There Is Always Something To Love

| 28| She/Her | Idk what this blog even is anymore | Still Here

[deanwinchesterapologist]

just found out you can do more than one thing each day. i was just doing the one

[fluentisonus]

people are like you just need to apply to 10 jobs a day meanwhile each of the jobs want you to write them 1500 words of uniquely tailored sycophancy & then manually input your cv into their custom application form 3 different times

[ileolai]

happy pride, here is the entire summary of what it means to be ‘’visibly queer’’ to me, watch the Birdcage

[morphmaker]

the silmarillion bride

[glasspalacesstoneshop]

“The United States is the worst colonial empire ever!” Do we want to Google what Belgium did in the Congo

[glasspalacesstoneshop]

Ultimately what really annoys me is that a lot of European colonial states (which STILL have colonies!) are getting like even 5 percent of a taste of their own medicine and they totally freak out. They’re very eager to be victims of colonialism but won’t reflect on their own behavior

[no-sharks-on-the-sun]

[no-sharks-on-the-sun]

they killed him for this

[henstomper]

imposter syndrome is so funny like fuuuuck i hope nobody finds out im tricking people into thinking im competent by knowing things and doing them

[tj-crochets]

My grandma just called and, among other things, said “You have hips. That’s good! Men like hips!” and then she interrupted herself to say “Women like hips. People of your preferred gender like hips. I can never remember”  And I was like “Thanks grandma! My preferred gender is none of them, no thanks.” and she was like “Okay, no one will comment on your hips!” very self satisfied, like “aha, I have figured it out” I think like half her grandkids are some variety of not-straight and she can’t always remember which is which but she is the epitome of like “she’s a little confused, but she’s got the spirit!”

[tj-crochets]

Update: I gave it some thought and my estimate was wrong. Of the grandkids that are out, it’s 1/3, not ½

[tj-crochets]

I told my grandma that I’d told my friends about what she said and that some of y’all had said you wished she was your grandma, and she said “Well, you can never have too many grandkids!”  So like…consider her your honorary grandma* I guess? *if you want an honorary grandma, that is

[tj-crochets]

Update on my grandma: I told her my hair was standing up, but instead of straight line it was diagonal and she said “That’s okay, you’ve never been straight!” and then laughed so hard at her own joke I thought she was going to drop the phone

[tj-crochets]

Happy almost pride month! Have my confused-but-supportive grandma!

[tj-crochets]

An update: my grandma just called me to ask if I knew it was pride month

[tj-crochets]

Happy pride month!!

[crowboy-bebop]

unauthorized fucking thing!!!!!!

(warning: loud chirping throughout)

source: hellgate osprey cam

[curlicuecal]

[pitchburgh]

saw someone trying to roast this guy on reddit but all the comments were just like "fuck off, that's based"

nature is healing

[augustdementhe]

FUCK YEAH.

[star-trekster]

[bigfoots-biggest-fan]

tumblr staff finding out their site has crowdsourced a viral song, only to discover it is 100% unusable in any corporate marketing scenario

[chaser]

Australian music industry: "God we wish local music was more popular"

Monkey paw: *curls*

[decimera]

For those unsure what's being referenced:

[echojulietfoxtrot]

This went down a fucking storm in a bar on Saturday btw

[bigfoots-biggest-fan]

> be tumblr

> accidentally meme your way into creating a hit song made entirely out of slurs

> song gets banned from the dance charts right as its about to chart

> every gay bar in the country immediately adds it to their playlist in protest

Sometimes using this site is like accidentally rolling your car off a cliff only for it to somehow do a flip and land directly on top of Hitler

[deathgripsforcutie]

i always thought it was funny how in the lord of the rings sam and frodo head out and after awhile sam’s like “mr. frodo if i take one more step this is the farthest from the shire ive ever been” and then a ways after they meet up with merry and pippin on their daily vegetable run like jesus christ sam get out of the house once in awhile

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Fuck it. Bitch-Stitching that fucking Target bag. I have counted out rows and estimated size. I'll report back.

For now, you need worsted weight yarn, a 4.5 hook, and rage.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Hour #1:

The worsted weight I'm using is thinner than the original yarn, but the measurements are coming out just fine. It leaves a little space between stitches on the bottom part. I expected this as the original bag is 100% cotton and likely made from dish cotton/kitchen cotton (aka Lily Sugar and Cream or similar). That would make the stitches press together a bit more on the 4.5 mm hook.

I'm taking a break between every hour-long section, which is definitely more than any artist making these for Target is likely getting.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

HOUR TWO:

AND HOUR THREE:

We are officially going into less than $10 an hour in labor if you're selling it for $30. Shocking no one.

Calling it a night on this particular project. I shall pick up this bitch stitch tomorrow.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

HOUR FOUR

Literally on the next to last row of the open stitch rows. If i were ONLY stitching and not able to also do something else, I could have knocked out the entire rest of the body of the bag in this hour, but I get to tweak my pace as I see fit. Which I assure you the people making these for sub-par wages in 12-hour work day stretches* don't get to do.

*This statement based on the following information: Target (and other big box retailers) import most often from China. While the government claims Chinese workers work a standard 40-hour week, this is widely understood to be bullshit. Chinese factory workers typically work what is known as 996. 9 am - 9 pm, 6 days a week. China DOES have labor laws, but they are regularly flouted by businesses, and the government doesn't give two fucks about its citizens, so they don't enforce shit.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

HOUR FIVE:

Okay, the body of the bag is finished and I'm nearly done with the straps. I suspect the straps are attached using machine sewing, so I am going to call the time to make this bag at 5 hours. What's left is about 15 minutes at most, and as I've said, if I was only stitching and not also watching something, I'd have worked this up a bit faster.

So, $30 for a crocheted bag that takes 5 hours. The workers creating these bags won't be considering cost of materials, since they will be provided, so it's $6 an hour for just labor.

BUT. We all know Target isn't paying $6 an hour for labor because they ARE concerned about cost of materials and the cost of shipping to stores.

ALSO BUT. I seriously doubt the crocheters working on the bags that will show up in Target are getting paid an hourly wage. It's common in Chinese factories (and other factories) for handworkers to get paid per piece rather than with a set wage. Which means the workers are probably under a quota system to make X number of bags in a single day or week in order to get the highest pay they can. And no doubt if they miss quota, they not only don't get their full pay but get punished by having a percentage of their paid wages taken as well.

Look, I know most of us reading this aren't shocked by any of this or surprised. But also, Target is not only harming workers but doing so with a pretty little stamp from a so-called ally to handworkers through the Nest certification. And they only got THAT after two years ago when people pointed out 35 bucks for a granny square vest was labor exploitation, and then last year, they tried the "Oh, it's machine crocheted" bullshit on items made in chain stitch on knitting machines, thus making the garments very easily destructible. So, now they're getting a bullshit cert to try and cover their asses again because they'd rather keep exploiting people's skilled work than actually try to do a tiny bit better.

Anyway. Here's a rough of the pattern. I'm going to make another bag with some Red Heart Super Soft because I don't have dish cotton, but that should give me an idea of what I might need to edit for a final pattern. When it's done, it'll go up for pay what you will on my ko-fi.

P.S. Fuck that hashtag

What you need:

4.5 mm hook

Worsted weight yarn (approximately 300 yards) - dish cotton will get you the best dupe, as the original bag is 100% cotton

stitch markers to mark increases

Instructions:

Note: I chose to join and turn at the end of each round. A join and chain without turning (spiral rounds) may get a closer result to the original.

The first round is worked around both sides of the chain.

Ch 65. DC in third chain from hook. DC in each chain to the final chain. 3 DC in last chain. Place stitch marker in second of 3 DC cluster. DC across to the first DC. 2 DC in same place as first DC. Place stitch marker in second of 2 DC cluster. Join. Turn.

Ch 3. Work even for 2 rounds, completing rounds with a join and turning work.

Round 4: Ch 3. 2 DC in first stitch. DC to the stitch before marked stitch. 2 DC in that stitch. 1 DC in marked stitch. 2 DC in following stitch. Work to other end. 2 DC in last stitch before the join. Join. Turn.

Round 5: Ch 3. Repeat increase row. Join. Turn.

Work even for 7 rounds.

Round 13: Ch 4. Skip next DC. (DC, ch 1) in following stitch. Repeat () around. On final stitch, DC, ch 1 and join. Turn.

Round 14: Ch 4. (DC, ch 1) in next DC. (DC, ch 1) around, working all DCs into top of previous round DCs. Join. Turn.

Repeat last round 18 times.

Trim: Ch 3. DC in each DC and chain space around. Join. Turn. Repeat round once. Fasten off.

Straps (Make 2):

Note: Straps can be made however long you want. This is just my best guess accounting for possible stretch during use.

Ch 101. DC in the third chain from hook and each chain across.

Turn. Chain 1. Slip stitch in each DC across. Slip stitch twice in side of first DC, then slip stitch across bottom of DCs. Slip stitch twice in side of final DC and join to first Slip stitch. Fasten off.

Attach straps to inside of bag. Weave in all ends. Be proud of yourself. Fuck Target.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Made another one!

Red Heart Super Saver, so it's never gonna die.

Adjustments to pattern as follows:

Don't turn. You want to join the last stitch to the first stitch, then chain, then keep going on DCs. For the mesh rows, join the final chain stitch to the first DC, chain 4, then DC in next DC.

I have some wool leftover from the Banshees sweater I will be using to make a third bag and that will be the one I photograph nicely to officially put a pattern together for my ko-fi. It'll go up as pay what you will once the third bag is finished.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Bullseye Bag Crochet Pattern - Gayle's Ko-fi Shop

A very cute market bag I 100% created because Target pissed me off by selling one for entirely too little for the artist who made it to make

Official pattern! Made a couple of tweaks from the one I posted above. Pay what you will. Go forth. Make bags. Fuck Target.

[flame-shadow]

hey did you know??? that if you stop stretching and maintaining mobility in your body then it goes away?? things get tight and you can't move the way that you used to??? and when you decide to try getting a stretch routine going that the first week fucking sucks because you keep going 'damn i used to be able to do this no problem' and then you have to switch gears and be kind to yourself and just focus on getting better from here instead of berating yourself for dropping the good habits in the first place??? and your body never stops aging so you gotta keep taking care of it and sometimes you gotta take care of it extra in certain areas because of things that happened when you were younger and it's boring and sometimes hurts but it's so necessary???

i am yelling this at myself right now i am going through An Experience (trying to get into a routine of body maintenance again for my physical and mental health)

[fucking-relax]

oh, Sisyphus! i got you

[thesweetiepienovels]

Some is better than none. Some is better than none. Some is better than none. Walking for three minutes, is better than nothing. Drinking a glass of water and eating a snack, is better than nothing. Wiping down the counter, is better than nothing. Small things are not nothing. Small things are not nothing. Small things are not nothing. You don’t have to achieve grand things if all you’re capable of right now is the smaller things. They are still achievements. Don’t do nothing just because you don’t think you’re capable of doing bigger things, just do something you’re capable of today. 

[leshermes]

June 1st is TOMORROW. It means that GAY PEOPLE will exist, but only for ONE MONTH. Do not forget to buy your tickets to see them NOW, or else you will have to wait AN ENTIRE YEAR to be able to meet them AGAIN.