(Image source) [ID: three sweater diagrams showing how to turn a sweater into an ear warmer, fingerless gloves, infinity scarf, arm warmer, slouch hat, cowl scarf, traditional scarf mittens, and a beanie hat. Text: "© Jenuinemom.com".]

Conclusion:

There's no need to throw away a sweater if you don't wear it any more or if it doesn't fit you any longer. You can always resize, alter, or upcycle it into something new.

If you don't feel in a crafty mood, please consider giving your sweater to a friend or family member, freecycling your sweater, or donating your sweater to a charity rather than throwing it away.

[my-curious-stuff]

Christmas cookies! 🎄🍪🌟

[tj-crochets]

This weekend’s goal: ALL the cookies!!! Cookies on my list to make: - gingersnaps - chocolate chip (or world peace cookies/double chocolate cookies) - chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies - citrus sables (aka margarita cookies sans tequila) - maybe molasses spice cookies? - maybe chocolate crinkle cookies? - possibly some of that christmas saltine candy - maybe monster cookies if I’m really on top of things lol

[tj-crochets]

Do y’all want recipe links?  Also, the citrus sables are going to be made today. I might bake them later, but I’m making the dough! I have a lemon and an orange instead of two limes and an orange so it might be more lemonade than margarita flavored but I’m okay with that lol

[tj-crochets]

Recipe links! - gingersnaps (I *think* this is the right recipe; I use one out of a magazine and don’t use the orange whipped cream) - chocolate chip cookies - world peace cookies (aka double chocolate cookies) - citrus sables (aka margarita cookies. I make them with lime or orange juice instead of the tequila. Don’t skip the sugar/salt coating, it’s the best part) - molasses spice cookies (I’ve never actually used this recipe it just looked good) - chocolate crinkle cookies (same with this one) - monster cookies (I use the recipe out of the Baked cookbook but I think it’s this one?) - saltine candy (also called “christmas crack”) - chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies (this one is actually my grandma’s recipe but may or may not just be the recipe from the oatmeal container)

[tj-crochets]

Citrus sable dough is done! It’s staying in the fridge for another day or two before I bake it, but it is mixed

[a-curious-look-at-the-world]

Happy Halloween!

🎃🦇🎃🦇🎃🦇🎃