After a reply on my petty weaving-in-ends post, I have realized you all need to know about the glory of
~~~~TECHknitting~~~~
What, a blogspot site, in this, our year of 2022? Yes.
Look, are you just getting into knitting, and you've followed a couple of patterns or tutorials, but you don't really get why things go a certain way? Or are you an advanced knitter looking for refined techniques, ways to smooth some things out? Perhaps, like me, you want a clear explainer of a certain cast on/bind off, so you can clearly see how it works while you do it, and you can't stand learning things from a video you have to keep pausing, the fast forwarding, then going back to that one part you needed to see again?
TECHknitting is for you. The writer is a very experienced knitter, and better, a curious one, who develops and improves techniques, and makes the best, clearest, color-coded diagrams of the hows and whys and which ways of knitting. An archive of articles 16 years deep, each as good as the last. There's even an index by subject.
A taste:
Here is an exhaustive explanation of my favorite all-purpose cast on, with diagrams of what to do with your hands, tips for variations/improvements, and links to other relevant posts.
A thorough exploration of why your stockinette scarf curls, while garter/ribbing/seed stitch don't, due to the nature of the stitches & their relation to each other. A multi-part series, with solutions that don't work and why, and ways to modify patterns & existing items to fix it. Like do you wanna really understand the fabric you're creating, & why it behave the way it does? This is the shit.
A whole series on knitting better bands & cuffs
Posts about how to pick up stitches properly, where "properly" means "so it'll look the way you want", ie not just bc the knitting gods said so, but how and why it'll affect the fabric you're making, so you can choose the outcome you want.
Basic crochet for knitters, and how crochet techniques can be used to improve your knitting.
A favorite (complicated) bind off, and a way to fake it. And, as usual, why/when you'd want to choose one technique over the other, and technical details on how and why the two bind offs act the way they do.
Different ways to match your cast on to your bind off.
I could go on; in fact I'm having to force myself not to just keep reading these all afternoon. Seriously, it's so good.
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New little webtoy. Never wonder again how you spread 14 increases evenly over 118 stitches. It's never been easier.
I've been messing around with google sheets for a while to do knitting math for me, but now i actually used a braincell to remember how javascript works and turned my current calculators into a website. So now you can have calculators too. And you don't even need to know javascript, lucky you!
find my calculators here: https://dunes-knitting-math.neocities.org/
If i ever add more then i'll try to remember to update the list on the main page there so you can find them.
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Do you know of any good resources for learning to knit complex stuff?? The whale sweater you posted yearns for my recreation haha but I’ve only ever knitted a scarf before 😅
Yeah! I think the resources that I use the most come from Tin Can Knits - all of their blog posts are extremely detailed with descriptions, photos, and sometimes video tutorials. They also have a lot of free patterns that go in depth to make sure that you can understand the techniques being used which helps a lot when you come across patterns out there that are less detailed.
(in particular, to help learn some techniques that come up in the whale sweater, there is this post on knitting a raglan style sweater and this post series about doing stranded color work)
Some other go-to's of mine is Purl Soho and Brooklyn Tweed. These two are also really helpful with the patterns that they write and including all the technique help and resources you need for questions that come up in their patterns.
Also, if all else fails and I'm going through a pattern and there's a technique that kind of gets glossed over because the pattern writer assumes you know it (usually specific cast on methods or shaping methods) google is always my best friend - looking up whatever the technique is called brings up helpful youtube videos (Very Pink Knits usually always comes through for me) and other blog tutorials that go through things step by step with pictures.
If any other knitblrs have favs to share please comment! (also knitblrs are very friendly people who can help too, myself included☺️)
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Cubito plot idea I had the other day I do not have the energy to write any time soon: Husband swap. Due to Minecraft multiverse shenanigans, Mumza, goddess of death, and Tango’s wife, deity of Decked Out 2, accidentally grab the wrong blond-haired white boy and plop them unceremoniously in the wrong worlds. Cue Tango exploring Phil’s hardcore world and refining the redstone while Mumza has to stop Tango from dying constantly because he doesn’t quite grasp the finality of hardcore, versus Phil who has a hell of a time trying to get through Decked Out 2 and about has a mental breakdown when he dies only for him to be told by Mrs. Tango that Hermitcraft distinctly isn’t a hardcore server and that he’ll be fine
Oh holy smokes. Dude.
Hermitcraft is like, the very opposite of hardcore. Things have to be made Scar-safe but any time you die, either folks are entirely willing to help you out or you've got spares of everything on-hand, so death means almost nothing. And because they're all friends, there is a LOT of buddy behavior going on; it's not terribly uncommon for folks to start living in each other's walls, a stark contrast from the peace and solitude of singleplayer.
What might that mean for someone used to it being deprived, and- conversely- someone not used to it at all being thrown into the mix?
Neither of them are prepared.
(Mrs. T and Mumza will do their best, though.)
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Hi everyone,
In honor of my TOG fic “Their souls were knit together (and he loved him as himself)” reaching 10k (thank you readers!!) I wanted to compile my (80+) resource links I used during the plotting stage and throughout the fic - divided by category as best as I could manage.
In case you’d like additional resources, please check out @actualmermaid historical resource upload here, and/or the The Old Guard Character Resource Hub. Here’s a list of books as well:
Genoa & the Genoese 958-1528 ( x )
The Crusade Indulgence: Spiritual Rewards and the Theology of the Crusades, c. 1095-1216 ( x ) - a post with excerpts linked below
Housing the Stranger in the Mediterranean World: Lodging, Trade, and Travel in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages ( x )
The rest under the cut in case you’d like to avoid potential spoilers (nothing descriptive)
For Genoa
San Siro ( x )
San Lorenzo ( x ) & St. John the Baptist ( x )
The Mahdia Campaign of 1087 ( x )
Nicolò as a Genovese crossbowman ( x ) ( x )
For Mahdia
Yusuf’s potential backstory with Mahdia ( x ) ( x ) and the Zirid dynasty ( x )
And his family’s intergenerational trauma in relation to the Battle of Haydaran in 1052 ( x )
For the Crusades
Some other ways a non noble Nicolò might have found himself in the Crusades ( x ) ( x ) ( x )
General timeline of the first crusade ( x )
The Siege of Antioch ( x ) ( x ) ( x ) ( x ) ( x )
The Siege of Jerusalem ( x ) ( x ) ( x ) ( x )
Visual maps of the city of Jerusalem and surrounding area ( x ) and general climate ( x )
For Constantinople
Daily life in the city ( x ) ( x ) ( x )
Procession of the Theotokos icon ( x )
Maps of the city from that time ( x ) ( x )
Their apartment and general housing ( x )
Little Hagia Sophia ( x )
Church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus ( x ) - and why that would have been meaningful to Nicolò ( x ) as the setting for their Adelphopoiesis ( x ) & here are the Byzantine instructions for it ( x )
For Islamic spiritual practices
Barzakh ( x ) & Jinn ( x ) (both referred to in a blink and you’d miss it sort of way)
Qur’an scroll ( x ) - technically a 19th century copy, but was using it as a visual reference
Islamic calendar for that year ( x ) & the significance of Yusuf’s first death of rajab ( x )
The verse Yusuf reflects on when he internally refers to Nicolò as his dearest ( x )
The verse Nicolò inscribed on Yusuf’s wedding present ( x )
For Catholic spiritual practices
Lay Orders (what used to be called Third Order) for Nicolò to be an oblate ( x )
Eleusa icon (a gift he received from Brother Gabriel) ( x ) - here’s a 12th century version ( x )
The cross necklace gift Nicolò received before leaving Genoa ( x )
Excerpts from the book linked above about how indulgences played a part in the Crusades ( x )
Lenten practices in the middle ages ( x )
Some Bible verses Nicolò reflects on during his love confession ( x ) ( x )
For some interfaith dialogue moments
The Canticle of Zechariah in the Liturgy of Hours ( x ) & Verse 95 for corresponding references to the dawn ( x )
Why Zechariah is important in both faiths ( x )
Encouragement for open dialogue and friendliness ( x ) the rights of Non-Muslims as laid out in the Constitution of Medina ( x ) and protection via the Testament of Muhammed ( x ) though there are some doubts to the authenticity
Lent & Ramadan similarities ( x ) ( x )
Interfaith marriage rights between Christians and Muslims from Muhammed ( x )
For some other historical context
Context for same sex attraction in the middle ages ( x ) ( x ) ( x ) ( x ) ( x ) ( x )
Some LGTB+ historical figures and Saints Nicolò might have been aware of ( x ) ( x )
Brother Gabriel from chapter two was based on Marina the Monk ( x )
Wiki about illiterate popes ( x )
11th-12th century trade maps ( x )
Tunisian Arabic ( x )
The Great Schism of 1054 ( x )
The Seljuk Empire ( x )
The Byzantine-Venetian treaty of 1082 ( x )
A poem by Abu Nawas that Yusuf reflects on before the love confession ( x )
For the Biblical references and significance to Nicolò of Gortyn/Crete ( x ) and some visual references ( x )
Why Chandax as a honeymoon site would have been comfortable for them both ( x ) & ruled by the Byzantine Empire at the time of their visit ( x )
The book Yusuf gave to Nicolò as a wedding present ( x ) & some context ( x )
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