Bit of kit
If you want to make these, you need one special bit of kit, so let's talk about that! The thing that lets these do their magic is called a "flex frame clasp" or sometimes a "flex frame kiss clasp." That's what's in the top of the pouch, and it's what makes it do that magic pinchy pinchy clacky clacky thing (nothing but technical terms here). They come in a bunch of different sizes, and the size of your clasp determines how wide your pouch is (you don't need the same size I have, I'll walk you through how to use [...]
Squeaking noises
I will, in the very near future, show you a wee video of this where I wobble it back and forth and try and say something other than 'ooooooooh, lookit, isn't it cute?!?' I will probably fail. I will probably mostly just make squeaking noises. But really, can you blame me?
General plan
So the general plan is to run the first line of stitching all the way up on the inside. Here it is partly done. And here is how it looks when the whole inside is done. This won't show at all on the outside. Then flip it right side out and run an equivalent line of stitching up the other side of the button band. This can show, just a teeny tiny bit, if you get real real real up close and personal on the stitches (and it will show less once it's been washed a few more times as [...]
Satisfyingly tidy
Oh, oh this is tidy. This is satisfyingly tidy. The kind of tidy that makes me hate the world slightly less than usual. I know I can't be the only one soothed by tidiness, some of you have to be wired this way too. Tell me about something you find satisfyingly tidy so I fee like less of a weirdo!
Neatly aligned
Four widely spaced buttons on a closely fitted sweater are...not enough to keep the button band neatly aligned. Especially if your bust measurement and waist measurement differ significantly. I am...far more generously built than Verity here is. And even on her, the button band does not hang straight. So since I put my sweaters on over my head and don't mind losing the cardigan functionality, I'm going to fix it. I'll start by flipping the sweater inside out and running a line of stitching up one side of the button band. Once it's done, I'll flip it rightside out and [...]
Betrayal
Will this keep my glasses from getting covered in speckles and smudges? No, no it probably won't. But it might make them easier to find. Can everyone else in their 40s and up please reassure me that I am not alone in finding this sudden betrayal (aka the perfectly normal aging process that we all go through if we're lucky enough not to die before we get there) Quite Seriously Annoying? Because god DAMN is the constant 'where are my glasses...no, my OTHER glasses' thing is a drag.
No, brighter
I have a bright pink sweater. No brighter than that. Brighter still. And I love it...but I have never liked the buttons that came on it. (Bright pink sweater is also excellent kitten trap.) So I'm going to replace them with one of these three. And while I'm at it, I'm going to sew up the button band so that the front of the sweater hangs straight. because using four buttons to hold a form-fitting sweater over a decidedly curvy bit of anatomy will always always always lead to a gaping button band. And that never feels very polished. I'm [...]
Questionable Nonsense
I do a bit of housekeeping every month (to remind folks what’s about to rotate off patreon and to show off what’s coming next), and to keep those posts from being dreadfully boring, I’m combining them with a monthly advice column/Q&A session (aka an excuse to ask what folks are wondering about and then info dump on some of my favorite topics). I asked for your sock questions and somehow a lot of those turned out to secretly be laundry questions. So this time I'm...well...I'm airing my dirty laundry and talking about all the details of how I wash [...]
Autonomy
Do you have to block your socks? Nope. Nope you are an adult with autonomy and I am absolutely not the boss of you. Does blocking your socks make a difference? Eh...I say yes. But I also acknowledge that it's pretty much just an aesthetic difference, and once they're on a foot, the difference is negligible. But for something like giving them as a present (or in my case, taking pictures of them), I think the effort to reward ratio is such that a quick block is more than worth it. (These are Xanthophyll, one of my very early patterns [...]
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