#technical support

[memes4doom]

They act like they've never been asked to do anything

[interlockingpatches]

Hey! I've been binging your patch patterns and I want to say that you're insane and genius for these and they are the only crochet projects I've found consistently stimulating enough to complete. So, thank you for giving me a new obsession!

I have a question! How do you get the patches you make so perfectly gridlike and clean? Is it just an even tension issue? I'd love some advice on this if it's no bother :)

I'm so happy that the patterns are clicking with you! I might be reading too much into "binging" and "consistently stimulating enough to complete," but I've always meant to talk about how the Patches were 100% conceived of and designed to accommodate my own executive function issues (short attention span, bad working memory, demand avoidance, left-handedness in general, and a tendency toward despair when faced with mild inconvenience). You asked about technique, however!

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Tips for Polished Patches:

I'm happy to give personalized advice if anyone sends me pictures and consent to have their technique and yarn choices gently read to filth, but I can make some general recommendations!

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Wash up and fix your attitude: The real answer is usually "add borders," (see below) but also wash and completely dry your Patches; then put them where you can't look at them until tomorrow at the earliest. Don't take pictures until then either, if you can help it. The washing helps natural fibres most, but your acrylic yarn is also filthy, and the time apart is critical! I don't know if crochet stitches actually "relax" overnight or if it's just you that does, but your Patch will look more like its lovely self tomorrow.

On a related note, when you do look at your Patch, look at it with your human eyes, in person, rather than mediated through a cellphone camera. Maybe it's just me who needs to hear this, but your lighting is terrible, your camera app's un-disable-able post-processing is not doing your Patch any favours, and textile objects—even those meant to hang flat on a wall—are not meant to be viewed in perfect stillness from a single fixed perspective. Craft dysmorphia is real!

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Borders, borders, borders borders borders: (add borders)

Clockwise from top left: no border, Quick Mesh Border, Blanket Border (round corners), Blanket Border (square corners)

Make sure you're adding a border treatment that seals the two colours along the edge—these are the Blanket and Quick Mesh Borders in patterns. Without one of these to stabilize the grid and equalize any gauge differences between the two colours, your Patch will probably need to be pin blocked (yuck) or sewn onto something to look its best.

If borders are are out of the question (or somehow not the problem) we might also consider:

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Yarn and hook: Stiffer, sturdier (in my parlance, "crunchier") yarn gives sharper, more structured results than softer, "silkier" yarn does. If your colours differ in weight or texture, make sure Colour B is the sturdier of the two, because it usually forms a background armature that holds the outlines in place. If B is too silky-flowy-easygoing while A is too rigid, things tend to go wobbly. A tight gauge is going to reinforce the grid structure more than a loose gauge (though at a certain point your stitches will get cramped, and going tighter would be counterproductive). These days, I normally use the label-recommended hook and stabilize with borders, but if you're going commando (or opting for a Pinstripe/Badge Border that leaves the colours unattached), a small hook and firm grip are still the way to go. Cotton (yarn or thread) is well-suited to both!

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Technique: Whatever you use, make sure you are working through both loops (front/back) of all stitches. Yes, even ch1 spaces. Yes, I know that sounds horrendous, but a) grow up and b) there's a trick to it: you are normally getting into the ch1 by reverse-hooking the back bump, not by forcing your hook under the top loops, if that makes sense!

Tension problems can and will make double crochet and longer stitches look unkempt. The solution is to "work close to the hook" i.e., make sure all the loops and yarn-overs on the hook are snuggled up together in the crook and not spread out along the shaft. This can be achieved with mindfulness (yuck) or using the following "hack" (yay)

Yarn under when drawing up the first loop of dc, tr, and dtr stitches (mesh stitches and diagonals). This allows tension from the working thread to pass more easily to the loops already on the hook, keeping them snuggly and the top of the stitch tidy. It also changes the base of the stitch, crossing the strands that normally form a "V." The effect is less noticeable than it is in single crochet, and it works very well for outlines (less so for fill stitches, imo, but it's a matter of preference). The yarn-under "hack" can also be very helpful in the foundation rows (1A/1B), which nearly always work up looser than the rest of the Patch (border rounds also help with first-row flabbiness).

That's what I can think of for now. Thank you for the ask! It's always super helpful to have the excuse and occasion to talk things through! As you can no doubt tell, I could go on forever.

[vexwerewolf]

If you have an answer to a technical question that you deliver in the form of a video that does not have an accompanying set of written instructions, I hope your french fries arrive cold for the rest of your life and all your subsequent reincarnations

[katatty]

hi kat!

hope you're having a good day. I want to take the opportunity to thank you for your makeovers. I like how they preserve maxis ideas whilst adding your personal flavour. I use your downtown heavily in my personal playthrough and honestly it's the best one out there in my opinion. and now you're working on my favourite hood ever, belladonna cove. with all of that said, I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a problem with a lot you've made over, that is 310 bay view drive. the beach is an amazing idea. however, when I place the lot on a map (I've tried both the standard belladonna cove template as well as yours), the pool just... falls of a cliff? I've even changed the neighborhood.ini, following criquette's tutorial, but to no avail. I wonder if only the lot adjuster can help in this case, or is there anything else that I'm missing? thank you in advance.

Hi! thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you like my makeovers! However, I am not really working on Belladonna Cove currently, it is on hiatus indefinitely for the moment :)

For 310 Bay View drive, it is meant to look like an "infinity pool" so it going right up to/over the cliff is intentional, but I admitedly have not tested placing it from the bin, it could be I have overlooked something, its hard to visualise what you mean without an image so I will test it out myself when I get a chance 🤔 I did use the constrainfloorelevationfalse cheat when making it so maybe try playing with that! you could also just remove some of the pool so theres so squares by the cliff edge

If I've messed something up though, I am not sure when I will have time to revisit it as I've been taking a hit of an extended break from building 😅

[fishout-of-water]

That feeling of "I can do better" haunts me when I look at my desktop. I'm having problems with my debian system, and thinking of switching over to kubuntu so I can use more up to date software cuz not being able to update anything is causing problems, and also thinking of polishing up my wallpaper too. The animation is a bit scuffed and I can make the falling leaves and wind a lot better. I kinda also wanna make a cherry blossom themed Ishimura one too. I've been obsessed with cherry blossoms lately.

[flock-of-cassowaries]

When my customers tell me there’s a technical issue:

The trust is broken at this point, Carson.

[ultimateyappertron]

Having problems with linking your ArtFight profile to your Strawpage?

I had that problem too but I found a solution! ⋆˚✰

So, when you copy-and-paste the link, it will have a ~ within it like this: https://artfight.net/~Ultimate_Yappertron

The problem, for some reason, is the ~ so to fix that you replace the ~ with %7E, like this: https://artfight.net/%7EUltimate_Yappertron

You’re welcome!  ₍^. .^₎⟆

Here’s my ArtFight by the way!

Oh! Also, here’s my Strawpage:

zᶻ

≽₍^_ ‸ _ ^₎≼⟆